Trump lawyer: Abuse of power, obstruction articles ‘have not fared well’

Robert Ray, a former prosecutor who was recently added to President Trump’s impeachment defense team, said Sunday that articles such as those passed by the House have historically “not fared well.”

“The core issue [in] well-founded articles of impeachment both allege that crimes were committed and that those are the type of crimes that constitute abuse of the public trust,” Ray told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”

“Abuse of power alone, and history has shown this, similar to also obstruction of Congress, those types of articles of impeachment have been tried on for size before but they have not fared well,” he added. “The core of the impeachment parameters allege that crimes have been committed, treason, bribery and things like that, in other words, other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Ray’s comments echoed those of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), who told host Chris Wallace earlier Sunday on “Fox News Sunday that abuse of power in the House’s articles was “so poorly defined here I don’t know presidents in the future can conform their conduct.”

Asked by Bartiromo whether he believed any Republicans would cross the aisle to vote for Trump’s conviction in the Senate, Ray said he did not.

Ray is one of several new members of Trump’s legal team announced last week. It also includes another former independent counsel, Ken Starr. Former Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz has said he is serving as counsel for Trump but not as a full member of the defense team.