Leahy isn’t going to allow it. This is so predictable.
I’ve been saying this for a while. And yes, Democrats will try to squelch it but they won’t be able to do so completely, and it will make them look bad in the process.
Seems to me that if the charge is “inciting a riot” and the defense is “They cheated and I am the rightful president” it’s almost an admission that inciting a riot seems like a fine and justified action.
For the record: I think Trump is the rightful president and I don’t think he incited a riot. But I also think this is an unwise defense.
Counsels might get disbarred if they bring up a not proven in court or even argued in court strategy. The smart person would focus on the Constitution argument. I wish all this would just go away. It just gives the Rats more amo.
Anything Steve Bannon is in favor of, I am as well.
If I were Trump’s attorney, my opening statement would be this:
“I represent President Donald J. Trump. President Trump won the 2020 election in a landslide. He is the President of the United States. I must object that the Chief Justice is not presiding over this trial. According to Article I, Sec. 3, paragraph 6 the Chief Justice of the United States must preside. Why is the Chief Justice not present today?”
I’d bait Leahy to try to shut down this argument. I would argue that the events on Jan. 6th were the result of a “mostly peaceful” protest against the most blatant election fraud in U.S. history. I would further note that because of that rampant fraud, several Senators weren’t elected legitimately because of vote flipping or rigged primaries to ensure the most radical candidate was nominiated to oppose a sitting senator. This is all political, so I’d through politcal bombs at the senate.
Also note, the problem with the argument that Trump isn’t president, is that there are still cases in the courts and SCOTUS arguing that he is. That argument can be made in briefs just to CYA, but the Senate already voted on the issue and there aren’t 67 Senators to convict. The attorney has a free pass to grandstand and deliver political attacks on the opposition. It shouldn’t be wasted. Trump’s lawyers must make the argument for the ages to remember.
The Washington Examiner has sadly become the kid brother of the ComPost.
All that talk about Trump's lawyers quitting? It's TOTAL misdirection folks. Trump has a top-notch team and they will destroy the Senate Dems. In fact, I bet the people who "quit" were just low-level staffers and weren't part of Trump's legal team anyway.
This is why Biden is out there saying Trump doesn't need access to intelligence briefings anymore.
That won’t work.
“Recalling my time.”
He should bring up the best examples of questionable electoral results. Not the ‘iffy’ ones.
The aim should be to encourage changes towards more confidence in electoral results.
Excellent point!
That’s not what the impeachment charge is ultimately about, though, they are alleging he encouraged the riot at the Capitol.
I could care less what the intestinal parasites of a defunct congress do or don’t do Trump is my president come hell or high water.
Who needs the obsolete shell that was the White House.
Let the hosebags and thumbsuckers do what they will nothing will come of it - we’ll still burn their azzes down.
If I was Trump
I wouldn’t even bother showing up to this nonsense
I would not even enter a defense
It is bogus, why dignify it with a response?
Take your case to the people President Trump. Why argue the number of angels on the head of a pinhead?
It’s risky and I think Bannon is best political advisor Trump ever had
Trump has to escape Senate conviction
We need him to run again ....
Which is a priority
Exposing the steal or Trump runs again
It could come to that ...
I want to see him lay all the fraud and shenanigans out on the table with the closing remark: “You should be impeaching the other president right now!”
It would be EPIC but I don’t think Linda or ChinaMitch will allow it.
Trump never said anything advocating violence or breaking the law during the demonstration. In fact, he specifically said NOT to do that. So disproving that part of the incitement claim is easy.
The other part of the incitement claim is that he got people really riled up and mad by claiming the election was stolen, and some of those people might have participated in the illegal Capitol activities. This leaves aside for the moment the possibility that left wing goons pretending to be Trump supporters were among the people that actually incited illegality.
In a country with the FIrst Amendment , speaking the TRUTH In the political arena, however shocking it is or likely to stir up people, cannot and should not ever be criminalized or punished by the government . Otherwise there is no freedom or speech if the powers that be can prohibit saying things they don’t like even if they are true. Freedom of political speech is deemed important enough that it protects false political statements so there can be robust political debate.
Freedom of speech is not absolute. Yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater that leads to a stampede is not protected free speech. But if there really was a fire, the person who yelled “fire” surely cannot be punished if somebody gets hurt trying to escape, under any sensible understanding of the First Amendment
If Trumps claim of election theft is TRUE, that cannot be considered a high crime or misdemeanor. If it is, the First Amendment is a sham.
If TRUTH is an absolute defense to these charges, and if Trump is prohibited from making his defense, that is a violation of his due process rights. He should walk out while on national TV and explain why he is doing so.
I hope Trump intends to argue something like this. If the Senate does not allow Trump to defend himself , the Senate will go down in history as an institution no better than the Star Chamber or courts in countries like the Soviet Union that held show trials with a pre-determined “guilty”outcomes.
Some people want to rush out of the front door, armed with their .45 Colt, and start shooting at the tank rolling down their street.
Stupid game.
Smarter minds will develop a long-term strategy. Then again, Bannon never was good with strategy....
“Bannon is the one wanting to tie it to a relitigation of the election,” said the source.”
What source do you need just listen to his show. He’ll tell what he believes.