House impeachment managers, including lead manager House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA), Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), walk through the Ohio Clock Corridor as they arrive for the procedural start of the Senate impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump in the US Capitol in Washington, US January 16, 2020. R
The US lawmakers managing the impeachment case against Donald Trump filed a brief on Saturday laying out their arguments supporting charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress against the president.
The Democratic House of Representatives impeachment managers faced a deadline of 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) on Saturday to file the document, before the trial of the Republican president starts in earnest in the Senate on Tuesday.
In making their case in the 111-page document, the lawmakers summarised arguments made during weeks of testimony late last year during the House impeachment investigation.
They also called for Trump's removal in order to safeguard the integrity of the 2020 US general election, in which Trump is seeking re-election, as well as the US system of government.
"The country is watching to see how the Senate responds," the seven House impeachment managers said in a statement.
Trump's trial brief is due at noon (1700 GMT) on Monday, and the House's reply brief is due on Tuesday at noon (1700 GMT).
Trump's legal team present defense
Trump's legal team earlier presented its line of defense for his upcoming impeachment trial, a process they deemed unconstitutional and "dangerous."
This was the first time that the team, which the White House officially announced on Friday, has presented its arguments, modeled on those put forward since December by Trump and his fellow Republicans.
In an initial written response to the president's being charged, Trump's lawyers said that the articles of impeachment -- passed by the majority-Democrat House of Representatives -- "are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president," a source close to the defense team told reporters.
"This is a brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election and interfere with the 2020 election," the source said.
Trump has been impeached on accusations that he abused his office to try and force Ukraine into digging up dirt on leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by withholding $400 million in military aid and a White House meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
He was also impeached for allegedly obstructing Congress.
"The articles of impeachment are constitutionally invalid on their face: they fail to allege any crime or violation of law whatsoever," the source said.
According to another source, who also delivered the White House's response, the articles violate the Constitution because they are "the product of invalid proceedings that flagrantly denied the president any due process rights."
The impeachment process risks doing "lasting damage to our structure of government," she said.
The two sources also said that Trump had met with Zelenskiy at the UN in September and that the military aid had been released, proving there was no quid pro quo with Kiev -- although by that point, a whistleblower within the administration had already triggered the impeachment proceedings.
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