Bolton will do everything he can not to get kicked off the conservative gravy train. He knows that as long as he plays along with Trump he can continue fleecing the rubes, just like every single other conservative.
The marriage of the grifting techniques that evangelicals pioneered with Republican politics is an under explored phenomenon. It began during the Reagan years, but really exploded during the Obama presidency. With Trump the evangelical grifters are all in the open. Hopefully the next Dem President will appoint an Attorney General who will pursue those con-artists.
Not just Senator Harris. There are many former prosecutors in the Democratic Senate ranks; Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Doug Jones (D-AL), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).
Over in the House, there are many possibilities as House Prosecutors with lots of former prosecutors, and even former judges available.
Exactly. Facing that kind of expertise, I don’t think the WH inner circle would risk what it would take to fabricate a defense for Trump. Showing up and staying quiet under privilege doesn’t help him either. They won’t be witnesses.
Even if by some miracle the Senate issues subpoenas for Pence, Mulvaney, and Bolton (and while I’m dreaming, Giuliani), the WH lawyers will stall like they did with the House, which makes the whole thing moot. The Senate can’t afford to wait for the courts any more than the House could.
““We’ll have to see how that’s pursued,” Schumer said. “We have to look, legally, how quickly it could happen and everything else. We don’t want to delay this unnecessarily, but at the same time we don’t want to, on something as solemn and serious as this, if there is serious testimony, we ought to make every effort to get it.””
Narrator: He, in fact, does want to delay the Senate trial.
Perhaps even an edgy Trump might postpone resumption of his criminal activities while waiting to get his Senate acquittal. You know he can’t stand the tension and he can’t stay away from Vlad and his crooked Giuliani pals.
In his absence, i suggest you take that initiative upon yourself. After all, the gist of your sentiments are not misplaced at all. You are perfectly in the right to suggest that certain someone’s go f**k themselves in twelve assorted languages.
They will have a very hard time stalling with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as the arbiter of what is and is not allowed.
ALL challenges go to him for resolution and it would take a 2/3 vote in the Senate to override any of his rulings on these subjects (that would not look good AT ALL for Senators.)
You flatter me. Four tops, and that’s for general cussing. Direct translation, two. I wish I could help. It’s really the wrong week for a “feckless Dems” screed, but some people aren’t quick learners.
I thought it only took a majority vote to establish procedure, and Roberts has to follow that?
Anyway, if Roberts insisted on calling the WH inner circle, then one of two things would happen. They would show up and not say a word under executive privilege (not a good look for Trump). Or they still refuse to show up under WH council guidance, and when Roberts asks the DOJ to enforce the subpoenas, Barr says “make me.”
The entire idea of trying to enforce a subpoena like this in a Senate trial is laughable under these conditions.
What does schumer want to do? He can’t take them to court – the Senate counsel’s office is under McConnell’s control, and McConnell can just tell Schumer to pound sand. Or inherent contempt maybe? Not gonna happen – if the House didn’t want to dust that off, why should the Senate – especially in the middle of an impeachment trial.
because there is basically no realistic prospect of any enforcement mechanism being used to enforce a Senate subpoena, I’m beginning to suspect that this whole “new witness” stuff is a bad joke. The worst thing is that McConnell could “concede” on letting Schumer call the witnesses in exchange for a very short trial itself. Then when the witnesses don’t show up, McConnell just throws up his hands and says “sorry, we tried, but you agreed to a shortened trial, and there is no way to force Mulvaney, et al to testify given the time constraints that you agreed to.”.
McConnell gets what he wants, Schumer and Pelosi get to pretend that they extracted significant concessions from McConnellm and Trump gets to claim exoneration for the next 10 months.
