New York Times editorial board: 'Trump is guilty' by Celine Castronuovo
The New York Times editorial board is calling on senators to convict former President Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, reiterating the argument from House impeachment managers this week that a similar event "can happen again" unless the former president is convicted.
In a Friday opinion piece, the Times board wrote that in voting to convict Trump, senators should not "limit their concerns solely to the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters sacked the U.S. Capitol, but also to act with an eye toward safeguarding the nation's future.
"To excuse Mr. Trump's attack on American democracy would invite more such attempts, by him and by other aspiring autocrats," the board continued. "The stakes could not be higher.
"A vote for impunity is an act of complicity," they added.
Trump faces an impeachment article from the House charging him with inciting an insurrection with his repeated unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Following arguments from House impeachment managers this week and Trump's defense team, the trial could come to a close on Saturday.
While a handful of Republican senators have signaled their willingness to convict Trump, it is unlikely that 17 of them will cross party lines to reach the supermajority necessary for a conviction.
The Times board argued that House managers this week "laid out a devastating case for conviction" by detailing "the former president's effort to undermine and overturn a free and fair election."
Meanwhile, the board stated that Trump's defense team, which claimed that Trump's statements leading up to the mob attack were protected by the First Amendment, "didn't bother with a coherent defense."
The Times board wrote, "Once again, Mr. Trump has played his most devoted supporters for suckers and insulted the intelligence of the rest of the American people."
"This shouldn't be a close call. Yet nearly no one expects the Senate to convict," the editorial board added.
"This abdication of duty is heartbreaking for the nation," the board wrote. "It isn't just that these senators are putting the interests of a single man ahead of the interests of the nation; it's also a tacit admission that the only constituents that many Republicans consider worth representing are their most partisan supporters."
The board went on to add, "The former president inspired an attack on a coequal branch of government. His behavior should not be excused simply because he is no longer the president - at least, not if the Republican Party hopes to serve as something more than a vehicle for a toxic cult of personality.
"The evidence thus far presented only reinforces the urgent need for accountability," the board concluded.
Now having shown why Trump should have been declared guilty, mealy mouth is trying dishonestly to argue that he himself rightfully voted for not convicting him. He admits that both his decision and those who decided otherwise were based on "ambiguous" grounds.
He suggests that if Trump were still president, he himself would probably have voted for conviction!
I'm enjoying my life, thank you Cali, and you stop being a coward and put your legal name and address on calling me a pedo and I will enjoy it even more, LOL
Amendment XIV, Section 3 prohibits any person who had gone to war against the union or given aid and comfort to the nation's enemies from running for federal or state office, unless Congress by a two-thirds vote specifically permitted it.
While campaigning in Iowa in early 2016, Donald Trump proclaimed, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay. It’s, like, incredible.” Trump essentially did that in the last days of his presidency. He promoted a January 6 rally for what he called a “wild” day in Washington. After an incendiary speech from Trump at that event, the crowd that he had assembled—which was full of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, QAnoners, Christian insurrectionists, and other extremists—turned into a murderous mob that followed Trump’s instruction to march on the Capitol to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal.” There his marauders attacked the citadel of American democracy, killing one police officer and seriously harming scores of others, with some trying to hunt down the vice president and House speaker, possibly to assassinate them. For hours, while the violent mayhem ensued, Trump did nothing to stop it or protect the lawmakers and cops targeted by his brownshirts.
On Saturday February 13, a month later, Republican senators proved Trump’s “shoot somebody” boast had been dead-on accurate: in his second impeachment trial they voted to let the man who had incited a lethal and seditious riot off the hook.
57 guilty 43 not guilty A day that will live in infamy.
It proved the wisdom of our founders in requiring a super-majority. The heady decision to impeach and convict shouldn't be taken light nor should it ever be a partisan exercise. The decision comvict should be taken with due consideration of the evidence and charges to convince a bi partisan majority to convict.
In both cases the Democrat control Congress failed to present a convincing case. The first they impeached on conduct that no one a crime for. The second impeachment was of questionable constitutionally and the conduct cited did even rise to the definition of the crime he was charged with.
In all imstances there was no effort to reach across the aisle to convince the other party of the necessity for Trump's impeachment. In all cases this was a bitter, partisan exercise that was doom to failure.
Narcissistic personality disorder involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration.
Since the principle object of impeachment is to try and remove a president from office, then whether he's impeach 3 days before he leaves office or three days afterward is a distinction without a difference.
in other words, your argument is irrelevant other than giving senators a constitutional reason to aquitte.
Yep.....The spineless GOP put another nail in their coffin of stupidity !!!!!! When polls show majority wanted him impeached.....that surely says more than Mitch making shit up and embarrassing the GOP beyond belief!!!!!!! I suspect the GOP is going to be in for a rough ride as more and more leave the party to the radicals of trump!!!!!!
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the impeachment trial:
“January 6th was a disgrace.
“American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of democratic business they did not like.
“Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President.
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth — because he was angry he’d lost an election.
***
“Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty.
“The House accused the former President of, quote, ‘incitement.’ That is a specific term from the criminal law.
“Let me put that to the side for one moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago: There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President.
“And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.
“The issue is not only the President’s intemperate language on January 6th.
“It is not just his endorsement of remarks in which an associate urged ‘trial by combat.’
“It was also the entire manufactured atmosphere of looming catastrophe; the increasingly wild myths about a reverse landslide election that was being stolen in some secret coup by our now-President.
“I defended the President’s right to bring any complaints to our legal system. The legal system spoke. The Electoral College spoke. As I stood up and said clearly at the time, the election was settled.
“But that reality just opened a new chapter of even wilder and more unfounded claims.
“The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.
“Sadly, many politicians sometimes make overheated comments or use metaphors that unhinged listeners might take literally.
This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.
***
“The unconscionable behavior did not end when the violence began.
“Whatever our ex-President claims he thought might happen that day… whatever reaction he says he meant to produce… by that afternoon, he was watching the same live television as the rest of the world.
“A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him.
“It was obvious that only President Trump could end this.
“Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the Administration.
“But the President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed, and order restored.
“Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily as the chaos unfolded. He kept pressing his scheme to overturn the election!
“Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in danger… even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters… the President sent a further tweet attacking his Vice President.
“Predictably and foreseeably under the circumstances, members of the mob seemed to interpret this as further inspiration to lawlessness and violence.
“Later, even when the President did halfheartedly begin calling for peace, he did not call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later.
“And even then, with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
“In recent weeks, our ex-President’s associates have tried to use the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect him as a kind of human shield against criticism.
“Anyone who decries his awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters.
“That is an absurd deflection.
“74 million Americans did not invade the Capitol. Several hundred rioters did.
“And 74 million Americans did not engineer the campaign of disinformation and rage that provoked it.
But our system of government gave the Senate a specific task. The Constitution gives us a particular role.
“This body is not invited to act as the nation’s overarching moral tribunal.
“We are not free to work backward from whether the accused party might personally deserve some kind of punishment.
“Justice Joseph Story was our nation’s first great constitutional scholar. As he explained nearly 200 years ago, the process of impeachment and conviction is a narrow tool for a narrow purpose.
“Story explained this limited tool exists to “secure the state against gross official misdemeanors.” That is, to protect the country from government officers.
“If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge.
“By the strict criminal standard, the President’s speech probably was not incitement.
“However, in the context of impeachment, the Senate might have decided this was acceptable shorthand for the reckless actions that preceded the riot.
“But in this case, that question is moot. Because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible for conviction.
***
“There is no doubt this is a very close question. Donald Trump was the President when the House voted, though not when the House chose to deliver the papers.
“Brilliant scholars argue both sides of the jurisdictional question. The text is legitimately ambiguous. I respect my colleagues who have reached either conclusion.
“But after intense reflection, I believe the best constitutional reading shows that Article II, Section 4 exhausts the set of persons who can legitimately be impeached, tried, or convicted. The President, Vice President, and civil officers.
“We have no power to convict and disqualify a former officeholder who is now a private citizen.
“Here is Article II, Section 4:
“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
“Now, everyone basically agrees that the second half of that sentence exhausts the legitimate grounds for conviction.
“The debates around the Constitution’s framing make that clear. Congress cannot convict for reasons besides those.
“It therefore follows that the list of persons in that same sentence is also exhaustive. There is no reason why one list would be exhaustive but the other would not.
“Article II, Section 4 must limit both why impeachment and conviction can occur… and to whom.
“If this provision does not limit the impeachment and conviction powers, then it has no limits at all.
he House’s ‘sole power of Impeachment’ and the Senate’s ‘sole Power to try all Impeachments’ would create an unlimited circular logic, empowering Congress to ban any private citizen from federal office.
“This is an incredible claim. But it is the argument the House Managers seemed to make. One Manager said the House and Senate have ‘absolute, unqualified… jurisdictional power.’
“That was very honest. Because there is no limiting principle in the constitutional text that would empower the Senate to convict former officers that would not also let them convict and disqualify any private citizen.
“An absurd end result to which no one subscribes.
“Article II, Section 4 must have force. It tells us the President, Vice President, and civil officers may be impeached and convicted. Donald Trump is no longer the president.
“Likewise, the provision states that officers subject to impeachment and conviction ‘shall be removed from Office’ if convicted.
“Shall.
“As Justice Story explained, ‘the Senate, [upon] conviction, [is] bound, in all cases, to enter a judgment of removal from office.’ Removal is mandatory upon conviction.
“Clearly, he explained, that mandatory sentence cannot be applied to somebody who has left office.
“The entire process revolves around removal. If removal becomes impossible, conviction becomes insensible.
***
“In one light, it certainly does seem counterintuitive that an officeholder can elude Senate conviction by resignation or expiration of term.
“But this just underscores that impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice.
“Impeachment, conviction, and removal are a specific intra-governmental safety valve. It is not the criminal justice system, where individual accountability is the paramount goal.
“Indeed, Justice Story specifically reminded that while former officials were not eligible for impeachment or conviction, they were “still liable to be tried and punished in the ordinary tribunals of justice.”
“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.
***
“I believe the Senate was right not to grab power the Constitution does not give us.
“And the Senate was right not to entertain some light-speed sham process to try to outrun the loss of jurisdiction.
“It took both sides more than a week just to produce their pre-trial briefs. Speaker Pelosi’s own scheduling decisions conceded what President Biden publicly confirmed: A Senate verdict before Inauguration Day was never possible.
“This has been a dispiriting time. But the Senate has done our duty. The framers’ firewall held up again.
“On January 6th, we returned to our posts and certified the election, uncowed.
“And since then, we resisted the clamor to defy our own constitutional guardrails in hot pursuit of a particular outcome.
“We refused to continue a cycle of recklessness by straining our own constitutional boundaries in response.
“The Senate’s decision does not condone anything that happened on or before that terrible day.
“It simply shows that Senators did what the former President failed to do:
Trump only president who has been acquitted twice !!!
And now dems are on the record that Harris has committed impeachable offenses. Only need to get 10 more Republican Senators to join all the Dems and get her out of office if she ever gets in.
Nancy is probably pounding the bottle like a dehydrated baby !!!
“Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in danger… even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters… the President sent a further tweet attacking his Vice President.
“Predictably and foreseeably under the circumstances, members of the mob seemed to interpret this as further inspiration to lawlessness and violence.
“Later, even when the President did halfheartedly begin calling for peace, he did not call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later. When I said that, you said I have TDS
“And even then, with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
“In recent weeks, our ex-President’s associates have tried to use the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect him as a kind of human shield against criticism.
“Anyone who decries his awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters.
“That is an absurd deflection.
“74 million Americans did not invade the Capitol. Several hundred rioters did.
“And 74 million Americans did not engineer the campaign of disinformation and rage that provoked it.
Taeggan Goddard said CNN said Trump Worried He Could Face Criminal Charges 6:43 pm “Former President Donald Trump has privately voiced concern in the last two weeks about whether he could face charges as a result of the January 6 riot he’s accused of inciting,” CNN reports.
The GOP’s Cop-Out 6:31 pm Aaron Blake: “The overriding reason for Trump’s acquittal was the alleged unconstitutionality of the proceedings. Republicans who have raised concerns about Trump’s actions or have declined to vouch for him have repeatedly signaled this would be why they vote against conviction. McConnell after the vote issued a damning indictment of Trump, suggesting he had indeed incited the attack, which others including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) echoed even while voting against conviction ‘solely’ on constitutional grounds.
“Those statements reinforce just how bad even Trump’s allies decided his conduct was, and they shouldn’t be glossed over.
“But it’s also the definition of a technicality — and it arguably doesn’t hold up.”
NO, IT DOESN'T.
NBC News: After acquitting Trump, McConnell slams him for a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” LOL LOL LOL
GOP Senators Want the Courts to Take Care of Trump 6:34 pm Jonathan Chait: “Donald Trump limped his way to acquittal in his second impeachment trial, with 57 senators voting to convict him of inciting insurrection. But it is an ominous sign that not only did many of the senators who did vote to acquit base their position on a technicality — Trump was supposedly ineligible for impeachment as an ex-officeholder, as opposed to not guilty of the crime — they conspicuously pointed toward the court system as a venue for further prosecution.
“This might seem fanciful, or a convenient way for Republicans to evade responsibility. But Trump is facing serious legal exposure.”
AHA! SO THAT'S THE STRATEGY! (AS MCCONNELL INDICATED TOO.)
Oh, and these posts are T. Goddard saying that Jonathan Chait, NBC News, Aaron Blake, and CNN said these things. He doesn't claim to be speaking his own words. Nor do I.
Whether "stupid" or "not stupid," plagiarizing can only happen when you take something that someone else wrote or said and put your name on it as if you wrote or said it.
66 comments:
Oh what a brilliant prediction.
Better worded, you are saying Trump will be found not guilty by reason of Republican complicity in his guilt.
By reason of your participation in what history will condemn you for:
Participation in his baseless lies.
New York Times editorial board: 'Trump is guilty' by Celine Castronuovo
The New York Times editorial board is calling on senators to convict former President Trump over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, reiterating the argument from House impeachment managers this week that a similar event "can happen again" unless the former president is convicted.
In a Friday opinion piece, the Times board wrote that in voting to convict Trump, senators should not "limit their concerns solely to the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters sacked the U.S. Capitol, but also to act with an eye toward safeguarding the nation's future.
"To excuse Mr. Trump's attack on American democracy would invite more such attempts, by him and by other aspiring autocrats," the board continued. "The stakes could not be higher.
"A vote for impunity is an act of complicity," they added.
Trump faces an impeachment article from the House charging him with inciting an insurrection with his repeated unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Following arguments from House impeachment managers this week and Trump's defense team, the trial could come to a close on Saturday.
While a handful of Republican senators have signaled their willingness to convict Trump, it is unlikely that 17 of them will cross party lines to reach the supermajority necessary for a conviction.
The Times board argued that House managers this week "laid out a devastating case for conviction" by detailing "the former president's effort to undermine and overturn a free and fair election."
Meanwhile, the board stated that Trump's defense team, which claimed that Trump's statements leading up to the mob attack were protected by the First Amendment, "didn't bother with a coherent defense."
The Times board wrote, "Once again, Mr. Trump has played his most devoted supporters for suckers and insulted the intelligence of the rest of the American people."
"This shouldn't be a close call. Yet nearly no one expects the Senate to convict," the editorial board added.
"This abdication of duty is heartbreaking for the nation," the board wrote. "It isn't just that these senators are putting the interests of a single man ahead of the interests of the nation; it's also a tacit admission that the only constituents that many Republicans consider worth representing are their most partisan supporters."
The board went on to add, "The former president inspired an attack on a coequal branch of government. His behavior should not be excused simply because he is no longer the president - at least, not if the Republican Party hopes to serve as something more than a vehicle for a toxic cult of personality.
"The evidence thus far presented only reinforces the urgent need for accountability," the board concluded.
The Senate of the United States is voting to convict or find him not guilty.
This day will live in infamy if he is not convicted.
57-43 it's over
Drama queen...
57 guilty
43 not guilty
A day that will live in infamy.
In the end, time will move forward without Trump, despite being acquitted.
These treators shall be in front of a firing squad.
Burr,
Collins,
Cassidy,
Murkowski,
Romney,
Sasse,
Toomey
Mitch McConnell is currently calling Trump a terrible person on the floor of the Senate.
McConnell's speech seems almost more damning than Schumer's and Schumer's was as damning as it can get.
Better put Mitch in front of that firing squad too.
Watch it now!
Mitch McConnell is currently calling Trump a terrible person on the floor of the Senate.
Shorter McConnell:
Trump basically incited the insurrection, but because of process, we can’t convict him.
Now having shown why Trump should have been declared guilty, mealy mouth is trying dishonestly to argue that he himself rightfully voted for not convicting him. He admits that both his decision and those who decided otherwise were based on "ambiguous" grounds.
He suggests that if Trump were still president, he himself would probably have voted for conviction!
Wow.
Alky and pedo try to get lives
"President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office," McConnell just said.
I'm enjoying my life, thank you Cali, and you stop being a coward and put your legal name and address on calling me a pedo and I will enjoy it even more, LOL
You're welcome. :-)
McConnell may be heading towards
Amendment XIV, Section 3 prohibits any person who had gone to war against the union or given aid and comfort to the nation's enemies from running for federal or state office, unless Congress by a two-thirds vote specifically permitted it.
But he did not
McConnell just said Trump did not put his Constitutional duty first.
McConnell also said Trump was practically and morally responsible for the riot.
Mitch voted not guilty but then tore into Trump.
He clearly wants to get the GOP away from Trump.
Mitch McConnell just exemplified Republican hypocrisy.
A good lawyer will have access to the IP address from here.
It will get his address, so he can be served with the complaint.
Trump will be going after Mitch and vice versa.
Meanwhile Biden will be unifying our country.
While campaigning in Iowa in early 2016, Donald Trump proclaimed, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay. It’s, like, incredible.” Trump essentially did that in the last days of his presidency. He promoted a January 6 rally for what he called a “wild” day in Washington. After an incendiary speech from Trump at that event, the crowd that he had assembled—which was full of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, QAnoners, Christian insurrectionists, and other extremists—turned into a murderous mob that followed Trump’s instruction to march on the Capitol to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal.” There his marauders attacked the citadel of American democracy, killing one police officer and seriously harming scores of others, with some trying to hunt down the vice president and House speaker, possibly to assassinate them. For hours, while the violent mayhem ensued, Trump did nothing to stop it or protect the lawmakers and cops targeted by his brownshirts.
On Saturday February 13, a month later, Republican senators proved Trump’s “shoot somebody” boast had been dead-on accurate: in his second impeachment trial they voted to let the man who had incited a lethal and seditious riot off the hook.
David Corn
McConnell said Trump had no defense at all for his claim to have been fraudulently defeated.
He claimed Trump could not be held accountable in terms of impeachment, but can still be legally held accountable for things he did while in office.
The lawyers who defended Donald Trump, will be bartenders for the rest of their lives !
The impeachment managers could not have condemned Trump more strongly than McConnell did.
57 guilty
43 not guilty
A day that will live in infamy.
It proved the wisdom of our founders in requiring a super-majority. The heady decision to impeach and convict shouldn't be taken light nor should it ever be a partisan exercise. The decision comvict should be taken with due consideration of the evidence and charges to convince a bi partisan majority to convict.
In both cases the Democrat control Congress failed to present a convincing case. The first they impeached on conduct that no one a crime for. The second impeachment was of questionable constitutionally and the conduct cited did even rise to the definition of the crime he was charged with.
In all imstances there was no effort to reach across the aisle to convince the other party of the necessity for Trump's impeachment. In all cases this was a bitter, partisan exercise that was doom to failure.
The impeachment managers could not have condemned Trump more strongly than McConnell did. Exactly right
About a third of the Republicans were torn between their careers and the fear of Trump.
The Republicans must stop supporting Trump
The impeachment managers could not have condemned Trump more strongly than McConnell did.
And strongly disagreed with you
It was a bullshit impeachment and most Republicans known It.
Prepare for the next insurrection. It's legal now!
Roger still talking out his ass
How long before Truman is impeached for killing half a million Japanese with H bombs? Apparently it's ok to impeach presidents no longer on office.
He was impeached when he was in office.
You aren't very intelligent
S. Scott Syndromes
Narcissistic personality disorder involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration.
I'm a heluva lot smarter than you,you pathetic wanna be. Your imaginary life can't keep up with my real one.
And you're boasting about an impeachment that was rushed through with no hearings, no witnesses. You're even a bigger simpleton than we thought.
I want to see a complete transcript of what McConnell said after the vote.
It was a BS not guilty verdict and most Americans know it. So does Mitch. So do a lot of Republicans.
He was impeached when he was in office
Since the principle object of impeachment is to try and remove a president from office, then whether he's impeach 3 days before he leaves office or three days afterward is a distinction without a difference.
in other words, your argument is irrelevant other than giving senators a constitutional reason to aquitte.
It was a BS not guilty verdict and most Americans know it.
As with the last impeachment, I suspect to voters are going to punish the Democrats for putting them through another circus.
One of the reasons Biden won was certain swing voters expectations for a return to normalcy. How's that going so far?
Yep.....The spineless GOP put another nail in their coffin of stupidity !!!!!! When polls show majority wanted him impeached.....that surely says more than Mitch making shit up and embarrassing the GOP beyond belief!!!!!!! I suspect the GOP is going to be in for a rough ride as more and more leave the party to the radicals of trump!!!!!!
Scott, Can those who suffer from Trump love syndrome finally move on?
His approval rating is higher than Trump had in all four years.
No one can move on as long as Nancy pelosi keeps obsessing over Trump.
This is true. Pelosi's irrational hatred was the genesis of both impeachments. A hatred that may do in the Democrats.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding the impeachment trial:
“January 6th was a disgrace.
“American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of democratic business they did not like.
“Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President.
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth — because he was angry he’d lost an election.
***
“Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty.
“The House accused the former President of, quote, ‘incitement.’ That is a specific term from the criminal law.
“Let me put that to the side for one moment and reiterate something I said weeks ago: There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President.
“And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.
“The issue is not only the President’s intemperate language on January 6th.
“It is not just his endorsement of remarks in which an associate urged ‘trial by combat.’
“It was also the entire manufactured atmosphere of looming catastrophe; the increasingly wild myths about a reverse landslide election that was being stolen in some secret coup by our now-President.
“I defended the President’s right to bring any complaints to our legal system. The legal system spoke. The Electoral College spoke. As I stood up and said clearly at the time, the election was settled.
“But that reality just opened a new chapter of even wilder and more unfounded claims.
“The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.
“Sadly, many politicians sometimes make overheated comments or use metaphors that unhinged listeners might take literally.
“This was different.
McConnell has TDS
This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.
***
“The unconscionable behavior did not end when the violence began.
“Whatever our ex-President claims he thought might happen that day… whatever reaction he says he meant to produce… by that afternoon, he was watching the same live television as the rest of the world.
“A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners, hanging his flags, and screaming their loyalty to him.
“It was obvious that only President Trump could end this.
“Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the Administration.
“But the President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed, and order restored.
“Instead, according to public reports, he watched television happily as the chaos unfolded. He kept pressing his scheme to overturn the election!
“Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in danger… even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters… the President sent a further tweet attacking his Vice President.
“Predictably and foreseeably under the circumstances, members of the mob seemed to interpret this as further inspiration to lawlessness and violence.
“Later, even when the President did halfheartedly begin calling for peace, he did not call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later.
“And even then, with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
“In recent weeks, our ex-President’s associates have tried to use the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect him as a kind of human shield against criticism.
“Anyone who decries his awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters.
“That is an absurd deflection.
“74 million Americans did not invade the Capitol. Several hundred rioters did.
“And 74 million Americans did not engineer the campaign of disinformation and rage that provoked it.
“One person did.
***
“I have made my view of this episode very plain.
But our system of government gave the Senate a specific task. The Constitution gives us a particular role.
“This body is not invited to act as the nation’s overarching moral tribunal.
“We are not free to work backward from whether the accused party might personally deserve some kind of punishment.
“Justice Joseph Story was our nation’s first great constitutional scholar. As he explained nearly 200 years ago, the process of impeachment and conviction is a narrow tool for a narrow purpose.
“Story explained this limited tool exists to “secure the state against gross official misdemeanors.” That is, to protect the country from government officers.
“If President Trump were still in office, I would have carefully considered whether the House managers proved their specific charge.
“By the strict criminal standard, the President’s speech probably was not incitement.
“However, in the context of impeachment, the Senate might have decided this was acceptable shorthand for the reckless actions that preceded the riot.
“But in this case, that question is moot. Because former President Trump is constitutionally not eligible for conviction.
***
“There is no doubt this is a very close question. Donald Trump was the President when the House voted, though not when the House chose to deliver the papers.
“Brilliant scholars argue both sides of the jurisdictional question. The text is legitimately ambiguous. I respect my colleagues who have reached either conclusion.
“But after intense reflection, I believe the best constitutional reading shows that Article II, Section 4 exhausts the set of persons who can legitimately be impeached, tried, or convicted. The President, Vice President, and civil officers.
“We have no power to convict and disqualify a former officeholder who is now a private citizen.
“Here is Article II, Section 4:
“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
“Now, everyone basically agrees that the second half of that sentence exhausts the legitimate grounds for conviction.
“The debates around the Constitution’s framing make that clear. Congress cannot convict for reasons besides those.
“It therefore follows that the list of persons in that same sentence is also exhaustive. There is no reason why one list would be exhaustive but the other would not.
“Article II, Section 4 must limit both why impeachment and conviction can occur… and to whom.
“If this provision does not limit the impeachment and conviction powers, then it has no limits at all.
In one day McConnell manage to get everybody pissed off at him. Either he's decided to retire or playing some sort of end game or both.
Silence from Mar-a-lago.
he House’s ‘sole power of Impeachment’ and the Senate’s ‘sole Power to try all Impeachments’ would create an unlimited circular logic, empowering Congress to ban any private citizen from federal office.
“This is an incredible claim. But it is the argument the House Managers seemed to make. One Manager said the House and Senate have ‘absolute, unqualified… jurisdictional power.’
“That was very honest. Because there is no limiting principle in the constitutional text that would empower the Senate to convict former officers that would not also let them convict and disqualify any private citizen.
“An absurd end result to which no one subscribes.
“Article II, Section 4 must have force. It tells us the President, Vice President, and civil officers may be impeached and convicted. Donald Trump is no longer the president.
“Likewise, the provision states that officers subject to impeachment and conviction ‘shall be removed from Office’ if convicted.
“Shall.
“As Justice Story explained, ‘the Senate, [upon] conviction, [is] bound, in all cases, to enter a judgment of removal from office.’ Removal is mandatory upon conviction.
“Clearly, he explained, that mandatory sentence cannot be applied to somebody who has left office.
“The entire process revolves around removal. If removal becomes impossible, conviction becomes insensible.
***
“In one light, it certainly does seem counterintuitive that an officeholder can elude Senate conviction by resignation or expiration of term.
“But this just underscores that impeachment was never meant to be the final forum for American justice.
“Impeachment, conviction, and removal are a specific intra-governmental safety valve. It is not the criminal justice system, where individual accountability is the paramount goal.
“Indeed, Justice Story specifically reminded that while former officials were not eligible for impeachment or conviction, they were “still liable to be tried and punished in the ordinary tribunals of justice.”
“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former Presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one.
***
“I believe the Senate was right not to grab power the Constitution does not give us.
“And the Senate was right not to entertain some light-speed sham process to try to outrun the loss of jurisdiction.
“It took both sides more than a week just to produce their pre-trial briefs. Speaker Pelosi’s own scheduling decisions conceded what President Biden publicly confirmed: A Senate verdict before Inauguration Day was never possible.
“This has been a dispiriting time. But the Senate has done our duty. The framers’ firewall held up again.
“On January 6th, we returned to our posts and certified the election, uncowed.
“And since then, we resisted the clamor to defy our own constitutional guardrails in hot pursuit of a particular outcome.
“We refused to continue a cycle of recklessness by straining our own constitutional boundaries in response.
“The Senate’s decision does not condone anything that happened on or before that terrible day.
“It simply shows that Senators did what the former President failed to do:
“We put our constitutional duty first.”
Don't drop all those straws you're grasping at
@amuse
VIDEO: https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1360449477446946816
Bidens wishes the Chinese Communist Party Happy New Year. They apologize for President Trump.
Why is Jill doing most of the talking ?
They forgot to send Hunter's well wishes
But the "big guy" knows who he reports to.
Biden's America
Banana Republic
1984
NOT GUILTY !!!
Trump only president who has been acquitted twice !!!
And now dems are on the record that Harris has committed impeachable offenses. Only need to get 10 more Republican Senators to join all the Dems and get her out of office if she ever gets in.
Nancy is probably pounding the bottle like a dehydrated baby !!!
Richard Grenell
https://twitter.com/RichardGrenell/status/1360703364825190401
Turn on the escalator!
Trump El Jeffe of the banana states of america and you applaud like a dumb fuck!!!!! bWAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Catturd ™
https://twitter.com/catturd2/status/1360718769904111616
If Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi had a baby it would be Mitch McConnell.
Fact Check: True
Jack Posobiec
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1360704339925495814
The Democrat-majority Senate just acquitted Donald J. Trump
Thanks Nancy, now where's those checks that were supposed to be in the mail a month ago ???
This is what I have been saying for a long time
“Even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that Vice President Pence was in danger… even as the mob carrying Trump banners was beating cops and breaching perimeters… the President sent a further tweet attacking his Vice President.
“Predictably and foreseeably under the circumstances, members of the mob seemed to interpret this as further inspiration to lawlessness and violence.
“Later, even when the President did halfheartedly begin calling for peace, he did not call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later. When I said that, you said I have TDS
“And even then, with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
“In recent weeks, our ex-President’s associates have tried to use the 74 million Americans who voted to re-elect him as a kind of human shield against criticism.
“Anyone who decries his awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters.
“That is an absurd deflection.
“74 million Americans did not invade the Capitol. Several hundred rioters did.
“And 74 million Americans did not engineer the campaign of disinformation and rage that provoked it.
“One person did.
Taeggan Goddard said CNN said
Trump Worried He Could Face Criminal Charges
6:43 pm
“Former President Donald Trump has privately voiced concern in the last two weeks about whether he could face charges as a result of the January 6 riot he’s accused of inciting,” CNN reports.
The GOP’s Cop-Out
6:31 pm
Aaron Blake:
“The overriding reason for Trump’s acquittal was the alleged unconstitutionality of the proceedings. Republicans who have raised concerns about Trump’s actions or have declined to vouch for him have repeatedly signaled this would be why they vote against conviction. McConnell after the vote issued a damning indictment of Trump, suggesting he had indeed incited the attack, which others including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) echoed even while voting against conviction ‘solely’ on constitutional grounds.
“Those statements reinforce just how bad even Trump’s allies decided his conduct was, and they shouldn’t be glossed over.
“But it’s also the definition of a technicality — and it arguably doesn’t hold up.”
NO, IT DOESN'T.
NBC News: After acquitting Trump, McConnell slams him for a “disgraceful dereliction of duty.” LOL LOL LOL
GOP Senators Want the Courts to Take Care of Trump
6:34 pm
Jonathan Chait:
“Donald Trump limped his way to acquittal in his second impeachment trial, with 57 senators voting to convict him of inciting insurrection. But it is an ominous sign that not only did many of the senators who did vote to acquit base their position on a technicality — Trump was supposedly ineligible for impeachment as an ex-officeholder, as opposed to not guilty of the crime — they conspicuously pointed toward the court system as a venue for further prosecution.
“This might seem fanciful, or a convenient way for Republicans to evade responsibility. But Trump is facing serious legal exposure.”
AHA! SO THAT'S THE STRATEGY!
(AS MCCONNELL INDICATED TOO.)
See my 6:16 again.
Oh, and these posts are T. Goddard saying that Jonathan Chait, NBC News, Aaron Blake, and CNN said these things. He doesn't claim to be speaking his own words. Nor do I.
That would be plagiarism.
It's not that you plagiarized James. It's that you plagiarized stupidity.
Whether "stupid" or "not stupid," plagiarizing can only happen when you take something that someone else wrote or said and put your name on it as if you wrote or said it.
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