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“You could certainly make a case for making it shorter rather than longer since it’s such a weak case. The case is so darn weak coming from the House. We know how it’s going to end. There’s no chance the president’s going to be removed from office.”

In public at least, Trump himself has indicated he actually wants a drawn-out trial, complete with myriad witnesses, so that he can combat the allegations at the centre of the impeachment proceedings, made by a whistleblower, that he pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in exchange for the release of U.S. aid to Ukraine.

You could certainly make a case for making it shorter rather than longer since it's such a weak case

It should be pointed out, however, that Trump also indicated, in June 2017, that he was willing to testify to Robert Mueller, the special counsel then investigating Trump’s ties to Russia. As it turned out, Trump only provided written answers, but not until November 2018. By that stage, Mueller had been trying to interview him for over a year.

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Recent analysis has pointed out that if Trump is in fact gung-ho for a full trial, his side may be hoping that he can benefit, as Bill Clinton did in 1999, from a public that is sick of attacks on an elected president. Clinton emerged from his own impeachment trial in a stronger position politically.

“Any time people try to lessen this legitimate president, in any way, his voters fight back,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said last week in a Reuters report.

In addition to the possible Republican dissenters mooted by CNN, Senate Republicans like Ted Cruz of Texas and John Kennedy of Louisiana have indicated they will back Trump if a longer trial is what he wants, Bloomberg reports. Cruz said: