CLOSING ARGUMENTS: Trump defense team, House managers wrap senate impeachment trial

The impeachment trial of President Trump drew closer toward its almost-inevitable conclusion with closing arguments Monday, as Democratic House impeachment managers made a last-ditch push to convince the Senate that an acquittal would be a "death blow" to the ability to hold a president in check, while Trump’s defense team accused the Democrats of engaging in a rushed, "purely partisan" endeavor.

Each side has been permitted Monday to take up to two hours to make their final case, as proceedings stretch into another week amid expectations that a largely party-line acquittal awaits the president by Wednesday afternoon.

“I submit to you on behalf of the House of Representatives that your duty demands that you convict President Trump,” House manager Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said during his remarks, the first among the Democrats who delivered arguments.

Crow addressed an argument put forth by Trump legal team member Alan Dershowitz, who claimed that Trump was working in the national interest, and not his personal interest, by asking Ukraine to investigate possible corruption related to former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Dershowitz asserted that even if Trump was acting to aid his own re-election if he believes his re-election to be in the nation's best interest, it would be proper.

This position was absurd, Crow insisted, telling the Senate "we cannot and should not leave our common sense at the door." He added that the logical conclusion of Dershowitz's argument is that "the president is the state." (Dershowitz had already clarified his position in an op-ed for The Hill, stating that "pundits and partisan politicians have been deliberately distorting" his words.)

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