White House Counsel Pat Cipollone concluded opening arguments in the president’s defense in the Senate impeachment trial on Tuesday afternoon by playing video clips of Democrats arguing against President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998.
Some of those Democrats — such as Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) — are among the House managers urging the Senate to remove Trump from office. Others — such as then-Rep. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) — are now in the Senate themselves.
Cipollone focused on excerpts from congressional speeches in which Democrats denounced the idea of a partisan impeachment, likening it to a “coup d’état,” and warning that it would lead them to impeach a Republican president when they were in office.