Trump complains that his impeachment defense will get low TV ratings

Donald Trump is worried about the impeachment trial, and for more reasons than you may think.

On Friday morning, he complained that his lawyers will begin to make their defense of his actions on a Saturday — which he said is the worst day for television ratings.

“After having been treated unbelievably unfairly in the House, and then having to endure hour after hour of lies, fraud & deception by Shifty Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer & their crew, looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.” Trump tweeted Friday morning.

Democrats will wrap up their argument for why Trump should be removed from office on Friday.

And the only reason Trump’s team will begin its defense of Trump’s actions on Saturday is because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made the rules in order to have as short an impeachment trial as possible — with the trial wrapping before Trump is slated to deliver the State of the Union on Feb. 4.

It’s unclear whether Trump’s frustration that his defense team will begin its case on Saturday will change the schedule at all.

Since Tuesday, Democrats have been laying out their argument for Trump’s removal in excruciating detail.

Led by House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), the House impeachment managers detailed the effort Trump took to withhold congressionally appropriated military aid to Ukraine in order to force the country to investigate his political rivals. The House charged Trump with abuse of power for those actions.

Despite the fact that Trump blocked witness testimony and refused to turn over subpoenaed documents, the House impeachment managers still were able to make their case.

They pointed to testimony from administration officials who ignored Trump’s gag order to give their account of the effort to withhold the aid — which a nonpartisan congressional watchdog determined was against the law.

And a fiery closing statement during Thursday’s impeachment trial arguments, Schiff laid out the case for why senators should vote to remove Trump from office.

“You know you can’t trust this president to do what is right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for Donald Trump,” Schiff said.

Schiff added, “If you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters. Because the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.