# The Trump Impeachment Trial
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [January 16, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524 "2020-01-16T20:12:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Kearsen1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen1)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/41 "2020-01-17T18:03:01Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> If every Senator who has said or done something that has tipped off their lack of impartiality were to recuse themselves for the trial, the Chief Justice would preside over an empty chamber.
You realize, of course, that that ISN’T the reason for recusing themselves?
---
### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/42 "2020-01-17T18:28:34Z")
> [@LAZombie](#):
>
> Excellent point:
>
> \*\*Senate Dems Running for President Must Recuse Themselves from Impeachment Trial
> \*\*
>
> "Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bennett and Amy Klochubar must recuse themselves from any participation in President Trump’s upcoming Senate trial or be guilty of interfering in the 2020 election.
>
> By sitting on the jury and voting to impeach, they each commit the crime that Trump is accused of committing. Anything less than complete recusal would be an abuse of power, comparable to one of the charges brought against the president, and which will be debated and voted upon in the coming weeks."
>
> [https://www.westernjournal.com/senate-dems-running-president-must-recuse-impeachment-trial/?utm\_source=Email&utm\_medium=patriotupdate&utm\_campaign=dailyam&utm\_content=libertyalliance](https://www.westernjournal.com/senate-dems-running-president-must-recuse-impeachment-trial/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=patriotupdate&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=libertyalliance)
If you also agree to recuse any senator that Trump has ever campaigned for or will campaign for, you’ve got yourself a deal.
---
### Author:  [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/43 "2020-01-17T18:41:24Z")
> [@asahi](#):
>
> People need to accept that Trump will be acquitted.
>
> That being said, we need to take what we can from the trial. Play the long game. Trump will be acquitted, which will likely be a political shot in the arm in the short term.
>
> But we all know that there will be a time when Trump’s house of cards falls, because we all know that Trump really and truly is an unmitigated disaster, and that it’s inevitable he will take a good chunk of this country’s wealth and prestige down with him. Impeachment is a way to get Republicans and cowardly “moderate” Democrats on the record once and for all.
>
> There will be a reckoning.
Call me crazy, but I think anyone with even one quarter of a brain know that Trump is going to be acquitted! 🙂
As for the long term, I have long hoped and still do hope that having Republican senators go on record voting to acquit will have the effect of at least a few of them not getting re-elected. I am not confident this will happen, but if nothing else, maybe it will bring more Democrats to the polls. As for Trump taking down a good chunk of the country’s wealth, if current trends in the GDP, employment, the stock market, and other economic indicators continue on their present course, I don’t see this happening. Not by a long shot.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/44 "2020-01-17T19:08:03Z")
> [@asahi](#):
>
> There will be a reckoning.
Will they be dragged out of their homes and hanged by their heels from lamp posts? :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/45 "2020-01-17T19:31:15Z")
> [@JohnT](#):
>
> Trump’s attorneys will include Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz, also known as The Scheme Team.
Ken Starr, who was fired from Baylor for covering up a rape scandal, and Alan Dershowitz, who spent lots of time with Jeffrey Epstein.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/46 "2020-01-17T20:02:41Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> Ken Starr, who was fired from Baylor for covering up a rape scandal, and Alan Dershowitz, who spent lots of time with Jeffrey Epstein.
Dershowitz also spent some time with Claire, Hazel, and Tatianna according to Epstein’s flight logs.
---
### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/47 "2020-01-17T20:08:15Z")
In 1999 guess who said Ken Starr was a freak, a lunatic?
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/48 "2020-01-17T20:10:39Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#):
>
> If you also agree to recuse any senator that Trump has ever campaigned for or will campaign for, you’ve got yourself a deal.
Let’s not forget senators whose campaigns Trump urged his minions to help fund.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/49 "2020-01-17T21:18:23Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> In 1999 guess who said Ken Starr was a freak, a lunatic?
Hitler?
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### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/50 "2020-01-17T21:54:04Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> Still better than Martha McSally’s response, [“You’re a liberal hack. I’m not talking to you,”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/us-senator-from-arizona-calls-cnn-reporter-liberal-hack/2020/01/16/40367cb4-38a7-11ea-a1ff-c48c1d59a4a1_story.html) when a reporter asked her the same question.
Play her cards right and she could be press secretary some day.
---
### Author:  [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/51 "2020-01-17T21:59:40Z")
Wait, so we’re trying to make the claim that Americans being involved in an American election is interfering in an American election?
You probably just shouldn’t vote. You know, so you don’t interfere.
That opinion piece is a joke.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/52 "2020-01-17T22:02:41Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Hitler?
no, but this guy reminds me of Hitler
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/53 "2020-01-17T22:09:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> Ken Starr, who was fired from Baylor for covering up a rape scandal, and Alan Dershowitz, who spent lots of time with Jeffrey Epstein.
Look, there’s still a few days before the trial starts. These guys can easily be replaced with someone with broader appeal. Like A$AP Rocky, maybe.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/54 "2020-01-17T22:23:16Z")
or Judge Judy , but probably not because she endorsed Bloomberg for president.
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/55 "2020-01-17T22:58:22Z")
> [@Kearsen1](#):
>
> You realize, of course, that that ISN’T the reason for recusing themselves?
I realize, of course, the inept “logic” presented as the author’s attempt to smear Democratic candidates while ignoring Mitch MConnell’s, [“I’m not impartial about this at all,”](https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/mcconnell-impartial-juror-impeachment/index.html) and Lindsey Graham’s,["I am trying to give a pretty clear signal I have made up my mind. I’m not trying to pretend to be a fair juror here.”](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/impeachment-lindsey-graham-wont-pretend-be-fair-juror)
Maybe we should all consider [Sen. Mike Lee’s advice](https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=op-eds&id=47709B80-A780-4E63-9164-D6C7E975F33F), and go from there.
> [@Mike Lee](#):
>
> By its very nature, the Senate’s role in the impeachment process clearly indicates that senators are not passive observers of the trial. The Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to set its own rules. Under the Senate’s long-established impeachment rules, senators decide what evidence should be heard, how it should be presented and what witnesses should (or should not) be called. They can even override the presiding officer, who in the case of a presidential impeachment is the chief justice.
>
> No jury can do that.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/56 "2020-01-17T23:47:07Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> Clinton gave a SOTU speech during his trial. He did not mention the trial in the speech.
Taking bets now on “_Trump’s ability to refrain from mentioning that he’s been impeached_.”\*
But my guess is that the trial will still be going on when February 4 rolls around, and that Donald will give the speech from the Oval Office, due to Some Really Important Reason.
He’s not going to give Nancy another chance to make a triumphant/snarky meme.
\*Not actually taking bets, per board rules.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/57 "2020-01-18T00:48:57Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#):
>
> no, but this guy reminds me of Hitler
Twitler?
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/58 "2020-01-18T03:18:43Z")
One article that John Solomon wrote, way back when, was this one:
> **[Key figure that Mueller report linked to Russia was a State Department intel...](https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/447394-key-figure-that-mueller-report-linked-to-russia-was-a-state-department/)**
>
> The incomplete portrayal of Konstantin Kilimnik, so important to Mueller’s narrative, is found at the start of his report.
In it, he states that Kilimnik was a US government source (sometimes).
Given that we know that Parnas was in communication with Derek Harvey and John Solomon, it feels reasonable to assume that it was the Aide to Devin Nunes, Derek Harvey, who leaked classified information to the press.
If I was the FBI, I would be talking to Mr. Harvey.
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### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/59 "2020-01-18T03:37:44Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> Play her cards right and she could be press secretary some day.
Since the press secretary doesn’t really do anything, why can’t there be more than one of them?
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### Author:  [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-impeachment-trial/846524/60 "2020-01-18T06:20:32Z")
Will I miss anything if I continue to avoid TV and video clips of this stuff? Where will the most concise write-ups be found, where I can scroll past the dull bits?
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