The Kabuki Theater aka The Senate Impeachment Trial approaches the final act when... (wait for it) The Senate votes and The ILK (Impeached Lyin' King) is aquitted by a vote of 51 to 49, What a landslide for the ILK! The ILK campaign motto in 2020 should be "Cut Thin & Win!" What a surprise when the jury foreman in the trial, Majority Leader Mocow Mitch McConnell announced his vote for acquittal before the trial began. If this has been a (fair & balanced) waste of time, so be it.
[x WaPo — DC Fishwrap]
Impeachment Diary — As Trump’s Lawyers Begin Their Defense, The Biggest Obstacle Is Trump Himself
By Dana Milbank
TagCrowd Cloud provides a visual summary of the blog post below
President Trump’s lawyers, when they begin making their impeachment defense Saturday in the Senate trial, will make every effort to forestall the summoning of witnesses. But there is one witness they can’t suppress. He is big, he is orange, he is unhelpful — and he is everywhere.
“I would love to have Mike Pompeo and Mick [Mulvaney], and I would love to have Rick Perry and many other people testify,” Trump says in a video recording played by House impeachment managers on the Senate floor.
He pressures the Ukrainian president to launch investigations of Trump’s political opponents. “It’s a very simple answer. They should investigate the Bidens.”
He calls on others to do the same: “By the way, likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens.”
He announces what the findings of these investigations should be: “Biden’s son is corrupt, and Biden is corrupt.”
He says he’d welcome a foreign government’s contribution of dirt on his political opponents. “Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”
And he announces that there are no restraints on his power: “I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”
Witnesses and documents withheld by the administration would no doubt fill in the details. But for the gist of what Trump did wrong, you need only hear his own words. The president has long said the quiet parts out loud, and Democratic managers built their case around playing his greatest hits, over and over. It’s the Warner Wolf prosecution: Let’s go to the videotape.
“The president has confirmed what he wanted in his own words,” Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) said.
“President Trump himself told us what he really wanted … in many public statements,” said Representative Sylvia Garcia (D-TX).
“Let’s start with the president’s own words,” said Representative Jason Crow (D-CO).
“These words will live in infamy,” said Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Sometimes, they read Trump’s words themselves. Military aid wasn’t in exchange for investigations? “Do us a favor though,” Trump says. Trump opposing only the release of information that jeopardizes executive privilege? “We’re fighting all the subpoenas,” he says.
His underlings are little more helpful to Trump’s cause. A video version of his acting chief of staff, Mulvaney, appears repeatedly in the Senate chamber to say “we do that all the time” with quid-pro-quo exchanges, so “get over it.” A phone conversation relayed by Rudy Giuliani from the moment Trump’s personal lawyer touched down from Ukraine, is read aloud:
Trump: “What did you get?”
Giuliani: “More than you can imagine.”
Perfect call!
On Friday, Trump’s words again overshadowed the trial, albeit in ways the impeachment managers hadn’t arranged.
Before the day’s argument began, ABC News reported the existence of a previously unknown recording in which a voice that appears to be Trump’s says this of the former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch: “Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it.”
And Trump retweeted an ugly message (based on social media conspiracy chatter) from Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) disparaging the patriotism of White House national security staffer Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, the Purple Heart recipient who testified during the House impeachment inquiry.
The steady emergence of more damaging evidence against Trump, and more of his bad behavior, lends credibility to Schiff’s claim at the start of the trial: “The truth will come out. The question is, ‘Will it come out in time?’ ”
Senate Republicans appear to be doing their all to make sure it doesn’t. They have blocked attempts to call witnesses and seek documents, saying the question should wait until the end of the trial. They’ve said the Senate shouldn’t have to do the House’s work. And lately, they are saying calling in witnesses would just take too long.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX): “I’m not for extending this for months and months while claims of privilege and the like are litigated in the courts.”
Senator. Pat Toomey (R-PA): “Calling witnesses could prolong this enormously.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “The House made a decision that they didn’t want to slow things down by having to go through the courts, and yet now they’re basically saying you guys got to go through the courts.”
It’s a bit strained for Senate Republicans to say they need to wrap things up quickly now, after House Republicans accused Democrats of wrapping things up too quickly. They are also making a peculiar constitutional argument: Because Trump is stonewalling Congress, we should acquit him quickly.
It isn’t elegant, but it’s necessary. The more time passes, the more damage Trump does to his own case. ###
[Dana Milbank is a nationally syndicated op-ed columnist. He also provides political commentary for various TV outlets, and he is the author of three books on politics, including the national bestseller Homo Politicus (2007). Milbank joined The Post in 2000 as a Style political writer, then covered the presidency of George W. Bush as a White House correspondent before starting the column in 2005. Before joining The Post, Milbank spent two years as a senior editor at The New Republic, where he covered the Clinton White House, and eight years as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, where he covered Congress and was a London-based correspondent. He received a BA cum laude (political science) from Yale University (CT).]
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