Opening Trial Statement on Constitutionality
Rep. Raskin’s opening impeachment trial statement: “Their argument is that if you commit an impeachable offense in your last few weeks in office, you do it with constitutional impunity.” pic.twitter.com/lIrRiu36IF
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 9, 2021
Storming the Capitol
Rep. Jamie Raskin, serving as the lead House impeachment manager, opened his argument with a video showing the events of the Capitol riot to help argue that the proceeding is constitutional.
Impeachment Managers: Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a member of the House Judiciary Committee and former professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law. Eight others are on the team.
Presiding Officer: Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Chief Justice John Roberts oversaw Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial. The Constitution requires the chief justice of the U.S. to preside over impeachment trials of sitting presidents. But the law is silent on who presides over the trial of a former president, and the chief justice declined to participate in this one, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who said that Mr. Leahy was next in line for the role as president pro tempore of the Senate.
The Jury: All 100 senators, including Mr. Leahy, will act as the jury in the case. Sixty-seven votes are required for a conviction.
Trump Lawyers: Bruce L. Castor, Jr, a former district attorney in Montgomery County, Pa.; David Schoen, a longtime advisor; Michael T. van der Veen, the founder of a personal injury and criminal defense law firm in Pennsylvania where Mr. Castor also works.
The above are excerpts from Who’s Who in the Trial
Live Coverage Options
STREAMING NOW: Former Pres. Trump’s defense team presents arguments on constitutionality of Senate impeachment trial.
Follow along for complete live updates: https://t.co/nBvjuMRhrc pic.twitter.com/YEYnvDBTmO
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) February 9, 2021
WATCH LIVE — SPECIAL COVERAGE: The U.S. Senate holds an unprecedented second impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump. https://t.co/r34uvlyOOM
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) February 9, 2021
Also here’s How to Watch PBS NewsHour Coverage of the Second Trump Impeachment.
Where is this Headed?
Likely nowhere. I thought there was a decent chance of conviction but I believe I thought wrong.
Many Republicans are purposefully in denial of the legality of this clearly constitutional procedure.
Others are still beholden to Trump, wanting to carry the Trump banner in 2024.
Trump Dominance is Over
Regardless, the Trump era is over. As noted Liz Cheney Marks a Welcome New Chapter in the Trump Era
Also, Senator Ben Sasse has me cheering. He delivered a scathing attack on the Nebraska GOP Central Committe.
For discussion and a must play video that went viral, please see Senator Ben Sasse Has Me Cheering. Please Listen Why.
While many Republicans want to hide behind a rock, some are willing to speak out.
And Trump’s legal nightmare over tax fraud is about to begin. He pledged to “return in some way” and will, but it will be a lesser way.
All he can do now is make a mess of the party and a fool of himself if he tries a 2024 comeback.
Mish
Here’s hoping Trump has no future in politics….but I don’t think this will lead to anything.
Trump was calling for crowds for months while campaigning and no riots broke out. He then called from a crowd to go “peacefully protest” (yes he said it, go watch the video) and 150 out of thousands who came went ape and stormed the building. The prosecution will try and prove he incited violence…but if all the evidence they have is his now public tweets and facebook video, where he specifically asks for peaceful assembly, it’ll tank.
Trump will then show clip after clip of Democrat’s calling for unrest all summer long which will make his tweets absolutely benign by comparison. CNN was literally standing in front of burning buildings while claiming political movements aren’t riots.
It’s good Trumps gone; but this show will just keep him in the news longer….then fade away like the Russian-ruse. Sad all around.
Seems the Chief Justice excusing himself to sit over trial speaks volumes as to their thoughts on the legality of the issue.
We know congress does not care about laws they feel they are above all and can decide which laws really matter and which don’t.
Oh, so being president is like being the sun-god in the lame-duck months.
Got it.
Now why didn’t all those past presidents that you pretend to revere know that?
I’m sure you love the Constitution too…
Great time to pass legislation that should but won’t cause outrage from the citizens. Chuck Schumer is wearing a mask so we won’t be seeing his lizard tongue in action.
Castor was Sonambulent
Castor was Sonambulent
“Bill of Attainder” = “I got nuthin…”
Certainly worth a chuckle from lawyers that know their stuff.
,,,
Neal Katyal
OK, they may have topped their ridiculous English history argument from an hour ago with the claim that this is a Bill of Attainder. OMG. Next they’ll claim this trial violates the Quartering Clause of the Third Amendment.
Raskin’s “January exemption” was brilliant, completely destroyed the “He’s no longer in office” defense.
Bill Cassidy on why he switched his vote
Political theater is the new term for lying
Trump’s lawyers had a week to prepare and have a terrible case
They actually improvisationally modified their defense after Raskin’s open.
to what avail?
If I had an accurate crystal ball, I’d say, just thought it interesting they decided to trash their original opening argument, Raskin was very effective.
It was a very effective opening and a powerful video. Jaime Raskin was very effective. The House impeachment lawyers effectively proved the trial is constitutional. Bill Cassidy was so won over by the House presentation and so put off by Trump’s incompetent defense that he switched his vote.
By the way everyone kept asking why Trump’s lawyer kept covering his head everytime he drank a glass of water. He’s an observant Jew and wasn’t wearing a kippah.
Where this goes? It would be the greatest victory of all time if the Democrats got 17 Republicans to go along. I think they are lucky if they get 7. But public opinion counts and based on the first day it seems more Americans will believe Trump should have been impeached than at the start of the trial
Dream on. Next ACO and Pelosi will get up there and cry because they are scared to come to work. But they will send our kids off to war to die and be maimed to protect them.
It’s an all volunteer army, and no one is press-ganged into the police.
You probably get all trembly-chinned forthe big loser…
I don’t care if anything happens to Trump, I’d be fine with him golfing at Mar-A-Lago the rest of his life. What needs to happen are the Q followers realizing they’ve been duped so they can come out of the fog. Many of them already have, but a sizable minority are still trusting the plan with no end in sight.
While it’s far from optimal, we can function as an acrimonious society. We can’t function with hordes of crazy people roaming around believing that everyone outside their group is a Satanic pedophile. There are now many YouTube channels that feature disturbing videos of encounters with Q people who are borderline feral. I’m not even sure they could get along with each other anymore!
So, just to be clear, it is not the people’s’ house anymore. I’m not a member of either party but I get so sick of hearing phrases like “the temple of our democracy” and “sacred place”. Oh yes, this is the temple where our rulers voted for the Iraq war which resulted in over 100,000 deaths. Or here is the temple where our rulers almost unanimously approved the Patriot act that shred what remained of the bill of rights.
Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Michigan’s top-ranked Republican says MAGA riot was a staged hoax — and ‘Mitch McConnell was in on it’ Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey is floating a conspiracy theory that claims the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was actually a “staged” event, adding that it was “hoax” that was not carried out by Trump supporters, according to the Detroit Free Press.
I think they dressed the bullhorn guy up that walked out with the podium in their vision of what a republican redneck looks like. If these idiots think they’re going to keep it together imposing their BS on the other half good luck with that.
And vice versa.
What was Mish’s recent post about?
The dumbing down of America?
Personally I’m surprised they are even bothering unless they have the votes. I guess they need some Kabuki Theater to distract the masses from Covid / massive unemployment / racial tensions and a host of other important problems that they can’t or don’t want to tackle.
Remember in 2016 when Trump promised to ‘Lock her up’ and then did nothing after being elected. It’s more the norm not to take to trial those who are leaving office/power because it’s sort of a handshake agreement that neither side wants themselves investigated.
Surprised? come-on, these folks have been in the sun too long. Pelosi, the Grande Dame of Guam, lives off grudges. These folks are simply crazed and the commoners are well aware. Far more aware than anyone gives them credit for. From this moment the Dems gradually or speedily decline. Same may be true for the US entirely.
They are afraid of him in 2024 knowing how screwed up things are going to get the next 4 years.
A decade of law and order repeats taught me prosecutors don’t bring cases they expect to lose
Just because the jury’s tainted and stacked, you don’t keep a criminal traitor and his meathead fanbois from facing the truth.
“I guess they need some Kabuki Theater to distract the masses from Covid / massive unemployment / racial tensions and a host of other important problems that they can’t or don’t want to tackle.”
You can’t be serious. Finally, these are being acknowledged and addressed head on and with intent, with the goal of improving and solving them where possible, rather than authoritarian lying simply shunting them aside while searching for the next grift.
Trumplings and their Q cult are a mass of delusionary ignoramuses.
Impeachment can only succeed as a threat, where the necessary votes to convict have been ascertained prior to impeachment, as in Nixon’s case, whereupon the subject resigns and thus moots impeachment.
In each of the three historical incidences of impeachment, the defendant was acquitted. This fourth impeachment will be no different.
It is a strange circumstance where a Constitutional remedy has no practical application, except as a threat.
On a separate note, I have wondered how history would have changed had Clinton been convicted, which was a reasonable outcome given he was clearly guilty of perjury. Had the Democrats removed Clinton and installed Gore, we might have been spared the catastrophe of the GWB administration AND it’s possible the Republicans wouldn’t be as extreme in Trump’s present case.
Yes, we’re living on an alternate universe. The timeline split when Clinton was acquitted.
Let’s hope you’re correct. I’d personally like to see a wooden stake driven through the heart of Trump’s political future…..but I think you’re right. They will not vote to convict, no matter what the evidence is….and I did catch some of the audio in my car at lunch….I think Raskin did well.
What a bunch of unpatriotic cowards in the Senate……they just don’t get it, imho…that it’s a very bad precedent to set…to always vote the party line on impeachment. At this point in history, it looks like impeachment is pretty much a joke….on the American public.
Dershowitz is a scumbag…..reminds me of Rudy….way past his sell-by date..
” I’d personally like to see a wooden stake driven through the heart of Trump’s political future”
I’d wager money Trump’s done this on his own, give it time, You’ll notice his base dissipate.
It’s almost identical to the Tea Party ten years back.
Alan Dershowitz, an attorney who defended former President Trump in his first impeachment trial, was sharply critical on Tuesday of current defense attorney Bruce Castor and his opening argument in Trump’s second Senate trial.
“There is no argument. I have no idea what he’s doing. I have no idea why he’s saying what he’s saying,” Dershowitz, an opinion contributor for The Hill, said on Newsmax.
He’s trying to feed them their case……
Dershowitz:
Secretary of War William W. Belknap was indisputably guilty of numerous impeachable offences, to which he confessed as he resigned his office hours before the House unanimously impeached him in 1876,” wrote Dershowitz. “But two dozen senators who believed he was guilty voted to acquit on jurisdictional grounds. A close vote nearly a century and a half ago doesn’t establish a binding precedent.”
Bullshit. Why doesn’t it?
I read about all the cases anybody has cited…., which were all impeached federal judges, with the exception of Belknap.
What l think those cases say…..is that the Senate sets the rules for this..the Constitution gives them broad authority. The are judge and jury and the final say. What it really means is that the President really only serves with the consent of the Senate, when it boils down to it.
Dershowitz:
“For the victorious Democrats to seek revenge against Donald Trump would set a terrible precedent, distract from President Biden’s agenda, and make it hard to heal the country. Better to move on,”
Who is this guy trying to kid? Dershowitz has been completely partisan in all matters Trump….
Nothing stoppped the D-bag from volunteering to leadthe defense…
I think this impeachment was a mistake, Article 14 Section 3 may be negated by this impeachment trial result of not guilty under the legal concept of double jeopardy. I am not a lawyer so take this opinion with a grain of salt
It was a mistake…..but not because of that…..it was a mistake because it was always a given that justice would not……and could not……prevail in this very important matter.
So this is a failure that the Democrats should have seen coming…..going zero for two does nothing for the institution or the office…just shows how impeachment is not about justice….just about partisan politics. And makes an ugly roadmap for the next POTUS who feels like abusing the powers of the office.
It’s quite shameful, what’s going on here. The majority of Republican Senators are moral cowards who don’t deserve your trust or mine.
The Democrats needed a knock-out blow and what they got was a weak remake of the first impeachment in which Trump was acquitted. He will be acquitted this time also. It’s a stupid and counterproductive move.
The Democrat lead in the House is down to nine only as of yesterday. It was a lead of thirty-two in the election before. The House has a good chance of flipping Republican in two years. In addition as of January 29, 2021, Republicans controlled 54.27% of all state legislative seats nationally, while Democrats held 44.86%. Republicans held a majority in 61 chambers, and Democrats held the majority in 37 chambers. That is up significantly from the former election. The Democrat leadership in its myopia can’t see the forest because it looks at only one tree. Antics like this only reinforces the trend which is not going in Democrat favor.