Category: acquittal

McConnell unwittingly explains why Trump now owns the Republican Party

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

During the same February 2021 impeachment trial speech in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Donald Trump "practically and morally responsible" for the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, McConnell also argued that impeachment alone was never intended to be "the final forum" for justice.

"Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office—as an ordinary citizen," McConnell said as he sought to explain away the vote he had cast to acquit Trump.

"We have a criminal justice system in this country," McConnell continued. "We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one."

Yet on Tuesday when McConnell was asked if he still believes Trump isn't immune from prosecution, McConnell dodged the question, choosing instead to reframe the legal query as an electoral matter.

"Well, my view of the presidential race is that I choose not to get involved in it, and comment about any of the people running for the Republican nomination," McConnell responded.

Q: “You had argued, after voting to acquit the former president that presidents are not immune from prosecution is that still your view?” McConnell: “I choose not to get involved...and comment about any of the people running for the Republican nomination.” pic.twitter.com/uhVut62se8

— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) January 9, 2024

If anyone wonders why Trump now owns the GOP, they need look no further than the feckless leadership of McConnell, who has failed at every turn to challenge Trump's takeover of the party.

It's a point former Rep. Liz Cheney has made repeatedly during her book tour for "Oath and Honor." In the book, Cheney writes that McConnell originally seemed "firm in his view" that Trump should be impeached. But as the vote approached, he got squishy and ultimately folded.

“Leader McConnell, who had made a career out of savvy political calculation and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, got this one wrong,” Cheney writes.

After years of McConnell worship by Beltway journalists, the fact that he 100% whiffed on the most consequential issue of our time might finally be sinking into the psyche of some political journalists and analysts.

As former U.S. attorney, deputy assistant attorney general, and “Talking Feds” host Harry Litman noted this week on NPR's “Trump Trials” podcast, we would never be here if McConnell hadn't "blinked" on convicting Trump.

"When you think of all the forks in the road over the last several years, that one moment with McConnell who was obviously saying that [Trump] was guilty and should have been convicted, stands out to me as the absolute road not taken," Litman observed.

That would have been the most "straight-forward" and appropriate way for McConnell to have "solved this national nightmare," Litman added, "and he blinked."

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President Trump’s Former Defense Secretary Blames Him For Capitol Riot

Posted on by John Hanson

On Thursday, former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller accused his former boss, President Donald Trump, of helping cause the January 6 riot at the Capitol with his speech earlier that day.

Miller’s remarks came during an interview on VICE on Showtime about one month after Trump was acquitted by the Senate on an incitement charge.

Watch the interview below.

RELATED: Pelosi Claims Americans ‘Overwhelmingly’ Support Democrats’ Gun Control Bill In The House

Trump’s Defense Secretary Blames Him For Violence

VICE News’ Seb Walker asked Miller, “Did you listen to the president’s speech in the morning? What did you make of it what you heard the kinds of things he was saying?”

Miller replied, “Concerning.”

Walker continued his line of questioning, “When you heard him say, ‘We’re gonna walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,’ ‘take our country back,’ that is what was concerning to you?”

Miller responded, “Sure, yeah. But by the same token, there had been a lot of rhetoric spewed over the previous bunch of years.”

 

Walker continued, not letting up.

“But on this day, more than any other, when the vote is being certified in Congress, that must of set alarms bells off ringing in your head,” Walker queried.

Miller said, “Yes.”

Then Walker asked his question, point blank.

“Do you think the president was responsible for what happened on the 6th?” Walked pressed.

Miller said he did not think the violence would have unfolded if not for the president’s speech.

“I don’t know, but it seems cause and effect,” Miller said. “Yeah.”

RELATED: GOP Rep. Cawthorn Taunts Pro-Gun Control Democrats: ‘Come And Take Them’

Miller: Violence Wouldn’t Have Happened Without Trump’s Speech

Miller added, “Would anybody have marched on the Capitol, and overrun the Capitol, without the president’s speech? I think it’s pretty much definitive that wouldn’t have happened.”

As to whether or not he believes Trump was actually encouraging the crowd that day to riot, Miller said, “So yes, the question is, did he know he was enraging the crowd to do that? I don’t know.”

Many have speculated that the president telling the crowd to march down streets and be “strong” contributed to what unfolded.

However, Trump explicitly told the crowd that day to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

Former President Trump was acquitted of the charge “incitement of insurrection” in relation to the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol on February 13.

Watch the interview with Miller here:

 

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The post President Trump’s Former Defense Secretary Blames Him For Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.

Pelosi Wants ‘9/11-Type Commission’ To Investigate Capitol Riot

Posted on by John Hanson

On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she plans to create an “outside, independent 9/11-type Commission” to investigate January’s Capitol Hill attack. 

In her weekly letter to colleagues, Pelosi told her House colleagues that the commission will “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex.”

RELATED: House Republicans Send Brutal Message To Pelosi – Demand Answers From Her On Security Decisions Before Capitol Riot

Pelosi’s Call For 9-11-Style Commission Comes Two Days After Trump Acquittal

Pelosi added that the query will also delve into anything “relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power.”

This call from the Democrat leader comes only two days after former President Donald Trump being acquitted on impeachment by the U.S. senate.

That vote was 57-43, with seven Republicans voting against Trump and for a conviction.

Democrats can’t seem to give up Trump. Pelosi isn’t the only Democrat calling for an independent commission.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons has signaled support for such an investigation, saying, “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward.”

Coons added, “And that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath President Trump really was.”

Democrats And Media Still Obsessing Over Trump

Before Trump was acquitted on Saturday, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Republican senators that he too would vote to acquit Trump.

But McConnell also blasted Trump, claiming the former president was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” meaning the January 6 Capitol Hill riot.

And while McConnell also argued that the impeachment trial was unconstitutional now that Trump is no longer president, such a high ranking Republican making those comments was easy fodder for the Democrats.

Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean said of McConnell and the Republicans, “It was powerful to hear the 57 guilties and then it was puzzling to hear and see Mitch McConnell stand and say ‘not guilty’ and then, minutes later, stand again and say he was guilty of everything.” 

“History will remember that statement of speaking out of two sides of his mouth,” Dean added.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reminded followers in a tweet on Monday that in addition to Pelosi’s commission, other happenings regarding Trump will make sure we “learn a lot more” about the final days of his administration.

In other words, the media will not give up their addiction to all things Trump.

RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Gushes Over Biden – ‘We Finally Have A President In Office Who We Are Honored To Celebrate’

CNN’s Blitzer: ‘Bottom line: we are going to learn a lot more’

“The Trump trial is over but local, state & federal investigations continue,” Blitzer tweeted. “There might be a 9/11-type commission.”

“News organizations continue to investigate,” Blitzer continued. “And @realBobWoodward is working on a book on Trump’s final days in office.”

“Bottom line: we are going to learn a lot more,” the CNN host finished.

Donald Trump might be gone from the White House but don’t expect the Democrats or their media spokespeople to stopped being obsessed with him anytime soon.

The post Pelosi Wants ‘9/11-Type Commission’ To Investigate Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.

GOP falls into further disarray after seven Republican senators admit Trump was 100% guilty

Posted on (Updated by Kerry Eleveld

Donald Trump may have escaped conviction, but the Republican Party will be suffering the consequences of his abhorrent insurrection for years to come. The fact that a historic number of GOP Senate and House lawmakers joined Democrats in declaring Trump guilty of betraying the country sets up a dramatic rift in a party that already appears to be going through a tumultuous realignment. 

Trump's constant defender, golf partner, and sometimes election meddler Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina rushed out to the Sunday talk shows to assure Republicans they are doooooomed without Donald Trump. “Donald Trump is the most vibrant member of the Republican Party. The Trump movement is alive and well,” Graham told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace. “All I can say is that the most potent force in the Republican Party is President Trump. We need Trump.”

The notion that a guy who just came the closest leader in American history to getting convicted of impeachment charges is the "most vibrant member" of the GOP is really a stunning admission—Graham just doesn't know it. Graham is legitimately panicked. In essence, Republicans can't win without Trump, but trying to win with him is going to weigh down the party like a bag of bricks. 

Graham panned as "wrong" a recent move by Republican Nikki Haley to try (yet again!) to distance herself from Trump as she angles for 2024. Graham also twice declared during the Fox interview, "I'm into winning," taking a swipe at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for ripping into Trump in a cynical effort to appease corporate donors who have soured on him.

But Graham did make one observation that is surely true about McConnell's oratory castigation of Trump despite the fact that he ultimately surrendered to casting an acquittal vote. "That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns,” Graham predicted. Truth. Any right-wing Trumper who emerges victorious after a bruising GOP primary will certainly hear the echo of McConnell's words slamming their general election pitch. 

McConnell knew that before he made the speech, and it also tells you just how desperate he is to keep those corporate donations flowing. He was trying to split the baby by acquitting Trump in one breath and skewering him in the next, but that’s also bound to cause some GOP collateral damage heading into 2022.

Just to truly drive home how far the GOP star has fallen, Graham declared none other than Lara Trump, the supremely uninspired beneficiary of Trump nepotism and Ivanka wannabe, the future of the Republican Party. Verbatim—not kidding.

“The biggest winner I think of this whole impeachment trial is Lara Trump,” Graham said. “If she runs, I will certainly be behind her because I think she represents the future of the Republican Party.”

Lara led Trump's "Women for Trump" initiative targeting the suburbs, which you may recall, wasn't the electoral fast ball the campaign hoped it would be.

On the other side of Graham's sycophantic appeals and McConnell's Machiavellian maneuvering was Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who seemed to grow genuinely outraged over the course of the trial by Trump's murderous riot and overt lack of remorse. After Cassidy voted to convict, he released an exceedingly simply and unapologetic statement: "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty."

On ABC's This Week Sunday, Cassidy predicted Trump's influence over the party had peaked and was on its way down. “I think his force wanes," Cassidy said.

What's so fascinating is that both Graham and Cassidy are likely speaking shades of the truth. Trump remains the most high-profile Republican nationwide and, while he will surely continue to harness the intensity of the nativist wing of the GOP, his ability to command a broad enough coalition to win national and statewide elections has just as surely taken a hit. In essence, Trump is a short-term bandage for a gaping oozing wound within the Republican Party. The Lindsey Grahams of the world are clinging to Trump for dear life, but his epic toxicity guarantees that wound will only deepen in the months and years ahead. 

Report: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Congressional Democrats are reportedly considering a back-up plan – a censure resolution against Donald Trump should this week’s impeachment trial result in acquittal for the former President.

The resolution, according to McClatchy, would bar Trump “from holding future office over his role in the U.S. Capitol riot.”

The Senate impeachment trial began on Tuesday with opening statements and debate between House impeachment managers and the former President’s defense lawyers.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the House impeachment charge is unconstitutional and are calling on the Senate to acquit the former President.

His acquittal seems all but assured with 45 Republican Senators having already voted on a point of order that the trial is unconstitutional.

RELATED: Trump Lawyer’s Demand Senate Impeachment Trial Be Dismissed, Top Dem Admits ‘Not Crazy To Argue’ It’s Unconstitutional

Democrats Have Back-Up Impeachment Plan – Censure Trump

The Democrat attempt to censure Donald Trump – who is now a private citizen – would invoke Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

It is a rarely cited Civil War-era provision that bars people from holding office if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” or “given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Pushing forward with the plan seems to be a foregone conclusion, as McClatchy notes “the debate among members of Congress is now whether to push for the resolution early this week — as the impeachment trial is first starting — or towards the end.”

Some Democrat lawmakers are hoping the trial itself will “build public support and political momentum” for the censure resolution.

“The reception has been lukewarm so far from Democrats, who would prefer to see the former president convicted in the impeachment trial, and from Republicans, who fear political consequences in barring Trump from office,” McClatchy observes.

Senator Tim Kaine adds, “Right now there’s not enough support on either side.”

If the Senate acquits Trump, however, bitter Democrats could conceivably coalesce behind such a censure resolution and they wouldn’t need any help from the Republicans.

A resolution to censure Trump would require a simple majority vote to pass in the House and Senate.

RELATED: Squad’s Ayanna Pressley: Capitol Riots Gave Me ‘Deep And Ancestral’ Terror From ‘White Supremacist Mob’

It Could Backfire

The report indicates that Democrats may be playing with fire if they plan to censure Trump following the Senate impeachment trial.

“Some Democratic lawyers warn the strategy could backfire if taken to court and provide Trump with a rallying cry to run again for president in 2024,” it reads.

Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that censuring Trump is a “dangerous” tactic for the nation.

Barring the former President from running again in the future based on a rarely cited provision of the 14th Amendment, without a trial and supermajority vote could open up the floodgates for party’s in power to keep their political opponents out of office.

“The party in control could bar dozens of its opponents from running for federal office,” Turley explains. “Some Democrats are now demanding such action against Republicans who challenged the election of Joe Biden.”

Indeed, how often have we heard Democrats demand Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz be expelled from Congress?

“This is common in authoritarian countries such as Iran, where leaders often bar their opponents from office,” Turley adds.

The post Report: Democrats Have A Back-Up Plan That Might Still Bar Trump From Running Again If Impeachment Fails appeared first on The Political Insider.

Support for convicting Trump grows among Republicans

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

Support for a Senate conviction of Donald Trump among Republican voters has grown since last week, though it's still not particularly high. But as more information emerges about the Trump-inspired violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, GOP support for convicting Trump has ticked up a half dozen points from 14% on Jan. 8-11 to 20% on Jan. 15-17, according to new Politico/Morning Consult polling released Tuesday.

It's still wildly low by any reasonable measure, but given that Trump commanded roughly 90% support among the GOP base throughout his term, it's a notable break from someone who conservative voters never held to account for anything he did. About 86% of Democrats also "strongly" or "somewhat" support Senate conviction, as do some 50% of independents.

Last week, FiveThirtyEight.com also found that overall support for Trump's impeachment in an average of polls was up a handful of points from where it stood during the Ukraine scandal, 52% now versus about 47%-48% then.

No matter what, Trump is leaving office with a wildly diminished profile because, well, he sucks and he actually launched a deadly attack on U.S. soil, the nation's duly elected Congress, and the government he was supposedly charged with leading. In the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 60% of respondents said he would be remembered as a below-average president, with 47% saying he qualified as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.

In Gallup’s final polling, Trump's job approval stood at 34%—his lowest to date in the poll. He averaged 41% approval throughout his tenure, hitting an all-time high of 49% early last year around the time of his Senate acquittal and the early days of the pandemic. "Trump is the only president not to register a 50% job approval rating at any point in his presidency since Gallup began measuring presidential job approval in 1938," writes the outlet. 

So much winning. 

You’re fired! The People ousted Donald Trump because Senate Republicans were too corrupt to do it

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

One of the biggest political stories of 2020—and really Donald Trump’s entire tenure—was what a bunch of traitorous sellouts the entire Senate Republican caucus turned out to be. Sure, we knew these GOP senators were no profiles in courage as Trump took the reins in 2017, but their constant kowtowing and, particularly, their hasty acquittal of Trump against a mountain of evidence that he abused his power to extort a foreign government in order to win reelection was an actual attack on U.S. democracy itself. 

"It was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values,” Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said in early February shortly before he became the sole GOP senator to vote against clearing Trump of wrongdoing. “Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."
The other 52 Republican senators banded together to shield Trump from accountability and suffering the just consequences of his defilement of the republic slid from claims that there was no quid pro quo to “So what if there was?” Ultimately, every Senate Republican but Romney proved content to play Trump’s stooge regardless of the blight on democracy it represented.
Unfortunately, that craven political calculation worked out for too many vulnerable GOP senators in November. While Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Martha McSally of Arizona suffered the consequences of abetting Trump’s corruption, others such as Maine’s Susan Collins, Iowa’s Joni Ernst, and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis all escaped accountability for their complicity in Trump’s crime. And, at least for now, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell—who led the charge to acquit Trump without hearing from a single witness (including Trump’s former national security adviser and stalwart conservative John Bolton)—is still the presumed leader of the Senate Majority for the upcoming Congress.
But that doesn’t have to be. On January 5, we still have one last chance to exact a price for McConnell’s treachery by relegating him to minority status in the upper chamber and putting Democrats in charge. At the same time, we can send a powerful message that the seditious acts of Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in backing Trump’s fascist power grab to overturn the election will not stand.
But regardless of what happens in those two critical Senate races, the American people did band together to save our democracy from a would-be dictator and an entire major-American party that eagerly helped him undercut this centuries-old experiment in democracy.

You're fired, Donald Trump. The People have spoken.

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Cher Comes Unglued—Claims Trump Is Going To Shoot Someone In New York City

Posted on by LifeZette

By PoliZette Staff | February 19, 2020

In today’s example of a celebrity who has let Trump Derangement Syndrome completely consume them…

The actress and singer Cher’s Twitter attacks on President Donald Trump have become increasingly bizarre and deranged over the past few weeks. Now, Cher’s attacks have escalated to the point where she is claiming that Trump is about to commit murder.

Cher hopped back on her Twitter page this afternoon to say that Trump is about to shoot someone on 5th Avenue in New York City.

“Tired Of Hearing Ppl Say ‘THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED.’ Every time The ‘[nut] Job In Chief’ Steps Over a Line That’s NEVER Been Crossed,” Cher said. “SOON The Crazy Fk Will Shoot Someone on 5th Ave, & Say ‘I Could Have Done this Before, I Just Chose Not To.’ [America], He’s Your [baby]. Rock Him.”

Her tweet was posted alongside a link to a Washington Post article titled “Post-impeachment, Trump declares himself the ‘chief law enforcement officer’ of America.” The article discussed some of the things Trump has done since his impeachment acquittal, including his move to grant clemency this week to eleven people who had been imprisoned for non-violent offenses.

What that has to do with Trump allegedly planning to commit a murder in New York likely only makes sense in the fanatical mind of Cher…

This comes after Cher accused Trump of being a “limp, Vengeful imitation of a man” who’s afraid of Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), tweeting that on the night he refused to shake the House Speaker’s hand before his State of the Union address.

“MISUNDERSTOOD..HE SNUBBED HER,” Cher tweeted. . “IVE BEEN ALIVE THROUGH 13 PRESIDENTS,& HES THE MOST VENGEFUL ILLITERATE,LIMP, IMITATION OF A MAN EVER.HE USES:us:AS HIS PERSONAL ATM.THE REASON HE DIDNT WANT TO SHAKE NANCY’S HAND IS BECAUSE HER [hands] ARE BIGGER THAN HIS [hands]. HE’S ALSO AFRAID OF HER.”

Does Cher really not realize how insane she looks in her anti-Trump tweets? For goodness sake, Cher, get off Twitter for a day and get some help for your Trump Derangement Syndrome. It’s clearly starting to eat away what’s left of your mind!

This piece originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
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The post Cher Comes Unglued—Claims Trump Is Going To Shoot Someone In New York City appeared first on The Political Insider.

Solid majority of Americans say Senate acquittal did not clear Trump of wrongdoing

Posted on by Kerry Eleveld

By a 15-point margin Americans say that, despite being acquitted in the Senate, Donald Trump has not been cleared of wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter. Fully 55% say Trump has not been exonerated by his acquittal while 40% believe he has, according a new Quinnipiac poll released Monday. The views of independents track almost perfectly with those findings, with 54% saying Trump has not been cleared and 40% saying he has.

Wanna restore sane leadership to the Senate? Give $2 right now to oust Trump’s GOP-led rubber stamp in the upper chamber. 

What this means more broadly is that Americans weren't fooled by Republicans' sham trial one bit. In the poll, 51% still believe that Trump's actions were serious enough to warrant impeachment, while 46% believe they didn't reach the threshold. Independents are split on that question 49% to 49%. Perhaps even more telling are respondents' views on whether the Senate trial was conducted fairly:

Unfairly: 59% Fairly: 35%  

That finding is almost identical to Monmouth polling also released today, showing 58% say the trial was unfair, while 35% say it was fair. In effect, Senate Republicans’ sham trial only inspired confidence in GOP voters, 54% of whom called it fair, while Democrats (78%-18%) and independents (56%-39%) overwhelmingly found it unfair.

After impeachment acquittal, Trump’s bitter feud with Pelosi continues

Posted on by PBS NewsHour - Politics
On Thursday, President Trump declared victory, one day after his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial. He celebrated among supporters at the White House and claimed Democrats had conducted "corrupt" investigations. Hours earlier, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters at a news conference that she prays for the president, and that his impeachment will stand forever. Judy Woodruff reports.