Category: Senate

Bribery. The crime is bribery. Say it

Posted on by Hunter

The Trump defense against impeachment is premised on layers upon layers of nonsense, but the notion that Donald Trump's act—suspension of military aid to a foreign nation until its government announced an investigation of his just-announced domestic political opponent—does not constitute a crime is among the most blatant.

Bribery. The crime is that Donald Trump demanded a personal bribe in exchange for an official act of his office. And soliciting a bribe is, unequivocally, a criminal act.

The defense theory that Trump was allowed to target a specific political opponent for an "investigation" as a supposed foreign policy is inherently corrupt. There is no other word for it. Criminal defender Alan Dershowitz went further still, claiming that if Trump believed that his winning reelection was genuinely in the public's best interest, then any action he took to sabotage his opponents would be legal and allowable. In every other public context, this is recognized unequivocally as an act of corruption.

Ex-House Republican Chris Collins was indicted for insider trading—using private information to make stock trades meant to benefit himself. Ex-Rep. Duncan Hunter was indicted for stealing, outright, campaign funds for his own personal gain. The then-governor of Illinois, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, was impeached, removed, and imprisoned for seeking to trade political appointments, an official act of his office, for personal bribes.

It is Blagojevich's case that is a close analogue to what Trump himself did. Trump unilaterally delayed military aid allocated by the House and Senate to a foreign ally. Trump distanced his White House from that government, refusing a meeting the newly elected Ukrainian leader considered of utmost importance in signaling to Russia that his nation had the support of the United States. He withheld both acts, indisputably now, to procure an announcement from the Ukrainian government that his potential election opponent was now being investigated for corruption.

That is soliciting a bribe. Trump could have requested that his Department of Justice "investigate" his election opponent itself; it would still likely be a crime. Trump could have made the request without using the tools of his office to pressure the desperate Ukrainian government into compliance; doing so in his official capacity as president would still likely be a crime. Trump did the most corrupt of all versions, however.

Trump demanded that Ukraine announce two specific investigations, one of Biden and one promoting an anti-Democratic Party conspiracy theory boosted by the same Russian government known to have targeted Trump’s election opponents in the past. The only investigations Trump demanded were focused on his domestic political opponents.

Trump coordinated the effort not through the United States' robust law enforcement and foreign policy agencies, but through his personal lawyer, working with now-indicted Ukrainian criminals, coordinating "evidence"-gathering with a known-to-be-corrupt Ukrainian official seeking to trade that evidence to Trump's team in exchange for getting his own criminal indictment squashed by Trump's Department of Justice. This gaggle of criminals was elevated above the official United States foreign policy apparatus, and quickly succeeded in getting a member of that foreign policy apparatus, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, removed from her position by convincing Trump she was a political, not a policy, opponent.

Trump ordered multiple members of his Cabinet to take official actions, actions determined at the time to be baseless and soon afterwards judged to be illegal, intended to put maximum pressure on Ukraine to comply in providing the “favor’ he’d asked for. He ordered his subordinates to perform official acts meant to extort Ukraine into compliance—literally at gunpoint.

Trump provided no public explanation for his acts, Trump's subordinates provided their own government subordinates no private explanations for those acts; an after-the-fact effort was launched to investigate any possible rationale that could be offered for his acts; White House officials swiftly moved to conceal his acts as numerous White House and government officials alerted White House lawyers of the potentially criminal nature of those acts; and when Congress eventually learned of his acts, Trump offered no explanation, but instead ordered all agencies to refuse document requests, subpoenas for testimony, and other basic tools of oversight.

Donald Trump sought a bribe from Ukraine. Donald Trump demanded that the government of Ukraine grant him two very specific personal favors, both targeting his election enemies, and withheld official acts of his government to procure them. Trump ordered his administration to take official acts to obstruct congressional investigation of those acts.

Seeking something of personal value in exchange for performing an act as a public official is seeking a bribe. It is not hard to understand. It does not matter if it is called a new "foreign policy" in which personal bribes are, now, supposedly both official policy and good for the country.

It's bribery. Just say it. And every Republican senator either knows full well that Trump was soliciting a bribe or, by denying it, has indicated that they too are sufficiently corrupt to consider demanding precisely the same thing in exchange for doing their own official duties.

That is likely the case. It is evident, at this point, that nearly every Republican senator both stipulates that Trump did exactly what John Bolton claims to be an eyewitness to and is taking the official position that members of their party are indeed allowed to solicit such "favors" without repercussion or recourse. But it is unambiguously bribery, and each of them is now conspiring in that act.

‘The View’ Goes Off The Rails As Impeachment Lawyer Alan Dershowitz ‘Triggers’ Hosts By Defending Trump

Posted on by LifeZette

By PopZette Staff | January 29, 2020

The ABC talk show “The View” exploded on Wednesday when Alan Dershowitz defended President Donald Trump from the liberal cohosts’ attacks as they talked about the Senate impeachment trial.

Hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg came particularly unhinged while talking to Dershowitz, with the former calling his arguments “baloney” and the latter cutting him off at one point. When Behar claimed that no other constitutional scholar agreed with his assertion that a crime is necessary for impeachment, Dershowitz tried to give her a quick history lesson.

“In 18…,” Dershowitz began before Goldberg rudely cut him off, saying, “Ok, wait, wait, wait. Alan, you know, in 1492 Columbus sailed the seas blue but listen, I need us to move on.”

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Dershowitz fired back by saying that he would not move on before he could give some historical context on impeachment, but Goldberg refused to back down.

“You’re not going to get any time because you got four people trying to ask you questions,” she said.

Undeterred, Dershowitz explained to the women that many scholars have taken their current stances on impeachment because of their personal opinions on Trump.

“Shortly after the Constitution was enacted, the dean of Columbia Law School said that the weight of authority was in favor of it being a crime,” he said. “Now, the academics all say it isn’t. Why? Because Donald Trump is being impeached. If Hillary Clinton was being impeached, they’d all be on my side.”

This simple argument was enough to cause Behar to lose it.

“That’s just baloney, that’s just baloney,” she exclaimed.

As chaos continued to erupt, Goldberg finally threatened Dershowitz by saying, “I’m moving you on or I’m cutting you off — one or the other is going to happen.”

Things only went downhill from there, as “The View’s” cohosts tried to make Dershowitz look like a hypocrite by playing a 21 year-old clip in which he said that impeachment “doesn’t have to be a crime.” Though Goldberg accused him of only changing his mind because Trump is the president, Dershowitz countered this by explaining that he actually changed his mind on this point four years ago, when he was looking at the possibility of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton being impeached if she won the presidency.

Despite the fact that the liberal cohosts were clearly ganging up on him, Dershowitz continued to hold his own. At one point, he even caused Goldberg to whine when he referenced Abraham Lincoln, saying, “You have to go back in history. Impeachment doesn’t change since the time of the Constitution.”

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“You should never have an impeachment unless there’s broad, widespread, non-partisan support — that doesn’t exist here,” he later added.

Behar, Goldberg, and their fellow liberals have this kind of visceral reaction to Dershowitz because deep down, they know he is right. This entire impeachment debacle is nothing more than pathetic vendetta from the Democratic Party, which has still not gotten over Trump beating Clinton in 2016.

In the end, the impeachment effort is nothing more than a huge waste of time, as there is virtually no chance of Trump being impeached by the Senate. All it’s accomplishing is showing Americans everywhere just how much anti-Trump hatred leftists have in their hearts.

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

Read more at LifeZette:
Rocket Strikes U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
More GOP Senators Could Defect in Impeachment Trial
Bolton Manuscript Leaked, Romney and Collins May Vote Against the President

The post ‘The View’ Goes Off The Rails As Impeachment Lawyer Alan Dershowitz ‘Triggers’ Hosts By Defending Trump appeared first on The Political Insider.

Moscow Mitch’s 2020 campaign fund helped out by Trump’s impeachment defense team

Posted on by Joan McCarter

You can't make this degree of corruption up. Moscow Mitch McConnell, the guy who has promised again and again that he is working with Donald Trump's impeachment lawyers to make sure that Trump will not be convicted and removed from office, has gotten campaign donations from those lawyers. This year. For his 2020 reelection campaign.

The Louisville Courier Journal reviewed campaign finance data for McConnell, finding that Ken Starr gave the maximum allowed, $2,800, on July 31, 2019. He's been a donor to every one of McConnell's campaigns since 2020. McConnell's gotten two separate donations from Robert Ray for a total of $5,600. Those were on Sept. 30, 2019, 12 days after The Washington Post reported on the whistleblower report that Trump was withholding aid to Ukraine until the country agreed to announce an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden.

McConnell's campaign blew off the glaring appearance of corruption in the transaction, taking a swipe at House Democrats. "The absence of any adequate arguments by House impeachment managers seems to be playing a pretty meaningful role however," McConnell's campaign manager Kevin Golden said. Clearly the money isn't a bribe for McConnell to ensure Trump's acquittal, because that's been a foregone conclusion from the get-go. Moscow Mitch promised it. So it must be a reward.

It's time to end McConnell's destructive stranglehold on the republic. Please give $1 to our nominee fund to help Democrats and end McConnell's career as Senate majority leader.

Hey Dems, Bolton’s Testimony Won’t Change Anything – Trump Isn’t Being Removed

Posted on by Wayne Dupree

The Democrats don’t give a damn what John Bolton or anybody else might say; they know it won’t affect the outcome at all.

What they want is the ability to accuse a few Senators, who they perceive as being vulnerable, of participating in a cover-up by voting against calling witnesses. This whole silly charade is about the 2020 election and not just the presidential election, which they already know they will probably lose.

Given that impeachment is delaying the judicial confirmation express, the sooner it ends, the better. That means it would be best to have no witnesses. But if there are any, Hunter Biden and other witnesses requested by Trump’s team must be included.

MORE NEWS: Tucker Carlson Rips Into Bolton, Compares Him to Snake from Trump’s Parable

Sen. Lindsey Graham: “I’m increasingly optimistic this ends Friday. I think the question is whether we should have additional testimony from witnesses that the House refused to call. Lets assume for a moment that John Bolton would say what the New York Times said he would say, ‘The President told me to put a freeze on the aid because I want to look at the Bidens.’ I’m paraphrasing. The President had every reason to want to look at the Bidens.

The House managers told us there’s not a scintilla of evidence the Bidens did anything wrong, this has been completely debunked, thoroughly investigated. That is a complete lie. The defense team destroyed the House’s case,”

“If after listening to Pam Bondi you’re okay with how Hunter Biden conducted himself in the Ukraine and you’re okay with Joe Biden not having a clue of what was going on, that’s more about you that it is about anything else. There’s a mountain of evidence that the Biden’s were involved in corruption. The President would have been wrong not to ask the Ukrainians to help given what we know about Hunter Biden and Joe Biden.”

The Dems have done such a masterful job of deflection; it should be studied in school. They have completely taken Biden’s corruption off the table, smeared Trump, and tied up Bernie during the primaries all at the same time.

MORE NEWS: John Bolton Has a New Career: Going After Donald Trump

They learned the technique of accusing your opponent of what you are guilty of from the master, Bill Clinton. He must be very proud of his students. They have raised such an incredible stink and smokescreen; no one will ever touch Biden again. Certainly not the Republicans, nor Barr. The Bidens have been given a get out of jail free card — just like Hillary.

Actually, the only way to expose the corruption of the Deep State and the Democrats is to call witnesses, bring out everything. I don’t think there’s any chance Trump will be impeached; the votes simply aren’t there. But the Democrats had to be head-faked into demanding witnesses so the public could see exactly who the traitors are and why.

So sit back, enjoy the show, stock up on popcorn, chips, dip, and your favorite beverage. The Democrats will rue the day they pushed impeachment because the perfect storm is upon them but they are so full of hate they can’t think straight; they don’t recognize the peril they’re in!

And first and foremost, watch the plan unfold before your very eyes, the patriots planned this from the beginning!

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The post Hey Dems, Bolton’s Testimony Won’t Change Anything – Trump Isn’t Being Removed appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump Blasts Bolton Over ‘Nasty’ and ‘Untrue’ Book

Posted on by Guest Author

On Wednesday, President Trump blasted John Bolton, calling his former national security adviser’s upcoming book that reportedly reveals details about the Ukraine affair at the center of the president’s impeachment “nasty” and “untrue.”

Trump said Bolton “begged” him for a job and that his former top aide made “mistakes of judgment” during his time at the White House, citing a television appearance in April 2018 in which Bolton said the administration was considering the “Libya model” for North Korea regarding negotiations over halting nuclear weapons development.

RELATED: Top Republican Leader Sends Stern Message to GOP Senators Thinking About Caving To Democrats On Impeachment

‘If I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now’

Trump said Bolton was “fired because, frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now.”

Trump wondered why Bolton would write a book about his tenure “IMMEDIATELY” after his firing, calling it “nasty & untrue.”

These tweets come in the wake of a report by The New York Times that Bolton wrote in his upcoming book that Trump told him he wanted to continue to suspend U.S. aid to Ukraine until the country agreed to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

Trump has repeatedly denied Bolton’s accusation, as have allies of the president who continue to question Bolton’s credibility and motives.

Will Bolton Take the Stand?

Bolton’s revelations have had an impact on the ongoing Senate impeachment trial, raising pressure on Republicans to support calling him as a witness, something the White House would like to avoid.

The Hill reports, “The excerpt contradicts a key part of Trump’s defense — namely that he never tied security assistance for Ukraine to investigations, something House impeachment managers have alleged.”

“Trump’s defense attorneys addressed the issue during their opening arguments on Monday and Tuesday, with the president’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow citing Trump’s denial and urging senators to disregard the reported details of the manuscript by calling it ‘inadmissible,” noted The Hill. “Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz also argued Monday evening that even if Bolton’s reported account were true, the allegations would not rise to the level of an impeachable offense.”

Trump to GOP: Don’t Get Played By Democrats

Trump tweeted about Bolton and the impeachment trial a few times late night on Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

“Why didn’t John Bolton complain about this ‘nonsense’ a long time ago, when he was very publicly terminated. He said, not that it matters, NOTHING!” Trump wrote.

RELATED: John Bolton To Write Book About Trump Administration: Report

Trump continued, “Remember Republicans, the Democrats already had 17 witnesses, we were given NONE! Witnesses are up to the House, not up to the Senate,” the president tweeted. “Don’t let the Dems play you!”

Will Republicans let the Dems “play” them?

Stay tuned.

The post Trump Blasts Bolton Over ‘Nasty’ and ‘Untrue’ Book appeared first on The Political Insider.

Trump and McConnell push hard to cement impeachment cover-up

Posted on by Laura Clawson

The Trump White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell planned an impeachment trial cover-up, and they’re not about to let former national security adviser John Bolton mess that up. The plan was to call no witnesses and have Senate Republicans vote to acquit Trump as quickly as possible. That plan took a hit when reports came out that Bolton’s upcoming book described Trump telling him that he was holding up military aid to Ukraine in a demand for investigations into his political rivals—but that just means McConnell and Trump will have to work a little harder to keep the cover-up in place.

When McConnell told Senate Republicans, in a private meeting, that he didn’t have the votes locked down to block witnesses in the trial, it wasn’t an admission of defeat. It was, sources told The New York Times, ”a pointed signal that it was time for rank-and-file senators to fall in line.”

Similarly, the White House is telling Republicans that allowing witnesses “could drag things out for months” and be “tough on all incumbents up for reelection,” a “Republican close to the White House” told Politico. Nice Senate seat you’ve got. Shame if anything messed that up.

Sen. John Cornyn told The Washington Post’s Robert Costa that he was “pretty confident” Republicans would keep the trial from including witnesses. (You know, keep it from being even an imitation of a fair trial.)

According to Sen. Kevin Cramer, “Some people are sincerely exploring all the avenues.” Some people. Others, not so much. And virtually every Republican in the Senate is under strong pressure to stop exploring and definitely stop being sincere—virtually every, and not every-every, only because Sen. Susan Collins gets a pass on appearing to vote against McConnell once he knows he already has the votes he needs locked down.

Republicans do not want the American people to know the truth, and they’ll do whatever they can to keep that from happening.

If Dems Get Witnesses, Trump’s Team Should Be Able To Call Their’s Too

Posted on by Wayne Dupree

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Mitch McConnell has told his constituents that he doesn’t have the votes to block witnesses during President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.

He informed them after Trump’s legal team finished with the countermeasures that they want to show the American people how the Democrat-led House pushed the Articles of Impeachment through the system to hurt Trump’s 2020 chances.

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The Democrats will not lose in the respect that they have put out a warning to future presidential candidates and judicial nominees that they will ruin their lives and their families lives for going against them. There is no one but Trump that could have stood up to this kind of punishment and there never will be another.

On the third and final day of presentations by the Trump legal team, lawyers tried to cast doubts on the importance and credibility of allegations by former national security adviser John Bolton about the president’s motives for freezing aid to Ukraine.

But at a meeting of all Republican senators late Tuesday, GOP leaders told their conference that they don’t currently have the votes to prevent witnesses from being called, people familiar with the matter said. Republicans had hoped to wrap up the trial with an acquittal of the president by this week, but Democrats have said he should appear under oath to offer a firsthand account of the president’s motivations for freezing aid to Ukraine—a matter at the heart of the impeachment case.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said the vote total wasn’t where it needed to be on blocking witnesses or documents, these people said. He had a card with “yes,” “no,” and “maybes” marked on it, apparently a whip count, but he didn’t show it to senators.

Using less than half of the 24 hours they were allotted, the president’s lawyers on Tuesday argued that House managers hadn’t established their case that Mr. Trump abused power and obstructed Congress and said the accusations fell short of the threshold needed to remove a president from office, particularly in an election year. [Wall Street Journal]

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The Republican Senators who are stupid enough to vote for witnesses need to lose their seats for their bad decisions. They are merely liberals disguising themselves as Republicans. Time for pressure on them.

Whatever Trump told Bolton in a conversation should not matter one bit, it is a private conversation, and it is nobody’s business. What matters is that aid was released and that Ukraine’s president said he never was pressured to announce anything. The issue is those weak Republican Senators, just man up or woman up and support the President. All witnesses should have been called in the House, we have seen enough of those idiots Schiff and Nadler, enough already.

IF there were no impeachment hearings, what would the Senate be doing right now? Looking into Biden’s corruption in Burisma? Who are the loudest voices for impeachment? The same people that are caught up in these corrupt foreign deals that begin with Burisma.

The impeachment exists to distract and prevent the prosecution of corrupt politicians like Pelosi, Romney, Schiff, etc. They can’t let the distraction end or it’s the beginning of the end for them. Those that think they have something to fear don’t want the impeachment hearings to end.

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You know, when they conduct these polls and tell you that the American people overwhelmingly want witnesses because they want to see a fair trial, what they don’t tell you is the makeup of the people who answered that poll. I bet if they told you the questions (and responses) behind the poll, you would see a lot of Republicans who want witnesses—-witnesses that they believe will fully exonerate Trump.

That’s why I don’t really care if they call witnesses, as long as Trump gets to call all his witnesses and it isn’t all one-sided in favor of the Dems. Of course, if it does turn out to be one-sided, some Republicans are going to have a LOT to answer for…but the bright side is that this will NOT go down as the “fair trial” that the American people wanted.

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The post If Dems Get Witnesses, Trump’s Team Should Be Able To Call Their’s Too appeared first on The Political Insider.

Question of witnesses remains unsettled in Trump impeachment trial

Posted on by PBS NewsHour - Politics
President Trump's legal team wrapped up its case for his acquittal Tuesday, arguing that convicting Trump would set a dangerous precedent for future impeachments driven by policy disagreement. But some senators from each party have signaled interest in hearing from potential witnesses, such as John Bolton. Amna Nawaz reports and Yamiche Alcindor and Lisa Desjardins join Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Elizabeth Warren on Trump’s trial and why ‘women win’ elections

Posted on by PBS NewsHour - Politics
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been present for the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump and heard Trump's legal team offer its defense of the charges against him. She is also a 2020 Democratic candidate for president. Warren joins Judy Woodruff to discuss why she views Trump's actions as akin to bribery and what it means to miss the last few campaign days before the Iowa caucuses.