Tag: Trump impeachment

‘Stop lying’: White House attorney’s bogus defense of Trump summarily discredited by observers with readily available facts

AlterNet logoAfter three days of House impeachment managers’ brilliant prosecution of President Donald Trump – and “prebuttal” of the arguments the president’s team was expected to make – White House attorneys Saturday morning began their defense of President Trump.

It’s not going well.

Deputy White House Counsel Mike Purpura (photo) has been making the majority of today’s arguments – they have decided that not enough people will be watching on TV so Saturday’s defense will last not eight but just two hours.

Purpura is not doing a good job – unless his job is to lie to U.S. Senators and the American people. Continue reading.

Assessing the Trump team’s 6-point impeachment defense

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s legal team in his impeachment trial began its defense on Saturday morning with a slightly more lawyerly version of one of Trump’s favorite tweets: read the transcript.

“They didn’t talk a lot about the transcript of the call,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone told the assembled senators in the Senate chambers at the outset of his remarks, “which I would submit is the best evidence of what happened on the call.”

That line, in itself, is a neat encapsulation of Trump’s case. It focuses on the rough transcript of Trump’s July 25, 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as exculpatory — while also asserting that the central issue is the call itself. It isn’t. The presented evidence shows a broad campaign of pressure of which that call was only one part, a campaign that is harder for Trump’s team to refute. Continue reading.

Trump defense team signals focus on Schiff

The Hill logoAt several points during their opening argument, President Trump’s defense team trained their fire on Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), removing any doubt about their intent to make the House manager’s credibility an issue at the impeachment trial.

Addressing the Senate on Saturday, Trump’s lawyers accused Schiff of repeatedly stretching the truth and creating false impressions amid his pursuit to take down the president.

“Chairman Schiff has made so much of the House’s case about the credibility of interpretations that the House managers want to place on — not hard evidence — but on inferences,” said Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel to Trump. Continue reading.

The impeachment evidence will catch up to Republicans and Trump — whether they ignore it or not

Washington Post logoDONALD TRUMP’S presidency has been, among other things, a war against truth. So it’s fitting that in making the case for his removal from office this week, House impeachment managers showered the Senate with facts. Over and over again, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) and his co-managers laid out the hard evidence that Mr. Trump used presidential powers to pressure Ukraine into announcing investigations that would aid his reelection campaign, and that he engaged in unprecedented obstruction of Congress’s subsequent investigation.

Videos of testimony and damning statements by Mr. Trump, as well as images of revealing text messages among administration officials, were exhibited repeatedly on the Senate floor, prompting some Republicans to complain that they were being forced to rehear the same pieces of evidence. So be it: GOP senators intent on exonerating the president without bothering to fairly consider the case against him should at least be forced to face the reality of his abuses. Meanwhile, busy Americans who took the time to tune in to the proceedings for even an hour or two between Wednesday and Friday likely heard a substantial version of the case.

Several strands of the managers’ argument struck us as particularly on point. One presentation laid out a 10-point proof that in pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr. Trump was pursuing not U.S. foreign policy but his private interests. The campaign was orchestrated by his lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who said publicly that he was seeking to benefit Mr. Trump, not the country. Mr. Giuliani convinced Mr. Trump that there was dirt to be found in Ukraine on Joe Biden; but a presentation by Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Tex.) demolished the claim that Mr. Biden acted improperly when, as vice president, he sought the ouster of a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor. Continue reading.

Emotional Schiff Speech Goes Viral, Delighting the Left and Enraging the Right

New York Times logoRepresentative Adam B. Schiff took a risk in telling senators they must convict and remove President Trump because “you know you can’t trust this president to do what’s right for this country.”

WASHINGTON — Senator James M. Inhofe, a conservative Republican from Oklahoma, has made clear that he intends to vote to acquit President Trump. But after Representative Adam B. Schiff’s fiery speech Thursday night calling for the president’s removal, Mr. Inhofe felt compelled to give his fellow lawmaker some grudging respect.

“I have to say this,” Mr. Inhofe told reporters Friday morning in the Capitol. “Schiff is very, very effective.”

Mr. Schiff, a California Democrat who steered the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump and is the lead prosecutor in his Senate trial, has long been a hero to the left and a villain to the right. But never has he aroused as much passion as he has during his closing arguments in the president’s impeachment trial. Continue reading.

Schiff closes Dems’ impeachment arguments with emotional appeal to remove Trump

The Hill logoHouse Democrats leading the impeachment trial of President Trump wrapped up their opening arguments Friday night with an emotional warning to the Senate and the country beyond: A failure to remove Trump from office would pose a long-term threat to America’s very democracy.

Equating Trump to a corrupt monarch, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the leading Democratic impeachment prosecutor, accused the president of violating this oath by putting his personal interests above those of the country in his dealings with Ukraine — and said he remains a danger to do it again.

Appealing to the senators who will act as judge and jury in the trial, Schiff urged them to put aside partisan politics and consider both the nature of Trump’s actions, and their responsibilities to uphold the Constitution. Continue reading.

CNN poll: 51% say Senate should remove Trump from office

CNN — About half of Americans say the Senate should vote to convict President Donald Trump and remove him from office in the upcoming impeachment trial (51%), according to a new CNN pollconducted by SSRS, while 45% say the Senate should vote against conviction and removal.

Nearly seven in 10 (69%) say that upcoming trial should feature testimony from new witnesses who did not testify in the House impeachment inquiry. And as Democrats in the Senate seek to persuade at least four Republican senators to join them on votes over allowing witnesses in the trial, the Republican rank and file are divided on the question: 48% say they want new witnesses, while 44% say they do not.

The poll is the first major national telephone poll since the articles of impeachment were sent to the Senate, formally launching Trump’s trial there. They are also the first such poll results since Soviet-born businessman Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani, publicly implicated the President in the Ukrainian pressure campaign during a series of television interviews. Continue reading.

FAST FACTS: Pence’s Involvement

Adam Schiff just described Pence’s continued involvement in Trump’s gross abuse of power.
SCHIFF: “Pence was neither surprised nor dismayed at the description of this quid pro quo.”
Here are the facts:
  1.  Pence planned to attend Zelensky’s inauguration, but Trump instructed him not to and sent the “three amigos” instead.
Jennifer Williams testified that Trump asked Pence not to attend the inauguration with no reason given.
David Holmes testified that Pence pulled out of attending the inauguration after Giuliani announced and cancelled a Ukraine trip: “We were told that Vice President Pence was likely to be that senior member, it was not yet fully agreed to. And so we were anticipating that to be the case. And then the Giuliani event happened, and then we heard that he was not going to play that role.”
Rick Perry led the delegation to Zelensky’s inauguration instead of Pence. The delegation included Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker — the “three amigos.”
  1. Multiple Pence advisers listened in on Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine’s president, during which Trump instructed Zelensky to work with Giuliani on investigations, and notes were taken for Pence.
Pence’s national security adviser, Keith Keellogg, listened in on Trump’s call with Zelensky.
Pence’s special adviser on Europe and Russia, Jennifer Williams, also listened in on Trump’s call with Zelensky. She took notes to inform Pence about the call and called Trump’s actions highly “unusual and inappropriate,” as well as politically motivated.
  1. Slightly more than a month later, Trump sent Pence to meet with Zelensky in Poland in his place. Zelensky immediately asked Pence about the withheld aid, and Pence replied in a way interpreted to be about Trump’s investigations.
Trump sent Pence to meet Zelensky with a message that the U.S. would not release military aid until they had assurances Zelensky was committed to fighting corruption.
Gordon Sondland testified that in a briefing before the meeting, he brought up concerns to Pence that the delay in aid was tied to investigations — and Pence had no reaction.
The first question Zelensky asked Pence was about the withheld military aid, and Pence replied that he wanted to hear about the progress of reforms, which Zelensky would have interpreted as code for the investigations Trump wanted.
Pence told reporters after the meeting that he and Zelensky discussed corruption and that Trump had him make clear they had “great concerns” about corruption.
  1. Trump met with Pence immediately before releasing the military aid to Ukraine, and days later, Pence praised Zelensky for tackling “corruption.”
Impeachment Inquiry Report: “On the evening of September 11, prior to lifting the hold, President Trump met with Vice President Mike Pence, Mr. Mulvaney, and Senator Portman to discuss the hold. Around 8:00 p.m. on September 11, the Chief of Staff’s office informed Dr. Kupperman that the hold had been lifted.”
Pence praised the Zelensky “administration for its bold action to tackle corruption through legislative reforms, and offered full U.S. support for those efforts” during a mid-September call.

Americans still divided on Trump’s removal from office, but a strong economy is boosting his approval rating, Post-ABC poll finds

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s approval rating has climbed to match the highest of his presidency, boosted by majority approval of his economic stewardship even as Americans remain deeply divided on whether the Senate should remove him from office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The Post-ABC poll finds 44 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s overall job performance and 51 percent disapprove. While views of Trump remain negative, Trump’s approval rating is significantly improved from his 38 percent mark in late October.

A 56 percent majority approves of Trump’s handling of the economy, up 10 percentage points from September and his strongest rating on his marquee issue since entering office. By contrast, 39 percent approve of Trump’s handling of his impeachment, while 50 percent disapprove. Continue reading.

‘This ends badly for Trump’s lackeys’: MSNBC’s Morning Joe warns GOP senators they’re doomed for opposing impeachment

AlterNet logoMSNBC’s Joe Scarborough ripped Senate Republicans for selling their souls to President Donald Trump — and risking their political careers.

The “Morning Joe” host praised Rep. Adam Schiff’s impassioned plea to GOP senators in the impeachment trial, but lamented that his appeal likely fell on deaf ears.

“It’s a fear of those who follow Donald Trump, who follow Donald Trump in the Republican Party,” Scarborough said. “It’s a fear of losing a primary election, and, then, yes it is a fear for many of these people, and I consider it to be extraordinarily weak of them, of Donald Trump criticizing them, or tweeting attacks at them.” Continue reading.