CommentsMY TURN-Reading tea leaves if a difficult job, especially if they may be mixed with coffee grounds. After all, who really knows what’s going on in Washington DC?
Trump still seems to be the Dems’ best fund-raising tool and conviction in the Senate impeachment trial would be followed by Trump’s being barred from running in 2024. This would be a disaster for Pelosi and other Dems fundraisers, who are not all that different from Trump’s raising millions of dollars to fund Stop the Steal where the real steal was his taking the money for himself.
If the Senate GOP convict Trump, then they become national heroes and they are free of not only Trump but also pf the more traditional type of GOP psychopaths like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. On the other hand, if Trump is acquitted, Pelosi is guaranteed more far right-wing GOP lunatics to help fill her fundraising treasury.
How To Win the Impeachment Trial
The true jurors are those who gave us Proud Boys, QAnon and similar right-wing lunatics. I’d start the trial by calling those Proud Boys like Enrique Tarrio and the bizarre Q Shaman guy. The senate can immunize them for testimony in front of the Senate without impinging on other prosecutions. They can relate the reasons they listened to Donald Trump and they can give firsthand testimony how Trump was their leader.
When the deceived ones take the stand and the various speeches by the would-be dictator are played, they can explain how they believed it all. When these people, who truly thought that they were saving the nation from a gang of international cannibals and pedophiles, actually link up their bizarre beliefs with what Trump was saying for years, it will be very powerful testimony.
Flipping lower members in a criminal conspiracy is not a novel litigation approach. It is common. Unless the government can produce lower members of a crime syndicate, how else do they reach the shot-callers? Without Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano (born March 12, 1945), John Gotti would never been convicted. In fact, not calling the lower level members is legal malpractice. Otherwise, GOP Senator will claim that it is mere speculation that anything Trump said inspired insurrectionists to hunt down in order to kill Pelosi and Vice President Pence.
The difference between Gravano and Enrique Tarrio, et alia, is that the Gravano knew he was involved in a criminal enterprise, while The Proud Boys and their liked minded insurrectionists had a sincere belief that they were saving the nation.
Is Any Member of the Impeachment Team Qualified to Prosecute the Case Against Donald Trump?
The prosecution team includes no one, with the possible except of Rep Ted Lieu, with any court room experience per the New York Times description of backgrounds. New York Times, Jan 26, 2021, Here Are the House Managers in Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial by Allyson Waller While in the Air Force, Ted Lieu served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Rather than selecting a team based on their qualifications to prosecute a criminal case, “Ms. Pelosi chose (prosecutors to) reflect the geographic and demographic diversity within the Democratic caucus.” If Pelosi needs surgery, will she select her surgeon and anesthesiologist by ethnic backgrounds or by medical qualifications?
While we cannot hire Gerry Spencer to trial the case, or could we, there must be some member of the House of Representatives who had been a successful trial lawyer.
The Real Jurors Are GOP Voters
The real jurors are not the Senators, 90% of whom are spineless cowards who would stab their own grandmothers in the back for an extra vote. The real jurors are the right-wing GOP who need to realize that Trump was no savior. Trump was a petty con man who owes a lot of money to Russia and on to whom they projected this savior image. Trump used and abused them and then fled without giving any of them a pardon. He repetitively lied to them and he enlisted Senators and members of the House to repeat his lies – not to save the nation but to save himself. The way to make this case is from those who were duped and then carefully layout how Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani consistently fed the Alt Right false information. Unless the impeachment prosecutors reach these people, the GOP Senators will not convict.
(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams’ views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.)
-cw