After Democrats dominated the House hearings, laying out the rules without GOP input, limiting who the GOP could call, refusing to include exculpatory evidence in their final report, and, essentially, as Rep Doug Collins wrote, “the majority decided to pursue impeachment first and build a case second,” Democrats in the Senate think they have power
Schumer, Pushing McConnell to Negotiate, Lays Out Plan for Impeachment Trial
As the House prepared to make President Trump only the third president in American history to be impeached, the Senate’s top Democrat on Sunday laid out a detailed proposal for a Senate trial “in which all of the facts can be considered fully and fairly†— including subpoenas for documents the White House has withheld and witnesses it has prevented from testifying.
Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, presented the proposal in a letter to his Republican counterpart, Senator Mitch McConnell, in an opening move to force Republicans to negotiate over the shape and scope of the proceedings. Mr. McConnell had said last week that he was “taking my cues†from the White House, prompting Democrats to accuse him of abandoning his duty to render “impartial justice†in the trial.
In the letter, Mr. Schumer proposed a trial beginning Jan. 7 that would give each side a fixed amount of time to present its case, and called for four top White House officials who have not previously testified — including Mick Mulvaney, Mr. Trump’s acting chief of staff, and John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser — to appear as witnesses.
Mr. Schumer also called for the Senate to subpoena documents that could shed light on the events at the heart of the charges against Mr. Trump: his campaign to enlist Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. And he set forth a specific timetable for each side to present its case, modeled on the one used when President Bill Clinton was tried in 1999. Mr. Clinton’s trial lasted about five weeks.
Except, the articles of impeachment barely touch on Ukraine, and, if Schumer wants to open this can of dog food, then the GOP should call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, a few of the Ukranians involved, and, oh, heck, let’s call Barack Obama, because Joe Biden specifically stated that Obama would back him on withholding $1 billion in aid if they didn’t fire the guy investigating Burisma.
“Senate Democrats believe strongly, and I trust Senate Republicans agree, that this trial must be one that is fair, that considers all of the relevant facts, and that exercises the Senate’s ‘sole power of impeachment’ under the Constitution with integrity and dignity,†Mr. Schumer wrote.
Schumer should talk to his House comrades, who set the tone. It’s been a complete partisan process there, so, don’t expect anything different in the Senate, considering this is all about Trump Derangement Syndrome from the Left
(Yahoo News) Lindsey Graham will not try to “pretend to be a fair juror†should Donald Trump face an impeachment trial in the US Senate.
Speaking at the Doha Forum in Qatar on Saturday, the South Carolina Republican and close Trump ally said he was “trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here. What I see coming, happening today, is just a partisan nonsense.â€
“This thing will come to the Senate,†he said on Saturday, “and it will die quickly, and I will do everything I can to make it die quickly.â€
Schumer and the Dems can caterwaul all they want: they should have told their House comrades to run a fair and impartial hearing to start.
“Fair and impartial” = “remove Trump from office because he beat Hillary”. It was her turn. Promises were made.
Trump has committed impeachable offenses (want a list?).
If Congress doesn’t act, the next President can do whatever he or she wants. IOW if you can’t impeach a prez for attempting to force a foreign power to help with your next election, why have the impeachment provision in the Constitution?
Impeachment is for removing a President for corruption that impacts the nation. Election cheating, accepting something of value from a foreign government in exchange for US favors, actions that harm the nation’s standing in the world… A law may or may not have been broken – a crime may or may not have been committed.
When Trump paid hush money to Stormy and Karen and then lied about (but not under oath – his lawyers wisely will not allow that) did he do it to help his chances in the 2016 election? If not – if he only bribed them to avoid humiliating his wife – perhaps he’s in the clear. But his attorney at the time went to prison for the scheme.
I must commend you for your ability to keep up on the latest democratic party talking points. I just heard those arguments for the first time this weekend and here it is, Monday, and you are already parroting them. Good work.
Of course, as always, there is no point engaging you on content. You are incapable of deviating from your narrative.
Pretty soon Fredo, your assassination of our Constitution will either be complete and America will become Brazil or we patriotic Americans will prevail and you will join your comrades in the shit pile of history. Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, reasonable people don’t believe everything is an impeachable offense. We certainly don’t believe asking the Ukraine to aide in a criminal investigation is. We also don’t think having a nondisclosure agreement is especially when it was done before the person was elected.
Speaking of “before the person was elected” that’s when you guys started your impeachment talk and you “safety valve” crap. So basically you traitors were planning the overthrow of our government even before it was elected. I consider that sedition, treason and conspiracy. What do you consider it?
This is the idiot you guys want President”
https://youtu.be/WRqpTqqhCJc
Like the ongoing impeachment farce, ObamaCare was a 100% Democrat endeavor. Via Reference.com:
The Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, received no Republican votes in either the Senate or the House of Representatives when it was passed in 2009. In the Senate, the bill was passed with a total of 60 votes, or 58 Democratic Party votes and 2 Independent Party votes. The House passed the legislation with 219 Democratic votes.
When Democrats say “bring everybody together,†they mean “impose our will on everybody, whether they like it or not.â€
The doglike partisan devotion of the media establishment may put Democrats at a disadvantage, in the sense that they are so used to not getting called out on their lies that they demonstrate ever more pathological contempt for the truth, to the point no reasonably informed person will take anything they say seriously.
This could be why Democrats have adopted a strategy of circumventing informed people by importing massive numbers of voters from the Third World, who only understand which party will give them more of other people’s money.”
On a tip from Henry B. Posted at Moonbattery by David Blount.
Trump 2020 Make the commies cry again!
Tell me Dildo, what violations of our Constitution do you see being violated?
Anyway, it’s not the Dems fault that the GOPhers refuse to govern. The Dem House has sent over 100 bills that Moscow Mitch is sitting on.
Has trump repealed the ACA and proposed his cheaper and better healthcare plan yet or is he content to sabotage the ACA?
Has trump proposed his plan to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices or is he content to roll over for Big Pharma?
“We love the Dreamers. We think the Dreamers are terrific.†– Donald Trump. Then he uses them a bargaining chip to try and enact his anti-immigrant agenda.
“If I’m elected president, I will push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.”
“One of the first things I’d do in terms of executive order, if I win, will be to sign a strong, strong statement that would go out to the country, out to the world, that anybody killing a police man, a police woman, a police officer, anybody killing a police officer, the death penalty is going to happen,â€
“I will ask, to appoint a special prosecutor. We have to investigate Hillary Clinton, and we have to investigate the investigation.â€
“The Trump Administration seeks to invest $550 billion to ensure we can export our goods and move our people faster and safer.”
“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.â€
“We’re cutting Common Core. We’re getting rid of Common Core. We’re bringing education locally.”
“A hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health).”
“I would defund it because of the abortion factor, which they say is 3 percent. I don’t know what percentage it is. They say it’s 3 percent. But I would defund it, because I’m pro-life.”
“Immediately add an additional federal investment of $20 billion towards school choice.”
“I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.â€
“This deal if I win will be a totally different deal. This will be a totally different deal.â€
“They should build a safe zone. Take a big piece of land in Syria and they have plenty of land, believe me. Build a safe zone for all these people, because I have a heart, I mean these people, it’s horrible to watch, But, they shouldn’t come over here. We should build a safe zone.â€
“We’re losing a lot of people because of the Internet and we have to do something. We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them, maybe in certain areas closing that Internet up in some way.
“I would bring back waterboarding, and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding,â€
“One of my first acts as president will be to establish a commission on radical Islam which will include reformist voices in the Muslim community who will hopefully work with us.”
“As president, I will call for an international conference focused on this goal. We will work side-by-side with our friends in the Middle East, including our greatest ally, Israel.”
“I am totally in favor of vaccines. But I want smaller doses over a longer period of time” to avoid possible links to Autism.
“Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns under the current tax system.”
“Our elected representatives in the House and Senate must … block-grant Medicaid to the states. Nearly every state already offers benefits beyond what is required in the current Medicaid structure.”
“I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for that wall.”
Cancel all funding of sanctuary cities
“We will end the sanctuary cities that have resulted in so many needless deaths. Cities that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities will not receive taxpayer dollars, and we will work with Congress to pass legislation to protect those jurisdictions that do assist federal authorities.â€
“… calling for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States…”
“End birthright citizenship.”
“I’m putting the people on notice that are coming here from Syria, as part of this mass migration, that if I win, if I win, they’re going back.â€
“On my first day in office, I am also going to ask Congress to pass ‘Kate’s Law’ – named for Kate Steinle – to ensure that criminal aliens convicted of illegal re-entry receive strong mandatory minimum sentences.”
“A Trump Administration will also ensure that we start using American steel for American infrastructure.”
“The ‘Penny Plan’ would reduce non-defense, non-safety net spending by one percent of the previous year’s total each year. Over 10 years, the plan will reduce spending (outlays) by almost $1 trillion without touching defense or entitlement spending.”
“We’re bringing it (the GDP) from 1 percent up to 4 percent. And I actually think we can go higher than 4 percent. I think you can go to 5 percent or 6 percent.â€
“We’ve got to get rid of the $19 trillion in debt. … Well, I would say over a period of eight years. And I’ll tell you why.â€
Sue his accusers of sexual misconduct – “The events never happened. Never. All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.â€
“I would not be a president who took vacations. I would not be a president that takes time off.â€
“I’m under a routine audit and it’ll be released, and as soon as the audit is finished it will be released.”
“The Trump plan will rewrite the tax code to allow working parents to deduct from their income taxes child care expenses for up to four children and elderly dependents.”
“As part of this reform, we will eliminate the carried interest deduction and other special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and for people like me, but unfair to American workers.”
Balance the federal budget ‘fairly quickly'”It can be done. … It will take place and it will go relatively quickly.
“We’re going to put our miners back to work.”
As an example of the power structure I’m fighting, AT&T is buying Time Warner and thus CNN, a deal we will not approve in my administration because it’s too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.”
Representative Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the sole Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to vote against any of the four articles of impeachment the Committee sent to the full House in 1998. He voted against the third article — which passed the Committee anyway — because he said there wasn’t enough evidence to support it. The third article failed on the floor of the House.
Chuckie needs an excuse to get his puss on camera every night and this is the best he’s got.
and, oh, heck, let’s call Barack Obama, because Joe Biden specifically stated that Obama would back him on withholding $1 billion in aid if they didn’t fire the guy investigating Burisma.
By all means.
Jeffery keeps telling us there’s nothing to keep a former President from being tried and convicted, so let’s show him how it’s done. For that matter, bring in the Ozarks. Their Global Slush Fund was involved in this.
By all means bring in former Presidents Clinton and Obama. Trump now owns the DOJ and the AG is acting as his personal attorney. Why doesn’t Trump go after Clinton and Obama??
Sibley knows why.
You are in no position to demand anything and I am in a position to grant nothing.
Khan Noonien Singh
One of the most interesting aspects of the Trump Impeachment is how the right, which used to be adamant supporters of the CIA and FBI have now turned against them. It has been brought to light that these agencies are unaccountable and are run by career bureaucrats who do not have accountability.
Chris Wallace interviewed James Comey this weekend and while Comey filled the room with hubris what was the most telling part of the entire interview is when Wallace asked him if he would resign knowing what he knows now about this investigation and his response was:
No we have done far worse! They have done far worse? Well given J. Edgar Hoover was the most feared man in DC during his decades-long tenure with the FBI, anyone who seriously believes the FBI is looking out for every citizen’s constitutional rights would be in denial of facts.
He just admitted that the 17 FISA abuses on the last application for a continuance on Carter Page who was working for the CIA and spying domestically. A violation of their mandate by the way, was but the tip of the iceberg in the blatant disregard for the civil rights of Americans.
Now that the right has turned on the CIA and FBI, it is incumbent upon these agencies to self-police and clean up their acts and act in a way that is constitutional.
And lastly, the most absurd thing I have seen from the Trump Impeachment circus is Chuck Shurmer demanding Trump prove his innocence.
I may be mistaken when it comes to impeachment vs a court of law but it is incumbent upon the accusers to prove his guilt, not Trump to prove his innocence.
This shows the disconnect in my opinion about the left’s absurd desire to Impeach Trump no matter what the cost to both the nation and the constitution. If this is allowed to stand then I fear for future presidents from either side, because we all know that DC is filled with tit for tat politics.