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© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Trump lawyers blast impeachment trial as 'political theater'
By ERIC TUCKER, LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and JILL COLVIN WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
55 Comments
sf2k
People were killed, your democracy is in shambles, any act to jail all the Republicans responsible is the only hope you have. The 14th amendment to kick out seditionists, suing of all the liars and their corporation for billions are the only reasonable first steps. Otherwise without consequence it will happen again
Mr Kipling
Of course its "political theater" !
The republicans don't want to upset the Trump supporters so will never vote against him. Even if he did the killing in person. The Democrats know this. They know they don't have the numbers, therefore...
Pure theater. Sadly any reasonable person can see he is guilty and unfit for any kind of public office.
The Avenger
If Trump is not found guilty this impeachment will be the final nail in the coffin of the previously held belief that, in America, no one is above the law.
If the Republicans sign on for this untouchable executive philosophy, they better be prepared for the consequences.
Political theater? Come on, boys.
For 77 days, Trump yelled and screamed and lied and tweeted and threatened and then - called for a wild protest on January 6th. THAT was fomenting an insurrection for the sake of overturning a valid election.
And the impeachment trial is ONE effort to hold this man accountable.
Otherwise, the Rule of Law means nothing.
PTownsend
Perhaps. But Republicans continue to deny their Trump and his fellow extreme right wing political enablers actually fed the violent mobs more red meat. In the Republican Party's ongoing attempts to further undermine democracy. And the republic.
Michael Machida
Trump himself is Political Theatre. Funny man.
sf2k
Put Trump on trial he will incriminate himself in mere seconds, saving everyone a lot of time. Doesn't matter though, Republicans in the senate and elsewhere will hear no evil as they peddle in the distruction of their republic. Even as they do nothing, Qanon will take over their membership, not trusting them as not being right wing enough. House rep Marjorie Taylor Greene is the new symptom of what is coming.
Simon Foston
Burning BushToday 07:20 am JST
How do you do that when he isn't actually going to show up for the trial.
bo
Guilty until proven innocent, right?
Bob Fosse
No. That’s why there will be a trial.
If the ex-president doesn’t want to attend and speak for himself, that’s his choice, his ‘fight like hell’ days are over.
dbsaiya
If it's political theater, then why are you participating in the process? Because it's in the Constitution idiots. If the client feels defamed, then let him testify under oath and "give him his day in court." It's pretty damn easy. Everyone should remember the GOP senators who vote to acquit, this should be the day that lives in infamy.
stormcrow
Trump and his loyal followers are real killers. They proved it in January when they attacked the US capitol. If Trump walks free, then the justice system has failed.
SuperLib
Something like 75% of Republicans think the election was rigged. That's a result of the big lie by GOP politicians.
bass4funk
He won't. He doesn't need to. This is a political crap theater, he won't be convicted, but if the Dems want to waste more tax payer money again, so be it.
If anything it definitely would boost the msm lackluster ratings.
Jsapc
Let me fix that for you: he won't because he can't and his lawyers and aides won't let him, because everyone knows he will perjure and incriminate himself the moment he opens his mouth, seeing that, to quote Rex Tillerson, "he's a *** moron".
Caring more about ratings than democracy. The Trump presidency in a nutshell.
bass4funk
Trump didn't tell these fools what to do, they're just thugs, now if Trump ordered them or recommended they go out and commit acts of violence well, then that would be on Trump for sure, the way Maxine Waters is trying to say she never told people to harass Trump supporters, fortunately for Maxine, we do have and thanks to technology, videotape of what she said.
Strangerland
There's your political theater.
Strangerland
Seventy-six Hillary email investigations expose the lie of the GOP that they give a damn whatsoever about spending tax-payer money on investigations.
Strangerland
Sure he did.
That said, I have no doubt that kangaroo court America will let him off. American Exceptionalism means that elites aren't meant to take responsibility for their actions in America.
Which is good for the rest of us - the more you guys drag America down, the more of a vacuum there is for the rest of the world to fill.
Three cheers for Trump having made America great again!
lincolnman
Political theater? Well, what do you expect when you elect a former reality TV host...
The past four years have been nothing but reality TV theater - with a incompetent buffoon trying to play President...and over 450K Americans dead as a result...
Expect more unhinged ranting from Trump's "best" lawyers - as the old saying goes...
“If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like $%^&”.
bass4funk
He did? Show it, show the EXACT WORDS VERBATIM where he told his supporters to engage and commit acts of violence. Go ahead, prove it.
Yes
Lazarus Knows
Is this the right's attempt at comedy?
lincolnman
Isn't it interesting that a clear majority of Repubs want to punish Liz Cheney more for voting for impeachment, rather than punish Donald Trump for inciting an insurrection...
That pretty much tells you how off the rails it's become - and how it's now a deranged, unhinged cult rather than any type of political party...
Simon Foston
bass4funkToday 09:53 am JST
If you were making a political speech, you knew there were armed people in the audience who were likely to turn violent and you told them to "be wild" or "fight like hell", what do you think would happen?
bass4funk
I'm not, I leave that to libs.
So you're saying humans, don't have free will?
Given the fact that she was censured by her own party in her own State and now is a target to get primaried is a reflection that they disagree with her.
Lazarus Knows
It never stopped. The previous President bragged all the time about how he gave the most money in history to the military industrial complex, and killed more people on drone strikes than ever before.
Robert Cikki
Yeah, let's forget the landslide victory theatre, it's time to move on!
Strangerland
I did above. You just didn't like the proof.
Jimizo
So speech inciting violence should be allowed based on the defence that people have the ability not to follow it?
I’m pretty extreme when it comes to allowing free speech, but that one made me flinch.
FizzBit
Too funny !
Depending on others to delete the facts by mentioning how "off topic" it is.
u_s__reamer
It's political "Theater of the Absurd" as the Republicans wanted it performed in the first Senate impeachment trial staged without allowing evidence or the calling of witnesses which perverted the solemn proceedings of democracy into a farcical hollow spectacle played by idiots, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. This time the Dems must play hardball by compelling private citizen Trump to testify under subpoena and force witnesses to testify under oath, no matter how long it prolongs the trial, so as to to drive home the lesson in civic duty and responsibility that millions of Americans have chosen to ignore: that the Constitution and oaths of office must be taken seriously and obeyed. This second impeachment trial remains the only course of action to salvage America's democratic credibility and restore the moribund principle that "nobody is above the law".
bass4funk
Both sides are easily persuadable.
A lot of people say that about the current party in power.
Her State and Republicans don't think so.
Raw Beer
Why do you assume everyone there was a Trump supporter?
Wow, there are still 25% of them who still believe the MSM!
bass4funk
You didn't and you couldn't, so where is the proof where he said that.
“Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up,” she said at a rallyin Los Angeles on Saturday. “And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
-Maxine Waters
And Trump said what to that extent about causing acts of violence? If you can find it, show it. Waters comments are everywhere to be found, but now she's saying she didn't say these words, it was probably the Russians that spoke through her. LOL
I never did, but if people want to make fun of Michelle or Melania and those people think that helps their ego, fine. I think it's a waste of time, to be honest....
sunfunbun
Should have stayed repulsed, but no expectation for a Republican to not move the goalposts toward protecting their agenda of lies. It'll be awhile, if ever, before the doublethink crowd will do the right thing.
But I get it, Republicans, to survive as a party, must try to team together and they're deeper than ever in their pool of lies, and there's no way out. so the only thing to do is go on supporting the worst of all lies, with nothing standing in their way, including the constitution and democracy. Traitors.
justasking
Of course it is. That's what you get for losing an election. If he didn't want that, he should have been a better President. Or won.
Strangerland
It's above. Right there, for all to read.
SuperLib
No matter what happens, the Democrats will win and the Republicans will lose. The GOP will most likely pander to the crazies, giving the crazies more power within their party. They hate those people since they make their party unelectable, but they will oblige. When faced with short-term gain vs. long-term growth, the GOP will take short-terms gains. It's the only way they can buy more time without making any changes.
Pray to the man with less than 40% approval rating who just got his ass kicked in a national elections. Pray to woman who support violence against Democrats. Embrace the radicalism. It will define you as a party.
PTownsend
Exactly. But Trump's Republicans won't accept that. Instead they want to further undermine the remaining bits of democracy ensured by the republic as they continue to attack voting and elections.
The R's want the president with the WORST first term rating EVER to govern the country for their benefit, for the benefit of a minority of Americans.
The R's want the votes and beliefs of the majority of Americans to be ignored.
The GOP hates democracy. That's why they continue to attack it.
bass4funk
That is not what I said, I said did Trump verbatim say the words or not, a simple yes or no will suffice. If he said them, fair enough, if he didn’t then the left shouldn’t be saying he said one thing when he actually didn’t.
GdTokyo
He did it. It’s obvious. We all saw it. It’s on tape. His moronic supposition as much.
This is political theater only because 45 invertebrate Eunichs have already said that no amount of evidence will get them to look at the facts.
So this will be the theme of the 2022 election. So be it.
bass4funk
He said, verbatim to storm the Capitol and riot, he said those words? Like Ted Cruz tried to kill AOC? Yeah, sure....
PTownsend
Four Republican senators have already announced they won't re-run in 2022. The GOP's historic country club/banker base is limited in size so they will be forced to support far right candidates, resulting in more election losses for them and the D's having greater control of the senate. The R's accepted Qanon, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, far-right wacks of all sorts into their 'tent'. They made their bed, filled it with snakes. To paraphrase Al Wilson 'They knew they were snakes before they took them in.'
bass4funk
That’s great. Leaves the door wide open to boot out more establishment Republicans.
The pendulum goes both ways it always has and always will, and at this point I would say the chances for Republicans regaining the Senate looks pretty decent if it continues at this rate with this administration
No, they absolutely did not unequivocally that is an absolute out right fallacy. The majority of Republicans and conservatives reject these groups, but having said that you have antifa on the left and other far left radical groups and on the right and they’re both disgusting and they all should be shunned on both sides.
PTownsend
No. They may be like McCarthy/Graham and the other Republicans who make vague statements that some might interpret to put bits of distance between the wacks and the GOP hierarchy, but the Republicans know full well they can never re-capture the White House without accepting the wack-right of all sorts under Rep. McCarthy's 'big Republican tent'.
The Republican's know they're the party of yesterday (the garden where Trump took them to be great again) and that the majority of Americans have clearly shown they prefer the country's democratic elements to Trump's authoritarianism.
viking68
The GoP is trying to use procedure to keep from addressing the substance. Nothing new there.
When the procedural argument fails on Tuesday (the day that the Senate will vote whether it is constitutional to impeach a president who left the office), the GoP will ignore the substance of the charges.
Still, the impeachment is also for posterity and the history books. History will be written and seen by the population without the twisted view of the senators who vote to acquit.
bass4funk
Ok, show it.
He said, go in and storm the Capitol? On Jan. 6th.?
I can’t you are right admittedly and I don’t know or speak for all conservatives, but I don’t know a single conservative who believes or listen to these nutty people.