Republican Sen. Ted Cruz launched a podcast this week where he says he'll air his daily musings about the historic Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, in which he is a juror along with the other members of the U.S. Senate.
His first episode of the podcast titled "Verdict," was recorded at 2:42 a.m., after the first day of the trial on Tuesday.
Throughout the first episode, Cruz referred to the trial as highly partisan and argued that the impeachment was a political attack. He also expressed hope that the president's counsel would get more into the "substantive argument" that Trump's actions did not constitute a high crime or misdemeanor. There are two episodes so far.
Cruz said that the impeachment managers, members of the House acting as prosecution in the trial, had "some good moments" early in the trail, but that as time wore on their arguments grew "redundant." He said that impeachment managers' cases failed to demonstrate proof of "treason, bribery or other high crimes or misdemeanors."
Trump is the third U.S. president to be impeached by the House. No president has ever been removed from office by the Senate. The president is facing two articles of impeachment, for abuse of power and for obstruction of Congress.
The House voted largely along party lines in December to impeach Trump over allegations he used his office to pressure the Ukranian president to investigate a family member of his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden. Only the Senate has the power to remove a president with a two-thirds majority vote.
Cruz has repeatedly defended Trump and dismissed the seriousness of the impeachment allegations.
On the opposing side, U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston is among the seven Democratic impeachment managers presenting the case for Trump's removal from office.
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