Democrats call for Trump to testify under oath at impeachment

The Democratic congressmen who are prosecuting former President Donald Trump's impeachment have requested that the Republican testify under oath before or during the

process

that will begin Tuesday in the Senate.

Trump, who faces the charge of "inciting insurrection" after the assault on the Capitol by a mob of his followers, may decline the invitation, after which the upper house will have to issue a subpoena if it wants to go ahead.

The head of the so-called

managers

- the group of nine members of the House of Representatives who act as prosecutors - Jamie Raskin, sent a letter to the former president on Thursday proposing to carry out the interview between next Monday and Thursday of the next week and summoned him to respond to the request no later than Friday tomorrow.

In his letter, Raskin attributes the decision to request his affidavit to the written response to the indictment that Trump's defense attorneys sent to the Senate on Tuesday.

In it, according to the congressman, the president "disputes factual allegations", so the managers want to ask him questions.

The basic line of defense for the former president is that Trump did not incite with his words or his actions the revolt that a group of his followers carried out on January 6, that his harangues to the crowd hours before did not refer to the use of violence or the commission of crimes and that both these and their unfounded accusations of fraud imply the exercise of freedom of expression, protected by the Constitution.

Trump, who with the closure of his Twitter account lost his great speaker, has lived in his Florida mansion since he left the White House on January 20, the date of the inauguration of the new president, Democrat Joe Biden.

Lawyers are unlikely to advise you to testify in person.

Raskin has warned that if he refuses, he will use his silence as proof that the accusations are well founded.