On Sunday, new Trump defense attorney Robert Ray, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News that House Democrats’ efforts to remove President Donald Trump from office through impeachment is illegitimate because it was a partisan event that saw no support from the opposition.
“I think the president’s principal defense – and you saw it in the answer that was interposed over the weekend – is very simple. This is an entirely partisan and, therefore, illegitimate effort by House Democrats to remove a president from office,” Ray said.
Ray continued, “And the remedy for that is the United States Senate, as envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. In order to overturn the will of the electorate in the 2016 election, and particularly given the fact that we are now in the middle of a presidential campaign for 2020, ultimately, that will can only be overturned with a bipartisan effort and overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, with a two-thirds majority, in order to remove a president and overturn the will of that electorate.”
Toward the end of the interview, Ray took a shot at House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has repeatedly said that Trump is “impeached forever,” by noting that by the time the Senate is done with its trial, Trump will be “acquitted forever.”
WATCH:
Robert Ray, Trump's new legal defense lawyer, outlines the main defense for the President and says he doesn't expect any Republicans will vote against him. He also credits Maria Bartiromo for the air time that got him on the President's radar. pic.twitter.com/d9QCikSkYD
— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) January 20, 2020
TRANSCRIPT:
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: With opening statements in President Trump’s impeachment trial set for this Tuesday, he’s added several high-profile names to his defense team, including Ken Starr, the former independent counsel whose investigation led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz, not a full-time fledged member of the team, but he will present constitutional arguments against impeachment.
Former federal prosecutor Robert Ray is a new full-fledged member of the team. And he joins me right now on set.
Good to see you, Robert. Thanks so much for being here.
ROBERT RAY, MEMBER OF PRESIDENT TRUMP’S DEFENSE TEAM: Thanks. Thanks for emphasizing that.
And, on a personal note, thank you very much for all the appearances going back now many, many months. I’m not sure — if not for you, I don’t know that I would have come to the president’s attention.
BARTIROMO: Thank you.
RAY: So, I very much appreciate it.
BARTIROMO: Well, congratulations. This is a big deal.
Tell me what the president..
RAY: Of course it is.
BARTIROMO: What the defense is.
RAY: Well, it’s a big deal because, ultimately, in the eyes of history, we are all going to be judged about whether or not we acted in the best interests of the country.
I think the president’s principal defense — and you saw it in the answer that was interposed over the weekend — is very simple. This is an entirely partisan and, therefore, illegitimate effort by House Democrats to remove a president from office.
And the remedy for that is the United States Senate, as envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. In order to overturn the will of the electorate in the 2016 election, and particularly given the fact that we are now in the middle of a presidential campaign for 2020, ultimately, that will can only be overturned with a bipartisan effort and overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, with a two-thirds majority, in order to remove a president and overturn the will of that electorate.
It’s very simple.
BARTIROMO: Do you expect any Republicans to vote for impeachment?
RAY: I don’t, no.
BARTIROMO: Well, let’s look at the letter that the White House, your team, sent last night, because the conclusion of that letter from the White House, says: “The articles of impeachment violate the Constitution. They are defective in their entirety. They are a product of invalid proceedings that flagrantly deny the president any due process.”
Ted Cruz just said the first 48 hours will determine a lot. What are you expecting?
RAY: Well, I think he’s right about that.
But I think you have also saw from the speaker, Pelosi, about essentially celebrating the notion that the stain of impeachment exists and exists forever. And the only rejoinder to that — and that’s the rejoinder that it is my job, and together with the rest of the defense team, to place before the United States Senate for their consideration — is the question about the rejoinder being that there will be an acquittal forever as well.
And that’s what we expect. That’s the — that’s the task ahead during the next several weeks.
BARTIROMO: Do you think you would like to see witnesses? I mean, witnesses can go either way. I know that.
But they could also open up this can of worms around Hunter Biden, which seems to have been forgotten at this point.
RAY: Well, that’s a — that’s a relevant issue to consider, obviously, because, if you get into the question, as the Democrats have alleged, that anything having to do with the Bidens was completely, in their words, a sham, obviously, your views about that are affected by whether or not you think there was merit to a Biden investigation.
But before we ever get to that, I think the core issue — and Senator Cruz alluded to this — well-founded — and I have said this many times — many times on your show — well-founded articles of impeachment both allege that crimes were committed and that those are the type of crimes that constitute abuse of the public trust.
Abuse of power alone — and history has shown this — similar to also obstruction of Congress, those types of articles of impeachment have been tried on for size before, but they have not fared well.
The core of the impeachment parameters allege that crimes have been committed, treason, bribery, and things like that, in other words, other high crimes and misdemeanors.
BARTIROMO: Right. Unbelievable.
Robert, thanks very much.
RAY: Thanks very much.
BARTIROMO: Robert Ray.