Tag: Senate impeachment trial

Democrats Seek to Pre-empt Trump’s Defense in Impeachment Trial

New York Times logoThe House impeachment managers sought to undercut the central elements of President Trump’s defense, wading into a detailed defense of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

WASHINGTON — House Democrats sought on Thursday to pre-emptively dismantle President Trump’s core defenses in his impeachment trial, invoking his own words to argue that his pressure campaign on Ukraine was an abuse of power that warranted his removal.

On the second day of arguments in the third presidential impeachment trial in American history, Democrats sought to make the case that Mr. Trump’s actions were an affront to the Constitution. And they worked to disprove his lawyers’ claims that he was acting only in the nation’s interests when he sought to enlist Ukraine to investigate political rivals.

In doing so, they took a calculated risk in talking at length about Mr. Trump’s targets — former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.and his son Hunter Biden — and underscored the political backdrop of a trial that is unfolding only 10 months before the election and is likely to reverberate long after the verdict. Continue reading.

Democrats detail abuse-of-power charge against Trump as Republicans complain of repetitive arguments

Washington Post logoHouse impeachment managers laid out the heart of their abuse-of-power case against President Trump on Thursday — charging that his efforts to pressure Ukraine into political investigations were precisely what the nation’s founders wanted to guard against when they empowered Congress to remove a president from office.

The Democrats also detailed their defense of former vice president Joe Biden’s actions regarding Ukraine in anticipation that it will be a major portion of the White House’s defense later this week, saying Biden’s actions were in line with official U.S. policy at the time and not done to benefit an energy company connected to his son.

But a significant number of Senate Republicans remained unmoved and downplayed the case from House managers, dismissing it as repetitive and unpersuasive as they sought to counter Democrats’ narrative at a time when Trump’s lawyers must stay silent in the Senate Chamber. Continue reading.

NOTE:  Remember, the Trump White House didn’t supply a single document and blocked testimony from witnesses. And, the GOP Senate blocked subpoenaing witnesses and documents. So, GOP Senators saying things are repetitive pretty much proves there is no Republican party, just a Trump loyalist party.

Adam Schiff Chokes Up in Closing Argument: ‘If Right Doesn’t Matter, We’re Lost’

Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) ended Thursday night’s arguments in the Senate trial of Donald Trump by emotionally insisting that “right matters” and “we’re lost” if the truth is simply tossed aside.

“If right doesn’t matter—if right doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter how good the Constitution is. It doesn’t matter how brilliant the Framers were,” he proclaimed. “Doesn’t matter how good or bad our advocacy in this trial is. Doesn’t matter how well written the oath of impartiality is. If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost. If the truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost.” Continue reading (audio included).

Senate Republicans confident they’ll win fight on witnesses

The Hill logoSenate Republican leaders feel confident they will have the votes to block the Democrats’ attempt to subpoena additional witnesses and documents in President Trump’s impeachment trial, which could allow the proceeding to wrap up by the end of next week.

While the House impeachment managers have one more day to lay out their case against the president, GOP leaders don’t think there are four Republican votes to subpoena additional evidence to extend the trial, according to multiple Senate GOP sources.

Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) at most can win three Republican votes to subpoena White House witnesses such as former National Security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and likely will not even get that. Continue reading.

Trevor Noah Calls BS On Trump’s Threat To Show Up At His Impeachment Trial

He’s like that guy who “tells you what he’d do in a fight” but is too “busy” to actually fight, scoffs “The Daily Show” host.

Trevor Noah mocked President Donald Trump on “The Daily Show” on Thursday over his boast that he was considering showing up at his own impeachment trial in the Senate.

Trump said at a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, that it would be “great” to attend his trial. “I’d love to go. Wouldn’t that be great? Wouldn’t that be beautiful?” Trump said. “I’d sort of love to sit in the front row and stare in their corrupt faces. I’d love to do it.”

When a reporter asked: “So why don’t you go?” Trump said his lawyers might have a problem with it.

But Noah said he knows better. Continue reading.

Democrats hammer abuse of power charge, allege Trump put self over country

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Thursday used the second day of opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial to paint a dark portrait of a president who put his own interests above those of the country — and betrayed his office in the process.

During hours of fastidious arguments, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and his team of Democratic impeachment prosecutors laid out what they described as a self-serving campaign on the part of the President Trump to press Ukrainian leaders to launch investigations that would help Trump politically, even at the expense of national security. 

“President Trump abused his authority as commander-in-chief and chief diplomat to benefit himself,” Schiff said. “And he betrayed the interests of the American people when he did so.” Continue reading.

Do Republicans hate or respect Adam Schiff? Maybe it’s both

Some GOP senators have complimented Schiff for his impeachment trial presentation

To President Donald Trump and his House Republican allies, Rep. Adam B. Schiff is public enemy No. 1. But as the lead House impeachment manager makes his case against Trump in the Senate, the California Democrat has drawn some surprising compliments from a few GOP senators.

That’s not to say that Trump will stop attacking the man he calls “Shifty Schiff,” or that other Republicans won’t use Schiff as the scapegoat for everything they think is wrong with the House Democrats’ impeachment charges.

But knowing that the House is seeking Trump’s removal from office, regardless of what they think, some Republicans acknowledge that Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, is the best person to present the Democrats’ case. Continue reading.

Schiff tells Senate Ukraine interference conspiracy was ‘brought to you by the Kremlin’

The Hill logoHouse impeachment managers on Thursday zeroed in on President Trump‘s mention of a debunked theory on his call with Ukraine, alleging during the second day of their opening arguments that the president stood to benefit in his reelection campaign from the idea that Kyiv interfered in the 2016 election. 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spent several minutes Thursday afternoon focusing on the theory that Ukraine was involved in the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), one that Trump has continued to mention despite his own advisers repeatedly pushing back on it as debunked.

Mentioning statements from Trump’s former aides, including impeachment witness and former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill, Schiff described the theory as “brought to you by the Kremlin” and alleged Trump was motivated by his own political ambitions in raising it with Ukraine.  Continue reading.

Democrats sharpen case on second day of arguments

The Hill logoDemocrats on Thursday sharpened their case for removing President Trumpfrom office, kicking off the second day of opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial by zeroing in on the first of the House’s two charges: abuse of power. 

The proceedings come on the heels of Wednesday’s arguments, in which Democrats laid out a broad, if detailed, chronology of Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukrainian leaders last year.

Led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead impeachment manager, the Democrats say they’ll use Thursday’s stage to build on that broader base — to “apply the facts to the law as it pertains to the president’s abuse of power,” in Schiff’s words — as they press for Trump’s conviction and removal.

Wednesday’s arguments mark the second of what are expected to be three eight-hour days of opening statements by the Democrats. Trump’s legal team will then have the same window to present his defense. Continue reading.

Conservative columnist: Trump’s impeachment trial could become a ‘really long ad for throwing Republicans out of power’

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump’s critics and devotees, for all their differences, agree on one thing: in his impeachment trial, he is almost certain to be acquitted by the U.S. Senate’s Republican majority. Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin, a Never Trump conservative, notes in a January 23 column that “virtually all, if not all, Senate Republicans will vote to acquit President Trump” — and the Republican Party on the whole, she asserts, might pay a heavy price for it in November’s election.

Senate Republicans, Rubin writes, have “told us up front they were going to let (Trump) off, removing even the pretense of adhering to their oaths. They told us they were unserious about their oaths not by pointing to facts or to valid legal arguments, but by repeating cable TV news talking points that are irrelevant — ‘the House was unfair!’ — or provably false: e.g., ‘Trump was concerned about corruption.’ That said, the way they are going about this puts the interests of Trump — whom most of them know is guilty as charged and would have been impeached long ago if a Democrat — above their own.”

In the longrun, Rubin stresses, defending Trump when they know he is guilty on two articles of impeachment could do considerable damage to the Republican Party. Continue reading.