What, sophistry or what sophistry. That Trump deposition will be a doozy. Brakes will not be pumped as Trump’s lawyers fail to deny that he incited violence against the Government of the United States. The utterance ‘Sit Your Ass Down!’ however performative, is only an example of symbolic violence.
Trump impeachment response has been released. It argues constitution “requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached” and that Trump was exercising his First Amendment right to question election results. pic.twitter.com/sc2U5r6Bed
In which former President Trump's lawyers make it clear that they will argue he was right to say the election was stolen from him. pic.twitter.com/YqKKvLarJi
A laughably disprovable lie. Dems should play the recording of Rudy calling a GOP senator– mid-attack!– to ask him to object to delay the electoral certification. Then call each senator as a witness and ask them, under oath, if they received any similar calls. https://t.co/yLiynjH2fs
Trump's Impeachment Defense Is Silent about His Unconstitutional Demand of Mike Pencehttps://t.co/6gknxiGaaT
Trump says his incitement was all protected by the First Amendment. But he doesn't address the unconstitutional demand he made of Mike Pence, which isn't protected.
"Why the fuck do you keep standing up and screaming at me?" he shot back at Flynn. "If you want to come over here, come over here. If not, sit your ass down." https://t.co/ykroJKDMuo
In this bonus edition, we take you back into those final weeks — to one long, unhinged night a week before Christmas, when an epic, profanity-soaked standoff played out with profound implications for the nation.
Four conspiracy theorists marched into the Oval Office. It was early evening on Friday, Dec. 18 — more than a month after the election had been declared for Joe Biden, and four days after the Electoral College met in every state to make it official.
“How the hell did Sidney get in the building?” White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann grumbled from the outer Oval Office as Sidney Powell and her entourage strutted by to visit the president.
President Trump’s private schedule hadn’t included appointments for Powell or the others: former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, and a little-known former Trump administration official, Emily Newman. But they’d come to convince Trump that he had the power to take extreme measures to keep fighting.
This was seen as a delaying tactic. The sense in the room was that Trump might actually greenlight this extraordinary proposal.
At its essence, the Sidney Powell crew’s argument to the president was this: We have the real information. These people — your White House staff — don’t believe in the truth. They’re liars and quitters. They’re not willing to fight for you because they don’t want to get their hands dirty. Put us in charge. Let us take control of everything. We’ll prove to you that what we’re saying is right. We won’t quit, we’ll fight. We’re willing to fight for the presidency.
On some level, this argument was music to Trump’s ears. He was desperate. Powell and her team were the only people willing to tell him what he wanted to hear — that a path to stay in power in the White House remained.
The Oval Office portion of the meeting had dragged on for nearly three hours, creeping beyond 9 p.m. The arguments became so heated that even Giuliani — still on the phone — at one point told everyone to calm down. One participant later recalled: “When Rudy’s the voice of reason, you know the meeting’s not going well.”
[…]
Trump and Cipollone, who frequently butted heads, went at it too, over whether the administration had the authority to do what Powell was proposing.
Powell kept asserting throughout the night that she had — or would soon produce — the evidence needed to prove foreign interference. She kept insisting that Trump had the legal authority he needed to seize voting machines. But she did not have the goods.
Ginni Thomas apologized to her husband's Supreme Court clerks for her role in creating the environment that led to the Capitol riot. https://t.co/ggMry4CWpW
“A large majority of suspects in the Capitol riot have no connection to existing far-right militias, white-nationalist gangs, or other established violent orgs…89% of the arrestees have no apparent affiliation with any known militant org.” https://t.co/0TXv6I4Sg0
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