Senior administration officials previewed their defense arguments for reporters on Saturday for President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate starting next week.
What they're saying: Trump's defense characterized the impeachment process as "nothing more than a dangerous attack on the American people themselves and their right to vote," one official said per a CNN report.
- Another source described the articles of impeachment against Trump as "constitutionally invalid on their face," per CNN.
- Trump's legal team plans to argue the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, does "lasting damage to the separation of powers," and alleges there's no such violation of the law.
- Trump's team also plans to argue that the president "was within his rights" to ignore requests from Congress for testimony and witnesses throughout the impeachment process. House Democrats have indicted Trump for this in their second article of impeachment — obstruction of Congress.
The bottom line: A senior administration official predicted that the trial would take roughly two weeks and culminate in an acquittal by Feb. 4, when Trump is due to give his State of the Union address, Axios previously reported.
Go deeper: Trump's Fox-friendly Senate trial team...