Posted on 01/22/2020 7:37:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), one of the Democratic impeachment managers, tried to establish her party's case on Tuesday for why they need to hear more witness testimony and read more documentation before the Senate proceeds in the trial against President Trump. Her remarks came after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell presented his resolution on the trial rules.
The White House documents that Democrats have asked for are "directly relevant to the case," Lofgren said Tuesday in support of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's amendments to the resolution. Because, she argued, those documents reveal the extent to which the White House agents and President Trump tried to coerce Ukraine into helping his re-election.
The time to see the documents is now, Lofgren insisted. Not after opening statements. Moderate Republican senators like Mitt Romney said he'd only consider voting for more witnesses if it took place after the opening arguments.
There's no time for that, according to Lofgren. Among the individuals the Democrats want to hear from and see documentation from is former national security advisor John Bolton. He is the perfect witness, Lofgren suggested, because he is a "voracious" note taker. He must have written something down about EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland's supposed attempt to coerce Ukrainian officials by dangling a White House meeting above them if they do Trump's bidding.
Both sides have accused one another of dismissing the precedent set in the impeachment trial against President Bill Clinton. Republicans point out that there were no additional witnesses for his Senate trial. But Lofgren said that's because the president already provided over 90,000 documents. The senator recalls "walking over to the Ford building" to pore over them. Even President Richard Nixon produced at least 30 documents for his impeachment, she added. President Trump, on the other hand, has been "desperate" to hide his White House documents.
Waiting for this evidence, Lofgren urged, would "undercut" the process. She said they must move now.
Toward the end of her remarks, Lofgren said something that appeared to upend the narrative she had just tried to paint.
The House of Representatives, she said, "did its job."
Okay, the White House defense team shot back, then why the need for more evidence?
"It's remarkable that the first thing the Democrats do at the outset of the Senate trial is to say, 'we need more evidence,'" observed deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin. It's a "stunning admission" that their case is inept, he added. Even Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) admitted as much.
Although the House Democrats had 17 witnesses and more supposed evidence, they're "afraid" to present what they have, Philbin charged. The Democrats, he added, were admitting that "there is no there there" and they were "just trying to ram this through" before Christmas.
Philbin made a comparison. If he showed up to a court of law as a litigant and told the judge that they needed "more discovery," the case would be thrown out and the lawyers "would probably be sanctioned."
Schiff took the podium back and said that they are ready. But Philbin had a point.
Unsurprisingly, Lofgren and Schiff's presentations did not move McConnell. As soon as their time was up, the Senate Majority Leader called for a vote to table Schumer's amendments, and the Senate promptly voted to do just that.
Rich Lowry ✔
@RichLowry
Adam Schiff must be the first prosecutor to show up at a trial and say, “Gosh, there are a bunch of things I don’t know about this case but would be interested in finding out”
6,256
6:26 PM - Jan 21, 2020
Democrats are in a huff insisting on "witnesses" in Trump's Senate trial. Yet, WRT Bill Clinton's Impeachment,
fact witnesses to his relevant sexual proclivities were shot down, for years---by Hillary and Clinton's aides. ....using OUR tax dollars.
TALK ABOUT OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE AND INTIMIDATING WITNESSES FROM TESTIFYING---Hillary did it all.
Hillary went hog wild with tax dollars. She set up what she called a "Bimbo Eruption Team" in the West Wing of the White House
composed of tax-paid govt workers including then-Clinton aide George Stephanopolous....now at ABC-TV.
The tax-paid West Wing office office operated for eight long years.....and did nothing but shoot down, demean, defame and lacerate any woman who dared surface about Bill's sexual activities.
Hillary took delight in destroying women even though she knew their stories were true. (Hear that Bernie?)
These expenditures of tax dollars saved Bill's presidency, got Hillary elected to the US Senate, and gave Hillary the prominence she needed to launch the rest of her political ambitions.
=================================
So where's all the femiNazis? They gave Slick a pass when they should have been up in arms about boorish behavior from an alpha male, a serial predator using power over a lowly intern.....males they say they despise.
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Still pending is Juanita Broderick's petition to investigate Clinton's sex crimes.
It has standing because Bill Clinton continues to receive federal benefits.
<><>No criminal investigation has ever been conducted into Bill Clinton's sex crimes.
<><> a federal investigation is warranted because the crimes may have occurred across state lines.
<><> an investigation into the rape of Juanita Broadrick is absolutely necessary,
<><> Clinton's sex crimes may constitute civil rights violations because he specifically targeted women .
<><> Hilary's Bimbo Eruption activities constitute obstruction of justice.
It is very important to remember that the sharpest knives in the drawer are NOT populating the DemocRAT/Communist Party. Not even close.
The lawyering mismatch is about as severe as LSU vs. NW Alaska State.
Common sense Americans can easily see who they’d want as their lawyer.
Trump is going to come out of this looking much better.
Don’t be surprised if Pelosi hasn’t already prepared the knives to stick in the back of Schiff and Nadler as the designated sacrifices for this debacle.
“He must have written something down about EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s supposed attempt to coerce Ukrainian officials...”
There it is. They’re admitting they have flipped the process completely upside-down. Instead of finding evidence of a crime and then investigating and then indicting someone, they have made an indictment and now they want to start the investigation on the mere hope that they might find evidence of a crime.
In fact, don't be surprised if all of the House managers have spent most of their time rehearsing fake "medical episodes" just to give themselves a reason to: (A) get off the impeachment team, and (B) announce their retirement from Congress after 2020.
Obese, half-in-a-coma and confused is no way to go through life. Yikes!
I live out here in California where this dinosaur comes from the peninsula
and she’s one of the most loathsome creatures that California has ever forced upon America !
she’s been around about 1 million years and is a complete and utter moron -the worst kind as well
Is that Zoe? I knew her many years ago. Ouch.
I am 11 years older than this “thing” but she looks 20 years older than I do. That must be what being a democrat does to women. My gosh! Even if she can’t do anything about her face, she can’t do something about that mop on her head?
BECAUSE THEY ARE!
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