I’m sure it would be unpleasant for Hunter himself to have to listen to the Republicans cast aspersions on his character and actions, but leave that aside for a moment.
If it means opening the door to letting Bolton et al. testify, why NOT let HB be deposed by the Senate? If, as seems to be the case, he didn’t do anything illegal, what are the negatives to the prosecution’s side to having him talk?
Because Bolton won’t be allowed to testify, and even allowing the testimony appears to justify the abuses that led to impeachment.
Also in the court of public opinion, it suggests the GOP might have a point, when in fact they do not. Getting additional witnesses is not going to help get Trump removed so better to make sure that the Republicans don’t get to sell their lies.
I feel like that would be offset by the ability to set the record straight on things like the things Burisma being investigated for dating to before he was even working there, and so on. Of course it would be necessary to have an ironclad agreement on witnesses for the other side - probably insist that Bolton go first, etc. By showing that there’s no there there, wouldn’t it undermine the bullshit argument that the aid was withheld because of concerns about Ukraine corruption? (never mind that the idea didn’t seem to bother the president the prior year or the year before that when aid to Ukraine was authorized.)
All this talk of a deal makes it sound like the Republicans need permission from the Democrats on whether to call witnesses. They don’t. If they want Bolton to testify, or not, all they have to do is vote for it.
It’s often said that elections have consequence. The Republicans wanted a majority in the Senate. The consequence is that they can claim credit when the Senate does something right, or get the blame when it does something wrong. If they want to have a trial with no witnesses, and to assist Trump in sweeping this whole thing under the carpet, then I hope the whole country watches them do it. All this talk of a deal is just laying the groundwork for them to avoid accountability for their actions.
It’s not so much that they need the dems’ permission if they wanted to do it, and more about what bait you could dangle that would make them agree to do it even though they’d rather not. Your point about them owning both praise and blame is well taken though.
Bait to do what? If Republicans want to subpoena Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, and let John Bolton watch the whole thing on C-SPAN, they can. The Democrats have no leverage. They have nothing to give the Republicans in order to get Bolton’s testimony in return.
All the talk of a deal that I’ve heard has come from Republicans. They picked an interesting time to try and look bi-partisan. The only reason I can see for them to do it is to share the blame if the whole trial is perceived to be a sham.
It would serve no purpose other than to create a distraction. Hunter Biden has no relevant testimony to give as to the crimes Loser Donald committed.
Let’s say you wanted to attack Donald on his mostly disastrous business career.
And instead of bringing up Trump steaks, Trump airlines or anyone of a whole line of businesses, you bring up the Apprentice.
Biden the Younger is absolutely is corrupt as fuck. There are plenty of legit reasons to look into his dealings in The Ukraine. Trump wanted dirt, which was why he is under trial, but that should not hide the fact that there was dirt.
Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence.
Overruled. Statement of what party believes a proposed deposition will show.
If the Republicans call witnesses and then refuse to let the Democrats call witnesses as well, it’ll be going too far.
There are really two trials going on here. One if Donald Trump’s impeachment and he’s going to be acquitted in that one. But the other trial is the court of public opinion. The Republicans can not afford to make it too obvious that they’re knowingly covering up Trump’s crimes. They have to maintain the illusion that they’re conducting something close to a fair trial, even while they make sure it isn’t actually a fair trial.
Cite?
This trial is about Donald Trump’s actions. No one named Biden made that phone call or withheld congressionally approved aid. This trial is about Donald Trump’s actions…I repeat, this trial is about Donald Trump’s actions.
Because nothing Hunter Biden did, or didn’t do, in Ukraine or anywhere else, is relevant to this impeachment trial.
Hunter Biden could have been committing actual armed robberies in Kiev, and been caught on videotape. It doesn’t matter.
President Trump is charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Hunter Biden’s *alleged *corruption is irrelevant. To call him to testify before the Senate is to agree to the Republicans’ bullshit defense, which is that the Biden family’s corruption forced President Trump to demand an investigation by the Ukrainian government, and to help them achieve their objective (and the President’s objective from the start), which is to put on a huge circus show to pre-emptively damage the President’s (assumed) opponent in his upcoming reelection campaign.
Is Hunter Biden, in my opinion, a spoiled and troubled man who financially benefits from who his father is? Sure, I won’t argue with that.
But corrupt? As in, achieving gain through criminal behavior? I haven’t seen a single shred of evidence to make me think that there’s any truth there.
As it stands, calling Hunter Biden to testify seems more like McCarthyism, in which people are forced to prove their innocence when there are no credible allegations of what they did wrong, other than being the target of a opposing political party.
Yeah, this. Bringing up Hunter Biden is a way to sustain the argument that “abuse of power is not impeachable” because it’s just the end justifying the means and hey, dirty pool is part of the job, everyone does it and we’d be fools not to do whatever it takes.
There are a lot of people that suddenly have a huge boner to go after HB for some reason. It strikes me like going after what Nichole did to get killed instead of looking at OJ and what he did or didn’t do.
I could be wrong. Seems to me DT would have sent the DOJ after HB on day one if there was something going on in reality land.
I think his testimony is irrelevant. Whether you are on Trump’s side (he had the right to investigate) or whether you are on the Dem side (this was just corruption and if he wanted an investigation he should have went through the proper channels) it matters not whether Hunter Biden is actually guilty or not.
If a cop gets a search warrant for my house because he suspects me of murder and there is an accusation that the cop acted with corrupt motives, the only relevant thing was what the cop knew at the time he got the warrant. Whether he was ultimately right or wrong about me being guilty of murder is not relevant.
Putting Hunter Biden on the stand would be a great political move by the GOP. At minimum he got a job that he is terribly unqualified for with his Dad’s connections, and that puts the idea out there that everyone is using Ukraine as their own personal source of riches, so why are we so hard on Trump? Apparently HB recently got a stripper pregnant in Arkansas and gave up all custodial rights to the child. That will come out. A real piece of work. Most Americans would probably look at him and think Trump should have done more. (Even though that isn’t legally correct).
Trump is going to be acquitted, so the trial is about optics. “Corruption, bribery, and abuse of power should disqualify someone from being President” isn’t a position the Dems can afford to have asked about Joe Biden. It necessitates too much uncomfortable flip-flopping, special pleading, attempts to change the subject and/or avoid the question, and other tactics that don’t necessarily work with people other than the Democratic base.
The impeachment process and trial are entirely partisan. Bringing up that Biden (and Obama) did the same sorts of things without a whisper of protest from those who are now suffering from a fit of the vapors makes that more obvious even than it is already.
Regards,
Shodan