Category: Donald Trump

Trump ‘Not Happy’ With His Legal Team’s First Appearance In Impeachment Trial

Posted on by John Hanson

According to a number of reports on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump was very displeased with his legal team’s performance on the first day of his Senate impeachment trial.

Many members of Congress and pundits also criticized the Trump defense team’s showing, and particularly that of Bruce Castor.

Castor had once briefly served as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, and was the District Attorney for Montgomery County.

RELATED: PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor Defends Democrat Double Standard On Impeachment – ‘Wasn’t Storming Of The Capitol’ After Maxine Waters’ Speech

Source: ‘President Trump Was Not Happy’

For about 45 minutes, Castor delivered a rambling opening speech and seemed to have a difficult time making many salient points to this case.

Sources close to Trump’s defense team reportedly told both Politico and CNN that Trump was “not happy” with how he was being represented by his lawyers.

One source reportedly told Politico, “President Trump was not happy with the performance of his legal team in action.”

In the weeks leading up to the impeachment trial, Trump’s legal team had a rough few weeks. 

The former president’s previous team quit abruptly just three weeks before the trial reportedly because Trump insisted they make the argument that the election was stolen from him by the Democrats.

Dershowitz On Castor: ‘I Have No Idea What He Is Doing’

After that controversy, Castor and attorney David Schoen came in as Trump’s primary legal representatives.

The two lawyers had little more than two weeks to prepare for the trial.

Neither Schoen nor Castor have reportedly agreed to make the case that the 2020 election was stolen from their client.

Trump’s lawyer for his first impeachment trial, Alan Dershowitz, said Trump’s legal team’s performance on Tuesday was not good. 

Dershowitz said of Castor, “I have no idea what he is doing.”

Perhaps the most surprising comment from Castor, which many on the left were quick to pounce on, was his assertion that Trump lost the election fair and square – a big departure from Trump’s claim that the election was stolen: 

RELATED: Lindsey Graham Rips Impeachment – ‘We’re Doing A Lot Of Damage To The Country Because People Hate Trump’

Republican Sen. John Cornyn Was Not Impressed

“The American people are entitled to an argument,” Dershowitz told Newsmax. “But this, just, after all kinds of very strong presentations on the part of the House managers… it does not appear to me to be effective advocacy.”

Dershowitz wasn’t the only one unimpressed. One prominent member of Trump’s own party was not the least bit impressed with what he saw from Team Trump on Tuesday.

Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn reportedly said, “I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that was, that was not one of the finest I’ve seen.” 

Another Republican, perhaps the biggest surprise among the GOP Senators who voted that the trial for a former president was constitutional, was Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. 

Speaking of the proceedings, Cassidy said, “Trump’s team was disorganized, they did everything they could but to talk about the question at hand. And when they talked about it, they kind of glided over it, almost as if they were embarrassed of their arguments.”

“Now if I’m an impartial juror and one side is doing a great job and the other side is doing a terrible job on the issue at hand, as an impartial juror, I’m going to vote for the side that did the good job,” he said.

The post Trump ‘Not Happy’ With His Legal Team’s First Appearance In Impeachment Trial appeared first on The Political Insider.

Lindsey Graham Rips Impeachment – ‘We’re Doing A Lot Of Damage To The Country Because People Hate Trump’

Posted on by LifeZette

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke out on Monday night to rip into Democrats for their impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump.

Graham Rips Democrats Over Impeachment

While appearing on “Hannity” on Fox News, Graham complained about having to participate in the impeachment trial at all.

“I got to listen to this crap,” Graham said. “So, I hope by Sunday or Monday, the trial will be over. Here’s what I can tell you — if the House managers want to call one witness, the defense is going to call all the people you named and then some.”

“To my colleagues tomorrow, there are a hundred of us, what we do today is going to make history of the time America exists,” he added. “What Democrats have done is basically declared war on the presidency itself. The impeachment in House took place without a hearing, without one witness being called, and without a lawyer for the president of the United States.”

“You can’t get a traffic ticket based on the producers they used to impeach President Trump,” Graham continued. “And we’re also impeaching a man who’s out of office. When you combine a snap impeachment with an impeachment of a president who’s out of office, you’re going to destroy the presidency itself.”

“I know you hate Trump but please, pull back before we set in motion this destruction of the presidency by never-ending impeachments based on lack of due process and political retribution as the motive,” he said.

Related: Lindsey Graham Teaming With Dick Durbin To Introduce Legislation That Could Grant Citizenship To DREAMers

Graham Doubles Down

Not stopping there, Graham went on to argue that in impeaching a former president, the Democrat-controlled Congress was creating a new precedent.

“I think you’ll see statements by politicians that are more insightful than what President Trump said,” he predicted. “But when the Founders created impeachment for the president, it was different than for judges and anybody else. It requires that the chief justice of the United States to preside over presidential impeachments. Why? Because you don’t want a juror preceding over the impeachment of a presidential officeholder.”

“So the idea that the president is treated differently under the Constitution makes perfect sense,” Graham said. “They never envisioned going after the president once he’s out of office because the purpose for impeachment is to remove the person, not bar them from running in the future.”

“So, the whole point of impeachment is lost when the person is no longer in office,” Graham continued. “They didn’t go after Nixon when he resigned for a reason. So to my colleagues here, you’re about to set in motion a historical precedent that will put at risk every future president.”

“You could be impeached in the future based on hatred, 50 hours no witness, no hearing, no lawyer,” he concluded. “You can be impeached after you leave office. George Washington, under this theory, can be impeached for owning slaves. We’re doing a lot of damage to the country because people hate Trump. Knock it off.”

Related: Lindsey Graham Agrees With Obama That AOC Should Be Given Bigger Role In Democratic Party

This piece was written by James Samson on February 9, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Maxine Waters Confronted By MSNBC About Encouraging Violence Against Republicans
Bill Maher Claims Christianity Is To Blame For Capitol Riot
Liz Cheney Says There’s Major Criminal Probe Into Whether Trump Made ‘Premeditated Effort To Promote Violence’

The post Lindsey Graham Rips Impeachment – ‘We’re Doing A Lot Of Damage To The Country Because People Hate Trump’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Senate votes to move forward with Trump’s impeachment trial

Posted on by PBS NewsHour - Politics
The United States Senate has made history Tuesday prosecuting a past president for the first time. Defendant Donald Trump is also making history, as the first president to be tried twice. Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins and White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor join Judy Woodruff to discuss the first day of trial proceedings.

Former Trump defense attorney on why the impeachment trial is unconstitutional

Posted on by PBS NewsHour - Politics
The Senate on Tuesday voted 56-44 that putting Donald Trump on trial is constitutional, a move refuted by the former president's legal team. Robert Ray was a member of Trump's defense team from his first Senate impeachment trial and an independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation into President Clinton. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why he thinks the latest trial is unconstitutional.

A constitutional scholar on why Trump’s impeachment trial should proceed

Posted on by PBS NewsHour - Politics
Democrats and Republicans Tuesday made their arguments over the constitutionality of President Trump impeachment trial and his role in the attacks on the Capitol in January. Michael McConnell, of the Stanford Law School, is a constitutional scholar and former judge who was nominated to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals by President George W. Bush. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Jim Jordan Claims Democrats Are ‘Scared’ Of Trump

Posted on by LifeZette

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) penned an op-ed for Fox News on Tuesday that accused Democrats of having an “obsession” with impeaching Donald Trump because “they’re scared of him.”

Jordan Attacks Democrats 

Jordan wrote in the op-ed that Democrats are hoping that this impeachment trial will lead to so much disdain for Trump that he will never run for office again.

“It’s been almost a month since he left office, but Democrats still can’t let go of President Donald Trump,” Jordan wrote. “That’s why, as our country faces many urgent challenges, the Senate will set aside its real work this week and instead focus on yet another political impeachment charade.”

Jordan added that while the Capitol riots should not have happened last month, they were not a concern for Democrats because while Republicans have condemned violence in the past, “Democrats have not, and now they are casting political blame for what happened at the Capitol.”

Related: Jim Jordan Calls Out Dems’ ‘Double Standards’ – They ‘Objected To More States In 2017 Than Republicans Did Last Week’

“President Trump did not incite the violence of Jan. 6,” Jordan said. “News reports suggest the FBI knew in advance that violence would occur. The U.S. Capitol Police also reportedly understood that there was a ‘strong potential for violence’ that day.”

“Pipe bombs had been placed before President Trump’s speech,” he continued. “So how can Democrats accuse President Trump of inciting violence when the violent acts had been planned in advance?”

Jordan Blasts House For Impeaching Trump

Jordan lamented the fact that in the House, there was no due process for Trump, “there was no process whatsoever.” He added that the Senate is now preparing to conduct an unconstitutional “impeachment trial” of a man no longer president.

“Last week, Democrats threatened President Trump that if he declined to testify during the Democrats’ impeachment charade, they would use it as proof of his guilt,” he wrote. “That may be how trials work in socialist countries. But that’s not how it works in America.”

“Democrats are going to these lengths because they are obsessed with canceling President Trump,” Jordan continued. “They’re scared of him. They know he works [for] the American people, and not the Washington Swamp. Unlike most politicians, President Trump did what he said he’d do. Hopefully, one day, he’ll get to do it again.”

Read Next: Rep. Jim Jordan Says Trump Should Not Concede: ‘Instinctively Everyone Knows’ The Election Is Flawed

This piece was written by James Samson on February 9, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Maxine Waters Confronted By MSNBC About Encouraging Violence Against Republicans
Bill Maher Claims Christianity Is To Blame For Capitol Riot
Liz Cheney Says There’s Major Criminal Probe Into Whether Trump Made ‘Premeditated Effort To Promote Violence’

The post Jim Jordan Claims Democrats Are ‘Scared’ Of Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.

PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor Defends Democrat Double Standard On Impeachment – ‘Wasn’t Storming Of The Capitol’ After Maxine Waters’ Speech

Posted on by LifeZette

PBS correspondent and MSNBC political contributor Yamiche Alcindor spoke out on Tuesday to defend the Democratic Party’s double standard when it comes to the impeachment effort against Donald Trump.

Alcindor Defends Democrats

After it was reported that Trump’s legal team is planning to argue that Democrats incited riots with their speeches, Alcindor said that this argument is not valid because speeches by leftists like Maxine Waters and Kamala Harris did not result in deadly riots.

“I’m really watching to see how much this becomes a personal reliving of what happened on January 6,” Alcindor said. “You’re hearing from senior Democratic aides that they want this to feel like a violent crime trial. They want people to be brought into what happened at the Capitol.”

“So that’s why they’re saying this is going to be this new evidence. I suspect some of that will probably be possibly videos that we haven’t seen before, talking to aides on Capitol Hill, they’re really feeling as though they need to remind people exactly what happened.”

Related: PBS Reporter Yamiche Alcindor Slams Paralyzed GOP Candidate Madison Cawthorn After His RNC Speech

Alcindor On Trump Team

“The Trump team, as you reported, also is going to be bringing out this video, trying to say, ‘Hear what Democrats said. Here is why they are just like President Trump,'” she added. ”

“But I think the thing that’s going to be so obvious is going to be that there wasn’t a storming of the Capitol after Maxine Waters or Senator Harris — then-Senator Harris had fiery speeches,” Alcindor said. “So I think that’s all the things that we should be watching, how they juxtapose this at the scene of where this happened.”

Alcindor has long been an outspoken critic of former President Trump, and she went at it with him regularly at various points in his presidency. On Tuesday, she took to Twitter to celebrate the start of Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.

“And we’re off, House impeachment managers and making the walk to the Senate chamber,” she wrote. “Trump Impeachment 2.0 is upon us.”

Related: PBS Reporter Tangles With Trump – Gets Backlash

This piece was written by James Samson on February 9, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
Maxine Waters Confronted By MSNBC About Encouraging Violence Against Republicans
Bill Maher Claims Christianity Is To Blame For Capitol Riot
Liz Cheney Says There’s Major Criminal Probe Into Whether Trump Made ‘Premeditated Effort To Promote Violence’

The post PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor Defends Democrat Double Standard On Impeachment – ‘Wasn’t Storming Of The Capitol’ After Maxine Waters’ Speech appeared first on The Political Insider.