A day after he said the president's behavior "puts even President Nixon to shame," Rep. Jerrold Nadler on Friday accused President Donald Trump of being a "dictator" for his wanton violations and disregard for his oath of office.
The New York congressman, part of the seven-member team of House Democrats prosecuting the case against Trump before the Senate and the presiding Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, made the remark during the fourth day of the impeachment trial.
"Stated simply, President Trump's categorical blockade of the House, his refusal to honor any subpoenas, his order that all subpoenas—not even knowing what they were—all subpoenas be defied, has no analog in the history of the republic," Nadler said on the Senate floor. "Nothing even comes close. He has engaged in obstruction that several of his predecessors have expressly said is forbidden and that led to an article of impeachment against Nixon."
"If he is not removed from office, if he is permitted to defy the Congress entirely—categorically—to say that subpoenas from Congress in an impeachment inquiry are nonsense," Nadler continued, " then we will have lost—the House will have lost, the Senate certainly will have lost—all power to hold any president accountable."
"This is a determination by President Trump that he wants to be all-powerful, he does not have to respect the Congress, he does not have to respect the representatives of the people, only his will goes," said Nadler. "He is a dictator."
"This must not stand, and this is... another reason why he must be removed from office," Nadler said.
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The impeachment trial continued Saturday with a shorter session during which the Trump team delivered opening arguments.
Also on Saturday, the Democratic impeachment managers filed a 28,578-page trial record with the Secretary of the Senate.
This public record, said a press statement from the House Judiciary Committee, "does not include thousands of documents and witness testimony that President Trump is blocking from Congress and the American people" but still "presents a mountain of evidence showing the president has committed the impeachable offenses that the House has charged—Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress—and he should be removed from office."
