US impeachment trial to resume for final arguments

WASHINGTON－US President Donald Trump's impeachment trial was scheduled to resume for final arguments on Monday before an expected acquittal later in the week that Democrats have said will be invalid because no witnesses testified.

The president was impeached in December for abuse of power over pressure on US ally Ukraine to announce investigations that would have helped him politically, including into former vice-president Joe Biden, a leading challenger for this year's presidential ballot.

At only the third impeachment trial of a US president, Trump is all but assured of being acquitted on Wednesday, the day after his annual State of the Union speech, which he said will carry a "very, very positive message".

Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate to 47 for the Democrats, but a two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is needed to remove him from office.

Adam Schiff, the leader of the House of Representatives prosecutors, known as impeachment managers, told CBS on Sunday that it was "pretty remarkable" that senators on both sides had acknowledged that Democrats proved their case against the president.

"But I'm not letting the senators off the hook," Schiff said. "We're still going to go into the Senate this week and make the case why this president needs to be removed. It will be up to the senators to make that final judgment, and the senators will be held accountable for it."

Trump is also accused of obstruction of Congress for ordering officials not to comply with subpoenas for documents and testimony as part of the impeachment inquiry.

On Friday, just two Republicans-Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine－joined Democrats in voting to introduce witnesses, a practice they said was followed at every other impeachment trial in US history.

A narrow majority of US citizens believe Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress by withholding documents and testimony during the impeachment inquiry, according to a poll commissioned by NBC and The Wall Street Journal.

But they remain divided on whether he should be kicked from office, with 46 percent hoping to see him removed and 49 percent saying he should keep his job.

Democrats had been eager to hear from Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and other key administration figures caught up in the scandal.

Bolton reportedly says in a forthcoming book that Trump told him military aid to Ukraine was tied to Kiev's investigating Biden－corroborating the central claim against the president.

After the failure to call witnesses, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the chamber "did not live up to its responsibilities, turned away from truth and instead went along with a sham trial".

However, Trump on Sunday complained again, in a Fox News interview, that he has been treated unfairly "from the day I won".

Agencies