Democrats appeal to senators’ faith in final argument to convict President Trump

WASHINGTON — House impeachment managers, failing to get the Senate to subpoena witnesses in the trial of President Donald Trump, turned their sights Monday to the long-shot goal of removing a president from office for the first time in history.

In impassioned speeches, several laced with religious language and messages, the prosecutors asked senators to be numbered among the “Davids who slew Goliath” by exercising faith in the Founding Fathers and to convict Trump, who is “guilty as sin.”

“They gave you a remedy and they meant for you to use it. They gave you an oath and they meant for you to observe it,” lead House manager Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said forcefully. “We have proven Donald Trump guilty, now do impartial justice and convict him.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was momentarily at a loss for words to describe why he was so moved by Schiff’s final remarks. “I hope maybe it pierced the hardness ... of so many of our Republican colleagues. Let’s hope and pray,” Schumer said to reporters after the closing arguments. “If that didn’t do it, I don’t know what would.”