Free Republic

Here’s another first for President Trump’s impeachment: He will be giving the State of the Union address Tuesday night, less than 24 hours before the Senate is expected to acquit him and end impeachment proceedings. President Bill Clinton had to deliver his State of the Union during impeachment, in the middle of his Senate trial. And he never once mentioned impeachment during his 77-minute address, reports The Post’s Paul Kane.... Let’s look at some of the most common process arguments they use not to convict Trump. 1. Democrats held witness depositions behind closed doors 2. Democrats subpoenaed witnesses before they...

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 11

Inside the Mansfield Room at the Capitol, where Senate Republicans have held daily strategy sessions during President Trump’s impeachment trial, senators began walking through their arguments on why they should block witnesses from testifying in the proceedings. But at this lunch on Thursday, Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) was getting visibly annoyed. If this is meant to persuade me, Romney told his colleagues, it’s not helpful, according to two officials with knowledge of the exchange. The senator, a near-lone GOP voice in seeking witnesses for the trial, felt as if other Republicans were singling him out.... Trump’s acquittal was never in...

Full title of article: "Michael Avenatti’s Lonely Fall The disgraced lawyer wanted to be a legal celebrity. Now he’s not even the most famous defendant on the block." Excerpt: Over the last year or so, the swift and not particularly surprising fall of lawyer Michael Avenatti has descended through the circles of bankruptcy, alleged domestic violence, banishment from cable television, and separate indictments for tax fraud, extortion, and cheating Stormy Daniels, his most important client. In mid-January, federal agents arrested Avenatti in the middle of a disciplinary hearing before the State Bar of California and charged him with violating his...

Now that the Senate trial is over, I hope Democrats have plenty of water and aspirin in preparation for the raging impeachment headache they're about to endure. **SNIP** I suspect that, when Democratic voters asked for impeachment, they weren't thinking of a scenario wherein Trump remains in office. I suspect that when Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez worked their wild base into a frothy mess by pushing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to impeach, the expected outcome wasn't that Trump gets ready for a reelection campaign to spend another four years in the White House. This absolutely...

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 10 Time to end this impeachment sham (continued deep state coup attempt)! Vote it down!!

WASHINGTON — It’s been one of those spectacle weeks on Capitol Hill, the likes of which history might just stop to recognize, even if Trump-era Washington pauses for nothing... Mr. Romney is the rare Senate Republican — actually the lone Senate Republican until late Thursday — who is vocally pushing for witnesses to be called in President Trump’s impeachment trial. He is also the only Senate Republican who is seen as a possible vote to convict the president, an added distinction since Mr. Trump got every House Republican to fall in line.... “I think this is Senator Romney’s moment to...

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 9

No defendant being impeached in any trial should be subjected to this level of legal uncertainty It is remarkable to contemplate that even something as basic as the standard of proof required to convict President Trump cannot be agreed on between the House Managers and the President’s legal team. What then should be the standard of proof necessary for the House Managers to establish to convict the President of the alleged crimes for which he has been impeached: abuse of power and obstruction of justice? Should it be the criminal standard—proof beyond all reasonable doubt. or the civil standard—proof that...

DENVER (CBS4)– Sen. Cory Gardner is among the senators questioning President Donald Trump’s attorneys and house managers in the impeachment trial. The Republican senator from Colorado said he doesn’t believe the Senate needs to hear from more witnesses. “I do not believe we need to hear from an 18th witness. I have approached every aspect of this grave constitutional duty with the respect and attention required by law, and have reached this decision after carefully weighing the House managers and defense arguments and closely reviewing the evidence from the House, which included well over 100 hours of testimony from 17...

The preference for having witnesses or no witnesses at the Senate hoax trial is a difficult one for many to decide. What is your preference and why are you making that preference?

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 8

The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump continued with the first day of opening arguments by the President’s defense team. Day 6 included White House counsel Pat Cipollone’s preview of the defense, deputy counsel Mike Purpura presentation on the evidence, and Jay Sekulow, the president’s personal attorney, speaking about the details surrounding Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Speakers used digital slides, graphics, and video during their presentations.The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump continued with the first day of opening arguments by the President’s defense team. Day 6 included White House… read...

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 7

...The second day of the impeachment trial took a sharp turn, when Trump attorneys Pam Bondi and Eric Herschmann spent a significant portion of their time on the Senate floor arguing that Biden should be investigated for corruption. Bondi primarily focused on Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, and his role on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma while his father was vice president and in charge of Ukraine matters. Trump's team has presented no evidence that Biden used his role as vice president to benefit his son nor alleged anything improper other than the "appearance of a conflict."... Biden's attempt...

Senate Impeachment Trial LIVE - day 6

Former US Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and their work in the Ukraine is 'relevant evidence' in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, one of the president's defense lawyers claim. The Democratic front-runner and his son could even be called to testify if the Senate votes to permit witnesses next week. Trump's team claim that any discussion on the president's call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have to take the Bidens and their actions in the country into account. The President's defense team began their case for Trump's acquittal on Saturday after Democrats spent three days...

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's lawyers opened his Senate impeachment defense Saturday with the false assertion that Democrats tried to shut the president's team out of the congressional inquiry that preceded the charges. Actually, Democrats invited Trump to participate and he declined. TRUMP lawyer PAT CIPOLLONE: “Why would you lock everybody out of it from the president's side? ... It’s evidence they themselves don’t believe in the facts of their case.” THE FACTS: Trump wasn't locked out. He rejected an invitation from the House Judiciary Committee to participate in the hearings that ultimately produced the articles of impeachment.

The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump continues with opening arguments by the President’s defense team.

President Trump’s defense team opened their arguments against impeachment on Saturday by attacking the credibility of lead Democratic impeachment manager Adam Schiff. “Impeachment shouldn’t be a shell game,” lead impeachment attorney Pat Cipollone told senators. A group of Trump’s defense team argued for only two hours against the two articles of impeachment charging Trump with obstruction of Congress and abuse of power.... “The most effective thing that happened was when they first read the transcript of the phone call, and then played the video,” Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, said. “From where I was sitting, the blood drained from...