Trump Legal Team Blasts Impeachment Managers for Citing ‘Press Reports and Rumors’: Shows a ‘Significant Lack of Evidence’

Former President Donald Trump’s defense team took aim at Democrats on Friday, arguing they had relied on “press reports and rumors” to make their case against Trump.

Faced with a “significant lack of evidence,” Trump attorney Michael van der Veen argued, House Democrats serving as impeachment managers turned “often to press reports and rumors.”

“They ever relied on the words of Andrew Feinberg, a reporter who recently worked for Sputnik, the Russian propaganda outlet,” van der Veen said, referencing Virgin Islands Delegate Stacy Plaskett (D), who cited a claim by Feinberg that Trump should have anticipated unrest in the Capitol on Jan. 6 before they happened.

Feinberg worked for Sputnik from January 2017 until his firing in May 2017. He later penned a column for Politico claiming he was fired for “refusing to report lies.”

“The frequency with which House managers relied on unproven media reports shocked me as I sat in this chamber and listened to this,” van der Veen said. He subsequently played a highlight reel of Democratic impeachment managers saying that claims about Trump had been “reported.”

“‘Reportedly’ is a euphemism for, ‘I have no real evidence,'” he said. “‘Reportedly’ is not the standard in American setting in which any semblance of due process is afforded and recused.

“If you’re worried that you might ever be tried on this type of evidence, don’t be,” van der Veen added. “You get more due process than this when you fight a parking ticket.”

Watch above via CNN.

Editor’s note: This piece was corrected to reflect that Feinberg was employed by Sputnik in 2017, not 2016.