Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Trump Refuses To Testify In 'Unconstitutional' Impeachment Trial

Trump Refuses To Testify In The Unconstitutional Impeachment Trial

Trump's lawyers ridiculed the request in a letter by lead House prosecutor Jamie Raskin to answer questions over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as a "public relations stunt."

Former president Donald Trump refused Thursday to testify in his looming impeachment trial after being called by House prosecutors to give evidence, branding the process "unconstitutional."

Trump's lawyers ridiculed the request in a letter by lead House prosecutor Jamie Raskin to answer questions over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as a "public relations stunt."

"Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your allegations" against Trump, attorneys Bruce Castor and David Schoen said in their reply.

While the attorneys did not say whether he would testify, a senior advisor to Trump, Jason Miller, said flatly that he would not.

"The president will not testify in an unconstitutional proceeding," Miller told AFP.

Trial opens Tuesday


The refusal came five days before the trial of the former US leader on one impeachment charge of "incitement to insurrection" opens in the US Senate.

In his unprecedented second impeachment trial, Trump is accused of fomenting the attack by his supporters on the US legislature one month ago, forcing a halt to proceedings to certify opponent Joe Biden's victory in the November presidential election.

Raskin had asked Trump, who has maintained without evidence that Biden won by massive fraud, to testify sometime next week, before or during the trial.

He said Trump, who now lives in his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, had little excuse to avoid testifying, and could no longer claim he was too busy overseeing the country, as was the White House position when he was still president.

Raskin also warned that if Trump refused, it would be considered as supportive of the evidence against him.

"If you decline this invitation, we reserve any and all rights, including the right to establish at trial that your refusal to testify supports a strong adverse inference regarding your actions (and inaction) on January 6, 2021," he added.

Assault on the Capitol


Raskin's letter and the response set out the battle lines for the never-seen impeachment trial of a president after he has left office.

The Democratic House prosecutors, or impeachment managers, say the Republican leader was "singularly responsible" for the Capitol attack, which left five dead.

"In a grievous betrayal of his oath of office, President Trump incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol," they said.

But Trump's team argued in a filing Tuesday that whatever Trump said in the days and hours before the attack to encourage supporters to reject Biden's election win amounted to constitutionally protected free speech.

And they declared it unconstitutional to put a former president on trial in the Senate.

'Fight like hell'


The January 6 attack continues to reverberate in Washington. Prosecutors have charged some 180 people in the attacks, according to a tally by the George Washington University Program on extremism, and hundreds more are under investigation.

The Justice Department has suggested they could build a case for seditious conspiracy by some Trump-supporting extreme right groups in the attack.

In a White House rally just hours before the attack, Trump encouraged supporters to reject the election results and to "fight like hell."

While Democrats will make such statements the focus of their case, Trump's lawyers will hone in on the question of constitutionality.

That could bring about his acquittal. Conviction requires support of two-thirds of the 100 senators, who serve as judges and jury in the trial.

But last week 45 of 50 Republican senators made clear in a vote they think trying an ex-president is unconstitutional.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×