"Justice delayed is justice denied."

"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. 

Nick Anderson

The Defense

What defense?

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.

By the way, guys? Get your money up front. 

The Prosecution

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?

Are you ready for jusssstice?!