White House lawyers began their defense of Donald Trump at his historic Senate impeachment trial on Saturday, saying the president did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine and American voters – not Congress – should decide his fate.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said it would be a "completely irresponsible abuse of power" if the Senate follows the lead of the House of Representatives and votes to remove the 45th U.S. president from office. 

"They're asking you to do something that no Senate has ever done," Cipollone told the 100 senators gathered on a rainy Saturday morning for a rare weekend session at just the third impeachment trial in U.S. history.

Democratic prosecutors from the House, which impeached Trump last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, had not convincingly made their case that the president had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors," as demanded by the Constitution, Cipollone said.

"We don't believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they're asking you to do," he told the chamber.

"We believe when you hear the facts... you will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong."

House prosecutors spent the previous three days laying out a detailed case that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to open an investigation into political rival Joe Biden and the former vice president's son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company.

Adam Schiff, the chief House prosecutor, said Trump poses an "imminent threat" to American democracy and his guiding principle is "Trump first, not America first."

Cipollone argued that Democrats were asking the Senate to "tear up all of the ballots" from the 2016 presidential election and that they are attempting to prevent Trump from running for re-election in November.

"They are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history and we can't allow that to happen," the White House counsel said.

"Let the people decide for themselves."

'Impeachment Hoax'

Just before his lawyers began speaking, Trump fired off a tweet with insulting nicknames for leading Democrats and told his supporters to tune in to the live television broadcast.

The White House lawyers kept their opening arguments short – just under two hours – in part, perhaps, because Trump, a former reality television star, had complained that Saturday is the "Death Valley" of TV viewership.

Following the defense presentation, Trump claimed it had demonstrated how "unfairly" he has been treated and showed he was the victim of a "partisan impeachment hoax."

Trump's lawyers will resume his defense on Monday. They will have 24 hours spread over three days for their arguments but have said they are unlikely to use all the time allotted.

Senators will have 16 hours next week to direct questions to both sides and consider whether they should subpoena witnesses, something Democrats have sought but Republicans have opposed. 

The questions from senators will be submitted in writing to the Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial and will read them out loud. 

Shouts, glares

Mike Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state and a close associate of Trump, lost his temper after a journalist questioned him on the administration's stance on Ukraine.

He was questioned in an early morning interview to NPR radio on Saturday by journalist Mary Louise Kelly – "Do you owe Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch an apology?"

Reports say a tense exchange followed and then Pompeo ended the interview and leaned in and glared at her.

Kelly said Pompeo called in a meeting in a room and asked Cambridge University graduates to point out the location of Ukraine on a map. 

In a written statement released later by Pompeo, he said Kelly failed to point out where Ukraine is. "It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine," he said in his statement.

He also accused the reporter of "violating the basic rules of journalism and decency."

He said it is "another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this Administration."

The NPR's president and CEO John Lansing said he supported Kelly and called Pompeo's statement "blatantly false", and said they will not be "intimidated." 

(With input from AFP)

(Cover: President Donald Trump's personal attorney Jay Sekulow (C) stands with his son, Jordan Sekulow (L) and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, while arriving at the Capitol in Washington during the impeachment trial of the president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, January 25, 2020. /AP Photo)