I have the feeling that Americans hunger for a civilized president and Congress that doesn't tweet vitriol every day or undermine human rights for every one.
However, this sham trial is empowering Russia to interfere further, so I can't even hope this may be sorted out in November.
People I know who support Trump seem to also feel friendly toward Russia. If one theorizes that white nationalists feel threatened and persecuted, why wouldn't they want camaraderie with a nation full of white people with "traditional" and "conservative" values? How else can we explain this irrational behavior and support for a president who abused his power by seeking foreign interference in elections? They don't even appear to be afraid it could happen if Democrats had control.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but there are emerging patterns that support it. The idea that Republicans are caving to Russian influence is the most terrifying of all.
8
Day 1 inquiry in the house: Rules of engagement. Democrats and Republicans clash over the House's impeachment investigation and vote procedure.
Nothing new. The partisanship in this Congress mirrors the voters. Very sad day; embarrassed with both parties. Roberts was right to admonish them both!
A jury consisting of mostly old, wealthy, privileged, white men will be rendering a verdict on verdict on an old, wealthy, privileged, white man. Of course it will be a fair trial. History proves it.
1
A jury consisting of mostly old, wealthy, privileged, white men will be rendering a verdict on verdict on an old, wealthy, privileged, white man. Of course it will be a fair trial. History proves it.
1
To Mr. Cipollone:
Loud and abusive is never just or correct. But then you're the lawyer for loud and abusive. May all of you be shunned by decent people and your family
2
At least Nadler finally stated things plainly - that the opposing lawyers are liars.
What exactly is the point of having a judge there who lets that kind of lying go on without sanction ?
3
I regret that the Articles of Impeachment didn't also include repeated violations of the emoluments clause, something Trump was in violation of from his first day. That would have been a rock solid case.
I find the Republican behavior disgraceful throughout this entire administration, but I wish the Democrats had brought more firepower to match the volcano of lies, innuendo and invective.
5
I don't know if the republicans have thought this far ahead but the truth WILL come out. The truth is always exposed, therefore the GOP will be exposed, and hopefully before Nov 3rd. I already expect this to spell the end of the GOP as we know it. I only hope our country can weather this storm.
1
Yesterday's hearing was a sham. And there is no recourse except voting the republicans out. EVERYONE VOTE!
This is supposedly a Senate Trial. My question is: Why are Trump's lawyers are arguing for the senate's rules? That is the job of the Senate.
They lie, and lie again. And we can't do a thing!
1
Having the nerve to full on lie in front of the Chief Justice of the Supremes is an indictment of the times.
The President's attorneys that lied should lose their licenses to practice law. Aren't they required to tell the truth re: facts?
Limited camera shots are a travesty. We want to see the Republicans stare at the ceiling while ignoring the oath the took to be impartial.
If you have a GOP Senator, please call them and protest. Please. Our democracy does not work without citizens engaging. It doesn't work in darkness. It doesn't work if lawyers can lie about facts in from of the Chief Justice Roberts on national television.
3
This American has no confidence in the sham trial being forced by McConnell and his party. I wonder what it would take to at least open their minds a crack.
What we have witnessed during this entire sad episode of American history is a president who is not up to the standards we deserve but dwells within an alternate reality and touts his greatness by decree. The political party that imposed him on the country has joined him in his fantasy world and after his wrongdoing caused him to be impeached, now mounts a defense of him that is based on the delegitimization of the constitutional process they themselves used against a Democratic president.
3
As with the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, "The whole world is watching, the whole world is watching...."
I don't know if the republicans have thought this far ahead but the truth WILL come out. The truth is always exposed, therefore the GOP will be exposed, and hopefully before Nov 3rd. I already expect this to spell the end of the GOP as we know it. I only hope our country can weather this insult to our Constitution.
2
"They (Cipolllone et al) even dabbled in straight-up fibbing, claiming that Republican lawmakers had not been allowed into the closed-door impeachment depositions."
Ms. Cottle, it's called a lie. And they did not "dabble" at it.
2
Trump will lose the next election, and Moscow Mitch will lose the senate. He's driving the final nails into the coffin of the republican party. Good riddance.
3
Every last Republican in the Senate knows the truth: that Trump did exactly as the articles of impeachment say he did. They don´t need any convincing. When the Senate shuts down the impeachment proceedings, acquitting Trump, the House managers will still have won, showing over and over again ( with short video clips of the House witnesses and Trump implicating himself) for those few remaining independents at home, the full scope of Trump´s extortion, using taxpayer money, of the Ukrainian president who was in fear for the very independence of his country. Trump thinks he is winning but Schiff/Pelosi and company are smarter, convincing more undecided voters every time they replay the clear facts of Trump´s extortion and obstruction.
2
Stopping the collecting of evidence? Disallowing witnesses to appear? In the future all these GOP senators should be held accountable and prosecuted for obstruction of Justice. Moscow Mitch is showing America what a trial looks like in a totalitarian state.
2
Now I get it! The Democrats are supposed to prove that Donald Trump is guilty and the Republicans are trying to make the Democrats look guilty. I think we may have hit bottom on this one.
3
Barring a miracle, the rules of engagement are a foregone conclusion. There are other negotiations concerning the rules engagement that we are not privy to. Trump has just said he will consider cutting Medicare and other entitlements during his second term. That promise is just what McConnell was waiting for. Now McConnell will carry out his side of the bargain and hold a sham trial no matter how heinous Trump's wrongdoing has been. Most older Americans rely on Medicare. The expected three trillion dollar growth in the deficit was caused by their tax cut for the rich. I cannot find the right word for this. The scale and scope are unbelievable.
5
I had the live time privilege to witness Judiciary Chair Nadler deliver scathing rebuke of the GOP Senate.
On the amendment to recognize Bolton as a witness, Nadler made the argument that the Senate would be complicit in the coverup of Trump's abuse of power by not allowing Bolton and other witnesses to testify, and documents to be released. He called the President's legal team liars and explained why. Nadler called it as it is: a cover up by the Senate of the President's transgressions.
Nadler's strong language, "liars" and "you will be complicit in a cover up," and the indignant reply from the President's lawyer, led Judge Roberts to admonish both sides for not following rules of decorum in the Senate.
All of the House Managers amendments were very reasonable; the denial of all the amendments show that McConnell has his team in lock step, and that the Senate majority doesn't want the American people to know the truth about the President's conduct.
Speaker Pelosi also called it when she said the "founding fathers" never envisioned a time when a corrupt Senate would support a corrupt President in an Impeachment Trial.
7
I don't know how many Eastcoasters stayed up to watch couple of the more unpredictable moments, both involving Chief Justice Roberts.
After a particularly heated exchange between Nadler and Sekulow he admonished both sides and reminded them to observe proper decorum and civility in "the world's greatest deliberative body." So, small victory—no circuses on Roberts' watch. Lies and procedural travesties yes, but be polite. An improvement over the House hearings and maybe with the temperature lowered a few thoughtful viewers might be able to hear the Democrats' logic.
The last and 11th amendment attempted to place the decision on relevance of witnesses in the hands of Justice Roberts. This served several purposes:
exposes the false equivalence between Hunter Biden's transgressions and Trump's abuse of power, and the irrelevance of Hunter Biden's activities to these proceedings;
opens a strategy to get Justice Roberts more actively involved as a "neutral" arbiter of fairness in these stacked proceedings;
reveals to the American people the existence of a third party in the chamber that could promote a fair trial if allowed and, I would say, even if he is not allowed a procedural role by the Senate majority, he could intervene from the bench, for example when outright lies are asserted as fact.
Roberts could not only demand civility, but also a modicum of Truth. Maybe he could even demand the Whole Truth.
5
The most important witness for This country and all Americans is the “whistleblower”who is responsible for conspiring to unseat the president of the United States. It is unfathomable and an injustice that this individual’s testimony remain hidden from the American people. Without hearing his testimony this entire circus should be dismissed.
4
From where I'm sitting, this rests on Justice Roberts.
Republican Senators' conduct in this impeachment "trial" is perfectly understandable. Many have remarked that these Senators have set a new "low", and that should this president not be removed from office, the "new low" will be a literally non-existent bar.
This is exactly what the Republicans are working toward. Unquestioned rule by Trump. Any criminal activity is acceptable. He is tearing this country apart, and they continue to grovel to him. Why?
This one's easy. Because they never plan to cede leadership to the Democrats, under any circumstances. It isn't an "oversight" or "lapse" that Republicans are ignoring Russian interference in this year's election. They want this interference. They want a rigged election. In short, they want anything that solidifies their rule and the dictatorship of Donald Trump.
The fact is, Trump and the Republicans will never cede power peacefully. He will not leave peacefully if voted out this November, nor will he leave in 2024 if he's reelected. And these Republican Senators will ensure that their state elections are rigged, so that they maintain majorities, no matter what.
So when we understand Republicans' true motivation here, it makes perfect sense that they're absolving Trump of actions that demonstrate his patent unfitness for office. They want him to be able to do anything he wants, for as long as he wants.
And for those of you who think we still have a democracy, check your rearview mirror.
1
Please, Ms. Cottle, children may be accused of having "even dabbled in straight-up fibbing", but to employ euphemism to describe the outlandish mendacity of some of the most powerful politicians on Earth is an assault on reality and disrespectful to your readers. In an Op-Ed column several months ago your colleague, Michelle Goldberg, demanded that the word "LIE" must gain currency and politesse abandoned.
2
Here’s the refrain I’m not hearing. And a good thing. “The Whole World is Watching”. Wanting this trial to be public, I was dismayed to read they might turn off the cameras.
Now, please turn off the cameras. Like show trials in ....Turkey, Russia, et all supposed....democracies-that-aren’t, they do their political trials in secret.
This farce isn’t a trial, it’s a public relations gift to every dictator. The great democratic experiment, the deliberative body, solemn tradition, ....reduced to milk, water, secret candy stashes....and jurors (oh right, the court) taking oaths, voting on what, if any, evidence they want to hear.
Turn off the cameras. I can’t stand it.
2
The Dems are so blind to the optics of their own behavior they can't see a few simple things obvious to fair minded people:
Speaker Pelosi said this is so serious that it can't go forward without bi-partisanship support but did so anyway. So urgent we must move quickly, then sat on the Articles fro 33 days before sending them over. Then while praying for Trump she manages to organize commemorative pens for her friends for this regrettably solemn event.
First they frame it as a "quid pro quo", then bribery and then extortion but exclude all three from the Articles.
Schumer and the other Dems then say the evidence is overwhelming but they now need more witnesses and documentation. Which is it ?
Without one Republican in the House voting for this, why would the Dems think that the Senate would behave differently?
The only thing the Dems have done with this farce is to guarantee that Impeachments become par for the course going forward. They have greatly weakened our Democracy here by lowering the bar here so much. They could have accomplished the same thing via the censure process (which stains Trump's legacy, really all they can do) and waited for the election. However they know they can't win that either. They are such a fractured party as evidenced by the Times's own misguided dual endorsement. What the heck are supporters supposed to do with that kind of guidance.
The Dems are in shambles and have done nothing but guarantee us 4 more years of Trump.
Sigh.
4
“Straight-up fibbing” hardly begins to describe the pernicious nonsense that the president’s lawyers offered in lieu defending the president’s indefensible conduct. No matter, though, just marking time until the president’s frightened minions do his bidding.
Schiff is effective. Will Democrats’ hours long recital of their case and doomed requests for evidence and witnesses make people see the proceedings are a sham...and a shame?
Cipollone lies like a rug. It’s one thing to give a defendant a great defense. Cipollone plays the wounded and appalled man, utterly mischaracterizing the very reality we have all witnessed. Sekulow continues the clown show. Sekulow is enraged by the injustice. Remember that the jurors are Senators, but he’s playing to people’s emotions? Why, because they are performing for Trump and his loyal supporters. Aping the ham in the White House.
The Republicans are tabling all requests in lock step. They may think that they are just delaying but I think that they are helping McConnell to make the case against Trump unheard by most citizens. It’s a cover up.
1
And here we go again with Mitch McConnell, the Grim Reaper moving to "table" or in effect kill yet another amendment to admit evidence and witness testimony. He has no intention of allowing anything but a sham trial to exonerate Trump. The man is a tyrant who should be summarily removed from his position as Senate Leader – for he is nothing but a liar and an apologist for a corrupt and criminal presidency. And oh dear, our illustrious but impotent Chief Justice ( who himself has done innumerable damage to the Voting Rights Act and voter access) felt bound at this late hour – to admonish members about essentially name calling. Goodness – you would think he'd come up with better objections around obstruction of witness testimony and evidence. Oh well – it's a sham trial.
I hope every Republican Senator who is up for re-election in November is replaced by his/her Democratic opponent. The Republican Senators have exhibited absolute cowardice or lack of morality today. It’s become apparent that Trump could actually shoot someone on 5th Avenue, and the Republican Senators and Trump’s lawyers would find nothing wrong with it.
My god. This brutal day has finally ended.
Mitch McConnell’s party is clearly not sustainable. And if Republicans are at all concerned about re-election, this dystopian Animal Farm charade they are pretending might be a trial is making them look uglier by the minute.
Republicans are bringing us a “trial” worthy of any corrupt dictatorship. Hard to believe how quickly our country, which was always flawed, fell apart.
The Republican ship of lies, with Trump as the ultimate figurehead, continues its pathetic journey.
I have heard the lie that Trump's defenders were not able to participate in the House process so many times, in so many variations, that I am numb to it. I suppose that's the point. Assertion and repetition. Double and triple down on lies. Never admit guilt or error. That is the Republican party now. They have completely deformed into the party of Trump.
1
when will media call the absence of truth-telling what it is. Call it a lie. Each and every time. Not "misdirection", not "misrepresenting", not "factually incorrect". What is going on is not a difference in opinon, it is blatent lying, in front of the Chief Justice, and worse still, in front of America. Why are these lawyeres not disbarred? Why are they not called out in stark terms for their behaviour?
2
Tomorrow’s headline should be “Republicans Unanimously Terrified of a Fair Trial of President Trump”.
Today marks a historic low point for the United States of America. We are now officially a banana republic, ruled by a strongman and his craven minions.
God help us.
1
Republicans have a very provincial view on the idea of justice.
Selective outrage.
Folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the outcome of the impeachment trial is already a forgone conclusion. It doesn't matter what evidence the Democrats present. It is a waste of time and money.
The Republicans have won.
We know it is a sham. There is nothing we can do about it. Accept that fact and think about November.
The “damning” video clip” of Trump asserting that Article 2 of the Constitution gives him “the right to do whatever I want as president” exemplifies the House manager’s mendacity. When Trump said Article 2 gives him the right to do whatever he wants. He was referring to the president’s power to fire executive branch officials—specifically Special Counsel Robert Muller. He did not fire Mueller, of course. No one disputes that executive branch officials serve at the president’ pleasure. He was merely pointing out that Article 2 gave him authority to fire Mueller. The video clip the House management was edited to permit the House managers to falsely assert Trump has declared he is above the law.
Democratic echo chamber comments here are particularly harsh today.
Rules? Since when did the GOP care about Rules?
The Dems are bringing rule books, the GOP is bringing bats, chains, and all of Putin's resources.
This sham of a trial being squashed by the corrupted gop is evidence of the failure of the great American experiment. It is very upsetting.
I would love to see the shameless lies of the Trump defense become headlines instead of being buried in euphemisms (e.g., the “straight-up fibbing” used at the end of this article).
It is revolting to watch Trump’s slimy lawyers lie.
The US government as demonstrated in the Senate proceedings is a sham.
The jury is rigged. Witnesses, documents, evidence have all been denied by a Machiavellian Senate leader determined to protect the naked emperor. Everyone knows he's guilty but hey let's pretend he's not.
1
This isn't a trial. It's a cover-up in plain sight.
The process here is irrelevant. All votes will be 47-53. This is totally tribal -- the Bloods and the Crips. The only value is the propaganda value. Is the show effective in convincing any Trump supporter that he's a bad guy, or that the Republican party is corrupt? Maybe -- the Democrats should play that for whatever it's worth. They're talking to the electorate -- the trial itself is a sham.
What is remedy for jury nullification in an impeachment trial?
John Roberts is presiding over a Farce. And doing nothing!
For Shame!
What is the Chief Justice doing in this trial? Just to make the train run on time? Queen of the UK? Seeking impartiality?
As for the trial, what are their children and granchildren going to think and speak about?
The national disgrace is a dysfunctional senate. Reading 10 similar amendments 10 times? Collosal waste of time. This is nothing but grandstanding to the media. Bring on term limits.
Sneaky Senate. Prevent any pertinent information to be heard in the courtroom and say it’s the Democrats fault.
I’d be curious to know what Roberts really thinks, sitting there watching the monkeys play their games. Did he imagine when taking his oath as Supreme Court Justice he’d ever be presiding over such monkey business? I suppose part of the game is for the Senate to prolong the day and get the American people to the point they just turn the channel, throw up their hands, and say they can’t watch or hear one more minute, let alone into all hours of the night, steady.
They play childish. Too bad they don’t take our rights as American citizens into consideration. We don’t want foreign influence running our government. Neither should they, but like their leader, Donald Trump, nothing sacred matters anymore, not even our democracy.
1
We are witnessing Democracy being slowly strangled at the hands of Mitch McConnell and cowardly Republicans, and the Senate is the mausoleum it will be buried in.
I’m thrilled that for 12 hours yesterday, all senators had to sit still and listen to the same arguments and dialogue by the democrats which were presented in the impeachment hearings in November. (Yawn!). As a faithful watcher of those hearings, yesterday I was able to mute the repetitive testimonies of the dems, and only tuned back in when the president’s lawyers presented their case. I expect to do the same for the rest of the time this circus is on TV. In the end I predict that Schiff, Nadler and Pelosi will be On the losing end of this very long totem pole. The venom and hateful rhetoric of these three politicians hell bent on impeaching Trump can only hurt all democrats who are riding on their anti-trump/republican bandwagon. Their behavior is disgusting.
1
The GOP has become a party of soul less, greedy self serving enablers of corruption. NO exceptions left, as the Republican House and Senate have made crystal clear.
A complete mockery of our democracy and system of justice
It doesn't matter which issue they sold out for (Tax cuts, abortion, Supreme court Justices, sexism, racism, ) enabling Trump's corruption like they have is a deal with the devil.
The only answer is to vote them out of power in the House and Senate.
If Bill Clinton had offered $400,000,000 to Monica Lewinsky for very personal services, he would have been impeached unanimously by senators of both parties.
But Trump offered that amount for very personal services to Ukraine, and Republicans say it is fine.
I wish the Democrats would frame it that way in the impeachment trial, so people could see the crime in simple terms, and see Trump for what he truly is.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell's resolution stipulating the rules of Trump's impeachment trial is itself a deliberate injustice. In Davos, Trump has bragged that "We have all the documents, and the Democrats have zero." Zero was Trump's response to House requests for documents and witnesses. Following the same logic, McConnell and every Republican senator in lock step voted down, 53-47, every proposed amendment advanced by Minority Leader Schumer, with the result being that as the real trial gets under way the two sides will in turn advance their arguments, then each side will have 16 hours for the senators to raise questions, and only after this main part of the trial is completed will the resolution allow for consideration of whether any documents or witnesses may be subpoenaed. Too bad if the senators have questions about documents or witnesses produced, if any at all; their rights to question will have been exhausted. And McConnell can call for the trial to be dismissed at any point. McConnell falsely claimed that this backwards process was based on the Clinton impeachment, key differences being that Clinton's administration produced 90 thousand documents and numerous witnesses including the President, while Trump's administration produced zero documents and zero witnesses.
House managers were good in presentation, Schiff was excellent, as were Lofgren and Crow. The President's lawyers were, for the most part, ridiculous, to use Cipillone's favorite adjective.
The Impeachment Trial's first day was an exercise in mockery by Republican Senators clutching at their lock on the Senate and the White House with avaricious claws.
They layered on the lies about the impropriety of the House impeachment hearings, while offering zero facts in support of Trump's actions. Their displays of contrived indignation were laughable. They evinced no intellectual curiosity or a desire to fact-find.
Elected Republicans have permitted American lives and the planet to be threatened with increased fossil fuel and chemical pollution, and not lifted a finger against Trump's ill-advised tariff and trade wars, which have hurt American businesses and farmers.
Trump sided with Russia against Ukraine, a country that is the sole barrier between Russian aggression against the E.U., and held up Congressionally approved military funding so he could fight a 2020 presidential opponent.
Trump and Republicans have only a strong DOW to point to, which does not improve low wages, under-employment, union bashing and very low to zero taxes for wealthy corporations.
Republican oaths to uphold the Constitution and represent Americans died with their control of the WH and the Senate. Why share power, why balance powers, when you can have it all?
1
Put forth an amendment mandating the final vote be secret ballot...
1
Fibbing? Seriously? Call it what it is: straight-up lying.
1
Witness suppression is Republican specialty, except this one has a different spin, to allow the accused to walk free with a reverse kangaroo
1
Is there a rule in the New York Times style book that forbids the word LYING? Fibbing is what toddlers do when you ask who ate the last cookie. What Trumps lawyers did was LYING.
2
There are no Rules. The Rules are whatever Mitch allows. Jut ask Obama.
NOVEMBER. Bigly.
1
I watched the proceedings on TV yesterday as well. House managers; exceptionally well-prepared and erudite. White House lawyers...well, Ms. Cottle nailed it by saying that what they lacked in facts and logic was more than compensated with volume. And more volume.
I expected Adam Schiff’s brilliance, and he didn’t disappoint. But, this was the first time I’ve heard Zoe Lofgren (pardon my ignorance) and boy was she impressive! And a hat-tip to Jason Crow from my birthplace, Colorado, for a fine performance, too.
Whenever Cippolone or Sekulow was speaking, my one and only thought was, “What could John Roberts possibly be thinking right now?” I hold out some glimmer of hope that he takes a stand and calls them out—at the right moment—for their blatant dissembling and outright lies. *How* that might play out with the head-in-the-sand GOP senators is the $64 trillion (that being the price of our democracy) question.
1
Henry Waxman. Ever heard of him? Heard the name mentioned recently? Have any idea who he is .. or was - I have no idea if he is still alive. Henry Waxman is the existence that Adam Schiff will eventually lapse. He was a Democratic Representative from California during the Reagan Administrations. He was loud and obnoxiously threatening. He was skinny and bald with a pencil neck and a thin mustache. He was very unlikable. At the time, his name was commonly in the papers. He was one of Reagan’s chief antagonists.
Today, he is a nobody. Ask 100 people who he was and 100 will say they don’t know. That is Adam Schiff’s future. Blow hard today. Threatening and smarmy. A nobody tomorrow. Nancy likes to crow that Trump will be impeached ‘forever’. He will also be the 45th President of the United States ‘forever’. Adam Schiff will be long forgotten in a decade if not sooner. This is but a blip.
1
Elizabeth Warren is proposing a commission to investigate the corruption of the Trump administration if Democrats can take back the White House, the Senate, and hold the House. The sham trial the GOP majority is orchestrating under McConnell is clear proof how badly we need to impose consequences and restore accountability. Trump and the GOP have demonstrated how weak our institutions are; this corrective action is long overdue.
All Americans who believe in the rule of law should support this.
And anyone who still believes in bipartisanship should be disabused of that notion. There are no moderates in the GOP to reach across the aisle. They are all solidly behind Trump. They have effectively become unindicted co-conspirators.
Total collusion.
1
If the House managers think the evidence they gathered during the impeachment inquiry is insufficient to support the articles of impeachment, they should withdraw the articles of impeachment. If the Supreme Court rules the White House much comply with congressional subpoenas, the House can restart the impeachment inquiry and issue subpoenas.
1
This is so demoralizing ... words fail.
2
This entire putrid affair reminds me of the famous Shakespearean line, "It is a tale told by an idiot; full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Two questions:
1. Why are we subjecting ourselves to all this play acting? Does anyone in this country have the faintest notion that the outcome will not go exactly as expected? "Moderate Republicans?" Surely you jest! These lockstep, partisan votes to participate in this historic obstruction is nauseating. There isn't enough integrity on the part of Senate Republicans to fill a thimble.
2. How did we get to this point, where lawyers for the president are free to stumble in unprepared, spew invective, lies, faulty legal reasoning and utter nonsense, and not be thrown out? How is it that the "world's greatest deliberative body" has devolved into a kangaroo court whose sole function is to protect their leader at all costs?
The climate catastrophe that Greta Thunberg is desperately attempting to get folks to address in Davos is a perfect metaphor for the collapse of the rule of law here at home.
But hey, the economy is doing great, and the stock market is booming!
40
@TLMischler Why are we doing this? If for no other purpose, dragging the whole sorry spectacle into the light does this much. It makes it that much harder to ignore the corruption and dysfunction that the Republican Party has embraced.
All Americans are now being forced to contemplate the question: which side are you on? The idea that people can ignore politics and politicians as having no connection to their lives and something they share no responsibility for is over. That willful disassociation is what has gotten us where we are today.
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
It’s time for “the best” to step up or leave the worst to triumph.
6
@TLMischler
Only people over 45 care about the stock market booming. Where were you for the last decade? The majority of Americans are not investors. That eliminates a good portion of the electorate.
Low unemployment is a false-positive as well. Labor participation still hasn't recovered from a 10-year low. It's like saying 5/2 is good because we went from 4/3 to 5/2. Your denominator is still lower than it used to be. The trend overall is actually a negative signal. Death rates are up and fertility rates are down. In relative terms, these metrics are more indicative of our times.
@TLMischler
The Democrats also are voting in lockstep. They claim they want to call new witnesses, but they would vote to convict regardless of what new witnesses might testify.
1
Fibbing? You can't say they dabbled in straight-up lies? I'm not an expert on defamation law. However, I believe something that is "not true" constitutes a lie. It's not a misrepresentation or a fib. Republican lawmakers were at the depositions. Saying anything else is a lie. You are lying. Can't we just say that?
3
The Republicans have even shot down the motion to have the Chief Justice decide whether witnesses are material or not has been shot down. Why even bother, just dismiss the trail/case as it is such a perversion of justice. A perversion of the rule of law. Disgusting.
2
"fibbing"? Lying. Say it loud. Lying. Those WH lawyers lied, in an Impeachment trial, in front of SCOTUS Chief Roberts. They could, and should, be disbarred. This team, mediocre in presentation and substance, will utilize President Trump's trademark bray: bullying. Luckily, Adam Schiff is a stellar counter-balance. He is crushing them.
3
In their arguments to subpoena documents and witnesses Democrats fleshed out what those documents and witnesses would say. For Republicans who live in the Fox News vacuum, fully protected from reality and from facts that counter the party propaganda that Trump has done nothing wrong, this hearing might be the first time they've heard about any damning evidence against Trump. It remains to be seen whether any Republicans have integrity and vote their conscience in this impeachment hearing, but this is likely once in a lifetime chance to do so.
1
Yes. Let's hear from the Biden family.
Wait, did the Democrats want Monica L to testify against Bill Clinton way back when?
How quickly the need for transparency shifts, eh
3
I'm binge-watching Netflix (the Ranch, which is really funny) and streaming the hearings in the background.
I get that this is the NYT, so everyone will probably beat up on me, but seriously, are there any adults in the room? This is just a riot to watch. It's now reached the point of being some 19th century French farce. It's become a parody of itself.
Watching Adam Schiff here … at, like, 1:30AM, looking very serious and important, going on and on, kind of sadly knowing he has to go through his motions, knowing that, like, there's all of five people in America actually watching it.
This was never about any kind of truth … it is just Democrats hating Trump, and Republicans hating the Democrats. The outcome was known from day one. The Ds would impeach (evidence made no difference). The Rs will acquit (evidence makes no difference). Everyone knew this three months ago.
These nasty people are all going through the motions with no intent other than to do the most damage to each other.
CNN and NPR are apoplectic, and being as serious and profound as they can be. As are Fox and Breitbart. It is OMG "historic"!!!!!!
Most of America? "Honey, I think the kids are fighting about something or another in the sandbox again. A couple seem to be pretending to be well intentioned royalty, and a couple of others playing the part of the poor put upon peasants who will take down the evil royalty. And the entire future of the sandbox is at stake!
What a sad bit of fun this is.
1
Our constitution is being torn apart and you think it’s kids playing in the sandbox?
I heartily agree that the Republicans have been blindsided. Under the cover of amendments to the procedure proposed by Senate Majority Leader McConnell, the seven House Managers presented a highly choreographed, multimedia slideshow that in fact represented the core of their case against the President. The President's defenders appeared unprepared -- in fact, almost fumbling -- extemporaneously reiterating that the President's defenders were unfairly excluded from the House investigation and that the impeachers were hypocrites. It all made for favorable TV for the House managers on day #1. Nor did the unanimous party-line rejection of every House-sponsored amendment to seek documents and call witnesses help enhance the image of the Republican senators, who appeared to be caught off-guard that they had to vote on the admission of new evidence now, instead of later according to plan.
65
Add Chief Justice Roberts to that list
And his complicity began denying request for kupperman
3
@Chuck
We know the end game but the American people had an opportunity to hear the facts last night and going forward.
So much to hide by the Trump people , One wonders why the desperate hold and how many lies are hidden in the corners .
when will this Trump nightmare of madness end? Oh sooner than later.
3
@jeffrey You write: "House Managers presented a highly choreographed, multimedia slideshow that in fact represented the core of their case against the President."
I have to hand it the House Managers for staging a good show. The fact that the GOP Senate majority marched in lock step with Senate Leader McConnell shows that the House Managers were wise to Mitch's plan: once arguments are delivered, call for acquittal based on a party line vote. Expect that. Forget fair or impartial: as Nadler said, "you are complicit in a coverup" if you deny Bolton as a witness.
There is really no question that McConnell and his gang are attempting the greatest coverup ever in American politics. But, they must realize that the truth will emerge eventually. I guess they think the American people are just so stupid that they can get away with it for years.
But, I doubt they will succeed for very long. Oppression does not for long triumph over freedom.
1
“dabbled in straight-up fibbing”
On whose thin ice do you think you are skating, Ms. Cottle?
They pushed provable lies to Senators who already know they are lies. So who were they pushing them to?
Millions of Americans.
That’s where and when you come in, telling the unvarnished truth. It is fit to print.
1
Heard on August 28 or 29, 1968, in Chicago, during the Democrat National Convention: "The Whole World is Watching."
1
Trump is de jure above the law.
How did America come to this?
This vulgar brute who brags about abusing women and is venerated by Christians as the sinful savior.
Truth is free.
1
How does SUSAN Collins face her family? All that nonsense about the importance of witnesses.ha! Just another two-faced GOP grifter.
3
McConnell is a disgrace. The senate he is leading looks no different than the sham government Putin, and others like him, run. Trump must be in 7th heaven.
2
The defense has no argument. They present lies and obfuscation. Mock outrage to get those sound bites for the fools. This is a farce, an embarrassment. Shame on Republicans and those that support them. America is done. Prepare for the worst.
3
Trump is toast. The public has been swayed, with 69% supporting the calling of witnesses. That suggests a swing to Democratic Senate seats if that support holds. Assuming there is natural depreciation, Democrats will always be able to point to the video from the Senate trial. With Trump a non-factor at this point due to technology, there is only so much he can screw up. He is half out the door. Trump's defense team was transparently unfocused and almost harebrained in its lack of a coherent argument. The Dems won impeachment, don't crow about it, but people now see just how corrupt the Republicans are when Trump can't lie for them.
2
Why is Pat Cippolone allowed to be one of Trump's defense lawyers?
The White House Counsel exists to advise the President and Executive Branch about legal issues. His client is the Presidency, not the President. His responsibility is to let the President know if something is or is not legal. He is not authorized to be the President's enabler so that he can take illegal actions or circumvent the law.
Cippolone is abusing his set of responsibilities by acting as Trump's personal lawyer. Why has John Roberts not demanded that Cippolone be recused? His presence is a clear violation of the role of White House Counsel. If he isn't recused, he should resign from office.
2
Trump’s defense is so thin and his lawyers so repulsive that they may actually succeed in winning Democrats control of the Senate.
Democratic majorities in both the House and Congress might put Trump on his best behavior if re-elected.
Or even result in his resignation. I can hardly imagine Trump handling that adversity without exploding daily on Twitter and Fox.
And then one fine day, he grows tired of playing straight and boldly announces that he is too great to be President.
3
Welcome to the Republican rehash of the diatribe they used in the House investigation. The script is the same; the actors have changed.
1
Chief Justice Roberts early in the piece highlighted the level of the farce happening. In admonishing both sides he sought behaviour befitting, 'the world’s greatest deliberative body.' He lamented 'language not conducive to civil discourse.'
With due respect, worrying about the trimmings, the facade, is like fretting about the paint job on the house when the foundations are rotting and the dry rot and termites are attacking the framework.
Participants have made up their minds, have had their minds made up for them, not on grounds of what is right but what is politically expedient. Ostensibly it is an exercise in finding the truth but those who know the truth are not allowed to talk or unwilling to talk.
Gravitas, grandiosity, tradition and history are sham intruders in a travesty. Chief Justice Roberts wants them while knowing instead he is presiding over a charade. The world’s greatest deliberative body? It should be a proud, bold, deserved claim. It wasn't plaintiff, the listeners are clearly beyond that. It was simply sad.
2
Another masterpiece of Republican See no Evil Hear no Evil denial. But they are right about this, there is one solution to this problem and it's coming round this November.
2
And where does all this end, with the gerrymandering, the obstruction of due process, the lies, the distortion of truth and facts, the obfuscation, the theatrics, and the blind obedience to the leader’s whims and desires?
The only logical conclusion is a hereditary dictatorship.
Is there any way to save America now?
2
Considering the absolute absence of any crime, great or small, to justify this impeachment, is there ANY reason to expect or hope that every elected president from now on will not be impeached as long as the House is controlled by the opposite party?
This gutter-level behavior by what used to be the proud Democratic Party has convinced many that what progressives really want in an end to the U.S. Constitution; and if that means a violent open revolt, they are working towards that on a daily basis.
1
I don’t know L osservatore. Will any President be able to appoint Supreme Court justices if the Senate is controlled by the opposing party? Will all Presidential candidates be allowed to withhold tax returns, scrutiny of which would demonstrate criminal activity? Will all Presidential candidates be allowed to make illegal hush money payments?
So many interesting hypotheticals, don’t you think?
2
Day 1 of the impeachment trial was an exercise by Republican Senators to clutch their lock on the Senate and the White House in their avaricious claws.
They lied about the House impeachment process, falsely claiming that Republicans hadn't been allowed to participate, when, in fact, they comprised half of the impeachment committees.
They lied when they said the president and his lawyers couldn't participate, when, in fact he was invited to do so and refused.
Their displays of contrived indignation were laughable. They offered no facts which supported Trump's actions.
The Democrats were well-prepared to place their evidence and witnesses in the trial. The Republicans refused to analyze any evidence or listen to any witnesses.
Under Trump, American lives and the planet are threatened with increased fossil fuel and chemical pollution. His bullying by tariff and trade war has hurt American businesses and farmers.
He sided with Russia against Ukraine, a country that is the sole barrier between Russian aggression against the E.U.
Having done nothing good for the U.S., Trump lies constantly and his Republican handmaidens ensure that the American people will never be heard. That the DOW is strong does not help most Americans.
Elected Republicans have lost all semblance of fairness. Their sole goal is to stay in power, regardless of any inconvenient truth.
5
I don't understand why the Dems are bothering to get all these amendments through. Everything will be voted down 53-47. Waste of time! Republicans will vote to acquit or exonorate 53-47. End of story. End of Democracy.
1
@Michael
The reason the Dems put forth the amendments was to put the republican senators who are in swing states on record as not being interested in having a fair trial.
2
In a case this important, where a sitting president has openly admitted doing so many
Lawless things ( because he can do anything he wants...) where a critical election is being so blatantly tampered with by Tsar Putin, we cannot have discovery? We, the citizens of this nation, are being cheated right before our eyes. Has the GOP no
Shame? Apparently not.
7
If the Republicans refuse to subpoena witnesses, like Bolton or Mulvaney, and claim the House should have done so and included their testimony in the Articles submitted, then the House should embark on another set of Articles of Impeachment, which includes subpoenas of all key persons, and let it start working its way through the courts.
1
I like to keep an open mind but Mitch McConnell is making it difficult. In fact so difficult ,on principle,I will never vote for a Republican again. I came around after Nixon but this time the Republicans have shown they don’t care about principle or fairness. They only care about power. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I give them the chutzpah for doing this in plain sight. Though I am not an intellectual. I am street smart enough to smell a rat and can pick out the snake oil sales pitch. Even you Mr. Dershowitz whose ego is larger than life . I know I am nobody in their eyes but I hope there are many more nobodies like me come November. The Republic for which Republicans pretended to stand for depends on it.
4
Focus on the oaths taken. Republicans are on the hook and they know it. Either honor and virtue are dead, or our future as a democratic republic is. Take your pick. They’re honor as human beings is in question. Only they can drive their destinies in the right direction, or into the ditch.
3
I have been watching and listening to the trial for a few hours now. The President's defense is utterly embarrassing.
2
"They even dabbled in some straight up fibbing..."
Dabbled? Fibbing?
The president's defense team is spreading the same lies we've heard for months.
1. Republicans were shut out of the Intelligence Committee evidentiary hearings. Lie. Republicans were present at all the meetings and got equal time with Democrats for questioning witnesses.
2. The President wasn't allowed representation at the Judiciary Committee hearings. Lie. The President declined to participate in the hearings.
3. The Democrats have been trying to impeach Trump for the past three years. Lie. Nancy Pelosi, and many other prominent Democrats, made clear they did not want to start impeaching hearings, even in the wake of the Mueller Report.
4. The Democrats hate Trump and can't get over the last election. Lie. This is a canard that Republicans love to repeat even though they have no evidence or facts to support it, and there is obviously no way to substantiate it.
The marathon sessions in the Senate will leave many soured at the back and forth between lawyers and politicians, but the conspicuous question for those of us who are neither is: If Trump is so innocent, and his Republic defenders are so certain of his innocence, why are they so desperately blocking every witness and any documents that "prove" his innocence.
6
Cippolone should be disbarred for lying ... not fibbing, but lying, to this “court”. No, he was not sworn in but where I practiced, lawyers, even in those rare instances where we testified, were not sworn in as other jurors were, because we were already sworn in to a higher standard of honesty before any tribunal. I cannot imagine standing before not just millions of television viewers, but the Chief Justice of the USSC, snd trll such an obvious and flat out lie. We are allowed to spin facts, but we are not allowed to lie about them. Disbar him.
6
It seems that the republicans want to circumvent procedure for their party instead of doing the business of the court and the people.
Could you imagine if you were innocent you would want all people to testify on your behalf. trump is stonewalling for the purpose of not being impeached.
If someone did something that was wrong to you, would you want that person to get off free and clear. I don't think so...
All Americans should be ashamed if you fell different about this trail.
Republicans or Democrats please come together against this self-indulgent President today.
1
You might think that any Republican Senator who stood up and said what most of them know, that the Emperor has no clothes, that Trump is guilty of these charges and worse, and that most of the Republican senators know it, would earn himself a place of honor in history. However, any Republican who spoke the truth would be saying not only that Trump is a fraud, but that Fox news is a fraud, that the right wing media universe that is the basis of the GOP’s political success is a fraud, that the GOP leadership are frauds.
And even if such a senator did so, what would the country gain? He, along with any Republicans who joined him, would be easily destroyed by a right-wing media whose profits depend, like the President’s, on telling people that liberals control & corrupt everything. Their replacements would be more dependably dishonest. It has taken years of corruption in politics, in government, and in media, to get to where we are, and everyone in power is there, at least in part, because they are implicated.
2
Well, it's clear that the proverbial fix is in. The entire body of the senate with McConnell at it's head has succumbed to a disease called Trump. There's no help but to lop off the whole rotting carcass in the 2020 general election.
1
You have to admire the Republicans. They so want to exonerate Donald Trump that they're willing to publicly block the American People from learning the truth.
I will likely always wonder why no one has requested the recording of the actual 7/25/19 phone call (the one on the very 'secret' server). Why have we relied only on the summarized 'transcript'? What was released was much shorter than the actual call itself.
There are tapes.....Lordy, who has no one demanded to hear them?
1
Republicans have shed any pretense of upholding the law and have made a shameful effort to suppress the truth from coming out. Fox and Twitter will do their share to keep the Republican Base inflamed and uninformed, but increasing number of Americans are looking through this Republican sham and will not stand for it. There is not a single Republican Senator who can be proud of their performance last night. With a supermajority of Americans wanting to call witnesses, they are likely to get what they deserve on election day. Never forget that.
1
In 2019 the people of Hong Kong, Iran, France, Russia, Spain, Bolivia and other nations took to the streets. In some of these citizens aren’t encouraged to speak out. Yet this is what they did despite the danger of being arrested or worse.
We see ourselves as the model for democracy. Yet we are allowing this faux trial. The GOP senators voted to table the amendments calling for witnesses. We are told that the GOP wants a fair trial and that somewhere down the road the amendments will be voted on. But this is a GOP gimmick. This provides cover for the GOP; especially for those who are vulnerable in the election. These will say that they weren’t given a chance to vote for witnesses. What a bunch of con artists! Are they any better than the stable genius?
In a recent CNN poll 69% of Americans favor new witnesses in the trial. We need to take to the streets in large numbers to pressure the GOP. We need to make clear that we know their game. We need to make them see that if they continue down this road they won’t be coming back to DC.
Aren’t we a nation of laws? Are we going to allow the GOP and the stable genius to get away with their blatant disregard for OUR laws? Will we stay home while others across the world put their lives on the line for democracy? We can no longer take our democracy for granted!
The Dem can’t do this alone. We need to show that we support them.
SEE:
voanews.com/americas/global-protests-2019-demonstrators-around-world-demand-reform
2
Would you PLEASE stop covering this as if it were a football game? The Senate is "divided" and the Dems and Reps are "clashing" only if one takes it on faith that both sides are trying to get to the facts. The Republicans have been uninterested in any kind of facts (let's leave "truth" for philosophers) for a long time, but under Trump they have jump off a bridge and abandoned any semblance of putting country or constitution above their own political power. Some call it treason. You don't have to do that. But the word you want is "obstructing." The Republicans are obstructing an honest inquiry. PLEASE stop the false equivalence.
56
@Cathryn
Seconded! Amen!
1
@Cathryn, and on a similar topic,let's stop making the campaign (particularly the debates ) into a smackdown. I want to hear about positions - and I want to hear about which candidates are inspiring crowds; we won't win without the kind of passion that President Obama engendered in '08 and '12. Polling positions? Lotta good that did with Hillary in '16. (And on that topic, please, Sec. Clinton, we know you and Bernie don't get along. Please go away now and let the primaries play out, then please [again] come back with a full-force endorsement of the eventual candidate. Thank you.)
1
The parts of the trial I was able to watch were just a regurgitation of everything I have heard from both sides for months.
Unless there is new witness testimony, no one's mind will be changed.
I would be very much like to hear from Mr. Mulvaney, Mr.Bolton and Mr. Giuliani. But we will never hear from them unless the Democrats are ready to sacrifice, the Whistleblower, the Bidens and Mr. Schiff.
It is a really nasty game of chicken.
13
@gpickard
You are surprised? Really? I´m not.
This is what is always going to happen when proper preparation by gathering all evidence by complete investigation after all necessary subpoenas had been neglected before indictment was sent to the court - in this very special kind of trial the Senate. Delayed evidence will not be heared in most of the cases anymore.
The main evidence has to be made available together with the reading of the indictment. Hoping that a court will run after evidence prosecuting authority has neglected before is not a good way to handle a case. This is not the job of a decisionmaker appealed. Particularly not if this court is notoriously not willing to do such jobs.
But I remember somebody saying this was only some "rope´n dope" who really ought to know this better from his former life.
1
I protested to Senator Steve Daines from Montana that Americans deserve a real trial with evidence. He wrote back that this "impeachment sham has now been dumped on the lap of the United States Senate" as if he is so busy flying off to Russia and taking care of his own personal business that he and his colleagues cannot be bothered to hold a real trial.
Must be so tough being a Republican Senator.
While it is no consolation now, at least we know that history will not look kindly on Mitch McConnell or Senator Daines. Sadly, though, it will also look to my state as one of the contributors to this sham proceeding. There will be no justice for the American people (or my fellow Montanans), that's for sure.
35
@avrds
FWIW, I love Montana and I know there are good people there!
1
Senate Republicans are not interested in either a fair trial or the truth.
Watching is too painful. Watching the last shreds of what used to be our country being buried by criminals.
Justice Roberts could actually act like a judge and demand due process.
If Justice Roberts fails to act in defense of justice, he can forget any dreams he ever had of history seeing him as anything but a political tool in the failure of our country.
31
@Chickpea
“Watching is too painful.”
Yes. It’s like a public execution. Via slow torture.
Soon as I post this comment, I'm on my way to work. When I arrive, I'll do my job, the work I was hired to do, or else be sent home and they will hire somebody else.
In November, never forget who did their jobs here--and who made a huge mockery of it. Vote accordingly.
44
@Damolo
Pithy. Accurate. You nailed it!
4
@Damolo
Brilliant.
2
Republicans can't hold a fair trial or Trump would be removed from office. Trump can't be removed from office because he is the regressive whisperer who gets Republicans elected.
So let them get this sham over with so that we can get back to their real agenda, which is destroying our democracy and making the wealthy even richer at our expense.
1
I watched a good deal of the Senate yesterday. And came away wondering how the rest of the world might be thinking about the path this nation is now taking. A path paved by a minority. A minority bowing to a deranged criminal, bent on having his way, regardless of a Constitution and the Rule of Law. Regardless of norms of civility. Regardless of a world headed for overheating and its consequent natural disasters. A world that used to view us as a beacon of democratic principles.
I am nearly 75. With luck I might live another 25 years. With even more luck I might still be able to think clearly then. But at this moment I feel so discouraged about our Republic and the future in a nation where “yesterday’s Senate proceedings” actually occurred. Where nonsense and ad hominem ruled the day and 53 adults actually voted for it!
History will record all this. The world is watching. And I, bereft of my beloved husband since last April, feel more isolated from hope and sanity than I’ve ever, ever felt.
“Rules of Engagement” - utter hypocrisy voted up. Sanity voted down.
4
Here is what is galling about the impeachment "trial": In no criminal case of which I am aware, jurors may vote to acquit despite having none of the testimony from 17 witnesses refuted by any opposing evidence. None. Neither Trump's lawyers nor Senate Republicans have indicated any effort to deny the aid-for-dirt bribe allegations with witnesses or documents. They are wholly conceding the facts of the case and are cynical enough to know it's unnecessary, since the evidence has no relevance to their votes and the American public is too apathetic, ignorant and exhausted to care about this travesty of justice. Sad days for a once-proud democracy now disintegrating into an autocratic third-world oligarchy.
3
Complete waste of time by Congress as usual.
We all know the outcome of this charade but here we are with hundreds of elected officials each with a retinue, all getting substantial salaries, bickering over nothing that matters.
How about you enact some helpful laws? Pass another tax cuts. Pass a infrastructure spending bill.
2
McConnell et al clearly figure if they can go on fooling some of the people all of the time, they're home free. But among those 'some of the people' many may so tire over the coming weeks of being taken for fools they'll actually begin thinking for themselves. Here's hoping.
3
"They even dabbled in straight-up fibbing".
Why sugar coat it?
The President's men looked into into the camera, in front of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in front of millions of Americans, and for history to record, lied about a fact. It wasn't an opinion, it wasn't an exaggeration, it wasn't a legal argument.
It was a lie. And worst of all, it wasn't a lie meant to persuade. It was a lie meant to show their disdain for our justice system, our citizens, our democracy and our Constitution. Disdain shared by the Senate Republicans who will run a sham trial to protect the King of Disdain of America.
May history never forget or forgive.
5
This farce could be taking place in North Korea, China and Putin's Russia. What has happened to democracy and the notion of what constitutes a fair trial in the senate?
Richard Nixon was a lawyer and even he had shame when he tendered his resignation rather than be impeached. However Trump has no shame and no understanding of the seriousness of any of his actions and neither do any of the Republicans in the senate, who keep voting to support Mitch McConnells rules for the impeachment trial.
3
20 Republican senators are not going to vote with Democrats to convict Trump. They just won't.
So this is an exercise in demonstrating in excruciating detail in front of the whole world, how corrupt and lacking in any semblance of principle or putting country over party.
They can walk off the senate floor after the final vote in shame and ignominy , to be forever documented in the history books as complicit in the crimes of the worst president in American history.
2
This has to be one of the lowest points in the history of the United States. Trump lies, his lawyers lie and do not tell the truth, any more than trump does, and the data is so absolutely clear and compelling but the "move along folks, nothing to see here" attitude is beyond shocking. I fear for the future of our country and the likely permanent damage done by the republicans. No documents, no testimony, no caring, no thinking about what this does for America. I am both so sad and so angry.
7
"With a jury this conspicuously biased...." The Senate Republicans are the only people voting to suppress facts, evidence and witnesses. It is time for Chief Justice Roberts to intervene now or never and order those jurors to recuse themselves.
If not now, it surely will be never, because we will have failed to keep a republic.
Watching this is sickening. Sans another revolution, I am more certain than ever that we have indeed lost our beloved republic, and that these people are domestic enemies of the United States.
3
Jason Crow showed today what a distorter of truth he is. When he is not willing to acknowledge the fact that President Trump was the leader in providing the lethal Javelin weapon to Ukraine for their defense when President Obama refused. How distorted for him to claim as if Congress was the one to decide to provide the lethal weapons as part of the aid, when in fact congress had nothing to do with the approval of the weapons just the money to purchase the weapons.
Jason Crows own words betray him. Stating his having to search for shields of protection, when he was a soldier, make clear that President Trumps building and providing the Military the equipment they need despite him and his fellow democrat members trying to stop it from happening
How dare him, to question Presidents Trumps commitment to Ukraine, when his party would not provide lethal aid and so many died when President Obama was in office.
Plain and simply Jason Crow words are a joke and he needs to be voted out of office. I and many others in Colorado will work day and night to rid this man as a representative of Colorado
1
@Gary you are very confused. My congressman did a fine job, and it was the Bush administration’s incompetence that led to the need to up-armor Humvees. The fix happened, belatedly, during that same administration. You credit King Donald with far too match and fail to comprehend the damage he has done, and will continue to do, in his unearned role.
The Trump impeachment trial is worse than Watergate and the Nixon cover up. Today we are seeing the entire Republican Senate cover up for Trump by not allowing any witnesses or subpoenas for documents to be issued.
Indeed this is not a fair trial but a sham run by Mitch McConnell and his Republican Trump cronies.
7
Hopefully Americans see and feel when the game is fixed and dispose of the players doing the scamming.
3
The representatives of 140 million Americans somehow make up a majority of the Senate.
A total of 67 million Americans elected the president.
There is nothing democratic about any of this: Gerrymandering, funny money, media hegemony, overt pandering to religion, the encouragement of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and antisemitism, restricted polling, removal of voting rights, a return to Jim Crow 'democracy' in the South - the list goes on and on.
The GOP are bad faith actors, and every minute of this senate show trial makes that plain.
5
I saw the whole of the latter stages - US eastern time 4pm to close - 7.30am UK time. The House did a great job - the highlight was the very last failed amendment, but its timing and message were perfection in slam-dunking the fact that this is not to be a trial or that it will be impartial. Utter utter disgrace from the 53. The world was watching and the US voters have 10 months to seethe at what was missed, an opportunity to see beyond the veil and get to see just what the Emperor you voted for has been up to these past 3 years. Its scary to think what devastation he'll wreak on your great country, and the world, with another term. I for one will be watching those election time events from behind my sofa, under a duvet, and from between my fingers.
7
An excess of rules and formal procedure cannot disguise to the world that the underlying process—and maybe the entire underlying system of government—designed by the founders is a farce and a failure.
The United States has a government that is now utterly dysfunctional and beyond repair. Only Americans—the proverbial frogs in a pot of boiling water—cling to the fantasy that somehow their present Constitution and the government it creates is salvageable.
The rest of the world sees the charade for what it is. American democracy is dead. We await to see what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward Washington to be born.
2
"It pretty quickly became clear that Mr. Schiff and his fellow House managers did not intend to risk boring television viewers with the nuts and bolts of Senate process."
Ah but much to the chagrin of the reporter and this newspaper it WAS boring and will get even MORE boring as both the Repubs and the Dems go over the same ground we've all heard before umpteen times. If the Dems succeed in getting witness testimony they will hoist themselves on their own petard. . .as (like the string of self-righteous and condescending academics they trotted out in front of the House) the whole proceeding will drag out even further. I predict that even some of the Dems will threaten to vote to acquit unless the S&S boys (Schumer and Schiff) call off the dogs, lest the TV ratings fall below the soaps they pre-emted.
The voters will take revenge come November. I can hear the chanting at the next Trump rally now: "Bore'm again, Bore'm again, harder, harder!
1
I had always hoped the Lickspittle Caucus of the Republican Party would be kept to a minimum. After listening to the first day of the Senate hearing, only this old 18th century word accurately describes the new entire Republican Party. I used to teach about the courageous Margaret Chase Smith. I doubt if anyone will teach about Susan Collins et. al.
3
Nancy - now is the time for the House vs. Trump 2.0.
'Round Midnight the Senate voted to not call witnesses or subpoena materials at least for now. OK, if the Senate will not do their sworn duty, the House must act, again. Reissue the House subpoenas that were ignored or 'blocked' by Trump, go after documents not yet fully obtained, and get Lev Parnas and Bolton to testify under oath, by granting them immunity if necessary. Demand that Courts expedite decisions in related cases Because it bears on the Senate's trial.
Trump and McConnell's Senate are strategically ignoring the House. Respond using powers you already have.
5
After all the words spent on Trumpian excess, nonsense and abuse of and hunger for power, the only remedy is for Democrats to obtain a majority in the Senate, retain or expand their majority in the House, win the presidency and continue to gain seats in state and local elections. This scourge of illiberal, illogical and frankly, often bigoted thinking and policies can only be curtailed by democratic activity. The Republican know this, and thus, suppress and diminish the impact of voting at every opportunity and appoint judges whom they hope will support such restrictions.
The House impeachment managers and their leader, Nancy Pelosi also appear to understand this. Their presentations in support of the Schumer amendments yesterday were reasoned and fact-based appeals to the rational citizen, and should be viewed as a general statement regarding the merits of Democratic control of government at this stage in our history. They realize that this impeachment trial will not result in Donald Trump's removal from office now, despite the compelling case they have compiled and presented, but rather, understand that the trial is yet another means of restoring government of, by and for the people, in alignment with not only the Constitution, but in acknowledgement of the many setbacks and gains we have made since that document was ratified.
Get educated, do the campaign work, get people to the polls and if necessary, get in the streets. The time has come.
7
"With a jury this conspicuously biased, it’s hard to imagine any other outcome."
Let's just remember that both sides are not exactly objective. The very fact that there are "both sides" makes the process somewhat less than objective.
Each side has its own truth, narrative, and goals.
The jury is not "biased" Ms. Cottle, it is partisan, as is the prosecution.
Just one more late-night reality show.
Here's an interesting question: Are re-runs allowed?
The process can be finished and then it might conceivably be re-played in the same form or different form. Some actors might need to be replaced, but viewers rarely care.
2
@Joshua Schwartz
In a trial, there are two parties. The defendant and the prosecutor.
That does not make them equal, if the prosecutor has compelling evidence, enough for a beyond a reasonable doubt guilty verdict then one side has the facts and the law on their side and the other side is looking at a prison sentence.
The evidence is overwhelming against Trump and shows he committed extortion against a US ally to gain personal political benefit.
30
No, there are not multiple truths. There is one truth (that Trump withheld congressionally approved military aid for dirt on Biden) and then endless diversions and efforts to obfuscate by the Republicans. Comments like yours suggest their efforts are not wasted. They are trying to create an appearance of there being two sides to the argument so everything looks like partisan rancor and people throw up their hands and tune out. That is the Republicans’ one and only strategy.
33
The House Democrats created a mostly party-line impeachment (they lost three Dem House votes).
Their filings in the Senate rely on adjectives and name-calling to substitute for an utter lack of factual or legal basis. They forced a trial when they didn’t have the evidence to convict.
But the problem is partisanship in the Senate?
Riiiiiiight.
3
Like him or dislike him. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is the most consequential bold senator who gets things done and has given clear indication of things to come. The democrats lived by the partisan Pelosi sword in the US House of Reps and will die by that same sword of McConnell partisanship in the senate. Why not? this impeachment charade is political. It was the same when Clinton was impeached and it is now the same when Trump is being impeached. As an independent, I think it was wrong to impeach Clinton and it is dead wrong now to impeach Trump.
Clinton was one of the best presidents from the democratic side for the times in which he was president and Trump is the best Republican president for the current times. These two may go down in history as being victims of Washington gone haywire in partisan feud and dividing the nation, nothing to do with any crime, leave alone high crime as required for impeachment. It is pettiness of the house of reps that has drawn the senate into a trial in the case of impeachments. The only way the trust in our democracy will be restored is when we go to the ballot box in Nov.of 2020. Cry all you want and show a phony righteous indignation but Sen McConnell has been fair. He allowed additional time for both sides to present their case. Schiff had the chance to call John Bolton and all and sundry including those who did not have direct credible information by asking the third coequal branch of government, the judiciary. Why not?
6
@Girish Kotwal Because the judiciary would have delayed proceedings for years.
33
@Imperato Unlikely. The Supreme court would have expedited the hearing.
1
@Roger The case would not have gone to the Supreme Court which is a court of appeals, it would be tried, appealed, retried, reappealed and so on to the end of 2020 at least. Since the crime the president is being tried for is trying to steal the 2020 election, that would make the entire system useless.
3
I wonder why House Democrats didn’t subpoena witnesses, recordings and documents when they controlled the activities in their own theater instead of trying to impose their wishes on the Senate. What was the rush? They waited a month after impeachment to make the five minute walk between the House and Senate chambers. Democrats could have had everything they wanted.
5
As has been explained many times, Trump refused to comply and instead initiated legal procedures that would have outlasted his presidency. Just like any other innocent person would do.
57
House Democrats did issue subpoenas, but were stonewalled by Trump. Trump might also ignore Senate subpoenas, if they issue them. It's called a cover-up.
97
@William McCain They did, and the subpoenas have been ignored by the White House. We’re waiting for a court ruling, which comes at a glacial pace, which is why the Democrats say we must act now to remove the corrupt Trump because he’s plotting to corrupt the election even as we wait.
Just as the White House forbid Administration officials with direct knowledge of the corruption to testify, and the Republican Senate today voted to uphold the corruption.
The innocent don’t act this way.
2
There's a reason nobody trusts poloticians or the media.
The Republicans keep saying Ukraine got the funds, ignoring that it only happened after the story broke.
Schiff keeps discussing the House hearings as aboveboard, ignoring the ways they differed from any other 20th century impeachment eg Republicans had to request witnesses and evidence that Schiff could deny.
6
The purpose of the procedure in the House of Representatives is to establish probable cause, not to present a defense. If the police investigate you for committing a crime, you don’t get to hire a defense attorney and present evidence UNTIL your trial.
However, Speaker Pelosi publicly asked Donald Trump to provide any exculpatory evidence, and he provided none.
59
@Marshall
"If the police investigate you for committing a crime, you don’t get to hire a defense attorney and present evidence UNTIL your trial." WRONG
You hire a defense attorney, thru 'Discovery' learn who and what evidence will be presented by the Prosecution to support their charges/case. You prepare a defense.
Of course if your President then you are guilty until proven innocent and rule of law does not apply.
1
We now know one thing: the Republicans never wanted a single witness. They want this to go away. End of story.
1
Perhaps some enterprising U.S. Attorney could open RICO investigations on both of our major political parties, as both routinely exhibit behavior that would easily convince grand jurors to press charges under any other circumstances.
4
Our democracy was built on the idea that the vast majority of voters would be deliberative and interested in the best for the entire society. That is clearly no longer the case. Our problem is that those who have entrenched themselves in power, will not give it up willingly. While this is true for both parties, it is to a different degree. When either party chooses political rhetoric over actual science, they demean our democracy. When either party swears an oath to be impartial jurors, and then demonstrates that they are anything but impartial, they demean our democracy.
The main problem is that there will soon be two stark options for people who are not our politicians. Those options are to fail to resist and let our ideas of democracy die, or for us to take to the streets and strongly demand that our government actually become a democracy, one that adheres to civil liberties and removes the impacts of unlimited monetary influence on the process of governance.
12
"...the president’s men did not shy away from misrepresenting the House impeachment process — claiming, for instance, that the president had been denied the right to cross-examine witnesses, when in reality he declined to participate. They even dabbled in straight-up fibbing, claiming that Republican lawmakers had not been allowed into the closed-door impeachment depositions. Not true."
OK, enough already. It's not "misrepresenting" or "fibbing." It's LYING. And they're not "dabbling" in it, it's a full-time occupation for them.
40
@pmbrig, the Republicans were denied the right to cross-examine.
That is a fact.
Thus, the President declined to participate in the kangaroo court.
3
@Joe yoh notes "the Republicans were denied the right to cross-examine."
I missed this. Can Joe (or someone else) tell me when and where the Republicans were denied rights?
9
@Joe yoh
I think you have your facts confused. According to Wikipedia, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were given the same opportunity as Democrats to question (i.e., cross examine) witnesses in both the public hearings, which began on November 13th, and earlier closed-door sessions at which witnesses were initially deposed.
6
Although the Republican Senators are surrounded, they are unified thus far as not one of them wants to be the first to break ranks. It is the Republicans' only real strategy in the impeachment trial and it may well frustrate the Constitution's purpose and spirit for the founders did not anticipate that an entire political party would place its survival above all else. Now the Senate is no longer the "world's greatest deliberative body" it has become a political body that is nothing more than a deliberate liars' club. Sometimes the Senate doesn't rise to the occasion before it. Sometimes in our history the Senate has taken the low road that dispenses with national honor and integrity. We are all lesser for what the Republican Senate accomplished in the first day of the impeachment trial because their actions have degraded and debased our system. Our Constitution has weaknesses and breaking points that are being systematically exploited. There is no national confidence that the Senate will conduct a fair trial at this point. Our last Constitutional remedy is to vote out the Republicans across the board.
22
Weep, Americans: our government, so brilliantly designed by the framers of the Constitution, a government which has prevailed through difficult times due to its checks and balances and the rule of law, is breaking down under the weight of partisanship and self-dealing.
Weep, American: our republic has become an oligarchy.
Those who made the Citizens United decision and Mitch McConnell, your places in history are assured. You have destroyed the integrity of our system.
Take action, Americans: we need to take an electoral fire hose to Washington in November. Out with the incumbents and insist on campaign finance reform!
23
Almost all of the comments are critical of the Republican members of the senate.
Why doesn't it occur to us that it would be productive to rid ourselves of Republicans also Democrats so finally we may consider the issues of governing without the built in differences and vitriol we face on a daily basis.
I prefer no political parties. Vote for your favorite candidate because of their ideas.
My comment, we'll find little or no response as this idea will be considered foolish and not workable.
A perspective "If we found a way to send a man to the moon,
we should be able to find a way for our leaders to consider the issues of the day without the built in differences provided by political party along with the vitriol also created by the two political party system currently dis-functioning.
Allow our government to provide equal funds for valid candidates to run their presidential campaigns . Take money and political party out of politics in America.
Call it EFFORT ( Equal Funds For Our Real Tests )
If we can send a man to the moon, we can also put forth this EFFORT.
2
@M.W. Endres
I certainly agree it is past time to provide a robust public financing option for elections!
4
@M.W. Endres
Not foolish at all but unworkable! Too much money involved.
The sign, “Bought and Paid For” should be worn, hanging like a necklace on every GOP Senator. The fact they continue to vote against amendments for an evidence producing trial shows their only interest is in holding on to power.
That short-game strategy may work for today, but they are asking for a defeat in November not seen in decades. They are in for quite a shock If they still believe the poling from land phone lines, and surveys taken in front of the grocery store, are their connection to constituents. Mix that with the allegiance to their 1% wealthy donors, and proof at how out of touch the Senate is becomes overtly clear. The world’s greatest deliberative body? Hardly.
22
So, just to clarify, the impeachment (with evidence) was a sham because it was voted on party lines, but the rules of the trial are not a sham when they are voted along party lines?
What am I missing here?
16
@Leigh LoPresti
Simple. You are missing the fact that one party has consistently voted to suppress evidence and decline to investigate or punish a rather obvious and odious abuse of presidential power. The only difference is that the party complicit in the crime controls one chamber and not the other. There is no hypocrisy here other than Republican pleas that they are concerned about the Constitution, democracy, and justice. They are concerned only about their political futures.
32
It is ironic and unbelievably sad to watch the unpicking of democracy by the cynical use of democracy's key principle of majority rule. While the mechanism was designed to cater to the wisdom of the greatest number of people, it fails as Republicans use their Senate majority to thwart the application of additional evidence while opting not to present counter evidence of their own. Democracy was predicated by the tenet of assuming that most people love their country, their society, and their liberties enough to deeply care about how the state is run towards the aim of maximising equanimity.
One can only wonder what the Republican vision of a happy and content America is.
22
@Marcus Brant What counter evidence can the Republicans offer? "Someone else did something else some other time, so I can do what ever I want"? This is the entire problem for the Trump defense liars (oops, lawyers) they have no evidence to offer.
@Marcus Brant
Uh, no Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. No ACA or public support of healthcare. No food aid. No gun restrictions. Public support of Christianity over all other religions. No birth control or abortion under any circumstances. No immigration or entry of refugees. No limits on gerrymandering. Increased barriers to voting. More tax reductions for the rich and corporations.
I never would have believed these things before the "new" republican party took its current form starting in the 1990s.
2
In a Newtocracy, the evolution of Democracy, there will be no 'party' system. All politicians will be independents, representing their districts.
On issues that arise, one or some may agree with others, and on other issues may agree with a different group or individual. There is no need for partisanship at all.
On many issues, such as war, most members may well agree on decisions to be taken.
On impeachment, each member will vote according to unrestricted evidence and his/her conscience.
These are only some aspects of governance in a Newtocracy.
A one party system would automatically remove the built in difference between the two parties along with the automatic vitriol in the room.
Allow the members to disagree as free thinking people without the weight of political party hanging over their shoulders.
Be rated by what you say rather than clinging to your party
for "safety"
There is a lack of honesty in our current system but we'll see from the comments that what i have suggested is simply not workable and described as naive.
This is how they described the Wright Brothers
What we have witnessed in recent weeks should tell us that our current two party system is not working and we are naive for continuing to think that it will.
Our still young experiment in democracy should provide us with no political party which would allow each voter to choose exactly what they truly want for our society.
1
@M.W. Endres When I was young, a long time ago, I was irritated by the fact that both parties contained people of opposite opinions, and thought that having a Liberal and a Conservative party would make for better choices. I was wrong.
Can we do away with the fiction of “moderate Republican senators” now? Now that we’ve actually reached the trial, we see that all those supposed moderates are fully willing to help Mitch bury democracy. They will follow this road wherever it goes if it keeps them in power and the position to self-enrich.
42
Each and every point Chuck Schumer named clearly put the burden of proof onto trump and the Republican party. If Senators fail to see this, then they are unfit for office in a democratic system. And then it is these very Republican senators who will go down in history as those who ended the American republic.
29
How remarkably tone-deaf from Jerry Nadler - coming to the Senate and accusing them of a cover-up if they don't vote a particular way. Not exactly the way to win over those 5-6 moderate GOP Senators and in general insults the Senate overall.
And the most concise argument of the day came early from Trump's lawyers: in any court in America, if one side showed up for trial and said they wanted new discovery they would be tossed out on their ear by the judge. I think most Americans can grasp that simple concept.
1
@Chris
In a real trial, the police and district attorneys would subpoena the evidence they needed before trial and the courts would back them up. That was not an option here.
13
If we’re gonna play the, “in a real trial,” game, this just in: in any court trial, the judge would hit the roof if they got to the first day and found out that evidence had been suppressed, witnesses refused, and one side was actively lying about the discovery process.
27
@Chris liberal arrogance run amok. The House wants a slam dunk and will attempt to run roughshod over the Senate proceedings. It speaks volumes to their disrespect for our system of government and laws,
1
"Straight-up fibbing"?
Our nation is falling in front of our eyes in the biggest reversal of democracy since its founding. We have, this very week, dropped from the Democracy category in the The Economist's annual roundup of governmental representation, to 'Flawed Democracy."
And you use a word suited to a casual recap of last night's sitcoms?
The contemporary trend to appear off-hand and casual regardless of the circumstances is as inappropriate here as it would be at your mother's funeral.
I wept watching the hearings. The broadcast depicted how democracy dies, not a catfight on Dynasty.
Please take the world and your job much more seriously.
41
From the opening bell the Senate sets itself up as an adversary body to the House of Representatives (HR). They are supposed to be complementary. One impeaches (decides on the prima facie aspect); the other does the actual trial - summons documents and witnesses. This is not what happened. Senate performed as a body that didn't want to have anything to do with these charges, rejected the call for documents and witnesses.
It was a horror show. How did America get to this stage?
One refrain: "You (HR) want us to do (call witnesses) what you couldn't do for yourself". This was so antagonistic - goes against the grain of how these bodies were supposed to function. The fact is that HR was unable to get the witnesses (blocked by president; fought the subpoenas), but the Senate can in fact get the witnesses (as they have done in many, many cases before). John Bolton stands ready to come, all he needs is a subpoena from the Senate. But the Senate would have nothing to do with witnesses.
Black day for America. Democracy from here on begins a slow death.
44
Cut to the chase. The Republicans want a perfunctory proceeding and they are in the majority. You can take it from there.
10
The Senate is on trial as much as Trump is. Whatever votes are won by McConnell and friends, the general impression will be exactly as presented by the Dems - a coverup and whitewash. The last votes of this trial will be cast on the first Tuesday of November and I fully expect that more than Trump will find consequences for their decisions.
37
@Dodger Fan You will perceive the proceedings as a victory for the Democrats. But when both sides are arguing until they're blue in the face, the vast majority will conclude that the whole thing went up in flames and nobody came out smelling like roses.
1
@michjas
This is about democracy what do you think this is all about.? Are you so foolish to think that this is a TV show where so person gets a rose at the end.
Get a grip this is real life, but you live in a state where a female politician feels she has the right to insult a man of color who is a journalist because she is an elite white woman who was appointed to her seat because she lost the election.
Shame on white people who care so little about democracy and she was in the military.
So pathetic. hope she gets a lot of money for looking like a fool for all time on video
It is now 3 AM and after having watched hours and hours of the House Impeachment Managers and the President’s Defense Lawyers holding forth on the Senate floor, it is clear that Adam Schiff and his team were well prepared to present their side of the argument for documents and witnesses while Trump’s team followed the example of their client and simply reacted with rancor, insults and lies. If this first day of the Senate impeachment trial is indicative of what is to come, I am going to be grateful for the mute button on my TV remote control. It’s hard to imagine the Republican senators are proud of their presidents defense.
65
It might be our best hope is that the Republicans do vote to acquit Fat Don without any additional evidence or witnesses. They're going to acquit regardless and, in the latest polls, 66% wanted additional testimony, including 48% of republicans. Perhaps a clearly superficial trial will convince many that they need to vote to change the presidency and Senate.
44
The Senate may block testimony in the trial, but I wonder if they have considered that "the truth will out". After the trial, Bolton will have his say, so will everyone else with first hand knowledge of what has happened, and then the Senate will have to answer to the people for not hearing the evidence and acting with the gravity that the situation requires. If Mitch thinks he's winning by not having witnesses, he might want to reconsider.
38
It sounds to me that although they have all the power, the GOP is losing control of the narrative.
The House managers are doing a formidable job laying out the facts and connecting the dots. They used each amendment to focus on specific evidence of Trump's scheme.
So much so, that McConnell offered Schumer the chance to stack his amendments since the GOP was going to table them anyway. Sounded desperate to me. And of course, refused.
And now every Republican is on record as rejecting witnesses, documents, and fair rules of complete evidence.
Whatever the outcome, this is a good exercise.
77
I cannot believe that I just witnessed Republican Senators vote to DENY the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to right to decide disagreements between the two sides during this impeachment process. This is a very sad day for America when Republicans side with Trump rather than a Chief Justice they selected and voted in.
82
Wow! I didn’t know what to think about Trump’s possible crime, but this Republican blocking of all the witnesses really makes me think he must have done something really bad. Why do the republicans keep complaining about not getting a chance to speak and then refusing to let any witnesses talk? It’s mystifying to me that they don’t get that this is a trial we’re all watching. The shenanigans the republicans are pulling may work in the 100 person senate where rules can be manipulated. Don’t the republicans know they need to exonerate President Trump in the eyes of the voters? They need to Just let the facts come out. They have to win us not some arcane rules game.
57
@Ben Yazzie It's all just a performance that can be mined for snippets on Fox News and audio that can be replayed again and again by Rush, Hannity, etc.
The sad and terrifying part is that it works. We no longer have an electorate. We have audiences.
1
@Ben Yazzie But they don't need "to win us," they only need to continue the Trump tactic of stonewalling. Given all the denials of Senator Schumer's amendments by the GOP majority, it is evident that McConnell has his team marching in lock step and that a dismissal or acquittal will be the first order of business after hearing "arguments."
1
I've been watching this and cannot but think this is a foregone conclusion; the GOP Senators are paying fealty to their king! Their oath is not to the country and Constitution; it is a corrupted one, laden with fear and compromise. It is shameful. History will judge them.
73
With someone please slap around those House Democrats a little?
Maybe it’s time to subpoena Bolton?
Is there any limitation on what the House can deliver impeachment-wise to the Senate?
Just because McConnell wants to stonewall doesn’t mean everybody has to tow his line, or does it?
8
Pretty sad at how Republicans break the rules for themselves. However, for the rest of us.....not so lucky. Proud of Mr. Schiff and the other managers. Sad that the Republicans still bring up Mr. Obama. Gee...for all that they blame him for why didn't they impeach him? They controlled the House.
41
It's a joke that senators can set the rules - who thought that's a great idea? the rules should've been set long time ago, and of course it's nothing short of common sense to get as much evidence as possible.
13
The Democrats are making their case against Trump over and over with their seriatim requests to subpoena witnesses and documents. Trump managers seem oblivious to the fact that they are getting hammered again and again and their only response is he didn’t do anything wrong. This is the Trump/McConnell strategy but it looks like it’s not working very well, if at all. Even people who only tuned in for an hour were shown that Trump wrongfully withheld military aid as a lever to solicit the announcement of an investigation by Ukraine to help his re-election and then tried to cover it up. Terrible start for Cipollone and crew.
73
@Peter E Derry
Oh I think the WH lawyers and GOP are very well aware they are getting hammered. They've got nothing. Worse, they've got the president's record. But they also have all the power. Unless people are listening and begin calling their GOP senators to protest. Have had Susan Collins on 'speed dial' all day/night.
24
After Senator Collins got abused by Democrats for showing she cares about actual evidence and the rule of law in the Kavanaugh nomination, up to and including death threats and being forced out of her own home in Maine in the middle of the night, I doubt she cares about political pressure.
It is sad to see the world's oldest democracy disintegrating it's own foundation. And all to defend this president, of all.
132
@_Flin_ debatable if the US ever was a democracy.
America should remember that the whole world is watching this perversion of the process of impeachment.
This is a sad display that will seriously erode America's trustworthiness and completely negate an often claimed moral high ground.
109
@Rich C.
Dude … like, NO ONE is watching this.
It is important to remind everyone how McConnell plays a game with the rules and the American people. Many of the votes today did not result in the Senate turning down subpoena requests. Only that the motion to approve subpoena requests be tabled.
Part Two occurs when the Republican senators go home face the voters. They can honestly state they never voted against subpoenaing documents.
A con game by any other name is still a con game.
47
I've been watching the senate trial all day long: taking notes and only taking breaks as the senate took breaks. What I see is a stellar presentation by the House Managers of the facts uncovered during the House investigations, presented to the American public in an articulate and comprehensive manner,
including instances where the Trump administration unilaterally blocked all release of subpoenaed documents and/or testimony from administration officials. What I also witnessed was an unforgivable blockade by Senate Republicans under the dyspeptic and abusive leadership of Mitch McConnell to suppress relevant evidence of Trump's national security misconduct toward Ukraine. In one fell swoop the senate Republicans have chosen to abandon their oaths to uphold our Constitution and the rule of law to gaslight the American people and prohibit them from learning the truth about the depth of this administration's corruption. Putin is rejoicing. And anyone who believes in the sanctity of American democracy is weeping. God save us from our duplicity and the brazen complicity of the Republican dominated senate. Our Founders would be outraged.
194
@Twg
Spot on and eloquently stated.
no witnesses + no documents = cover-up
Dems: repeat and stay on message.
7
@Twg "What I see is a stellar presentation by the House Managers." I was impressed by Adam Schiff's first opening statement or speech. What a narrative! He hit all the right spots to obliterate the nonsense coming from across the aisle. When he came out the second time I was cheering in my chair "you can't stop this guy." To me he was the star of the day and his command of the facts and his delivery was spectacular. I felt sorry for the lady who came after him, hard act to follow, but she was amazing as well. Dragnet came to mind "just the facts ma'am".
4
This is no “trial”. This is a clear cover up by McConnel et al. And the lack of live coverage on the major networks is appalling. I am streaming it via internet and Schiff and his team are doing admirably getting the known evidence into the record. And getting the specific reasons for further docs and witnesses heard by all watching at home. Keep it up I’m watching!
130
@KKnorp
PBS is covering it live on their World channel.
2
Courts have the right to dismiss claims without permitting evidence to be offered if and only if all of the factual allegations are assumed to be true and still do not set forth a claim. If any claim involves a disputed issue of fact the claim cannot be dismissed without weighing all of the evidence. So, as long as Trump's attorneys continue to dispute any of the facts alleged by the House managers, continue to claim that the House impeachment inquiry was a hoax or partisan or unfair or continue to question the motives of Democrats, without permitting the Senate must allow the House managers to submit evidence on any disputed issue of fact.
14
@Frank
If the Senate was Trump's legal representative, one might argue that, like any other attorney for a party, it doesn't have the obligation to prove the other side's case. But contrary to what Trump and the Republicans may believe, the Senate is supposed to be JUDGING Trump, not representing him. As the trier of fact, the Senate has a moral obligation to consider all of the available evidence.
10
On the contrary, the House should have gathered all the evidence it needed before impeaching. Or during the additional month the House took before transmitting the articles.
It is not the job of the Senate to investigate. That was the job of the House. All of the evidence should have been ready before the trial. The Senate has no obligation to be a tool of the House.
@Jay Orchard I truly hope you are never charged and never have to face a jury that thinks its job is to prosecute you as opposed to have the evidence brought to it by the prosecutors and then render a fair judgment based on the law and the evidence presented.
MidnightMitch has no intention of allowing witnesses. Welcome to the party of Trump.
However, the ultimate arbiter of Senate Trial will be the American Public and two new stars Hakeem Jeffries and Jason Crow along with Schiff made compelling testimony to the American public.
Regardless of the outcome of the sham trial and condescending testimony by Cipollone and Sekulow, the actions being covered up in defense of this President will damage the re-election chances of many Senators next Fall. (McConnell, Graham, McSally, Gardner, Collins, etc)
107
@PatMurphy77 I thought that Hakeem Jeffries was particularly impressive in his delivery of the managers' case.
3
None of this should be any surprise. It was all predestined the moment the word impeachment was spoken.
It will be far less painful to stop sweating it and avoid frustration and to just focus on November.
Thankfully it will be a speedy trial.
“Lacking any Republican support, Mr. Schumer’s amendments failed as expected. With a jury this conspicuously biased, it’s hard to imagine any other outcome.”
17
One must wonder what is going through the mind of the Chief Justice. He is witnessing a perversion of judicial process, with arguments from the likes of Mr. Cippolone that would result in a failing grade in a constitutional law class. When the pipeline of cases about Trump's finances reaches the Supreme Court, what will be said by Mr. Roberts in the case conference? It must be outrageous to any jurist to consider that the defendant has unified the executive branch to prevent viable oversight, and half the legislative branch has been complicit with this act. One can only hope that should the Senate leadership change with the next election, the rules for impeachment will be reconsidered to prevent this type of manipulation. Also, one can hope that with future revelations, a secondary impeachment might occur, if Trump were re-elected.
115
@Jeff
'One must wonder what is going through the mind of the Chief Justice.'
Agreed - but isn't he also complicit?
Farce doesn't even begin to describe the abuse of due process occurring on his watch.
33
@Jeff I am all for a second round of Impeachment investigation. Emoluments violations? Treason for conducting Russian foreign policy? Tax violations? If they opened hearings on Februrary 3 (state of the union), maybe Article of Impeachment could be sent over to the Senate on July 31, just before Summer break.
14
@Jeff
arguments from the likes of Mr. Cippolone would not only lead to failure in a law class - they are so transparently dishonest and filled with blatantly false representations they would result in sanctions if made in a federal courtroom or proceeding.
2
McConnell is very shrewd. I believe one strategy he has is to force the issue of witnesses and documents to the end of the trial presentations and questioning by Senators for one main reason: to wear down the jury, especially the Republican caucus. Think of how regular juries handle trials, especially criminal trials. Attorneys know about magical Friday afternoons are with juries in criminal trials. Attorneys may even have a hung jury, seemingly split on what decision to make on charges. The principles of fairness and duty and justice all seem foremost to the jury. But as the days wear on and the witnesses and evidence seem never ending, jurors get worn out. Those Friday afternoons are magical, indeed. split juries come together as the afternoon ticks off and, voila, reach a unanimous verdict against a defendant. "And enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard, their currents turn awry, and lose the name of action."
These Senators, after days and days of hearing the same arguments? They are human, They will want to get home to their families, to their other projects, to their lives. And when they are presented with the prospect of additional witnesses and documents that could extend the misery for another month, perhaps? That's when they will all cry uncle. and all say no more.
10
@JP
Dear JP,
I think you are right. McConnell only grudgingly changed the rules to allow the 24 hour presentations of each sides arguments to be heard in 3 days instead of 2.
He wants to grind them down.
22
@JP
Dear JP,
Not only is McConnell trying to grind the Senators down, he is also grinding down anyone who is trying to listen, like me. The House Managers and the President's attorneys are flogging their respective horses into oblivion and I think it is time for me to go to bed.
When anyone has something new to say I am all ears.
@JP He isn't shrewd at all, he is just cheating, as they say: "Justice delayed, is justice denied." Talk about a kangaroo court. The Senate has fallen.
1
What I visualize on the outcome of the faux trial is, three or more moderate Senators losing their seats in the upcoming election.
That's good enough to gain the Senate and, with keeping the House and winning the Presidency that's the trifecta.
Don't forget to vote this November for a Democrat.
235
@cherrylog754 Go to beautiful Maine for a week or so next fall to serve in the campaign against Susan Collins. It'll be fun Get out the vote!
9
@cherrylog754
Exactly correct. The 100% lock-step voting of Republicans in this sham proceeding would be envied by any dictator. Is there ONE Republican who will stand up to the McConnell/Trump regime? Apparently not.
7
@cherrylog754 For ANY AND ALL Democrats!
2
McConnell has once again outsmarted the Democrats. He always seems to be two steps ahead of them. He succeeded in denying Merrick Garland a seat on the Supreme Court, he helped pushed Kavanaugh through on the Supreme Court, and now it is likely he will succeed in the impeachment trials. McConnell is cunning and crafty, and dare I say it, "smarter" then the Democrats. The Democrats can plead all they want, they can call this a "sham trial," but bottom line, Democrats need to take a critical look at their lack of leadership. The November 2020 election is too important to lose.
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@Tom Outsmarted? I think the Dems just don't cheat as well. There's a moment in the film All The President's Men when the strategist behind Nixon's activities is finally run down for an interview in LA, and he says "We just assumed you Democrats were cheating too." When I apply this to the way the GOP and the Dems behave, it makes sense. Not that Dems never cheat--but on the whole, the GOP does it constantly and better. The GOP goes low--and I wish sometimes the Dems would too. Is that smarter? Maybe.
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@Tom: Chuck Schumer may not be the brightest bulb in the universe, but his doggedness in offering one amendment after another is allowing Adam Schiff and the house managers to run circles around McConnell, Cipollone and Sekulow. The facts demonstrating high crimes and misdemeanors are being laid out in detail as each proposed amendment is debated. Trump ultimately may be acquitted by fearful Republicans but his criminal character will be his historic legacy.
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@Tom what’s at play here is not Trump’s conviction. That result is virtually impossible, and McConnell doesn’t need to be very smart at all to avoid it.
He’s just trying to limit political risk to Trump and the Republican senators by shortening the process and avoiding the exposure of any more politically difficult facts.
It’s not really a cover-up in a high-stakes sense. Republican Senators will not convict, no matter what comes to light. It’s a cover-up just to avoid political damage.
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If they lie about facts, is it perjury? Can they not be held in contempt? Can the judge not be asked to intervene?
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@Gerard
Exactly! How can Roberts sit there and listen to outright lies in the defense arguments. It is frightening to watch,
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@Gerard
Unfortunately, due to the language of the Constitution, which only says the Chief Justice will "preside" (not "decide") over Impeachment trials, Chief Justice Roberts does not have the power that a trial judge would have in his/her own courtroom; the Senate can overrule any "ruling" Roberts makes by majority vote, and since the Republicans are currently in the majority . . .
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@Gerard yes judge can be asked to intervene, but the vote will be 53-47 of Senators to say how things will go.
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