Free Republic

The Senate and lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Saturday reached a deal to avoid witness depositions in his impeachment trial — averting a potentially weeks-long drama sparked by an 11th-hour request by Democrats to depose a Republican congresswoman. The deal allowed for a statement by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) to be read into the record without the congresswoman or anyone else being deposed as a formal witness. The compromise allows for the trial potentially to end on Saturday as was initially expected. Trump is expected to be acquitted of inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in a...

Democrats flipped the script this morning after their case collapsed on Friday against President Trump. Democrats now want to change the rules and call in witnesses. This comes after Senator McConnell announced he will vote to acquit. Democrats now want to call in at least one witness. According to the Seattle Times — Rep. Jaimie Raskin, lead impeachment manager, called Saturday morning for Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington to be subpoenaed for the Senate trial, saying her corroboration of a Jan. 6 phone call between House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and former President Donald Trump was critical. Beutler,...

Raskin pointed to breaking news that occurred late Friday night. Attention was called to Herrera Beutler's conversation with McCarthy, where the minority leader allegedly recounted a conversation he had with President Trump. According to Herrera Beutler, McCarthy allegedly told Trump to "call off" the riots at the Capitol. The president allegedly said it wasn't his supporters who caused the chaos and violence at the Capitol. "Needless to say, this is an additional, critical piece of corroborating evidence further confirming the charges before you, as well as the president's willful dereliction of duty," Raskin said before the vote. "For that reason,...

Democrats in the Senate were joined by Sens. Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, and Ben Sasse in a vote to allow last minute witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial. As the Senate has to individually vote to determine whether each witness can speak, the Trump legal defense team exploited the time commitment by offering at least 301 witnesses.As a result, the Democrats are now exploring whether they can simply include an article by CNN, reporting on a phone call that someone overheard and then summarized to someone else who then summarized to CNN, in lieu of any witnesses...

An “expletive-laced” call between Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made during the Capitol riot shows the former president refused to call off rioters after McCarthy begged him to intervene.This is a very dramatic news story reported by dozens of media outlets. But is it true?What’s being reported is that Trump and McCarthy talked while the riot was in full swing and McCarthy begged the president to put an end to it. Trump is reported to have said to McCarthy, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”The call was confirmed...