Gregg Jarrett: In Trump impeachment trial, Democrats continue inflammatory accusations with no basis in fact

Fox News ^ | January 21, 2020 | Gregg Jarrett

[workerbee]

Look at his district.

He’ll be a senator.

[Sir Bangaz Cracka]

What real team work going on.

Adam Schiff spouts whatever lies he wants to makeup.

And, the media dutifully broadcasts those lies to trusting citizens.

[nathanbedford]

Juxtapose that to the counterarguments delivered by Trump’s two lead lawyers. When Jay Sekulow commanded the podium he was animated, succinct and effective.

I could not disagree more. The juxtaposition that the esteemed author Greg Jarrett presents runs counter to our hopes and expectations. I do not think that Jay Sekulow, nor Pat Cipollone, was "animated, succinct and effective" when compared to the performance delivered by Adam Schiff.

Let us not be confused, Schiff made a great job of arguing a terrible case and Jay Sekulow and his crew are doing a relatively weak job of arguing an exceedingly strong case.

First, the president's lawyers are letting Schiff define the case. Properly, the case is about investigating corruption and defending the Article II presidency but Schiff has succeeded in making this a case about political scheming and coverups. Our team thought the argument was over documents and witnesses when the argument was over how will the public understand the impeachment trial. Adam Schiff stole that argument.

Second, Schiff recognizes the jury is not the Senate, nor the president of some have opined, but the television audience. Schiff is not trying to win the impeachment, he knows that's impossible, he is trying to win the next election. We all know that. Why, then, are the president's lawyers losing the American people with second rate performances aimed at the wrong audience? Why then did Jay Sekulow and Pat Cipollone fail to properly articulate the real case?

Please understand that my criticism is limited to style only not to the substance of their delivery. As to substance, the ground was covered but it was not covered rhetorically in a way that the average television listener would understand because it was not a coherent narrative. Schiff did a much better job of presenting such as sequential narrative. Schiff was more relaxed, less nervous-in fact he did not appear nervous at all he appeared to be completely at ease. Our guys, to the contrary, appeared to be tense and even defensive.

One great exception to my criticism about the substance of the defense case: when Cipollone attacked Adam Schiff personally he began the process of dismantling the whole impeachment sham. A page from Alinsky, personalize and then destroy the opponent. The impeachment should be personalized and represented by the likes of Adam Schiff and that should be driven home to every television viewer. The man trying to impeach the president is himself an execrable lying hypocrite committing the very sins he decries in a criminal attempt to steal your votes and send your jobs to China. You know the drill....

To the good side, as the arguments droned on and became more and more tedious the system ground to the advantage of the supporters of the president. I can imagine wives all over the nation telling their husbands to turn off this stupid hearing and put on Grey's Anatomy.

[nfldgirl]

Would someone please explain to me why these amendments are being allowed, especially if they’ve already had the votes on the order of and parameters for the trial?

[aimhigh]

The Democrats don’t care about the impeachment. They are campaigning, and getting away with it.

[Old Yeller]

Hopefully in prison he’ll be singing Moon River.

Ed Buck says he likes that.

[thoughtomator]

Nothing less than the death penalty will be sufficient. The risk of a future pardon must be zero. This person is too dangerous to the United States to tolerate his existence.

[damper99]

They are campaigning, and getting away with it.

Keep in mind that both the dems and the GOP really want the same outcome...no Trump. The difference is that the dems want it to happen now, but the GOP is willing to wait until the election to get rid of Trump. Recall that Flake said there were 35 rinos that would vote for conviction on a secret ballot...I think he was telling the truth. Mitch is letting this attempt to torpedo Trump's reelection play out so that the GOP fingerprints aren't on it.