Tag: Trump second impeachment

Trump Impeachment Lawyer Made Deal That Sprung Cosby From Prison

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Bill Cosby was released from prison yesterday despite his 2018 conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault and a 2019 verdict that upheld that ruling. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s conviction on a technicality, and barred him from further prosecution.

“Bill Cosby has been publicly accused of raping, drugging, coercing or sexually assaulting as many as 60 women in all since 1965,” The Wrap reported in 2018. USA Today that year published a “complete list of the 60 Bill Cosby accusers and their reactions to his prison sentence.”

In 2005 Montgomery County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Bruce Castor reached a deal with Bill Cosby, essentially forcing him to reveal information that could allow him to lose a civil lawsuit. In exchange, Castor claims, he promised Cosby he would not be prosecuted. Continue reading.

Here Are The Criminal, Civil Investigations Trump Faces After Senate Acquittal

Legal troubles in New York and Georgia mount for the former president with his second impeachment trial having gone dark.

With former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial in the country’s rearview mirror, several criminal and civil investigations into his conduct are coming into focus.

The Senate on Saturday acquitted Trump of inciting the deadly, insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But the former president has reportedly expressed concerns about the potential of facing charges related to the riot.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), one of the 43 GOP senators to vote to acquit Trump, in a floor speech after the trial ended said Trump was responsible for inciting the violence and could face criminal prosecution. (McConnell said he voted to acquit because he didn’t believe the Senate had the power to convict a former president, even though the upper chamber voted days earlier that it does.) Continue reading.

Poll: 58 percent of Americans believe Trump should have been convicted

Respondents viewed the senators’ votes as acts of partisanship

Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe former President Donald Trump should have been convicted in his second impeachment trial, according to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Monday.

While 58 percent of Americans overall believe the former president should have been convicted, the poll split largely along party lines. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats believe Trump should have been convicted, while 64 percent of independents and just 14 percent of Republicans agree.

The poll was conducted from Feb. 13 to 14 and sampled 547 adults through an online survey. Continue reading.

Republican Acquittal of Trump Is a Pivotal Moment for the Party

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The vote, signaling how thoroughly the party has come to be defined by the personality of one man, is likely to leave a blemish on the historical record.

During the first trial of Donald J. Trump, 13 months ago, the former president commanded near-total fealty from his party. His conservative defenders were ardent and numerous, and Republican votes to convict him — for pressuring Ukraine to help him smear Joseph R. Biden Jr. — were virtually nonexistent.

In his second trial, Mr. Trump, no longer president, received less ferocious Republican support. His apologists were sparser in number and seemed to lack enthusiasm. Far fewer conservatives defended the substance of his actions, instead dwelling on technical complaints while skirting the issue of his guilt on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

And this time, seven Republican senators voted with Democrats to convict Mr. Trump — the most bipartisan rebuke ever delivered in an impeachment process. Several others, including Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, intimated that Mr. Trump might deserve to face criminal prosecution. Continue reading.

Opinion: If Republican senators acquit Trump, they will own the violence that follows

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House impeachment managers closed their prosecution Thursday with a warning to Republican senators: If they vote to acquit former president Donald Trump, the blood will be on their hands when he unleashes political carnage again.

“When” is the proper word, for, given Trump’s long pattern of inciting violent threats and actions, the next brutal outburst is not a question of “if.”

“If we don’t draw the line here, what’s next?” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead impeachment manager, asked the senators. “Is there any political leader in this room who believes that, if he is ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way? … If he gets back into office and it happens again, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.” Continue reading.

Trump’s acquittal is a sign of ‘constitutional rot’ – partisanship overriding principles

The Senate’s decision to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial may have been a victory for Trump, but it is a clear sign that democracy in the U.S. is in poor health. 

As a constitutional scholar, I believe the United States – the world’s first constitutional democracy – is in a state of what I call “constitutional rot.”

In a constitutional democracy, the majority’s authority to govern is limited by the rule of law and by a set of legal rules and principles set out in the Constitution. Continue reading.

Will impeachment even be a blip in 2022 battle for Senate control?

NRSC Chairman Rick Scott says midterms will focus on job creation

Former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment has dominated recent headlines, but neither party expects the votes cast Saturday by senators from battleground states to be a major factor in the fight for Senate control next year.

Seven Republican senators crossed party lines and joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict Trump for inciting the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop Congress from confirming Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race. But that was 10 short of the two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, required by the Constitution. Forty-three Republicans voted to acquit Trump.

Two GOP senators in competitive races voted to acquit Trump. Just one Senate Republican up for reelection in 2022, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, voted to convict the former president. Two other Republicans in states with competitive Senate races who opted not to run for reelection, Pennsylvania’s Patrick J. Toomey and North Carolina’s Richard M. Burr, both also voted to convict.  Continue reading.

How Democratic and Republican senators voted on Trump’s second impeachment

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The Senate acquitted former president Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, weeks after the House voted to impeach him for his alleged role in inciting an angry mob to storm the U.S. Capitol.

Two-thirds of senators present and voting were needed to convict the former president, which meant the seven Republicans who joined every Democrat and independent were not enough to reach the 67 votes needed for conviction. But it was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history.

In addition to Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah) and Ben Sasse (Neb.), who were expected to join Democrats on the vote, Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) also voted for conviction. Continue reading.

5 takeaways from Day 4 of Trump’s impeachment trial

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Former president Donald Trump’s legal defense made its presentation Friday at his impeachment trial.

Below are some takeaways.

1. A heavy dose of whataboutism

The early part of the Trump team’s presentation was overwhelmingly focused on things that didn’t involve him. It was almost 100 percent whataboutism.

Democrats over the past three days have played lengthy videos of the insurrection at the Capitol, so Trump’s team played video of the unrest at racial justice protests this summer. Continue reading.

Impeachment trial recap, day 2: House managers air unseen riot footage

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House impeachment managers began presenting their prosecution of former President Trump on Wednesday, laying out their evidence — including previously unseen Capitol security footage from the Jan. 6 insurrection — before a divided Senate.

The big picture: One by one, managers detailed how Trump laid the groundwork for his supporters to believe “the big lie” — that the election would be stolen — for months leading up to the attack. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) called Trump’s false claims “the drumbeat being used to inspire, instigate, and ignite them,” stressing that the incitement didn’t just begin with the president’s speech on Jan. 6.

Highlights:

  • Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) opened by stating the evidence his team will present demonstrates that Trump was “no innocent bystander”— and that he “assembled, inflamed and incited his followers” on his way to the “greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in the history of the United States.”