Impeachment

[Vrede too]

The QAnon Shaman says he's willing to testify at Trump's impeachment trial - against the president

... The Shaman, real name Jacob Chansley, told the Associated Press, via his lawyer Albert S. Whatley, that he would be open to attending the trial and testify against the president.

Chansley, Whatley said, had been "horrendously smitten" with Trump, but now feels "like he was betrayed by the president" after the president failed to give him and other Capitol rioters pardons.

Chansley is among several Capitol rioters who asked Trump for a presidential pardon but did not receive one in the final days of the administration. Chansley argued that he'd come to the Capitol "at the request of the president that all 'patriots' come to DC on January 6." ...

The Dems will never do it, but the entertainment value might be worth the risk.

... Michael Sherwin, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, told the BBC the FBI has identified around 400 suspects and arrested 135, several of whom have suggested that they believed they were following Trump's orders by taking part in the siege....

Lock them all up!

[neoplacebo]

If he does testify I think he should wear his face paint, fur swatches, and horny hat. Of course he'll have to check his spear at the door this time.

[O Really]

The Shaman, along with most of the other riot defendants appear to plan to use the "Nuremberg Defense" or the "I vuz joost following der orders" defense. From the standpoint of their own defense as well as the value of any prosecution of Trump, there are some problems. Starting with the fact that Trump never "ordered" them personally, nor had authority to "order" them to storm the Capitol. Following with the issue that even if he had, it would not have been a "lawful" order. And followed further by a principle established prior to Nuremberg that such defense might serve to lessen sentencing, but would not totally relieve the doers of responsibility. As to prosecution of Trump, he says what he says, and it's on video, but I'm not sure a parade of crazies saying they were responding to his order would actually help much. I'm thinking the Dems should pretty much give up on getting a conviction, but focus on making it as painful as possible for the Repugs to say Trump's behaviour was acceptable. Of course, the rest of us are asking not just of Joe McCarthy, but of all the Repugs - "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

[neoplacebo]

Yeah, when I was in the Navy we were told that we had a responsibility to ignore an "illegal" order. This is kind of an alien concept in the military setting. I myself never refused to follow an order and don't know of anyone who did except those who got punished for not following orders. With regard to the impeachment trial for trump, I think it would be good for the entire trump defense team to wear Q shaman attire and that they play the "YMCA" song at maximum volume upon entering the chamber each day. ok

[Vrede too]

Yeah, when I was in the Navy we were told that we had a responsibility to ignore an "illegal" order. This is kind of an alien concept in the military setting. I myself never refused to follow an order and don't know of anyone who did except those who got punished for not following orders. With regard to the impeachment trial for trump, I think it would be good for the entire trump defense team to wear Q shaman attire and that they play the "YMCA" song at maximum volume upon entering the chamber each day. ok

Did you say "entire trump defense team"?

Donald Trump's entire legal team quits week before impeachment trial: Sources

Your scathing notes are amazing!

[GoCubsGo]

Yeah, when I was in the Navy we were told that we had a responsibility to ignore an "illegal" order. This is kind of an alien concept in the military setting. I myself never refused to follow an order and don't know of anyone who did except those who got punished for not following orders. With regard to the impeachment trial for trump, I think it would be good for the entire trump defense team to wear Q shaman attire and that they play the "YMCA" song at maximum volume upon entering the chamber each day. ok

Did you say "entire trump defense team"?

Donald Trump's entire legal team quits week before impeachment trial: Sources

Your scathing notes are amazing!

As insane as it is, it just doesn't matter. He's not going to have a defense and he's not going to be convicted. Two systems doing it's thing.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/30/politics ... index.html

A person familiar with the departures told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office. Trump was not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard.

If they could've gotten paid (which is apparently highly questionable), they should've just argued what Cheetohead wanted take their win and $$ and go home.

[neoplacebo]

Yeah, when I was in the Navy we were told that we had a responsibility to ignore an "illegal" order. This is kind of an alien concept in the military setting. I myself never refused to follow an order and don't know of anyone who did except those who got punished for not following orders. With regard to the impeachment trial for trump, I think it would be good for the entire trump defense team to wear Q shaman attire and that they play the "YMCA" song at maximum volume upon entering the chamber each day. ok

Did you say "entire trump defense team"?

Donald Trump's entire legal team quits week before impeachment trial: Sources

Your scathing notes are amazing!

I aim to please.

[GoCubsGo]

Please, please, please.

[O Really]

Trump is the one who's "simple" which I'm guessing is a term no longer any more acceptable than "retarded." I'd love to see him represent himself, fulfilling the old maxim "the lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client - and an idiot for a lawyer." Not that his representation is likely to make much difference in the outcome. But it would surely make the Repug senators look even more complicitly stupid. Eventually the Repugs are going to have to stop asking themselves "could I win without the trumpaloons" and start asking "are there enough trumpaloons voting for me to win without anybody else?"

[O Really]

Did somebody just say "Eventually the Repugs are going to have to stop asking themselves "could I win without the trumpaloons" and start asking "are there enough trumpaloons voting for me to win without anybody else?"

"McConnell is terrified of Trump. Why isn't he worried about a center-right Republican revolt?"
https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/mcconnell-2650217481/

[GoCubsGo]

The hubris of Cheetohead is mystifying, but there it is.

What terrific entertainment it would be to see him in the well of the Senate babbling for a couple of hours like it was a campaign rally. Because that's exactly what it would be.

Would he be subject to cross examination?

[O Really]

The hubris of Cheetohead is mystifying, but there it is.

What terrific entertainment it would be to see him in the well of the Senate babbling for a couple of hours like it was a campaign rally. Because that's exactly what it would be.

Would he be subject to cross examination?

Good question - if he's a witness, then yeah, the impeachment managers should be able to cross examine. But if he's not a witness, and is only his own rep, then he'd be over there objecting and interrupting those who are witnesses or who are presenting the house case. And he'd be able to expound on for hours as an opening or closing argument. He's been known to speak of himself in third person before. Order up more popcorn now.

[Vrede too]

... Eventually the Repugs are going to have to stop asking themselves "could I win without the trumpaloons" and start asking "are there enough trumpaloons voting for me to win without anybody else?"

I imagine this applies nationally:

GOP faces electoral conundrum in Georgia, new poll suggests

Democrats — including President Biden, Stacy Abrams, and newly-elected Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) — have strong favorability ratings, while Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) and former President Donald Trump are floundering.

But the more telling results may belong to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who became a Trump target when he dismissed conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud in the state's presidential election. The refusal to flinch left him in relatively good graces in Georgia, though it turns out his numbers were buoyed in large part by Democrats, 60 percent of whom said they approve of the job he's done. Republicans, meanwhile, backed Raffensperger at around only 38 percent, while nearly 45 percent said they disapprove. For context, President Trump received nearly 85 percent support from Republicans, despite his paltry overall numbers.

And therein lies the conundrum. The poll suggests a Republican like Raffensperger could mount a challenge in a statewide election in Georgia, but winning a Republican primary to get there looks difficult. And a candidate more in the mold of Trump would have a good shot at winning the primary, but would likely face an uphill battle in the general, seemingly leaving the party in no-man's land for the moment....

An example:

Rep. Kinzinger: They claim 'I'm possessed by the devil'

Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday offered a glimpse of what it’s like being one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump: Friends and family turned against him, and he was told he’s “possessed by the devil.”

“Look it’s really difficult. I mean, all of a sudden imagine everybody that supported you, or so it seems that way, your friends, your family, has turned against you. They think you're selling out,” the Illinois congressman said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

...Kinzinger has launched a website, Country1st.com, as an effort to refocus the Republican Party’s “conservative principles.”

“I think the Republican Party has lost its moral authority in a lot of areas,” he said. “How many people think that conservative principles are things like build the wall, and you know, charge the Capitol and have an insurrection? That’s what Country1st ... is all about — is just going back and saying, ‘Here’s what conservative principles are.'"

The Illinois Republican Party is expected to censure Kinzinger for his vote to impeach the president — what he referred to as “GOP cancel culture.” The same has happened for others like GOP Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina after his vote to impeach. And last week, Rep. Matt Gaetz, (R-Fla.) went to Wyoming to rally against GOP. Rep. Liz Cheney for her moves against Trump.

“If you look at Matt Gaetz going to Wyoming because, what, a tough woman has an independent view and he doesn't want to have to go out and explain why he didn't vote for impeachment, that's totally GOP cancel culture," Kinzinger said. "What we're standing for, and I think what, frankly, a significant part of the base wants, is to say, ‘Look, we can have a diversity of opinion.’”

Outside of the intraparty chaos surrounding the former president’s impeachment, Republicans are also butting heads over the behavior of one of their own.

House Republicans are trying to distance themselves from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) after hours of Facebook videos surfaced in which she expresses racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic views.

Kinzinger said the people have the right to choose their representatives, and that he isn’t sure he supports evicting the congresswoman. But he said he would vote her off committees to “take a stand.”

[GoCubsGo]

The hubris of Cheetohead is mystifying, but there it is.

What terrific entertainment it would be to see him in the well of the Senate babbling for a couple of hours like it was a campaign rally. Because that's exactly what it would be.

Would he be subject to cross examination?

Good question - if he's a witness, then yeah, the impeachment managers should be able to cross examine. But if he's not a witness, and is only his own rep, then he'd be over there objecting and interrupting those who are witnesses or who are presenting the house case. And he'd be able to expound on for hours as an opening or closing argument. He's been known to speak of himself in third person before. Order up more popcorn now.

As the cameras pan to senators falling asleep at their desks....

[billy.pilgrim]

His 2 new impeachment attorneys

1 declined to prosecute Bill Cosby and

The other was to be Epstein's lead attorney

[Vrede too]

His 2 new impeachment attorneys

1 declined to prosecute Bill Cosby and

The other was to be Epstein's lead attorney

Figures.

House impeachment brief contains a whole section dedicated to its Republican support

[Vrede too]

Question: On the Motion (Is Former President Donald John Trump Subject to a Court of Impeachment for Acts Committed While President? )

Vote Date: February 9, 2021, 05:01 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2
Vote Result: Motion Agreed to
Vote Counts:
YEAs 56
NAYs 44

6 Repug heroes:
Cassidy (R-LA)
Collins (R-ME)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Romney (R-UT)
Sasse (R-NE)
Toomey (R-PA)

17 Repug heroes will be needed for conviction.

[neoplacebo]

Question: On the Motion (Is Former President Donald John Trump Subject to a Court of Impeachment for Acts Committed While President? )

Vote Date: February 9, 2021, 05:01 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2
Vote Result: Motion Agreed to
Vote Counts:
YEAs 56
NAYs 44

6 Repug heroes:
Cassidy (R-LA)
Collins (R-ME)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Romney (R-UT)
Sasse (R-NE)
Toomey (R-PA)

17 Repug heroes will be needed for conviction.

Well, it's a pretty sure bet that Hagerty and Blackburn will not be among them.

[Vrede too]

Well, it's a pretty sure bet that Hagerty and Blackburn will not be among them.

Nor lap dog Tillis nor CV-19 insider trader Burr.

[billy.pilgrim]

I called Scott and Rubio's offices this morning and left a long message for the person tasked with listening to and ignoring phone messages.