"Freedom for the wolves has often meant death to the sheep." ~ Isaiah Berlin
It's over. No conviction.
Yesterday, another day from the defense, Another fail.
They blathered angrily for three of their allowed 16 hours, talking to their client through the T.V.
Their "defense" included falsities and red herrings:
But Hillary! But what about....! I had to work during the proceedings. I got into my car, and listened to the radio on my way to my patient. The defense was playing out-of-context clip after clip after clip of Democrats, including Hillary, using the word "fight" as lawmakers do to describe their hard work. I went in, saw my patient, and when I got back in my car nearly an hour later, they defense was playing clip after clip after clip of Democrats using the word "fight" as lawmakers do to describe their hard work. No, your client's actions were not simply political rhetoric, nor was it protected under the First Amendment.
Damn the Process! When you have no defense, attack the process. It's just a lot of hot air. There's been bipartisan agreement on the process. Sit down.
The Big Lie! They brought up *sigh* Georgia again. At this point, it's just getting embarrassing. Just leave it!
But Antifa! Again, false equivalents and lies. No, anti-facist agitators were not involved in the January 6 Insurrection. The protests in Oregon have nothing to do with the events inside the Capitol building on January 6.
The Dems just hate our client! Well, yes, but again, not relevant. Your client perverted his authority, inflamed a mob, failed to uphold his oath, and put lives and our Democracy in peril.
He didn't like that it happened! No, the evidence is clear that he was not horrified, sad, concerned, or any other feeling than satisfied and gleeful. If he can even feel glee. As a sociopath, it's doubtful that he can feel even that.
The defense attorneys just came off as incompetent. It's obvious that they are third-string attorneys. We knew that, as it was difficult for the accused to even find a team to represent him. Their primary objective, we can assume, was not to defend him but to litigate his grievances and give good TV face.
Mr. van der Veen especially seemed incompetent. He was frequently angry and belligerent, and he actually got laughed at when he suggested that depositions would be held in his "office in Phillydelphia." He was out of his depth, and in fact, when you go to his firm's website, you see his specialty in "Phillydelphia" is:
Mr. van der Veen considers it his life’s work to be the voice of injured accident victims and an advocate for the accused. With a tremendous track record of success, he is one of the premier Philadelphia personal injury attorney you can trust to fight for you.
I can just see him down there at Mar-a-Lago. "Get me the best ambulance chaser in the greater Philly area!"
After a little scuffle over witnesses, the attorneys provided their closing arguments today. Again, the House Managers were powerful and effective. The defense hauled out their tired whataboutisms once again.
The Senators, eager to go home for a week, voted 43 to 57 on his guilt, acquitting the former president*. Remember those 43 sheep when they are up for reelection.
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution." --Abraham Lincoln (Happy Birthday, President Lincoln.)
Impeachment Dos: The trial begins.
Congress conducted three days of the Impeachment Trial so far.
Day One: This was really a pre-trial day. After noise from Rand Paul and the vote about the Constitutionality of the trial, the Senate took a vote after arguments about the Constitutionality question. The House Managers did a great job presenting a powerful set of initial evidence, including this video about the events of January 6.
The defense completely flailed in their presentation. I was only able to listen to snippets, but it was obvious the defense was under water. They practically folded on the first statement, that the managers did such a good job that the defense changed their planned presentation. They rambled and contradicted themselves, and at times seemed to make arguments for the prosecution.
In the end, the Senate voted 56 to 44 that the trial is constitutional. Six GOP Senators, most surprisingly Sen. Bill Cassidy from deep red Louisiana, along with five moderate Republicans (Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb, and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn) joined the 50 Democrats to affirm proceeding under the Constitution.
Days Two and Three were the House Managers' days to present their case, and they were organized, elegant, concise, factual, and impactful. They clearly showed how ***** began to cultivate his base months ago, first by telegraphing that the only way he could lose is through a "rigged election." He started that shit months before the election, as the managers showed. The second way he cultivated the crowd to do violence was to endorse violence himself, all throughout his term. And he assembled the crowd, sending a "Save the Date" 18 days before the event.
The managers used audio/visuals very powerfully, sharing new footage from Capitol security cameras and animated maps showing the movements of the mob as well as the Members of Congress and other players. We at home – and some of the Senators – learned more about the events that day. I say "some" because some of those Despicables thumbed through other paperwork, read, put their feet up on their desks, or otherwise didn't pay attention. What would happen to a jury who did this in another courtroom?
We learned that Officer Goodwin had ushered Senator Mitt Romney away from the mob after Romney had unwittingly ran toward them. Sen. Romney had not known that the officer who helped him was Officer Goodwin, who of course we had all learned heroically used himself as a decoy to lead the mob away from the Senate chambers as Senators were still being evacuated.
Here iswhat the managers showed. It's powerful. If you missed it, please take the time to watch. It is important to bear witness to the events that day.
The House Managers were effective in their use of charging documents and TV interviews from some of the insurrectionists who made it plain that they came expressly at the explicit request of "their president" and were specifically doing his bidding. Videos showing them reading his live tweets during the insurrection really drove the point home. The defendant summoned them, assembled them, directed them, and did not ever condemn them.
The managers illustrated that *****'s behaviors before, during, and after clearly were meant to incite violence and disrupt the U.S. government. There's just no question about it.
Today, the defense presents its case. The attorneys for the defendant have 16 hours to present. There really is no defense, but the thought is that they will continue to go after the constitutionality, the process, their go-to false equivalency, and the argument of free speech.
To this last, Lead Manager Raskin (D-MD) made a smoldering analogy as a pre-buttal to their lame defense. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once famously said, “you can’t shout fire in a crowded theater." Raskin applied this analogy to January 6, saying, “This case is much worse than someone who shouted fire in a crowded theater. It’s more like a case where the town fire chief, who is paid to put out fires, sends a mob, not to yell fire in a crowded theater, but to actually set the theater on fire. And who then, when the fire alarms go off and the calls start flooding into the fire department, does nothing but sit back, encourage the mob to continue its rampage and watch the fire spread on TV.”
It's been widely speculated that there aren't enough Repug Senators to convict. Yet, Pollyanna LSR refuses to speculate until the trial is over.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled to his folks that the vote should be one of "conscience," and that he hasn't made up his mind yet. This is pretty big. The number two Republican in the Senate, Sen. John Thune (SD) has also indicated that he is keeping an open mind. Thune said that the House Managers are "effective," "compelling," and they are "connecting the dots." If these two flip, it could lead to a cascade of followers.
But, most analysts are not Pollyannas but are realists. And political expediency is more powerful than conscience within the GOP brain.
It boggles the mind, though. Is it political expediency anyway? The GOP is divided right now, and at death's door. They've allowed extremists into the fold. Why not come down on the side of the sane Republicans? Why not try to rise from these ashes and rebuild their party into something admirable again?
And why do they think if they are loyal to ***** that he will ever be loyal to them? What about him sending the mob toward his Vice President to assassinate him speaks to them and makes them think he won't do the same to them?
The evidence presented these past two days is a powerful piece in our nation's public record. Those Senators who vote to acquit will be remembered for their cowardice and complicity.
Random other thoughts:
It's not an impartial jury. Besides the sycophant worms such as Senators Cruz and Hawley, we saw other jury members putting their feet up and reading, and generally shrugging at the proceedings. It's shameful. Can't they even pretend for a moment to be thoughtful?
The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote a scathing piece. I include it here; sorry for the paywall. Buthere is an analysisof it. It's pretty big for the conservative publication to come down so hard. But you know, I wonder if the QAnon shaman and his ilk read the WSJ?
In fact, it appears many of them don't even vote. The insurrectionists committed federal crimes in their effort to Stop the Steal of the presidential election. But lookie here: CNN analyzed voting records of those arrested, found that many of them didn't even freaking vote. As I watched their wretched acts that day, I wondered if they would even know their own Representative if they came face to face. I seriously doubt it.
The defense suggested that there is another remedy to convicting at impeachment: arrest and prosecute under the regular justice system. Good idea, counselors! What's stopping us?
Mitch McConnell: Dude, you aren't up for reelection for six more years. A presidency and a half. You'll be 84 years old then. Let your legacy include this vote. Come on, grow a pair and vote to convict this cancer!
"Justice delayed is justice denied." - William E. Gladstone
Ah you know I couldn't stay away for long. As I had promised impeachment trial dishing, so shall you receive it!
The Impeachment
The House swiftly impeached ***** for the second time, taking just one week after the riots to impeach on one article: Incitement of Insurrection. Though the timing was fraught as he had just another week in office, things are still moving relatively swiftly.
The Agreement
The House and the Senate have agreed on a timeline. The Article of Impeachment was delivered on January 25, just a few days after the new Senate was sworn in. The House and Senate agreed that the accused shall have two weeks to prepare a defense. In the interim, the Senate can get to other business, namely confirming President Biden's (oh, how sweet the words!) cabinet and working to pass an additional COVID relief bill. The trial is scheduled to begin in one week, on Wednesday, February 9.
It's been a bit of difficulty for ***** to round up lawyers who will take the case. The attorneys from the first impeachment trial passed on the opportunity, and then, just days before the trial is set to begin, the defendant's entire legal team of five attorneys quit. Yup. Walked away. Apparently, the defendant wished the defense to be a carrying-on of the false election fraud narrative. Sounds like more of a tutorial than a defense. Allies suggest a more sensible strategy of calling into question the constitutionality of an impeachment trial for a former president, but that didn't sit well with Individual-1. No, he'd rather the trial be a megaphone for his continued lies about how the election was stolen from him. Please. Shut up!
The team was headed by Butch Bowers, a pretty respected South Carolina attorney. Today it was reported by Axios that, besides the disagreement on the trajectory of the defense, part of the dust-up between them and ***** was over money. Their client just didn't want to pay them much. ***** had offered $250,000, but the attorneys estimated $3 million to mount a proper defense. After some negotiations, there was apparently an agreement of $1 million, but that still got *****'s tightey whiteys in a twist. Dude, you fleeced your minions out of millions upon millions of dollars for your "defense fund." You won't pay crackerjack lawyers what they need to mount a plausible defense in two weeks' time? You dumb!
This week, he rounded up two new lawyers to represent him. They are, uhhh, ...well, not ones I would choose. Bruce Castor, as a D.A., declined to prosecute Bill Cosby in Pennsylvania, and David Schoen represented the 100% odious Roger Stone and believes the conspiracy theory that Jeffery Epstein was murdered. In an interview with The Atlanta Jewish Times, Schoen said, “I represented all sorts of reputed mobster figures: alleged head of Russian mafia in this country, Israeli mafia and two Italian bosses, as well a guy the government claimed was the biggest mafioso in the world.” Sounds like the perfect match.
The House Managers, led by House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), are ready to bring their case. They've filed an 80-page brief outlining their arguments. They plainly state that ***** is "singularly responsible" for the January 6 Insurrection.
The House Managers have not ruled out witness testimony, but it doesn't seem that they are keen on calling witnesses. One possible witness? The horned idiot himself, Jacob Chansley. His lawyer says that he has agreed to testify. The Repugs definitely don't want him to testify. Truthfully, I'm not sure that the prosecution would want him either. He's a nut. He's deep, deep into the QAnon shithole. Credible witness? Doubtful. Still, it would be great TV.
It would be good to have some witnesses testify, though. How about the members of Congress who aided and abetted the insurrection? How about the ones whose lives were threatened? Oh, oops, that's the whole jury. The details of the trial schedule and rules have yet to be worked out.
The Jury
Forty-five Repug Senators, goaded by Sen. Rand Paul (KY), have already voted that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional. It's been widely speculated that this is a preview of the final vote tally.
The thought has been out there, specifically by Robert Reich, for the Senate to adopt rules that allow for secret votes. If that were the case, perhaps more Senators will find their cajones and vote to convict. In the end, it isn't likely to happen.
The Trial
The trial is set to begin on Wednesday, February 9. It is expected to run 6 days a week. It is speculated that it will be a quick trial. As for format, it's likely to be molded after the last impeachment trial. During that one as well as Clinton's, each side was given 24 hours to present their arguments, followed by 16 hours of questions by the Senate. The last impeachment trial lasted less than three weeks.
The Constitution states, "When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside." But since the accused is the ex-president, Chief Justice Roberts has passed the torch to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), who serves as the president pro tempore of the Senate.
You can bet that LSR will be watching and listening to as much as possible! Who's with me?
