Trump’s trial nears end

WASHINGTON: Democratic prosecutors, declaring that "no one is above the law," made a last-ditch appeal to senators at US President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Monday to vote to remove him from office for abuse of power.

"Your duty demands that you convict President Trump," Colorado lawmaker Jason Crow said as prosecutors began presenting their closing arguments at just the third impeachment trial in US history.

"How many falsehoods can we take?" Crow asked the 100 members of the Senate who are serving as jurors and will decide the president’s fate. "When will it be one too many?"

The Senate is to vote at 4:00 pm (2100 GMT) on Wednesday on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and the Republican president is all but certain of being acquitted.

Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate to 47 for the Democrats, but a two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is needed to remove a president from office.

Crow, one of the seven members of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives who have argued the case against the president in the Senate, said impeachment was an "extraordinary remedy" to be used in only "rare instances of grave misconduct."

"It is in the Constitution for a reason," he said. "In America, nobody is above the law, even those elected president of the United States." The House of Representatives impeached Trump on December 18 for withholding $391 million in military aid to Ukraine to demand that Kiev open an investigation into his potential November election rival, Democrat Joe Biden.

"Donald Trump has betrayed his oath to protect and defend the Constitution," said Adam Schiff, the California lawmaker who has served as the chief House prosecutor.

"But it’s not too late for us to honor ours. "Today we urge you, in the face of overwhelming evidence of the president’s guilt, and knowing that if left in office he will continue to seek foreign interference in the next election, vote to convict on both articles of impeachment and remove from office Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States," Schiff said.