Rep. Ratcliffe on how he can be a resource for Trump's lawyers during the impeachment trial
Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe explains his role in the Senate impeachment trial after being appointed to the president's defense team.
As the Senate prepares to take on the case to impeach President Trump, all senators will be "surprised to learn" the full extent of the lack of due process and fairness implemented by House Democrats, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, said Tuesday.
Appearing on "America's Newsroom" with host Sandra Smith, Ratcliffe -- who is one of the eight House Republicans announced yesterday to join the president's legal defense team -- said that, as a result of that information, both Republican and Democratic senators alike will not want to hear any witnesses.
"There isn't a witness that can be called that can fix this process. There isn't a witness on either side that you can call that can inject fairness and due process into a process that had none," he told Smith.
DEMOCRATIC IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS BLAST MCCONNELL'S TRIAL RULES AS 'RIGGED'
"I think one of the things your listeners are going to hear this week is a comparison of what happened, the disparity in the way President Clinton and President Nixon were treated during their impeachment inquiries as opposed to President Trump," he remarked. "The Nixon and Clinton lawyers were allowed to participate every single day from the beginning to the end. They were allowed to review evidence, suggest evidence, call witnesses and cross-examine witnesses."
"By comparison, President Trump -- during his 78-day impeachment inquiry -- his lawyers were forbidden from participating for this first 71 of a 78-day process," Ratcliffe continued. "Not allowed to call witnesses, cross-examine witnesses, be there for the presentation or review of evidence."
"That is a lack of due process and fairness that I think all senators, Republican and Democrat, are going to be surprised to learn," he stated. "I think, as a result of that, they were not going to want to hear any witnesses because the Senate isn't going to be able to fix what happened in the House."
"[Democrats] can't make constitutional arguments because they don't have any," Ratcliffe concluded. "This impeachment fails."
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Democratic House managers, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., made a similar argument to Ratcliffe's in a news conference on Tuesday morning arguing that with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's trial rules in place, they would not get a "process for a fair trial" and Republicans "do not want the American people to see the evidence."
"The question before the Senate is...do the Republican senators want to be complicit in the cover-up of the president or any senator who votes to deny a witness, who votes to deny evidence?" asked House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. told reporters shortly after that he plans to "offer amendments to fix...many flaws" of McConnell's impeachment resolution and that his first proposal is to subpoena documents and communications.
Chief Justice John Roberts is set to preside over the second session of the impeachment trial at 1 P.M. ET.
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