Replies to post #364096 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

We are going to describe what happened as summarized by Liz Cheney when she announced her support for Trump’s impeachment: ‘He summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.'

[fuagf]

LOL First on CNN: Trump's impeachment defense team leaves less than two weeks before trial

"House Democrats building elaborate, emotionally charged case against Trump"

Imagine his defense even still. The sun rises in the east, Donald. He should plead insanity.

By Gloria Borger, Kaitlan Collins, Jeff Zeleny and Ashley Semler, CNN

Updated 0404 GMT (1204 HKT) January 31, 2021

VIDEO

(CNN) -- Former President Donald Trump's five impeachment defense attorneys have left a little more than a week before his trial is set to begin, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement over his legal strategy.

It was a dramatic development in the second impeachment trial for Trump, who has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case. And now, with legal briefs due next week and a trial set to begin only days later, Trump is clinging to his election fraud charade and suddenly finds himself without legal representation.

Butch Bowers .. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/politics/impeachment-trump-lawyer-legal-team/index.html .. and Deborah Barbier .. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/politics/trump-impeachment-defense-team-south-carolina/index.html , who were expected to be two of the lead attorneys, are no longer on the team. A source familiar with the changes said it was a mutual decision for both to leave the legal team. As the lead attorney, Bowers assembled the team.

Josh Howard, a North Carolina attorney who was recently added to the team, has also left, according to another source familiar with the changes. Johnny Gasser and Greg Harris, also from South Carolina, are no longer involved with the case, either.

No other attorneys have announced they are working on Trump's impeachment defense.

A person familiar with the departures told CNN that Trump wanted the attorneys to argue there was mass election fraud and that the election was stolen from him rather than focus on the legality of convicting a president after he's left office. Trump was not receptive to the discussions about how they should proceed in that regard.

The attorneys had not yet been paid any advance fees and a letter of intent was never signed.

CNN has reached out to the attorneys for comment.

"The Democrats' efforts to impeach a president who has already left office is totally unconstitutional and so bad for our country. In fact, 45 Senators have already voted that it is unconstitutional. We have done much work, but have not made a final decision on our legal team, which will be made shortly," former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller told CNN.

Bowers, a respected lawyer from Columbia, South Carolina, once worked in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush.

Barbier, a South Carolina litigator, worked closely on several high-profile cases and was a former federal prosecutor for 15 years in the state before opening up her own boutique criminal defense firm.

Gasser and Harris are both former federal prosecutors. Gasser served as the interim US attorney for South Carolina earlier in his career. Both have worked closely with Barbier on the defense side.

Howard worked as an associate independent counsel on the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations during the Clinton presidency and spent a decade in the Justice Department where he worked on the confirmations of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Howard once served as the chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, leaving the post at the beginning of 2016.

This story has been updated to include reporting on the additional departures from Trump's team.

CNN's Kara Scannell and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/politics/butch-bowers-deborah-barbier-trump-impeachment-team/

[fuagf]

Congressional investigators probe videos of Trump associates' actions ahead of Capitol riot

"House Democrats building elaborate, emotionally charged case against Trump"

Gutless Trump is only outdone in the gutless arena by gutless Republicans.

Impeachment managers on Thursday invited Trump to testify.

Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel
6 February 2021, 07:31

3:02 Video shows Roger Stone flanked by Oath Keepers on morning of Jan. 6

Video surfaces showing longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone flanked by Oath Keepers militia...

Congressional investigators preparing for former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial .. https://abcnews.go.com/alerts/impeachment .. are zeroing in on the actions of the president and his associates .. https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/video-shows-roger-stone-flanked-oath-keepers-morning-75713302 .. around the insurrection at the Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

The House impeachment managers and their team of lawyers are examining materials, including videos, photos and social media posts, for possible links between individuals close to Trump and some involved in the riot at the Capitol, a source with knowledge of the House impeachment managers' investigation told ABC News.


President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, and Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff, depart the White House before boarding
Marine One in Washington, D.C., Jan. 4, 2021. Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE

They include a newly surfaced video .. https://abcnews.go.com/US/video-surfaces-showing-trump-ally-roger-stone-flanked/story?id=75706765 .. first reported by ABC News showing longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone .. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/roger-stone-president-trump-pardon-person/story?id=74940512 .. in Washington, D.C., the morning of Jan. 6. In the video, Stone is flanked by members of the Oath Keepers militia group just hours before the deadly Capitol riots -- including one man who appeared to later have participated in the Capitol assault, according to online researchers.

MORE: Video surfaces showing Trump ally Roger Stone flanked by Oath Keepers on morning of Jan. 6
https://abcnews.go.com/US/video-surfaces-showing-trump-ally-roger-stone-flanked/story?id=75706765

"So, hopefully we have this today, right?" one supporter asks Stone in the video. "We shall see," Stone replies. Stone has maintained that he played "no role whatsoever in the Jan. 6 events" and has repeatedly said that he "never left the site of my hotel until leaving for Dulles Airport" that afternoon.

Examining the actions of Trump, his aides and allies before and during the riot could help House impeachment managers make their case that the 45th president's comments to supporters at a Jan. 6 rally outside the White House were the culmination of a weekslong effort to overturn the election results. It could also shed light on the actions of those around Trump and whether they could have been more familiar with the riot -- and some of those who participated in it -- than initially disclosed.

MORE: Roger Stone thanks President Trump for pardon in person
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/roger-stone-president-trump-pardon-person/story?id=74940512

An ABC News investigation into the nearly 200 accused rioters .. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/numbers-dc-prosecutors-plea-capitol-hill-riot-prosecutions-75697273 .. facing federal charges for their involvement at the Capitol -- based on court and military records, interviews and available news reports -- found that at least fourteen individuals who stormed the Capitol building have since said they were following Trump's encouragement.

MORE: By the Numbers: DC prosecutors plead for help with Capitol Hill riot prosecutions
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/numbers-dc-prosecutors-plea-capitol-hill-riot-prosecutions-75697273

Democrats also are working to piece together what Trump did behind closed doors the day of the insurrection, sources familiar with the matter tell ABC News.

Impeachment investigators are looking into the actions of former senior staffers to Trump, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and what action they may or may not have taken related to the Capitol attack, the sources said.

Reached by ABC News on Friday, a spokesman for Meadows declined to comment.

Trump was only away from the White House for less than two hours, leaving only to speak to his supporters gathered at the "Save America" rally when he told them to head to the Capitol and repeatedly urged them to fight for him.

ABC News previously reported that when Trump returned to the White House, he moved between the private dining room and the Oval Office, watching the events play out in real time as a small group of advisers, including Meadows, urged the president to condemn the violence.

While Democrats are expected to extensively cite video and social media records from Jan. 6, it's not clear whether they will be able to call witnesses who could shed new light on Trump's actions around and during the riot.


Roger Stone, former adviser to President Donald Trump, is flanked by security during a rally at Freedom Plaza, ahead of the U.S.
Congress certification of the November 2020 election results, during protests in Washington, D.C., Jan. 5, 2021.
Jim Urquhart/Reuters

The Senate has yet to strike an agreement on the contours of the trial, and whether either side can call witnesses to testify -- a move that would certainly extend proceedings in the Senate.

Impeachment managers on Thursday invited Trump to testify in his trial under oath .. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/democrats-call-trump-testify-upcoming-impeachment-trial/story?id=75687873 , a surprise offer that Trump's legal team rejected and dismissed as an unconstitutional "public relations stunt," pointing to Trump's current status as a private citizen.

[Insert: Why on our own earth (includes other creatures et al) would that have
been a surprise offer? If it wasn't expected some one wouldn't be doing their job.]

"Despite his lawyers' rhetoric, any official accused of inciting armed violence against the government of the United States should welcome the chance to testify openly and honestly -- that is, if the official had a defense," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the lead House impeachment manager, said in a statement Thursday night.

"We will prove at trial that President Trump's conduct was indefensible. His immediate refusal to testify speaks volumes and plainly establishes an adverse inference supporting his guilt," Raskin said.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/congressional-investigators-probe-videos-trump-associates-actions-ahead/story?id=75711459