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((Trumps impeachment #2 is being sabotaged by trump himself much more to come, it has just begun))
Trump put Senate GOP in tough spot with 'crony pardons' ahead of impeachment: Top Republican.
Republican strategist Mike Madrid similarly told Politico that he expected a few "unseemly" pardons, but that these were "a whole different level."
"This is pardoning your friends who are doing illegal behavior on your behalf, It's all of his henchmen." Madrid said.
While the move is an inside-baseball game, there were so many of the "crony" pardons that it creates a story around Trump's corruption and desperation to overthrow the 2020 election.
"That Trump's Tuesday night combined another tranche of sleazy crony pardons with revoking his 2017 revolving door lobbying ban he bragged would drain the swamp will burn in the legacy of his presidency," Ginsberg said.
"And not in a positive way. In his hubris, he apparently didn't consider, or didn't care, how this might impact the Senate Republicans who will now be asked to ignore his actions and save 'his reputation' in the impeachment trial."
Just as Trump was pulling out of the White House, it was also revealed that he rescinded his ban on Trump staff not being able to become a lobbyist for five years after leaving office.
In 2017, Trump made a big production signing Executive Order 13770, saying that he campaigned on "draining the swamp." But when it came to the end, Trump withdrew the pledge.
Last edited by Temple on Sun Jan 24, 2021 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
Temple Regular Member
Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29
Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Sat Jan 23, 2021 4:49 pm
1-23-2021
Calls for 'secret ballot' for Trump's impeachment trial -- to 'protect' GOP senators from violence.
Concern about the safety of U.S. senators will mark one major difference between Donald Trump's two impeachment trials.
The Trump-supporting insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol have shown how far they will go in their support of Trump, with some of the rioters seeking to "hang" Trump's own vice president for not going along with their conspiracy to overturn the election.
This has raised concerns that senators may not uphold their duty to the Constitution during the vote and instead vote out of fear that they may be endangered if they don't vote to acquit.
"February vote in Senate on whether to convict Trump should be a secret ballot in order to (1) protect safety of senators (2) allow them to vote their consciences " former Labor Secretary Robert Reich urged on Twitter.
"If Republican senators had integrity and if Trump supporters were peaceful, this wouldn't be necessary. But they're not and they're not. So a secret ballot offers a better chance of convicting Trump and ensuring he'll never again be president," Reich explained.
Constitutional law expert Laurence Tribe noticed Reich's suggestion and said it would be the "fairest way to proceeed" while doubting it could happen.
Journalist Kurt Eichenwald suggested it would be a simply task for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to deliver.
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Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Sun Jan 24, 2021 4:36 pm
1-24-2021
Chuck Schumer shuts down McConnell's attempt to stop Trump impeachment.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) let Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) know that he won't have a role in controlling the impeachment trial for President Donald Trump.
Schumer granted Republicans an extra two weeks to prepare for the trial against Trump, but the GOP took it a step further on Sunday, prompting the Democratic leader to shut McConnell down, BBC reporter Hugo Lowell reported.
"The only way to bring healing is to actually have real accountability. So we will move forward with the trial," Schumer explained.
First Trump impeachment lawyer flattens John Cornyn lie about presiding judge.
According to reports, Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-VT) -- not Supreme Court Justice John Roberts -- will preside over former President Trump's upcoming impeachment trial. Leahy is the president pro tempore of the Senate, making him third in the line of presidential succession, after the vice president and House speaker.
Responding to the news, Sen. John Cornyn fired off a tweet protesting the development, calling it "unprecedented."
"...never happened in all of American history," Cornyn wrote. "So there isn't a Senate rule or constitutional provision authorizing this. How does a Senator preside, like a judge, and serve as juror too?"
But Coryn's tweet received a swift fact check from author and former diplomat Norm Eisen, telling him that his assertion simply is "not true."
"The president pro tem has often presided in impeachment trials. Claiborne, Hastings, Kent, Walter Nixon, etc. etc. Presidents are not above the law, they are subject to the same rules as any other impeachee," Eisen wrote.
WHOA! the articles are powerful for impeachment!! WHOOOOA!!!
Raskin reads the full article of impeachment against Trump. Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) reads the article of impeachment on Jan. 25 charging former president Donald Trump
Senator Patrick Leahy taken to the hospital after presiding over Trump impeachment.
After presiding over the start of former President Donald Trump's second impeachment, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) fell ill and was taken to the hospital, his office announced Tuesday.
"This evening, Senator Leahy was in his Capitol office and was not feeling well. He was examined in the Capitol by the Attending Physician. Out of an abundance of caution, the Attending Physician recommended that he be taken to a local hospital," his spokesperson said in a statement. The 80-year-old senator is currently being evaluated.
It's unclear if he was tested for the coronavirus or if it is something else unrelated. He, like many other Senators, received the vaccine on Dec. 19 along with his other colleagues. He would have received the second dose of the vaccine three or four weeks later, depending on the type of vaccination.
‘QAnon Shaman’ feels betrayed — and is now willing to testify against Trump.
On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that the self-styled "QAnon Shaman" who was seen in pictures of the Capitol riot wearing horns and red, white, and blue face paint is willing to testify against former President Donald Trump — because he feels "betrayed" he didn't receive a pardon for what he thought was following Trump's orders.
Jacob Chansley, of Arizona, is accused of breaking into the Senate chamber and leaving a threatening message for former Vice President Mike Pence — who became a target of the rioters' wrath due to his refusal to overturn the election certification using a fringe legal theory.
"Lawyer Albert Watkins said he hasn't spoken to any member in the Senate since announcing his offer to have Jacob Chansley testify at Trump's trial, which is scheduled to begin the week of Feb. 8.
Watkins said it's important for senators to hear the voice of someone who was incited by Trump," said the report. "Watkins said his client was previously 'horrendously smitten' by Trump but now feels let down after Trump's refusal to grant Chansley and others who participated in the insurrection a pardon. 'He felt like he was betrayed by the president,' Watkins said."
Chansley is one of dozens of Capitol rioters now facing state or federal charges for their involvement, although there is still debate over how many people will ultimately be prosecuted.
'Fresh evidence' of Trump inciting insurrection to be presented at Senate impeachment trial.
The second impeachment trial of Donald Trump will look dramatically different than the first according to a new report by The Washington Post.
"House Democrats have sought out new cellphone footage of the Capitol siege as well as updated details about injured police officers as they seek to build an emotionally compelling impeachment case against former president Donald Trump.
The goal is to present the Senate with fresh evidence that reveals what Trump knew in advance of the Jan. 6 rampage at the Capitol, as well as how his words and actions influenced those who participated," the newspaper reported Friday evening.
"The rioting left five dead, including one member of the U.S. Capitol Police. In addition, two officers, one with the D.C. Police Department, have since died by suicide."
Democrats won't just be prosecuting Trump in hopes of GOP senators voting to convict, but will also be focused on trying the case for voters watching the proceedings on television.
"The effort to present new video evidence and witness testimony appears designed to make Republican senators as uncomfortable as possible as they prepare to vote to acquit Trump, as most have indicated they will do.
The prospect of injured police officers describing the brutality of pro-Trump rioters to Republicans who regularly present themselves as advocates of law enforcement could make for an extraordinary, nationally televised scene," The Post reported.
"The House impeachment managers are determined to present as much evidence as senators allow, to ensure a permanent record of Trump's role in the riots — and to force Republicans to witness the chaos and carnage one more time before they vote against conviction, several individuals familiar with Democratic thinking said."
The prosecution is also expected to use the words of Republicans like Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) against Trump, according to "one person working on strategy with the House impeachment managers."
"Our goal is conviction," the strategist said. "What story are we going to tell to get there? We are going to describe what happened as summarized by Liz Cheney when she announced her support for Trump's impeachment: 'He summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.' ''
Video is expected to play a key role in the trial.
"House Democrats are assuming they will be permitted to play a compilation of footage from Jan. 6, including newly released cellphone recordings of protesters attending Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally that morning, said these individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
The compilation will also likely feature footage from inside the Capitol after protesters breached it," the newspaper explained. "Video, audio and other visual materials are considered even more pivotal to making the case for conviction in Trump's second impeachment trial, according to aides involved in House Democrats' strategy."
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Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Sat Jan 30, 2021 6:43 pm
1-30-2021
Trump loses two impeachment lawyers -- as his Senate trial is about to begin.
Former President Donald Trump has lost two attorneys who were expected to play a major role in his trial defense at his second impeachment trial.
"With a little more than a week before his impeachment trial is set to begin, President Trump's legal team is up in the air.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, who were expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team.
Borger, CNN's chief political analyst, said attorney Butch Bowers has "gone in to this it trial knowing that he's likely to win, because of the votes we've seen on the floor already. So what would make an attorney leave a case that he knew he was bound to succeed at? You know, my answer to that... is saving your own reputation, that's something that you feel is unethical or don't want to do."
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Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Sun Feb 07, 2021 6:30 pm
Trump adviser warns he could be in serious jeopardy if criminally charged: 'No one wants to work with him'
On CNN Tuesday, correspondent Jim Acosta reported that former President Donald Trump's advisers are horrified by the legal defense put up at the impeachment trial — and believe Trump would be in serious trouble if he ever faced a criminal charge.
"It was brutal. I talked to part of the former president's team and Castor's presentation and how it was incoherent at times, and this adviser was candid about it and essentially said part of the problem for the former president is that he was just having difficult difficulty assembling a high-powered legal team. His first legal team essentially bailed on him about a week ago and this one had to swoop in."
"In the words of this adviser of the former president, Trump could be in real jeopardy if he ever ends up in a criminal court proceeding. According to this adviser, and this adviser said, quote, 'Trump is F'd if anyone ever charges him. No one wants to work with him.' That's how the adviser described this situation that we saw unfold at the Capitol with the former president's impeachment team offering their presentations."
The lawyers representing former President Donald Trump at his second impeachment trial have come under heavy criticism, including from people whom they cited as sources in their own legal briefs.
And now one of the Trump legal team's arguments in favor of the former president's acquittal in the Senate has fallen apart under scrutiny from CNN producer Alli Hedges Maser.
In particular, Maser says that the Trump lawyers made a blatantly false claim when they argued that the former president "used the word 'fight' a little more than a handful of times and each time in the figurative sense" during his rally speech on January 6th that immediately preceded the deadly riots at the United States Capitol building.
As a supercut video posted by Maser on Twitter shows, Trump actually used the word "fight" or "fighting" during his speech 20 different times, including one time where he told his supporters they needed to "fight like hell" or else watch their country get stolen from them.
Trump Impeachment Lawyer: We’re Here Because Democrats Fear Donald Trump as a Future Political Rival WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 9
Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyer, Bruce Castor, argued Tuesday that Democrats were trying to impeach him because they did not want him running for office again.
“Let’s understand why we are really here,” Castor said during the Senate trial. “We are really here because the majority of the House of Representatives does not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future.”
Castor argued that House Democrats were afraid of the American people if they were this concerned about Trump’s political future.
He pointed to a rich history of past presidents getting voted out of office by the American people after one term for a president that was much different.
“It happens. The people get tired of an administration they don’t want and they know how to change it and they just did,” he said, referring to the results 2020 election of President Joe Biden.
Referring to Biden, Castor continued, “He’s down there on Pennsylvania Ave right now probably wondering how come none of my stuff is happening up at the Capitol.”
Democrats, he argued, should allow the people to decide whether Trump should ever be president again, not just the representatives and senators in Congress.
“So why think that they won’t know how to do it in 2024 if they want to? he asked. “Or is that what the fear is … that the people in 2024, in fact, will want to change and will want to go back to Donald Trump and not the current occupant of the White House, President Biden.
Historically, Castor said, the American people were trusted with the decision about whether a president deserved to get re-elected or not.
“It has worked 100 percent of the time,” he said. “One hundred percent of the time in the United States, when the people had been fed up with and had enough of the occupant of the White House they changed the occupant of the White House.”
The Wise And Powerful Admin
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Donald Trump Legal Team: Impeachment Unconstitutional, Violates First Amendment CHARLIE SPIERING, Feb 8, 2021
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team makes the case that the Democrat effort to impeach him is unconstitutional and violates his First Amendment right to free speech.
“The Senate should dismiss these charges and acquit the President because this is clearly not what the Framers wanted or what the Constitution allows,” the memo from Trump’s lawyers — Bruce L. Castor Jr., David Schoen, and Michael T. van der Veen — states.
The Trump legal team released a 78-page memo on Monday detailing their case against the push by Democrats to impeach the former president even after leaving office.
“Conviction at an impeachment trial requires the possibility of a removal from office,” the lawyers wrote. “Without that possibility, there cannot be a trial.”
Trump’s lawyers argued that the Senate did not have the authority to hold a trial of a private citizen, citing Article 1 Section 9 of the Constitution prohibiting Congress from determining the guilt or punishment of a private citizen, or bill of attainder, a process reserved for the independent judicial branch.
“The Constitution only gives the Senate jurisdiction over the President, not the former President, of the United States,” the memo reads.
The former president’s lawyers also argue that Trump’s January 6th speech was constitutionally protected by the First Amendment.
“President Trump’s speech at the January 6, 2021 event fell well within the norms of political speech that is protected by the First Amendment, and to try him for that would be to do a grave injustice to the freedom of speech in this country,” the memo reads.
The Democrat article of impeachment, the legal team argues, are based on a false analysis of his speech delivered on January 6 in which he urged his followers to protest the 2020 election.
They argued that Trump only used the word “fight” a “little more than a handful of times and each time in the figurative sense” and finally called on his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically use their voices” to protest the election.
The memo also notes that Capitol Hill law enforcement had reports of a potential attack on the Capitol prior to and separate from the president’s speech.
“The real truth is that the people who criminally breached the Capitol did so of their own accord and for their own reasons, and they are being criminally prosecuted,” the memo reads.
The memo also argues Trump’s speech on January 6 did not inspire the riots because the rioting began before he was finished speaking.
“Protesters, activists, and rioters had already breached Capitol Grounds a mile away and 19 minutes prior to the end of President Trump’s speech,” they noted.
Despite the sergeant at arm's command that all 100 senators remain silent "on pain of imprisonment," an informal, detached mood descended Tuesday on the Senate's Republican side, where many lawmakers have said they oppose holding the unprecedented second trial of Donald Trump.
Chitter-chatter swirled. Marco Rubio flipped non-committally through a thick book. A sockless Richard Burr, bracing for a marathon session, stuffed his desk with snacks.
Freshman Senator Cynthia Lummis, perhaps not having received the memo about coronavirus precautions, sat maskless for 30 minutes as she pored over documents.
Even as top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer opened the proceedings by describing the incitement of insurrection allegation against Trump as "the gravest charges ever brought against a president of the United States," many Republicans met the declaration with a collective shrug.
And conservative Senator Tom Cotton made a point of working on a spreadsheet instead of focusing on the debate about the constitutionality of the trial.
But when Democratic impeachment manager Jamie Raskin played a 13-minute video montage depicting some of the most violent clashes of the deadly January 6 siege, the chamber fell under a hush, with senators riveted by the graphic images and chaotic audio.
Republicans and Democrats alike sat rigid as some of the coarsest epithets ever to color a Senate proceeding rang out in the chamber.
Then, they watched the chilling images of a self-described QAnon shaman and other invaders taking over the Senate itself after many of the lawmakers -- the same ones sitting as jurors Tuesday -- fled for their lives.
"It's not very often you have a trial at the scene of the crime," Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told AFP shortly before the proceedings began, speaking of the emotion that could weigh on senators as they sit in judgment of Trump.
"It was our chamber that was violated," he added.
"We were all party to the insurrection, we experienced it first-hand," said another Democrat, Senator Ben Cardin. "It's something that's personal to those of us who were in harm's way."
Not 'our future' But Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said he would not be caught up in such passions.
"The settings in which we hold the trial do not make (the events of January 6) more vivid for me," Cassidy said. "They're vivid enough in and of themselves."
They were for Raskin, too. The congressman from Maryland, managing the arguments against Trump just six weeks after his son died by suicide, choked up as he recalled how his daughter and his son-in-law, visiting the Capitol that day, "thought they were going to die."
Raskin pointed to the multiple deaths and gruesome injuries suffered during the insurrection.
"People's eyes were gouged, an officer had a heart attack, an officer lost three fingers that day," he said, before adding that two officers have since taken their own lives.
"Senators, this cannot be our future," he said, imploring the chamber not to ordain a "January exception" that would allow a US president to avoid punishment in the final weeks of his terms.
"This cannot be the future of America."
Meanwhile the security repercussions of January 6 remained. The US Capitol remained on effective lockdown, with metal fencing and heavily armed National Guard members surrounding the building.
Inside the chamber, the public galleries -- where a man carrying zip-ties that can be used to detain or kidnap people was photographed in a chilling January 6 image -- were all but empty, as everyday citizens were barred from attending.
The Wise And Powerful Admin
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Meanwhile the security repercussions of January 6 remained. The US Capitol remained on effective lockdown, with metal fencing and heavily armed National Guard members surrounding the building.
Trump isn't worried about impeachment because what's coming after could be a lot worse for him.
Former President Donald Trump reportedly fears that he will face criminal prosecution following the conclusion of his second impeachment trial.
One source tells Trump "has been asking aides and associates about his potential exposure to criminal prosecution after his impeachment trial is completed,"and he is worried that he could face charges that are not related to the infamous January 6th Capitol riot.
The former president may be concerned with facing charges over his infamous phone call in which he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the 11,000 votes he would need to overtake President Joe Biden's lead in his state.
Trump is also facing legal scrutiny from the New York Attorney General's Office and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for potential tax fraud.
((^^ that's prison time, ask Gotti and others)))
Trump is impeached Twice, that is forever and his history.. The impeachment isn't the big one it's All the criminal charges, his crimes, those trials are the ones that are deadly to trump and of interest to me.
The Wise And Powerful Admin
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Trump impeachment: What the Proud Boys did before president's speech
BBC Newsnight's Gabriel Gatehouse takes a closer look at the movements of far right extremists on the day of the Capitol riots.
We see how the Proud Boys were already heading to the Capitol before President Trump had even spoken at his rally by the White House. And video footage shows members of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia, storming the building.
But the vast majority of those arrested for their actions on 6 January did not have affiliations to such groups before the siege. Experts say that many more Americans have become radicalised since the election and warn that the risk of political violence could grow.
Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Wed Feb 10, 2021 6:58 am
'The hole that Donald Trump is in is going to deepen':
Legal analyst Norm Eisen warned former President Donald Trump on Wednesday that should be prepared for more bruising days ahead even if the Senate ultimately acquits him on the charge of inciting an insurrection.
Eisen, who helped House Democrats prepare their first impeachment of Trump, argued that the former president's impeachment lawyers had a bad first day of arguments on Tuesday, and he said that House impeachment managers had only just begun to outline their damning case.
"I think there's going to be more footage that America has not seen," he said. "I think they're going to break down the case, and Trump is going to be put front and center. He is culpable, he is responsible. We've just heard the protesters, insurrectionists saying, 'Fight for Trump.' I think the hole that Donald Trump is in is going to deepen."
Eisen admitted that it would be an uphill battle to get senators to convict Trump but he said an acquittal of the former president would say more about Senate Republicans than it would about the case being made by House impeachment managers.
"The United States Senate is on trial," he said. "How can they take the oath and promise to be, as Senator Cassidy said, impartial jurors?... There is no defense for Donald Trump there, there's no defense on the facts. Incitement of insurrection is a high crime, he did it."
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Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Thu Feb 11, 2021 7:14 am
Hillary Clinton Says Donald Trump Will Only Be Acquitted For 1 Reason
Lee Moran·Reporter, HuffPost Thu, February 11, 2021, 1:04 AM
Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that the only reason former President Donald Trump might be acquitted in his impeachment trial for inciting the Capitol insurrection is because his co-conspirators are members of the Senate jury.
“If Senate Republicans fail to convict Donald Trump, it won’t be because the facts were with him or his lawyers mounted a competent defense,” tweeted Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election.
“It will be because the jury includes his co-conspirators,” she wrote.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are among Senate Republicans who helped Trump stoke anger in the weeks leading up to the riot. They promoted the ex-president’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
Clinton’s post came on the second day of Trump’s trial, during which Democrats shared previously unseen security footage of police directing Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) away from the violent mob, and rioters smashing windows and searching for Vice President Mike Pence.
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Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Thu Feb 11, 2021 8:54 am
Subject: Re: ~ Trumps Impeachment # 2 -- Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:59 am
2-11-2021
Three Senators Violate Their "Juror's" Oath.
Today three Republican Senators (Graham, Cruz and Lee) met with Trump's defense team to advise them on legal strategy.
These three men are "jurors" in Trump's impeachment trial.
All three raised their right hand and swore to God the following:
"I solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: so help me God."
That's a sweeping oath, applying to "all things" related to the trial. In coordinating defense strategy with defense counsel they have clearly pissed on their oath to God.
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