Well, there’s a third option, but I think we wouldn’t want to see that, as well.
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Not sure if this is Ms. Lafond’s voice…but where is the subtlety?
"…White House was urging an outright dismissal of the impeachment articles when they make their way over to the Senate, likely in the next few days.
That sentiment has changed subtly in the last 24 hours.
“The President is not afraid of a fight and if you or anyone within the sound of our voices…"
This is a complete about-face. This is ginormous counter-misinformation. This is titanic cover-up…and then a complete switch to Bring It On the president is not afraid.
Ha ha ha. He is shitting himself hourly.
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Yep, pretty much. Executive privilege is not supposed to have any application in a criminal investigation. It has never been ruled upon in an impeachment trial, but the Senate has the sole constitutional authority to make its own rules on that trial. If a witness refuses to testify at all, or invokes executive prvilege as to specific questions, John Roberts will mostly likely immediately defer to the whole of the body, and the senators will vote on whether to sustain the privilege claim.
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Now release the requested documents and allow witnesses.
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Well, we both know what the “White House” aka, Trump, wants is Joe snd Hunter Biden and Schiff as witnesses and not Bolton, Duffy, etc. and they are probably scheming with Mitch right now to pull that off.
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If Trump is tossed, 20 Republican Senators will have to vote for it. A few of those are in seats where they will depend on every Republican vote, so voting to remove Trump is very dangerous for them. The rest are in safe seats or not up for election, but even the safe seats may piss off enough Trumpsters who decide to stay home or not vote for the senator. Moscow Mitch is depending on the Trump crazies to come out for him in 2020 to hold the line against a growing blue wave; if the crazies aren’t there it’s not clear that the Republicans can stand against the Democrats.
I don’t think there is any way that Mitch allows Trump to fall before the 2020 election…after that, if the Republicans retain the Senate, I think he’ll be fine ditching Trump as soon as the Democrats put together another impeachment article.
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This is a collection of enablers of a criminal, who are tasked with making this grotesque moral midget the equivalent of a “conventional leader”.
As sordid and stupid as they are, they do have this weapon:
When Trump assumed the Office of the Presidency, he changed the institution of that Office forever. There is a profound, 180-degree opposition pitting the most immoral human in American political history representing an Office which assumes both regal and political importance in an ex-colony with no Monarch.
This is why I always cringed whenever I heard people from O’Donnell to Hannity use the term “The President” in their reference to Trump.
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You guys should have read Greg Sargent’s piece today in WaPo – “How GOP Senators are already pre-spinning their cover-up for Trump” – before publishing this.
It amazes me how little skepticism TPM applies to statements from the White House and Republicans in general.
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I doubt it. While I do agree that Trump not being on the ticket improves the GOP chances in 2020, it also depends on how he is removed from the ticket. A vote by at GOP Senate to remove him will result in out right revolt against GOP Senators from the Trump base, something they can’t afford. It had to be a Trump resignation, and that doesn’t look to be in the cards.
Its not likely that Trump wins in 2020, especially after the Senate votes to acquit. That vote will infuriate the Dem base, and we will be turning out in even bigger numbers, voting R’s out of office up and down the ticket.
McConnell losing the Majority is a very real possibility, and why I am not going to be surprised to see McConnell announce his retirement soon after this trial. He is already looking at a tough re-election campaign in a state where he has worst favorability numbers than the governor who just lost there. Going through that, to be minority leader, is probably not very appealing to him at his age.
I don’t. I think she is trying to position herself for the 2024 ticket. She is getting lots of “I love Trump” crazy quotes out there now, so she can wink and nod at them in 2024 for Trump supporters, but not have to actually run on saying them directly in 2024, when most of the GOP will want to “Trump who?”.
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A TPM alum, btw.
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So “every witness” except for any specific witness. Right. Got it.
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". . .you’d want every witness to come forward too and say, ‘this man did nothing wrong,'”
The seemingly endless stream of “Trump is innocent” witnesses and trailer loads of exonerating documents is what caused the House hearings to drag on for so long.
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With what power to enforce the ruling?
In the unlikely event that 51 Senators vote to deny a privilege claim, and Mulvaney shows up but says “No, sorry the Boss says I can’t talk about this,” then what can the Senate do about it? If they send a referral for Contempt of Congress to the DOJ, Barr will just sit on it until after the trial is over. And then quietly throw it in the circular file.
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It doesn’t matter what the WH thinks about this issue, or about any decision regarding how the Senate trial will proceed.
This is true, of course. At this point, we (including Pelsoi) know they’ll do anything not to talk. But it’s not going to look great on television. They can scream EP all they want.
I’ve gotta remember to raise my pinkie when I sip my tea.
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It’s Chardonnay, anyway… In great fancy wine caves.
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Inherent contempt. Lock the witness up in the Capitol Hill police holding cell.
Of course, it’s unlikely there would be 51 votes for that. Speaking more practically, I think it would be enormously difficult for a witness to refuse to testify after being compelled to do so by a majority vote of the U.S. Senate, unless it involved the witness’s own Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
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These Senators don’t want witnesses. All they really want is for the media to spin it that way and guess what? This is all such a ruse.
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Worse yet, the WH can no longer default to protests about process and Dem control because Justice Roberts runs the show in the Senate. Will the Right now demonize Roberts if the trial does not play their way?
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