Trump Not Expected To Send Lawyer To Impeachment Hearings

President Donald Trump is not expected to send a lawyer to next week’s impeachment inquiries led by the House Judiciary Committee, in order to not weaken his complaints about the process being rigged.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1265404
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If I was a high powered lawyer I’d feel fortunate not to be tasked with Trump’s defense. Sitting before the Judiciary Committee and bitching about Hunter Biden for several days would be tiresome.

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According to Politico Playbook, that leaves the President’s defense in the hands of his most ardent supporters — think Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/02/another-trump-nominee-goes-down-flames-this-is-big-one/

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“But Republicans have been hammering at these inflated or fabricated procedural details…”

I don’t think this says what it was intended to say.

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Donnie is the author of "The Art of the Shlemiel."

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Thanksgiving will NOT be pretty in mixed political households this year, not pretty at all…

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Where is Trump’s sense of reality TV in all this?

The president actually should send in an outsider who can create some "Razzle Dazzle ‘Em’’ style theater to bolster his claim the process is rigged. It would make for great TV and give him added talking points.

He’s losing his touch.

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This is why they refused:

subject to instructions from the chair or presiding member respecting the time, scope and duration of the examination

Another way of saying “No endlessly spewing crap and trying once again to unmask the whistleblower.”

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That’s what Gaetz is for.

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think Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX).

OK, here’s my mental image:

What’d I win?

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Trump wants this “witch hunt” argument to become a self-fulfilling prophecy by not appearing to be party to it. Fine. Seems to me, though, they’d actually be better able to make their case by having a lawyer there to push the envelop against the rules and have the Greek chorus of Jordan, Gaetz, Ratcliffe et al. declaim when the chair rules against them.

But what do I know–I certainly don’t go around claiming in public that I’m a stable genius.

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Gaetz isn’t an an outsider. Plus, he isn’t any good at it, in terms of how it appears on TV.

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And mine…

image

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Slightly O/T. Adam Schiff floated making Chief Justice Roberts decide on McGahn testifying during the Senate trial.

Is it possible he’s trying to get Roberts to understand he can’t just punt this down the road into the next SC term and that he should be the deciding vote not to take the case at the Supreme Court so that he wouldn’t have to decide on his own at the Senate trial?

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I bet Trump would do it if Fox and Friends suggested it.

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Jordan, Gaetz, and Ratcliffe.

One of these people once had a career.

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Makes perfect sense. They figure impeachment is pretty much inevitable. No need to quit pretending the proceedings are not legitimate.

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Give me a break. ‘Weaken your position’? Donnie. You send a lawyer to ‘cover you’ before you go to the bathroom. You have spent your LIFE ‘sending lawyers’ to gum up the works. You are ‘relying’ on the ‘clowns’ of the House to protect you? And THEN what…slip in an attorney when all three are exposed AGAIN as the lying liars they are?

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Err, to be really fair, it completely destroys his complaint that the process is rigged, objectively speaking. Sure, this is partly to avoid undermining his already nonsensical position with his base. Mostly, though, this is how Trump reacts to situations he’s not in control of, in order to convince himself he’s powerful and dominant. Psychologically-speaking it’s like the kid who takes his ball and storms off because he doesn’t like how the game is going; not much more sophisticated than that, in Trump’s mind.

The difference, of course, is that the game goes on whether he shows up or not. It’s psychological cover for his narcissism. (yes I know his lawyers have real reasons for keeping him away – like the fact he’s guilty as hell and nothing good could come of it – but even if they wanted him to go, he wouldn’t)

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