Posted on 01/29/2020 8:47:07 AM PST by Jim Robinson
Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 8
You wrote.....”it’s not anybody’s right except the President to waive executive privilege. The Senate cannot vote it away, and the Chief Justice cannot unilaterally decide it away. The President still has the right of access to the courts to litigate his claim of executive privilege there. If the courts decide he has to respond to the subpoena and he still declines to, then that’s a different matter.”
But the House managers said they’d abide by roberts being ‘the decider’ if or not a witness is relative to the trial...and asked the senate Lawyers if they’d agree to that....(There’s the trap)..Sekulow said No!
It’s been true from the beginning of the trial their strategy ‘was’ to pressure the Senate to call the witnesses that they failed to call. (They want witnesses really really badly!)....and they want this mess to go in and out of courts and objections whcih they will surely bring to the table.
This is about buying time to extend this trial as long as possible and it wuld surely go up until the election and likely beyond....
The impeachment was supposed to start with the release of the Mueller Report.
Guess that didn't work out for them.
Oh... so you see boobs which just happen to talk? LOL
In the Clinton trial, this was done by vote of the Senators. See The Impeachment Trial of President William Clinton, by Douglas O. Linder (2005).
Trial in the SenateNote that none of the witnesses called in the Clinton trial were senior advisors of the President who would be likely to be blocked via executive privilege.[snip]
The next day, the Senate met in a closed session to hammer out a bipartisan plan (passed on a vote of 100 to 0) for procedural rules to govern the trial. Each side would get twenty-four hours to present its case without witnesses. The Senators would then have two days for a question-and-answer session, Only after that would the Senate vote on motions to dismiss or requests for witnesses.
The House managers, who would prosecute Clinton in the Senate, plotted strategy. A key question they faced was whether to call live witnesses and, if so, how many and which ones. A preliminary list drawn up included many names: the judge in Jones case, Susan Weber Wright, Monica Lewinsky, Secret Service agents, Kathleen Willey (a White House volunteer who claimed to have been groped by Clinton), Vernon Jordan, various Clinton aides, and even New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (who, as a former U. S. attorney, could address the subject of prosecutions of public officials). Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, and Minority Leader Tom Daschle, were not, however, thrilled at the prospect of live witnesses. They saw live witnesses as a threat to their desire to stage a speedy and dignified trial that would not become an embarrassing national spectacle. Both leaders understood that the prospects of at least a dozen Democratic Senators voting to convict, the minimum necessary for the required two-thirds vote, were exceedingly slim--barring some new shocking revelation about the President's conduct.
[snip]
The day after the question-and-answer period, Monica Lewinsky, having been ordered to fly from Los Angeles to Washington to meet with the House managers, reluctantly appeared at the Capitol's Mayflower Hotel to discuss with three congressman her possible testimony in the Senate trial. Lewinsky was worried, telling a friend: "I'm nervous about what he'll [Starr] will do to me if he doesn't get what he wants." Lewinsky, after receiving assurances that her answers were covered by her immunity agreement, answered the managers' questions. The questions ranged from why she kept her stained dress (it made her look fat) to what she thought should happen to Clinton ("I think he should be censured but not removed"). The managers concluded from their interview that Lewinsky would make a great live witness. They narrowed their wish list of witnesses to three: Lewinsky,Vernon Jordan, and Sidney Blumenthal. The media frenzy surrounding Lewinsky's return to Washington, however, was giving some Republican senators second thoughts about whether they wanted her or any other live trial witnesses.
[snip]
Over the first three days in February, House managers deposed Lewinsky, Jordan, and Blumenthal. Lewinsky's deposition took place in a hotel suite before a throng of over forty attorneys and congressional aides. Under Congressman Edward Bryant's inartful questioning, she proved a dominating and unhelpful witnesses, often answering with just a "yes" or a "no." She described her present feelings toward the President as "mixed" and claimed that she filed her false affidavit in the Jones case for her own interests, not Clinton's. Most observers left the deposition believing that Lewinsky was no victim. Tom Griffin, the Senate's chief lawyer, having witnessed the deposition, described it to Trent Lott as "a disaster."
Support for live witnesses collapsed after the Lewinsky deposition. The Senate voted 70 to 30 against issuing Lewinsky a subpoena to testify. Instead, on a 62 to 38 vote, the Senate authorized each side to show video excerpts of deposition testimony by each of the three witnesses. On February 6, the managers projected video images of Lewinsky, Jordan, and Blumenthal on four flat screens at the front of the chamber. Clinton's lawyers did the same, offering an uninterrupted twenty-minute clip of Lewinsky that showed her intelligence and near total control of her questioner.
Also note that it was the Senate, via voting, that made all the decisions. It was NOT the Chief Justice in any way making decisions regarding the admissibility of witnesses.
-PJ
LOL..that’s right she is too young.......can you see them changing the age rules even going to court so that she can????? .....
I expect the demon rat cheating in the up coming election to be at astonishing levels, so that even if they cannot defeat Trump they can take the Senate and hold the House. Schumer is a very dangerous traitor to this Republic, and he has thousands of accomplices.
Thanks for the reminder of what went down...I remember that now....but also that Clinton ‘admittd his guilt’... So did Nixon...Trump’s consistently denied any guilt.
I understand “It was NOT the Chief Justice in any way making decisions regarding the admissibility of witnesses”.....But that’s exactly what Schiff and the Dems want and are pressing for. Even if not pres’s Senior Advisors just giving Roberts the position of decider is a tactic they will well use to draw this out.
If anything, I've been arguing with Rummychick.
-PJ
exactly....this is all about protecting their butts from their own criminal corruption. Keep the light shined on Trump 24/7....and milk the trial out as long as possible...
They’re out to destroy no matter which angle is used....and they could careless what people think of them......it’s better than jail!
Oh I’m not seeing you at all as arguing....rather I’m trying to grasp and sustain a handle on what is actually going on. So just sharing how I’m viewing this.....I sure don’t have the legalize to begin to understand it all.But I do know tactics and there’s a lot being played.
-PJ
“what I thought I heard...slow, broken up speaking, by Bondi.”
Were you watching, too, or just listening? I was watching and it made perfect sense.
“I wish I hadn’t missed Bondi.”
I thought she was excellent, and preferred to give perfect information (even if it took 4 seconds) rather than glibly (Schiff-ly) throw out a date that might have been wrong.
Elise StefanikVerified account @EliseStefanik 14h14 hours ago
"What a stunning turn of events today to hear Adam Schiff declare from the well of the United States Senate that it is impeachable for a sitting President to allow the Department of Justice to investigate a political rival’s campaign 2016.
Crossfire Hurricane."
But you are so right. These would be overlords need to be reminded that that they serve the citizenry, not rule over them. The GOP needs to see torches and pitchforks waiting outside their windows to stiffen whatever passes for their spines.
_________
Great point.
Exactly... For the Rats it's all about Nov. 2020...and quite possibly the same applies to Romney. I believe if he can find any cover he will vote to dump Trump. I know this sounds incredible, and perhaps it is; but Romney's ego knows no bounds. The biological clock is ticking, and a desperate play at the convention is not beyond this narcissist.
Mittens and at least one offspring are involved in Burisma, too. I think this is why Mitt wanted the SoS job-to keep the $$ flowing-and to control it. An M&A plot to plunder the US and break it up.
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