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As President Donald Trump’s attorneys on Tuesday launched into their third and final day of opening arguments in his Senate impeachment trial, they promised to wrap up before dinner and played down revelations from former Trump adviser John Bolton.
Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s defense lawyers, told the senators that the trial shouldn’t be dictated by a Sunday report that said Bolton is claiming in an upcoming book that Trump personally told him that aid to Ukraine should be frozen until officials there agreed to investigate Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and his son.
“Are you going to allow proceedings on impeachment to go from a New York Times report about someone that says what they hear is in a manuscript? Is that where we are? I don’t think so. I hope not,” Sekulow said.
Bolton’s claim appears to have undercut a key element of Trump’s defense, and it has been embraced by lawmakers who want to have new witnesses or documents in the impeachment trial.
Read more: Romney signals vote for witnesses may have a chance, other Republicans just want Bolton’s book
Before Sekulow’s remarks, Chief Justice John Roberts told the president’s team that they had “15 hours and 33 minutes remaining to make the presentation of their case, though it will not be possible to use the remainder of that time before the end of the day.”
As the proceedings resumed just after 1 p.m. Eastern Time, Pat Cipollone, another one of Trump’s defense lawyers, then said: “We do not intend to use much of that time today, Mr. Chief Justice. Our goal is to be finished by dinner time and well before.”
Each side was given 24 hours over three days to make opening arguments, and the House managers who are serving as prosecutors used nearly all of their allotted time.
The Republican-controlled Senate is widely expected to vote for keeping Trump in office. That helps explain why the stock market DJIA, +0.82% SPX, +1.15% hasn’t reacted much to impeachment-related developments.
Opinion: For the stock market, impeachment is just a sideshow
After Trump’s lawyers finish their opening arguments, senators get up to 16 hours to ask each side questions. The Senate then is expected to vote on whether to subpoena new witnesses or documents.
Democratic lawmakers’ push to remove Trump from office centers on his pressure on Ukraine’s president to announce investigations into Biden and his son, as well as into an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election.
Don’t miss: Complete MarketWatch coverage of Trump’s impeachment
