Read on Twitter
Will live tweet reax on this THREAD. Let's start w/Raskin's opening line: It's not about the lawyers, not about political parties.
Beautiful.
Beautiful.
Raskin makes exactly the right argument: the jurisdictional argument is gone. Now, it's about the facts. This was the Trump lawyer's big strategic error--teeing up the legal objection that a former president can't be tried&losing it means that arg is gone. Sens must vote on facts
2 minutes in and @Liz_Cheney 's comment that this was greatest betrayal of Oath in history of the United States has been invoked (tho not by name). Let's see if we hear that more than 10x in this proceeding.
Now Raskin making a really impt subtle point: this wasn't just random violence, it was violence instigated by the head of one branch of govt against another. And that other branch, Congress, was performing its most solemn duty at the time, counting the electoral votes under 12 Am
I am surprised Raskin starts his timeline with Dec. 12 and Trump's tweet about just beginning to fight. I would've thought he'd start with Gabe Sterling's early December scary warning to Trump to stop or deaths will occur--and then said the tweets followed even after that warning
Raskin is destroying Trump's last remaining constitutional defense, the 1st Amendment. Points out Trump isn't just some crazy uncle, but the leader. Here’s what S Ct said in 1952 ...
Executive power has the advantage of concentration in a single head in whose choice the whole Nation has a part, making him the focus of public hopes and expectations… No other personality in public life can begin to compete with him in access to the public mind ..."
"through modern methods of communications." Steel Seizure case (1952)
The 1st amendment argument was destroyed by Peter Keisler 2 days ago. Keisler was President Bush's Acting Attorney General and a founder of the Federalist Society. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/first-amendment-no-defense-against-impeachment/617962/
Now @RepJoeNeguse is up. So polished and professional yesterday. I'm looking forward to this, and have some trepidation about having to see all the video that we are about to see.
Now @RepJoeNeguse makes the point I've been waiting for: Had Trump just tweeted to stop the threats and violence, as Gabe Sterling told him to do a month earlier, horrific violence would have been avoided. This is why this Trump is unfit for any future office, plain and simple.
Just putting my lawyer presentation hat on for a moment, I think the pacing of Raskin, Naguse, and Castro is splendid. It's a slow, methodical tempo, walking folks through the evidence. So hard to pull that off on the national stage--there is a tendency to speed up/pace up.
Effective advocates put themselves in the shoes of the decisionmaker (judge or jury).Castro just did that effectively, appealing to fact that everyone in that room ran for office&often are behind early in election night. He asks how they'd feel if opponent tried to stop the count
Now @RepSwalwell is up. This should be interesting. He gave the single best cross-examination of Bill Barr (or any Trump official) last year -- absolutely destroyed him.
Back now to live tweets (had to teach a class in interim). I'm struck by the diversity of the House team, compared to Trump's team. As usual, Trump took the "White House" thing a bit too literally.
Epic troll by House Manager @StaceyPlaskett of Trump's lawyers. She starts with "truth and preparation" is what matters.
Wow @StaceyPlaskett is amazing. What an outstanding presentation.
Watching this, I keep coming back to this thought: Is Mike Pence watching this? He could go a long way toward moving this nation forward by breaking his silence. It is never too late to do the right thing.
Proclaiming your "love" for these "special" people after what they did is itself an impeachable offense. It's atrocious and unAmerican and reprehensible and fundamentally incompatible with the duties of being President of the United States.
Devastating line by @RepSwalwell: if the insurrectionists had gotten there just minutes before, imagine what they could have done with those [plastic] cuffs
He said this line after spending 5 mins showing the Senators being evacuated by the Capitol police at risk to their lives
He said this line after spending 5 mins showing the Senators being evacuated by the Capitol police at risk to their lives
Every time I hear @RepSwalwell I'm moved. He has such poise, integrity, you can feel him rise to the moment.
Rep. Castro right now making the key point: any other President would have said STOP. Trump didn't. That's all you need to know. It's fundamentally inconsistent with his Oath of Office.
