The charge is inciting insurrection. The judge is the US Senate. The defense is "I didn't do it".
The Senate has the high burden of needing 66 votes to convict. They will have no problem getting 51 votes to ban Trump from holding office in the future.
There are probably 56 votes to convict right now, without hearing any evidence. The GOP has already requested a secret ballot, meaning there are probably 10-20 who would vote to convict if it could be hidden.
So, IF the goal of the defense is to prevent a conviction, they need to win one of three points:
1) Unconstitutional forum
2) No secret ballot
3) Didn't do it.
None of these defenses involves any assertion of election fraud. In fact, election fraud is irrelevant to the charge, UNLESS Trump intended an insurrection.
A defense of election fraud is basically a defense of necessity, that is, "You're damned right I ordered the code red". This defense, of course, is a guilty plea and a guarantee of conviction, and would make most lawyers resign from the case.
Best post of the thread.
If the defense strategy is to go mainly or solely on the election fraud, my guess is there will be more than 4-5 Republican votes to convict.
The Senate Trial is not the place to go big on election fraud. If that happens, I believe President Trump will lose and lose huge.
At least Trump isn't on Twitter blasting this idiocy right now. Jack Dorsey actually did him a favor.
1. You are falsely claiming that I incited an insurrection. I didn’t do it, and here’s the evidence ... etc.
2. You are violating my First Amendment right to free speech by prosecuting me for a political speech I made in a public place. (This should be included in the narrative because Trump doesn’t have the legal standing to pursue a separate civil rights lawsuit against Congress.)
3. You are persecuting me because I dared to expose all this fraud and these irregularities in the election process that effectively disenfranchised tens of millions of voters.
I highly doubt President Donald J. Trump is publicly discussing his case, and the burden is on those impeaching. Why would we believe CNN that President Donald J. Trumps’ defense is election fraud?
The impeachers are going to have a helluva time proving insurrection. Period.
Your arguments overall are pretty much the same as mine. THIS, however, would be devastating to the Republican Party should they actually go through with it.
I can't imagine that a conviction by secret ballot wouldn't have serious Constitutional implications, and it would tar the party overall as corrupt (we already know that, but still) and likely consign it to the dustbin of history. I can't imagine most serious GOP voters casting a ballot for the party that took that path ever again.
I know I wouldn't...
The amount of brazen con artists involved in Stop the Steal is shameful. Complete vultures preying on the usurpation of power.