Republican Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Lindsey Graham met with former President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense lawyers despite being jurors in Trump’s trial.
Update:
Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) were spotted entering the meeting, which took place in a room near the Senate chamber that Trump’s team is using as a workspace.
Cruz told reporters after the meeting that they were talking strategy for the defense’s opening arguments on Friday.
“We were discussing their legal strategy and sharing our thoughts,” Cruz said.
Asked to elaborate, Cruz added that they were talking “in terms of where the argument was and where to go.”
“I think their job is to make clear how the house managers have not carried their burden of proof. They have not demonstrated that the president’s conduct satisfies the legal standard of high crimes and misdemeanors,” Cruz added.
Cruz also defended the meeting on Twitter, arguing that senators aren’t jurors and that “Schumer repeatedly confers w/ House managers, as always & fully appropriate.”
Asked about meeting with GOP senators who are jurors, David Schoen, a member of Trump’s legal team, defended the decision.
“That’s the practice here with impeachment. There’s nothing about this thing that has any semblance of due process whatsoever,” he said.
Schoen also said the senators did not give any indication of what questions they would ask during a question-and-answer session that could start as soon as Friday, once opening arguments wrap up.
GOP senators met with Trump’s impeachment team to talk strategy | TheHill
