Trump’s defense must include Joe and Hunter Biden’s Ukraine dealings, the president’s lawyer claims 

Former US Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and their work in the Ukraine is ‘relevant evidence’ in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, one of the president’s defense lawyers claim. 

The Democratic front-runner and his son could even be called to testify if the Senate votes to permit witnesses next week. 

Trump’s team claim that any discussion on the president’s call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have to take the Bidens and their actions in the country into account. 

The President’s defense team began their case for Trump’s acquittal on Saturday after Democrats spent three days outlining their arguments for impeachment. Trump’s team surprisingly didn’t name Joe and Hunter Biden by name.

  

Hunter and Joe Biden (pictured at the World Food Program Awards in 2016) have ‘relevant evidence’ that could see them called as witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial

Robert Ray, one of the President's defense lawyers, claims Joe and Hunter Biden must be considered in any investigation into President Trump's call with Ukranian President Zelensky

Robert Ray, one of the President’s defense lawyers, claims Joe and Hunter Biden must be considered in any investigation into President Trump’s call with Ukranian President Zelensky

Speaking before they began their case, Robert Ray, one of the president’s defense lawyers, stated that the Bidens’ dealings in the Ukraine is ‘relevant evidence’ in the impeachment trial and they could be summoned to testify if the Senate votes to allow witnesses next week. 

The lawyer implies that as the Trump and Zelensky conversation was about a potential investigation into the Bidens, the merits of such an investigation would also need to be addressed. 

Trump allies claim Joe Biden, when he was vice president, pushed the Ukraine to fire a prosecutor to help the company Hunter Biden worked with.

Joe Biden said he was following international and Obama administration policy in regards to the prosecutor, about whom there were concerns was not doing enough to fight corruption.

Hunter Biden has previously said he never discussed his work in Ukraine or China with his father.   

President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the press during a recess in the impeachment trial as he began the president's defense on Saturday morning

President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow speaks to the press during a recess in the impeachment trial as he began the president’s defense on Saturday morning

Trump's defense lawyer Robert Ray claims there was more evidence to impeach Clinton

Trump’s defense lawyer Robert Ray claims there was more evidence to impeach Clinton

‘So you can expect if witnesses were called, it’s not going to be just a situation where the House managers get to call the witnesses they want,’ Ray said in an interview on the Yahoo News podcast Skullduggery.

‘If your big contention here is that there was an improper motive by President Trump in pursuing this conversation with President Zelensky relative to the investigation of the Bidens, it seems to me your views about that are colored or affected by whether or not you think there was merit to such an investigation,’ Ray continued. 

‘Seems to me that’s relevant evidence.

‘And after all, who’s the defendant on trial in this matter? The president. He’s entitled to a defense. It’s a rather odd concept to say, ‘Oh no, no, no. You can’t present a defense with regard to the Bidens. That’s irrelevant.’ Really?’  

The call to testify could become uncomfortable and potentially embarrassing for the Democratic front runner as new polls emerge showing that Bernie Sanders is pulling ahead in Iowa.   

This is the second impeachment of a U.S. President that Ray has been involved in.

He headed the Office of the Independent Counsel from 1999 until it closed for business in 2002 and he wrote the final words on the scandals of the Clinton years. 

That included the report on Monica Lewinsky, the report on the savings and loan misconduct claims which came to be known as Whitewater, and the report on Travelgate, the White House travel office’s firing and file-gate, claims of improper access to the FBI’s background reports.  

He was a last-minute pic for Trump’s defense team, only being announced on Friday, January 17.  

Jay Sekulow, personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, attorney Eric Herschmann, and Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, arrive to being the president's defense on Saturday

Jay Sekulow, personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, attorney Eric Herschmann, and Pat Cipollone, White House counsel, arrive to being the president’s defense on Saturday

It is still undecided if witnesses will appear in the impeachment trial as the Senate is to vote on whether they will be permitted next week. 

When Trump’s team began their defense on Saturday they argued that witnesses were not needed as the allegations made against the president were not enough to justify removing him from office.  

Ray claimed that the two articles brought against Trump — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress —have less substance than those brought against Clinton because they do not amount to a crime. 

‘For the first time in our history, we have articles that do not allege crimes,’ Ray said. 

‘And even in the case of Bill Clinton… there was bipartisan support that understood that crimes had been committed. The only question was whether or not those crimes were such high crimes constituting an abuse of the president’s oath of office that was sufficient to warrant the president’s removal from office. 

‘You want to talk about whether or not bribery was committed, then we can talk about that,’ Ray added regarding Trump’s impeachment versus Clinton’s.  

‘And if the Democrats thought it was so persuasive that bribery was shown here, why didn’t they charge it? And the reason they didn’t charge it is because there’s insufficient evidence to show that bribery was committed.’

Ray offered few other details of what the team’s defense would include before they began on Saturday morning, apart from repeating that the ‘fuzzy,’ ‘nebulous’ and ‘standardless’ articles of impeachment passed by the House would be a main line of attack. 

The president laid out the team’s attack line in a tweet ahead of the trial – saying his lawyers will go after prominent Democrats Adam Schiff, Chuck Schumer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had no formal role in the making the impeachment case before the Senate.

‘Our case against lyin’, cheatin’, liddle’ Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, Nervous Nancy Pelosi, their leader, dumb as a rock AOC, & the entire Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrat Party, starts today at 10:00 A.M. on @FoxNews, @OANN or Fake News @CNN or Fake News MSDNC!,’ Trump tweeted Saturday morning about 20 minutes before the trial began.

Despite being the president’s personal counsel, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is not a member of the impeachment defense team but has claimed that he will reveal information on the Bidens that will confirm they are corrupt. 

Donald Trump tweeted about his defense team's approach 20 minutes before it began

Donald Trump tweeted about his defense team’s approach 20 minutes before it began

Rudy Giuliani continues to claim he has evidence to prove the Bidens are corrupt

Rudy Giuliani continues to claim he has evidence to prove the Bidens are corrupt

He had first promised new evidence when he appeared on Fox & Friends and vowed by Friday to release proof of what he claims is deep corruption involving Ukraine and the Bidens. 

‘This ends, hopefully, with Biden finally being put under investigation,’ he said

‘You don’t think if these things were said about Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr., they wouldn’t be under investigation immediately?’

Giuliani is yet to release the new information. 

The president has made Hunter Biden and his work in the Ukraine and China a frequent target of his political taunts at his campaign rallies.  

Neither Biden has been charged with any wrong doing.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk