trump impeachment watch thread

[boutons_deux]

Dershowitz is running a ‘bizarro defense’ of Trump:

Harvard Law colleague says ‘Alan is just completely wacko’

Dershowitz claimed that

neither abuse of power nor obstruction of Congress count as “high crimes” under the cons ution.

my colleague has it upside down,” Tribe replied.

“I knew that the Trump defense was going to rely in large part on alternative facts,

but I didn’t know they were also going to use alternative law.

There is no —

there is no legal principle that says something has to violate a federal criminal statute in order to be impeachable,”

he explained.

“When the impeachment power was put in the cons ution, there were no federal criminal statutes,”

“Allen is just completely wacko on this.

I don’t understand why the president thinks it will help him to have this kind of bizarro defense,” Trash "thinks"?

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/der...pletely-wacko/

[boutons_deux]

That Time Brett Kavanaugh Sat There as Ken Starr Argued Clinton’s Invocation of Privileges Was an ‘Abuse’




When Kavanaugh railed against “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” during his confirmation hearings,

he was suggesting that the 2016 election result and his time and role on Starr’s team investigating Bill Clinton had something to do with the allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

It was Nov. 1998 and there was a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio)

asked Starr for his thoughts on how cooperative the Clinton administration had been with his investigation.

the Clinton administration invoked executive privilege for the purpose or effect of delay, and that, for him, this was an “abuse”–

"I think if privileges are invoked for the purposes of delay and have the intended effect of delay"

https://lawandcrime.com/awkward/that-time-brett-kavanaugh-sat-there-as-ken-starr-argued-clintons-invocation-of-privileges-was-an-abuse/

[Winehole23]

Dersh is arguing that abuse of power, even if proven, is not an impeachable offense.

Dersh might want to reread Federalist No. 65:

The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed65.asp

[boutons_deux]

Dersh is arguing that abuse of power, even if proven, is not an impeachable offense.

Dersh might want to reread Federalist No. 65:

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed65.asp

Dersh's version of "he did it, and we don't care"

[boutons_deux]

CNN legal analyst argues Trump’s new ‘reality show’ legal team could blow up in his face

Trump’s new legal team for his defense in the Senate impeachment trial is stocked with big names and celebrities, most notably Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, and

the White House clearly hopes their supposed gravitas will help win a victory in public opinion.

“It’s obviously in keeping with the president’s reality show instincts, the big dramatic reveal, bringing back characters from last season — the last impeachment!

“This has all the theatrical elements that the president loves.

Ken Starr.

There are hours and hours and hours of footage of Ken

Starr making an impassioned case for the importance of holding the President of the United States accountable.

The importance of the United States Congress doing its cons utional duty in impeaching the president.

He wrote a memoir in which he described

his frustration with the idea that the Clinton administration would dare to stonewall.

Everything Ken Starr says in defense of the president, there are going to be clips to contrast with that, and

I think it’s going to end up doing is just underscoring the hypocrisy here, and

the hypocrisy of the Republicans more generally.”

Dershowitz,

“somebody who’s been implicated in a number of personal scandals,” she said.

“Somebody who has a professional reputation closely tied to people like Jeffrey Epstein.

Putting this as a person to represent Donald Trump at a moment

when the Senate is trying to decide questions of his character, of his fitness for office,

the idea that these are the people that are going to make those four or five moderate Republican senators comfortable …

and feel like they have cover to hold tight with Republicans and defend the president, I

don’t see that this is necessarily the easiest strategy for the president.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/cnn...p-in-his-face/

[Spurs Homer]

CNN legal analyst argues Trump’s new ‘reality show’ legal team could blow up in his face

Trump’s new legal team for his defense in the Senate impeachment trial is stocked with big names and celebrities, most notably Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr, and

the White House clearly hopes their supposed gravitas will help win a victory in public opinion.

“It’s obviously in keeping with the president’s reality show instincts, the big dramatic reveal, bringing back characters from last season — the last impeachment!

“This has all the theatrical elements that the president loves.

Ken Starr.

There are hours and hours and hours of footage of Ken

Starr making an impassioned case for the importance of holding the President of the United States accountable.

The importance of the United States Congress doing its cons utional duty in impeaching the president.

He wrote a memoir in which he described

his frustration with the idea that the Clinton administration would dare to stonewall.

Everything Ken Starr says in defense of the president, there are going to be clips to contrast with that, and

I think it’s going to end up doing is just underscoring the hypocrisy here, and

the hypocrisy of the Republicans more generally.”

Dershowitz,

“somebody who’s been implicated in a number of personal scandals,” she said.

“Somebody who has a professional reputation closely tied to people like Jeffrey Epstein.

Putting this as a person to represent Donald Trump at a moment

when the Senate is trying to decide questions of his character, of his fitness for office,

the idea that these are the people that are going to make those four or five moderate Republican senators comfortable …

and feel like they have cover to hold tight with Republicans and defend the president, I

don’t see that this is necessarily the easiest strategy for the president.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/cnn...p-in-his-face/

Ken Starr: “well, of course I said that a president stonewalling was criminal and impeachable- but THAT was a Democrat in office- THIS is regarding our lord and savior Don the Con Trump goddamnit!!!”

[boutons_deux]

Democrats Release Evidence Of Devin Nunes Role In Ukraine Plot

Rep. Devin Nunes was caught red-handed as Democrats have released text messages between his top aide and Lev Parnas on the Ukraine plot.

One of the exchanges involved Nunes aide Derek Harvey setting up a meeting with Lev Parnas at the Trump Hotel:

Parnas on April 19: Also do you want to interview the general prosecutor who got [ditched] by Biden? Also the anti corruption prosecutor? Let me know.

Harvey: Does tomorrow work?

The messages also show that Harvey met with Giuliani and Parnas at the Trump Hotel.

The messages are confirmation of Parnas’s story that Nunes was involved

in the plot but trying to lay low because he is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/01/18/democrats-release-evidence-of-devin-nunes-role-in-ukraine-plot.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&ut m_campaign=Feed%3A+politicususa%2FfJAl+%28Politicu s+USA+%29

[boutons_deux]

House Impeachment Managers File Crushing Brief Arguing For Trump’s Conviction

The Democratic House impeachment managers have filed a brief laying out their case arguing for Trump’s conviction and removal.

The House Impeachment managers wrote:

The Cons ution entrusts Congress with the solemn task of impeaching and removing from office a President who engages in “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

The impeachment power is an essential check on the authority of the President, and

Congress must exercise this power when the President places his personal or political interests above those of the Nation.

President Trump has done exactly that.

His misconduct challenges the fundamental principle that Americans should decide American elections, and

that a divided system of government,

in which no single branch operates without the check and balance of the others,

preserves the liberty we all hold dear.

The country is watching to see how the Senate responds.

History will judge each Senator’s willingness to rise above partisan differences, view the facts honestly, and defend the Cons ution.

The outcome of these proceedings will determine

whether generations to come will enjoy a safe and secure democracy in which the President is not a king, and

in which no one, particularly the President, is above the law.

The impeachment managers,

Reps. Adam Schiff,
Jerrold Nadler,
Zoe Lofgren,
Hakeem Jeffries,
Val Demings,
Jason Crow, and
Sylvia Garcia,

wrote in a joint statement provided to PoliticusUSA,

“The case against the President of the United States

is simple,

the facts are indisputable,

and the evidence is overwhelming:

President Trump abused the power of his office to solicit foreign interference in our elections for his own personal political gain,

thereby jeopardizing our national security, the integrity of our elections, and our democracy.

And when the President got caught, he tried to cover it up by obstructing the House’s investigation into his misconduct.

Senators must accept and fulfill the responsibility placed on them by the Framers of our Cons ution and the Oaths they have just taken to do impartial justice.

They must conduct a fair trial —

fair to the President and fair to the American people.”



The case against Trump is open and closed.

There is no doubt that the president did what he has been accused of doing.

The fact that

his defense is going to say that he did it,

but it’s not an impeachable offense,

concedes the facts of the case.

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/01/18/house-impeachment-managers-file-crushing-brief-arguing-for-trumps-conviction.html

[Chris]

[ChumpDumper]

Swear Parnas and Trump in. Let's see who lies.

[thispego]

God. This is going to go on for months :smh

[boutons_deux]

Repug orchestra of craven assholes clearing its throat

Cornyn Says Giuliani ‘Not Relevant’ To Senate Trial,

Calls Parnas A ‘Grifter’

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cornyn-giuliani-not-relevant-senate-impeachment-trial-parnas-grifter?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_ campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

[boutons_deux]

Ex-Bush aide admits GOP would have removed Obama if he did ‘one tenth of what Trump has done’

accused Republican lawmakers of hypocrisy on Sunday for for failing to honestly consider the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

Matthew Dowd,

“Deep in their hearts the Republicans in Congress know that

if Obama had done one tenth of what President Trump has done

they would have voted to impeach and convict him,” Dowd wrote.

“And Fox News would have been cheering them on.

And Trump would have been pushing for it from the sidelines.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/ex-...rump-has-done/

[boutons_deux]

Another orchestrated talking point

"Our confessed guy is indefensively bad, but your guy was just as bad"

Republicans Falsely Accuse Obama Of Impeachable Offenses To Defend Trump

Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) couldn’t defend Trump on the facts, so he accused Obama of impeachable offenses.

“In fast and furious he did exactly this,

he withheld evidence from the House of Representatives, and the Republicans decided that it was not obstruction of Congress.

The Democrats agreed and we did not pursue it.

Nancy Pelosi, Nadler all said that was not obstruction, and yet this case,

when the president decides to use executive privilege, they now say, oh no, that is obstruction of Congress.”

https://www.politicususa.com/2020/01...end-trump.html

Obama's imagined crime as fantasized by Repugs, is 100% different from Trash's confessed crime.

False equivalence rules, OK

So why didn't Repugs impeach the Hated Knitter?

[boutons_deux]

GOP Senator Brushes Off Trump Soliciting Foreign Interference: ‘Things Happen’

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)

doesn’t find President Trump’s attempt to

dig up false allegations against political rivals to be a big deal.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/shelby-trump-foreign-interference-things-happen?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_c ampaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29

Things Don't Happen

People Do Things, you craven prick

the prick leaves out that Trash did the "thing" of extortion using taxpayer $100Ms

[boutons_deux]

Tribe destroys Dershowitz

"Laurence Tribe
✔@tribelaw

.@AlanDersh comments on impeachment on Larry King Live, 8/24/98

01:41:04 DERSHOWITZ:

“It certainly doesn't have to be a crime

if you have somebody

who completely corrupts the office of president and

who abuses trust and

who poses great danger to our liberty.”

4:48 PM - Jan 19, 2020

[boutons_deux]

Schiff Accuses Intelligence Community of Withholding Ukraine Do ents From Congress

accused the National Security Agency of withholding “potentially relevant do ents” from Congress regarding Ukraine at a time when the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump is set to begin

intelligence agency officials were not eager to appear before his committee in a public forum to avoid disagreeing with President Donald Trump.

“The intelligence community is reluctant to have an open hearing,

something that we had done every year prior to the Trump administration,

because they’re worried about angering the president,”

the intelligence community is beginning to withhold do ents from Congress on the issue of Ukraine,”

“They appear to be suc bing to pressure from the administration.

The NSA in particular is withholding what are potentially relevant do ents to our oversight responsibilities on Ukraine,

but also withholding do ents potentially relevant that the senators might want to see during the trial.”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/schiff-intelligence-community-withholding-ukraine-do ents.html

[thispego]

Schiff Accuses Intelligence Community of Withholding Ukraine Do ents From Congress

accused the National Security Agency of withholding “potentially relevant do ents” from Congress regarding Ukraine at a time when the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump is set to begin

intelligence agency officials were not eager to appear before his committee in a public forum to avoid disagreeing with President Donald Trump.

“The intelligence community is reluctant to have an open hearing,

something that we had done every year prior to the Trump administration,

because they’re worried about angering the president,”

the intelligence community is beginning to withhold do ents from Congress on the issue of Ukraine,”

“They appear to be suc bing to pressure from the administration.

The NSA in particular is withholding what are potentially relevant do ents to our oversight responsibilities on Ukraine,

but also withholding do ents potentially relevant that the senators might want to see during the trial.”

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/schiff-intelligence-community-withholding-ukraine-do ents.html

NEEEEEDDS MOOOORREEEE

[DMX7]

Tribe destroys Dershowitz

"Laurence Tribe
✔@tribelaw

.@AlanDersh comments on impeachment on Larry King Live, 8/24/98

01:41:04 DERSHOWITZ:

“It certainly doesn't have to be a crime

if you have somebody

who completely corrupts the office of president and

who abuses trust and

who poses great danger to our liberty.”

4:48 PM - Jan 19, 2020

If President Trump is removed from office then there will be no one left to fight the battle against low-flow toilets. There will be no one left! Is that really what you want?

[ChumpDumper]

NEEEEEDDS MOOOORREEEE

Why are you afraid of evidence?

It will all totally exonerate Trump, so you should be in favor of knowing everything.

[pgardn]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...s-impeachment/


If Trump's action during that phone call stand, especially now that we know he used US tax payer money (employed by the Congress) as a carrot to have a presidential opponent investigated by a foreign government (and thus a foreign intelligence service), then we need to make it clear that presidential election law does allow the use of foreign countries to be used to interfere in our elections; By the in bent, and maybe anyone else wanting to run.

Let the red team write this one up. Lets go ahead and do it.
Seriously worried THIS impeachment is a trivial game for fun just to pick at an idiotic power hungry leader.

[Chris]

[spurraider21]

Give them hunter and joe, who cares. even if they are corrupt as sin it has no bearing on trumps misuse of his office for personal gain

[boutons_deux]

‘Wrong about the law, wrong about history’:

CNN’s Berman levels Dershowitz for bogus Trump defense

“Alan Dershowitz is wrong,” he began.

“Professor Dershowitz is wrong about the law and

wrong about the history here.

Presidents have been impeached and tried for things that are not crimes.

Judges have been impeached and tried for things that are not crimes,

including drunkenness, by the way, which is not a crime.”

“And not only does Alan Dershowitz — and we played that [clip] — disagree with Alan Dershowitz, but so does Alexander Hamilton,” he continued.

“This is what he wrote in the Federalist Papers Number 65. He goes:

‘Those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men or in other words the abuse or violation of some public trust.'”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/wro..._campaign=3521

rightwingnutjobs textualists / originalists don't care when originalism doesn't suit their politics, eg, that ugly run Scalia.

[boutons_deux]

Trump’s new lawyers are a ‘big middle finger’ to America

Joe Scarborough can’t believe President Donald Trump hired a billionaire sex predator’s attorneys to represent him in the impeachment trial.

The “Morning Joe” host can’t think of another president that would hire Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr to defend him in the Senate, and he can’t believe

those two attorneys are taking the opposite stance on impeachment than they did more than 20 years ago.

a president who has such trouble finding legal representation

that he actually got the

legal team that helped put together the plea deal and helped represent Jeffrey Epstein,

one of the most disgraced figures in modern American popular culture,”

“It’s a group composed in order to make a statement, and

the statement is one of unswerving loyalty in public to the president,

no matter how awful the cir stances, and the statement is also

a big middle finger stuck up to people who care about #MeToo issues.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/01/trumps-new-lawyers-are-a-big-middle-finger-to-america-msnbc-morning-joe-panel/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3521