If Trump blamed the Lizard People for blackmailing Ukraine, must we hear from them to? What if Trump blamed you for holding up the aid? Would you then need to testify? What if Trump blamed every single Clinton voter in 2016 for wrongdoing? Must the Senate hear from 65 million people?
The point I’m making is that Trump is clearly making up bullshit and that doesn’t mean a body doing a serious job needs to buy into his nonsense. Nobody can say what Joe Biden did that was wrong or unethical; therefore calling him as a witness makes no sense since he is not actually involved in the facts of the matter except to throw up chaff.
The evidence shows this is untrue. Trump’s main interlocutor for months prior to the phone call, and even to this day, in seeking the investigation was his personal attorney, not any government agency.
Barr didn’t even know the July phone call happened. There is no evidence that there was an effort to seek a legitimate investigation into any laws being broken. It was all about Rudy getting dirt to further Trump’s ambitions. There really isn’t any other plausible reading of the facts, unless one is totally in the tank for Trump. Seriously, Trump supporters are peddling Pizzagate level bullshit here. It’s frightening that they actually don’t seem to know how much they have lost touch with the reality-based community.
Answer the question yes or no: Have you stopped beating your wife?
Later, headline for Fox News: “Wrenching Spanners will not deny beating his wife!”
What the hell makes you think anyone is going to play fair?
No, it’s not. Or rather, that is at the heart of the dispute here. Let’s hold a trial to make that determination, hmm?
Incorrect. An “impeachable offense” is whatever the House decides it is. The current House of Representatives has decided it is. It is done. It is up to the Senate to determine whether or not that warrants removing Trump from office.
No, it’s not. If it’s wrong to ask another country to investigate a political opponent then it is wrong regardless of whether or not the subject of the investigation did anything wrong. Why are you having trouble comprehending that?
If the police kick in your door and perform an unauthorized - that is, illegal - search of your person and possessions then that action is wrong regardless of whether or not you yourself are guilty of anything. They don’t get pardoned because they turned up something wrong. Indeed, under our system of law conducting an illegal search can result in a criminal going free because the product of an illegal search can not be used as evidence in a trial.
Again - what the Bidens were or were not doing is completely irrelevant to Trump’s upcoming Senate trial and whether or not Trump is guilty of wrong-doing.
Stop trying to make this about the Bidens.
It’s about Trump - what he did or did not do. Not what anyone else was doing or not doing.
No. Not for determining whether or not Trump should be removed from office based upon the current impeachment.
Again, this is nothing but a ploy to turn Trump’s trial into a trial for someone else.
When is Trump going to be called to account for HIS actions, instead of someone else taking the fall for him?
If Trump wanted such an investigation why didn’t he ask the FBI to investigate?
Ok, do you understand that the impeachment occurred because the House determined it was NOT within his executive authority?
Making Trump’s trial into a trial of the Biden’s?
No, that’s not legal, that’s not right, in fact, it’s pretty fucked up.
IF there is a reason to investigate the Biden’s it should be done through normal legal channels, not as a distraction from Trump trying desperately to get out of the consequences of his actions. The Senate trial is about TRUMP. No one else.
The problem here is that you are flat out wrong.
Repeating the same falsehood(s) over and over will not magically make them right.
Impeachment is NOT "overriding the will of the electorate for two reasons:
Congress ALSO represents the “will of the electorate”.
The “will of the electorate” made Pence Vice President, ready to take over if for any reason Trump is unable to fulfill the duties of the office of President. Remove Trump and his duly elected alternate becomes PotUS - Pence, who is still a devoted Republican. How much do think that will actually change things?
Clinton wasn’t impeached over a blowjob - he was impeached for LYING about a blowjob. Also note that no one felt compelled to ask Monica Lewinski to testify, either.
Actually, since Bush the Younger was decreed winner by the SCotUS. And yet that didn’t happen, did it?
Republican Constitutional theologians still debate whether the radiant nimbus of Executive Privilege is manifested by the Oath of Office or by the Electoral College. There is unanimous agreement, however, that an illegitimate President of uncertain nativity has no divine penumbra.
I realize you’re Just Asking Questions, but some questions are just too silly even for this ignorance-fighting Board. (Obviously my comment is NOT directed at Mr. Spanners, who may have left his keyboard unguarded.)
Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
Yup. Trump has handed this to Biden on a silver platter. Every interview, Biden should lead with some version of “I would love to testify before Congress about what I know about Trump’s various crimes. While I have no direct knowledge of all of those crimes, if Congress wishes to hear from me anyway, I believe that’s appropriate. For now, however, the Republican party has determined that they do not wish to hear from any witnesses about Trump’s criminal activity. So, once Congress determines to hear from all the fact witnesses, including Mr. Trump who appears to be hiding from them, I would be glad to set a date.”
Yeah, that’s good… Biden should hit the “Trump’s criminal activities” button a lot, work it into every interview at least once. Also, “I look forward to testifying and hearing President Trump’s testimony,” saying it like it’s a given that Trump will indeed testify. Biden should never discuss the possibility of giving testimony without linking it to Trump doing the same.
Hmm… what’s the odd expected feeling I’m getting… could it be… hope? Optimism? Maybe this will be a happy new year after all.
Of course Biden should testify when called by Trump’s defence, right after the prosecution hears the testimony of Bolten, Pompeo, and all the other witnesses they call.
I doubt Moscow Mitch will allow any witnessing because once they start, they’re hard to stop. Easier to just have Faux Nüz report on what witnesses WOULD have said. All former and current Trampsters would exonerate this POTUS. All else are partisan traitors or turncoats against the God-Emperor. Vote: Not guilty. Now go home.
Roberts might be signaling that he is not on board with this.
*
“Happily, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay ulti-mately succeeded in convincing the public of the virtues of the principles embodied in the Constitution. Those principles leave no place for mob violence. But in the ensuing years, we have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside. In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to under-stand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital.”*
In a normal trial, the judge won’t allow either the prosecution or defense to call a witness who is irrelevant to the case, and if either side asks a witness an irrelevant question, the other side can object and have the question disallowed.