A spokeswoman for President Donald Trump said she hoped the impeachment trial could wrap up by the end of next week, describing it as a distraction from the country’s pressing issues.
“I think that next week we need to get this over with, so we can get on with the business of this country,” Stephanie Grisham, the White House Press Secretary, said.
She was speaking just hours before the trial is set to resume in the U.S. Senate, for the third and final day of the Democrats’ opening arguments against the president.
Trump’s legal team is due to open its defence arguments on Saturday, with the president already taking to Twitter to complain that his lawyers are likely to get poor ratings.
“Looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.” Trump posted, as part of a larger tirade against the Democrats, insisting he has been “treated unbelievably unfairly.”
It is possible the defence will conclude its presentation quickly.
“We’re not going to try to run the clock out,” Jay Sekulow, a lead lawyer, said on Thursday, meaning he does not intend to use more time than needed.
He pledged to mount a “vigorous defence.”
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Democrats say Trump’s removal over the Ukraine affair is necessary to protect the country’s democracy, while Republicans have blasted the move as a partisan attempt to reverse the president’s victory in the 2016 election.
Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to help tarnish his domestic political rival.