The Daily Fuckup

House impeachment managers asked Donald Trump’s lawyers on Feb. 4, 2021, to make him available for testimony under oath in the Senate impeachment trial, with cross-examination included. The request set out a window from Feb. 8 through Feb. 11 and said the managers wanted a response by 5 p.m. on Feb. 5. They framed the ask around Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6 and the factual disputes his defense had raised in its answer to the article of impeachment. ([raskin.house.gov](https://raskin.house.gov/2021/2/house-impeachment-managers-request-former-president-trump-testify-under-oath))

The letter was explicit about the terms: the managers said Trump could testify either before or during the Senate trial, and they offered to arrange the appearance at a mutually convenient time and place. It also said that if he declined, the House reserved the right to argue that his refusal supported a strong adverse inference about his actions and inaction on Jan. 6. That language did not compel testimony, but it did make the refusal part of the fight over the evidence. ([raskin.house.gov](https://raskin.house.gov/2021/2/house-impeachment-managers-request-former-president-trump-testify-under-oath))

Trump’s side turned the request down the same day. In filing its replication to Trump’s answer on Feb. 8, the House impeachment managers said the evidence of Trump’s conduct was overwhelming and renewed their case that he should be convicted and disqualified from future office. By then, the immediate testimony question was over, but the broader argument was not: the managers had tried to force a sworn account, and Trump’s team had chosen not to give one. ([raskin.house.gov](https://raskin.house.gov/2021/2/us-house-representatives-files-replication-former-president-trumps-answer))