Tag: Trump obstruction of power

Legal experts compare Trump lawyers’ impeachment brief to the ‘scream of a wounded animal’

AlterNet logoTwo legal briefs were submitted over the weekend in connection with President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial: one from Democratic House impeachment managers, the other from the president’s legal team. Legal experts Benjamin Wittes and Quinta Jurecic, in an article for The Atlantic, assert that there is an enormous difference between the two: while the House brief is professionally organized, the one from Team Trump is a rambling mess that reads like “the scream of a wounded animal.”

“The House managers’ brief is an organized legal document,” Wittes and Jurecic explain. “It starts with the law, the nature and purposes of Congress’ impeachment power, then walks through the evidence regarding the first article of impeachment, which alleges abuse of power, and seeks to show how the evidence establishes the House’s claim that President Trump is guilty of this offense. It then proceeds to argue that the offense requires his removal from office.”

Wittes and Jurecic go on to explain why the document from Trump’s allies, unlike the House brief, is an embarrassment. Continue reading.

How a Senate impeachment trial works

Washington Post logoA Senate impeachment trial is a rare thing — it has happened only two other times in American history and once in the modern era. Here’s the nitty-gritty of how we believe each day will work, based on a reading of the Senate rules about how to hold trials, how President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial was run, and our current understanding of the expected schedule.

The ceremonial beginning: Wednesday and Thursday

After the House voted on sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate, the team of House prosecutors known as impeachment managers walked the charges across the Capitol to the Senate.

The managers will present articles of impeachment — literally by reading them — to a full Senate on Thursday at 12. Continue reading.

House delivers impeachment articles to Senate

The Hill logoHouse Democrats on Wednesday formally shifted the impeachment of President Trump to the Senate, delivering a pair of impeachment articles to the upper chamber and effectively launching the trial to determine whether the president will remain in office.

In a ceremonial procession, seven designated Democrats, known as impeachment managers, silently marched the two articles across the Capitol — a short promenade through the old House chamber, beneath the soaring Rotunda, past the legendary Ohio Clock and on to the Senate.

Accompanying the lawmakers were Paul Irving, the House sergeant at arms, and Cheryl Johnson, the House clerk. Lining the way were an army of reporters and photographers grappling for a glimpse of history behind red velvet-covered stanchions. Continue reading.

With an impeachment trial looming, new evidence that Trump sought personal benefit in Ukraine

Washington Post logoIf one were simply to read the transcript, as President Trump has insisted we do, the point made obvious in new documents released by the House Intelligence Committee would be apparent.

In that transcript — the rough transcript of the July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — Trump cajoles his counterpart to start investigations focused on former vice president Joe Biden and an unfounded theory about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Zelensky agrees to the probes with alacrity, in part, no doubt, because it had already been made clear to his team that agreement was a necessary criterion for a much-sought meeting with Trump at the White House. To move the probes forward, Trump then suggests that Zelensky work with two people: Attorney General William P. Barr, head of the Justice Department — and Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney.

The inclusion of Giuliani in the conversation has long made it hard for Trump to argue that he was seeking Zelensky’s aid only insofar as it would benefit the United States generally. When he asked Zelensky to “do us a favor,” he has argued, he meant “us” as in the United States. That he then suggested Zelensky work with Giuliani, who is not an employee of the United States, and that his request in that specific case focused on his efforts to undermine the investigation into Russian interference that he saw as a cloud over his presidency make it particularly hard to take Trump’s claims at face value. Continue reading.

Democrats brace for round two of impeachment witness fight

The Hill logoSenate Democrats are preparing for round two in the fight over impeachment trial witnesses.

Now that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has won round one, saying he has the 51 votes needed to start President Trump’s impeachment trial without an agreement on potential testimony, Democrats are vowing they will force votes at multiple points during the trial.

The strategy sets up key junctures to watch during the likely weeks-long trial that, Democrats hope, keeps pressure on a handful of GOP senators they will need to win any of the looming procedural battles. Continue reading.

Pressure grows on House GOP leaders to hold line ahead of impeachment trial

The Hill logoSenate Republicans say GOP unity during the upcoming House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings will be critical to setting the tone ahead of a likely Senate trial.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said if House Republicans unanimously vote against impeachment, that would make it “less likely any senator would jump ship.”

One senior GOP senator said that if House Republicans stay unified against articles of impeachment, the Senate Republican Conference will do the same.

Continue reading here.