# The Trump Impeachment Inquiry **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 24, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771 "2019-09-24T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 294
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5861 "2019-12-03T19:28:11Z")
[Sen. Tom Cotton](https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1201944178659405825) (R-AR): > [@](#): > > “You have to remember that the impeachment trial is also most senators’ view of purgatory or even Hell. They have to sit silently in their chair on the Senate floor, and they never get to make a speech at all.” ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5862 "2019-12-03T20:19:09Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > So it appears the President doesn’t understand his trial in the Senate will be run by House Democrats acting as the prosecutors. Moscow Mitch won’t be doing anything other than acting as a juror. Huh. I didn’t realize that either. I have only dim memories of the Clinton impeachment. I’ll probably pay more attention this time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5863 "2019-12-03T20:55:28Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > So it appears the President doesn’t understand his trial in the Senate will be run by House Democrats acting as the prosecutors. Moscow Mitch won’t be doing anything other than acting as a juror. > > What a maroon. McConnell will oversee the process for creating the rules for how to conduct the trial. Those rules will, per the Constitution, require that someone from the House is able to lead the case of the Prosecution and that Justice Roberts, nominally, run the show but they could implement a rule like that the Senate has to vote (simple majority) for whether to allow a witness to testify, which evidence to allow in trial, etc. They get to choose whether the defense or prosecution goes first. Overall, they could set things up to significantly handicap the House manager. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5864 "2019-12-03T21:43:48Z")
“Founding Founders”? Really? Now we have to live that as a nation, ffs. (Page 11). You can do better than that, Mr. Schiff. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5865 "2019-12-03T22:02:26Z")
I liked this. Nicely worded. > [@Impeachment Inquiry Report](#): > > “(The President’s) unprecedented campaign of obstruction of this impeachment inquiry . . .” > > "“The damage to our system of checks and balances, and to the balance of power within our three branches of government, will be long-lasting and potentially irrevocable if the president’s ability to stonewall Congress goes unchecked.” > > “Any future president will feel empowered to resist an investigation into their own wrongdoing, malfeasance, or corruption, and the result will be a nation at far greater risk of all three.” ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5866 "2019-12-04T00:51:55Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > “Founding Founders”? Really? Now we have to live that as a nation, ffs. (Page 11). You can do better than that, Mr. Schiff. If that is your only complaint - you really have nonthing at all. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5867 "2019-12-04T01:08:52Z")
> [@simster](#): > > If that is your only complaint - you really have nonthing at all. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5868 "2019-12-04T01:15:08Z")
I’ve been out of the loop of late - Why didn’t Schiff call Parnas? Did the revelations about Nunes Come after the end of the hearings? Oh to watch Nunes have to sit there while Dems questioned Parnas about Nunes would just make my year. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5869 "2019-12-04T01:15:39Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’m not a smart man, and not a Constitutional scholar by any means, but I don’t think Reich is correct about that “in cases of impeachment” clause. I think it means a president can’t pardon to _prevent an impeachment_, not that impeachment is some magical button that makes those “unpardonable offenses.” Agreed. I can’t imagine Reich being right about that. Any criminal proceedings against a former president after he leaves office are entirely separate and independent of any impeachment proceedings, as best as I can make of it. It’s some nice wishful thinking, though. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5870 "2019-12-04T01:26:37Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > I’ve been out of the loop of late - Why didn’t Schiff call Parnas? Did the revelations about Nunes Come after the end of the hearings? Oh to watch Nunes have to sit there while Dems questioned Parnas about Nunes would just make my year. In one of these hate-Trump (not that I have a problem with that) threads, there was a link to an investigative article about the Nunes dairy farm operations in Iowa, speculating on the suspected skullduggery there and their secretiveness. (Here it is again: [Devin Nunes’s Family Farm Is Hiding a Politically Explosive Secret](https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a23471864/devin-nunes-family-farm-iowa-california/) ETA: Ryan Lizza, _Esquire_, Sept. 30, 2018.) I would also wish for Schiff to call Devin Nunes’s cows. ALL of them. I think they would have some interesting moos to tell. (The “politically explosive secret”, of course, is that they probably hire undocumented farm worker. ALL the farmers in farm-country do, and everybody knows it. ETA: It’s just that the Nunes family is more aggressively and threatingly secretive about it.) ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5871 "2019-12-04T02:01:25Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > McConnell will oversee the process for creating the rules for how to conduct the trial. > > Those rules will, per the Constitution,\*\* require that someone from the House is able to lead the case of the Prosecution\*\* and that Justice Roberts, nominally, run the show but they could implement a rule like that the Senate has to vote (simple majority) for whether to allow a witness to testify, which evidence to allow in trial, etc. They get to choose whether the defense or prosecution goes first. Overall, they could set things up to significantly handicap the House manager. Serious question. I don’t see the bolded part in the constitution. Where is it? I’m guessing I’m missing it. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5872 "2019-12-04T02:11:07Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > Serious question. I don’t see the bolded part in the constitution. Where is it? I’m guessing I’m missing it. The NY Times has offered a discussion of procedure. I’m not sure if it’s paywalled, but I got in without a subscription. > **[What Is the Impeachment Process? A Step-by-Step Guide (Published 2020)](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/what-is-impeachment-process.html)** > > A detailed look at each stage of the process, and how the road to President Trump’s acquittal compared with those of his predecessors.notes: In short, they indicate that the House (at least as it was done for Clinton) appoints “managers” to represent the House as the prosecution. Incidentally, it also says that the Senators can ask questions. I’m not sure how “speechy” such questions can get, however. Note that none of this is actually in the constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5873 "2019-12-04T03:26:53Z")
> [@cmosdes](#): > > Serious question. I don’t see the bolded part in the constitution. Where is it? I’m guessing I’m missing it. No, apparently it comes from the Senate rules. I was wrong. But I have seen articles talking about how the rules for impeachment in the Senate, this go-round, will need to be determined and voted on. All Senate rules can be changed but my current take is that there are some rules that the Senate generally accepts as sacred and some that are transitory, being created on the spot and then ditched. The majority of impeachment rules are in the latter bucket. But it does seem to be that the House Management setup is an accepted rule and that it is a rule that Roberts will be the one to decide what evidence to accept reject. It seems that McConnell’s ability to hold a kangaroo court is somewhat minimized. He could get those rules changed but it’s a harder push to accomplish. Personally, I think that McConnell should be smart enough to realize that Trump will consider a second term to be a green light to start ignoring his handlers, and start destroying everything he can get his hands on. If he’s not aware of that and not doing everything he can to get Trump out of the office before 2021, then Mitch is guilty of an overinflated belief in his abilities. You can manage people who are rational. With addicts, you can manage them for a while but eventually they go nuts. Trump’s addiction is headlines with his name in them (pro or con) and the rush of trying to get away with things that he’s not supposed to do. ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5874 "2019-12-04T04:04:47Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > The NY Times has offered a discussion of procedure. I’m not sure if it’s paywalled, but I got in without a subscription. > > [What Is the Impeachment Process? A Step-by-Step Guide - The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/politics/what-is-impeachment-process.html) > > In short, they indicate that the House (at least as it was done for Clinton) appoints “managers” to represent the House as the prosecution. > > Incidentally, it also says that the Senators can ask questions. I’m not sure how “speechy” such questions can get, however. > > Note that none of this is actually in the constitution. I read the NY times article earlier because of trying to research Sage Rat’s assertion. I’m aware of most of the procedures that are thought to accompany this process, but I read the constitution to see what was mandated and couldn’t find where the house being manager’s was specified. I thought I was missing it. Thanks for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5875 "2019-12-04T04:10:54Z")
_Fox News_: [Devin Nunes sues CNN for $435M over ‘false and defamatory’ Ukraine story](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/devin-nunes-sues-cnn) This is about CNN reporting Lev Parnas’ lawyer’s statement that [his client would be willing to tell Congress](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/22/politics/nunes-vienna-trip-ukrainian-prosecutor-biden/index.html) that Nunes met with ex-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in Vienna to get dirt on Biden. Nunes denies this happened. [From CNN](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/03/politics/nunes-lawsuit-defamation-cnn-ukraine/index.html): > [@](#): > > Nunes’ complaint on Tuesday is the latest in a string of lawsuits the California Republican congressman has filed against news organizations and other entities. Nunes filed lawsuits earlier this year against the newspaper chain McClatchy, Hearst Magazines, and Twitter. > > Before publishing the story and airing a TV segment about it, CNN approached Nunes twice on Capitol Hill, and reached out to him and his office for comment multiple times through his spokesman. Nunes responded to questions telling a CNN reporter, “I don’t talk to you in this lifetime or the next lifetime,” and reiterated later he would not acknowledge questions from CNN. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5876 "2019-12-04T08:22:03Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > _Fox News_: [Devin Nunes sues CNN for $435M over ‘false and defamatory’ Ukraine story](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/devin-nunes-sues-cnn) > > This is about CNN reporting Lev Parnas’ lawyer’s statement that [his client would be willing to tell Congress](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/22/politics/nunes-vienna-trip-ukrainian-prosecutor-biden/index.html) that Nunes met with ex-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin in Vienna to get dirt on Biden. Nunes denies this happened. > > [From CNN](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/03/politics/nunes-lawsuit-defamation-cnn-ukraine/index.html): > > > [@](#): > > > > Nunes’ complaint on Tuesday is the latest in a string of lawsuits the California Republican congressman has filed against news organizations and other entities. Nunes filed lawsuits earlier this year against the newspaper chain McClatchy, Hearst Magazines, and Twitter. > > > > Before publishing the story and airing a TV segment about it, CNN approached Nunes twice on Capitol Hill, and reached out to him and his office for comment multiple times through his spokesman. Nunes responded to questions telling a CNN reporter, “I don’t talk to you in this lifetime or the next lifetime,” and reiterated later he would not acknowledge questions from CNN. He can deny anything he likes. ISTM that he only has a cause of action if he intends to show that Parnas’s lawyer didn’t make the statement that CNN reported that he made. This isn’t twitter, so I hope that his SLAPP lawsuit gets him and his legal team SLAPPed. Hard. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5877 "2019-12-04T09:40:55Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > He can deny anything he likes. ISTM that he only has a cause of action if he intends to show that Parnas’s lawyer didn’t make the statement that CNN reported that he made. > > This isn’t twitter, so I hope that his SLAPP lawsuit gets him and his legal team SLAPPed. Hard. I read an article a few days ago about this. Apparently, one can choose the state in which you want to file the suit. Nunes files these suits in Virginia and Iowa, states that don’t have anti-SLAPP laws. [Devin Nunes Has Filed a Very Weird Lawsuit Against Ryan Lizza](https://www.washingtonian.com/2019/10/01/devin-nunes-has-filed-a-very-weird-lawsuit-against-ryan-lizza/) mentions suit in Iowa. [Devin Nunes Drops One Ridiculous Lawsuit, Only To File Another One](https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190904/16354242924/devin-nunes-drops-one-ridiculous-lawsuit-only-to-file-another-one.shtml) mentions two suits in Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5878 "2019-12-04T09:59:16Z")
Nunes, of course, has been chatting a lot to Giuliani and Parnas, [according to phone records](https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/mccarthy-said-he-has-no-problem-with-nunes-calls-with-giuliani-parnas). But Kevin McCarthy says it’s all good. Nothing to see here. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5879 "2019-12-04T11:55:40Z")
Here’s a weird question: if a person knowingly and incorrectly calls a news report “false and defamatory,” does the media outlet in question have reasonable grounds for a slander suit? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771/5880 "2019-12-04T14:11:38Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Nunes, of course, has been chatting a lot to Giuliani and Parnas, [according to phone records](https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/mccarthy-said-he-has-no-problem-with-nunes-calls-with-giuliani-parnas). > > But Kevin McCarthy says it’s all good. Nothing to see here. No link, but just saw on Foxnews that this only proves that Nunes’ phone was connected to Parnas. We still have no evidence that Nunes spoke with Parnas. No. Seriously. They went with that explanation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=293) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-inquiry/840771.md?page=295)