Trump is not king, aides should testify in Senate impeachment trial, 2020 Democrats say

LOS ANGELES (Reuters): The Democratic US presidential candidates promised during a debate on Thursday to make the case to a divided American public that the impeachment of Donald Trump was necessary, and some said they wanted to hear testimony from top White House aides at the Republican president’s upcoming Senate trial.

The day after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump, many of the seven contenders taking part in the debate acknowledged the American public is split over the move, with Republicans largely opposing it and Democrats favoring it. But they said it is a fundamental question of right and wrong.

US Senator Amy Klobuchar, one of three contenders on the debate stage who will sit as jurors at a trial in the Republican-led Senate to determine whether Trump is removed from office, said presidential aides should be called to testify.

“If President Trump thinks he should not be impeached, he should be not scared to put forward his own witnesses,” US Senator Amy Klobuchar said. “The president is not king in America, the law is king.”

The Democratic candidates are seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Trump in the November 2020 election

In a historic vote on Wednesday, the Democratic-led House voted to impeached Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress arising from his request that Ukraine investigate Democratic political rival Joe Biden and Biden’s son Hunter, who had joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was US vice president.

Trump became only the third US president to be impeached by the House. No president has ever been removed from office via impeachment.