Former President Donald Trump's legal team argued that he cannot be convicted by the Senate because he is no longer in office, previewing what's likely to be one of the biggest points of contention during Trump's Senate impeachment trial that begins next week.
Trump's lawyers filed a 14-page response to the House's impeachment effort on Tuesday, its first filing ahead of the trial. Trump's lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, argued both that the Senate cannot vote to impeach Trump when he no longer holds office as well as that Trump's speech about the election and before the January 6 riots is protected by the First Amendment.
"The constitutional provision requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached. Since the 45th President is no longer "President," the clause 'shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for…' is impossible for the Senate to accomplish," Trump's team wrote.
The House impeachment managers, in their pre-trial brief filed Tuesday, pushed back directly on that point, which Senate Republicans have coalesced around as a reason to acquit Trump, arguing there is ample history and precedent to hold a trial and convict Trump, who was impeached by the House while still in office.
"There is no 'January Exception' to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution," the managers wrote. "A president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first day in office through his last."
House Democrats noted that Trump was impeached while he still was president, pushing back on Senate Republican arguments that Congress cannot impeach a former official. Still, they argued there's precedent for impeaching former officials, too, as there have been a handful of cases in US history.
#CNN #News
Trump’s legal team reveals impeachment defense
jim’s smile after he was done with his piece should be a meme. amazing lol
@Eddie Gadsey
Trump called it “fake news” so he could get sheep like you to worship him.
@Jock Young we are Lions not Sheep. Remember that my man. Not only is it fake you guys miss so much real news.
Jock Young thanks for that😂. You are much kinder than I am. I was ready to carry this on for days 😂
Eddie Gadsey please recommend real news if you will be so kind. Or is it imaginary like the lie or lies Jim told or psaki’s previewed questions. Please enlighten us😂, I want to learn ☺️
Asa Towne need I remind you those were the ones we were privileged to hear. Imagine what his aides felt😂
He finally got lawyers who are risking their careers due to a lie. Its shameful.
https://youtu.be/rqAv_UgavDs….
“You reap what you sow, more than you sow, and later than you sow.”
Pastor Charles Stanley
Ummm…. Surrrrrreee….. I See why Jesus Died On the Cross.
NO ONE CAN TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS!!!!
@Bob Marley How does reaping the consequences of your actions not equal accountability???
@Bob Marley exactly. It’s their creedo….commit the crime then quickly point the finger at someone, anyone, else.
@IMBwildrd
The Dems whole gameplan since the mid 60s.
I love Charles Stanley.
Well ..tbh those lawyers may not loose too much credibility in front of THAT senate. Half of it for sure though.
https://youtu.be/rqAv_UgavDs
*lose
“Constitutionally they’re going to argue, no u”.
it is on the Constitution https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States_of_America_1992#174 it is nothing to argue about nor to make fool of it
@nexus x the answer was given at every court house, no evidence but rather arguments to look for evidence were presented. Unfortunately in this land “you are innocent until proven guilty” by representing evidence for your crimes and not only by the arguments to look for your criminal evidences. Don’t let them make a fool of you again, there was no evidence of massive fraud. What accounted was for human errors, not sufficient to turn over results (of fraudulent 11,780 votes or more to ask for)
Of course, he won’t be convicted.
@nexus x why aren’t they being impeached for riots that didn’t happen? Good question. Reread your own comment and think it though.
Here in Canada, I’m running out of popcorn.
@Keegan Seltner 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺 Have a few on me 🙂
@Special People .. laughable, I guess “Qanon” started the website lmao 🤣.
You think you’ve got problems. I’m in the UK & Brexit has disrupted popcorn supplies. I don’t want to dream that Big but is it too much to hope he’ll sack his legal team, defend himself and go full Saddam? I’d buy a La-Z-Boy and invite the neighbours round.
@Cole Parkhurst Convict Trump and Forget Him!
@T’Town Tim I’m afraid we will witness more of that, until these people come back to reality!
it’s the ol’ Bart Simpson defense: I didn’t do it , man! nobody saw me, you can’t prove it! ay carumba, I’m screwed!
Ummm… no.
@simon kenton irony like russian collusion proved to be nothing more than a rumor so instead they made up some catch 22’s on the fly to impeach with. Catch 22’s, one of which, the new guy proved he was ten times worse about on the irony? You must love irony…
Trump just confessed he going to jail https://youtu.be/j8i909BShR4
@Ken Plums gibberish. try again when you sober up.
@simon kenton juvenile attempts at insults vs fact, seems to fit your love of irony…
“your rights to any freedom ends when it threaten mine” say me. And yes, it is on the Constitution https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States_of_America_1992#174
Judicial arbitration can have an affect on that.. 🙂
@Sara Thompson Now you know
Thank you 👏😊 💓
Shared it 👍🌻✌
@Msgt D Oorah what is it like to go through life stupid?
@Kathy Scherbarth
“Affect” is always a verb in ordinary usage.
“Tiptoe through the tulips” totally reminded me of Boondock Saints
https://youtu.be/rqAv_UgavDs
That song was in Boondock Saints?!
I must have missed/forgot it! I loved the original movie. One of the few movies about divine inspiration that I actually enjoy
Let him get away with. Do me a favor though Joe. Snatch up all their guns in the last month of your term. What? He’s allowed to do anything in the last month with no repercussions right?
@Electro Giant What about the millions of new jobs being created under Biden’s administration? Vastly more than Trump ever created. Though considering Trump LOST millions of American jobs… there’s a lot more needed to fix Trump’s recession.
@Adam Taylor ok where is the evidence. I won’t believe you until you show me evidence.
@Electro Giant that’s a ball that Trump started rolling though. How you wanna try and blame Biden literally makes no sense – especially because there’s usually a delay in the deaths – so those would still class as “under Trump”, because that’s the presidency they contracted it in. It’s been 2 weeks and you’re blaming Biden for 40k? That’s dumb. You know it, I know it… We all know it.
@Adam Taylor that’s great! I just wish that Mohammed bin Salman (cough, I mean Bone Saw) received an international arrest warrant.
@Electro Giant those weren’t going to be permanent jobs anyway, and the health of our environment is more important than an oil pipeline. We need to move away from fossil fuels, not towards making them easier to acquire and burn en masse.
Mobsters don’t say go kill them but the language they use is understood!
@A T Could you please provide the Bernie Sanders quote that calls for any violent act such as arbitrary incarceration, liberation of something, you know your second amendment rights , Trump knows full well what some nutters believe (knowing that a large proportion of US gun owners take this to mean to overthrow the government not personal protection or the stated reason in the preamble of the second amendment which is for ” a well regulated militia being necessary for a free state…. “, nothing about overthrowing an elected government whether disputed or not, that’s what courts are for)
@BostonBruins 88 not sure what you mean, are you comparing some scumbag small time gangsters who used the chaos to burn buildings and loot to Trump. I certainly agree with you Trump is at least as low as those individuals however he was president of a super power nation so not sure you can put him in the same category.
Mobsters have bag men…. kind of like Hunter
@Duramax Dad
He is guilty. Has been for many decades.
Well said! He is nothing but a wannabe Mob boss that is a low life slime, delusional and pathetic!
trump’s defense summed up: (1)”nuh uh!” (2) “did not!” and (3) “i know you are, but what am i?”
@Mvtito No you dimwit. Point to one illegal act he did. Cite the statute, explain your reasoning. Be mature and good faith about it. The democrats are impeaching a former, non sitting president for political speech. This is dangerous precedent. The whole purpose of free speech is to protect unpopular opinions from government attack and punishment. If only popular opinions were accepted then it would definetly not be free speech. Trump is advocating the unpopular opinion that election fraud occurred. This is not illegal, even if what he said got a violent reaction. Incitement requires that he encourage illegal conduct. Point to where he encourages illegal conduct.
@kyle bolender that’s a lot of conspiracy theories 😂😂 notice how no one except you crazies who support trump are the only ones spewing Russian propaganda 😂😂
@Dan how about you do a Google search. Or just like the rest of you trump cult members want everything done for them
@Dan there’s literally hundreds of videos on YouTube, look it up
P
Lock him up and throw the key away.
send him to Canada
He was officially impeached while still in office. The process should continue forward regardless of how long he’s been out of office.
Exactly! I’ve been saying this too. He was Impeached while in office, then the Repulsives said wait till after Jan 20, if the Repulsives can get a judge in a few days, they sure as hell could had Impeached him! Just let lock him up and throw the key away,!
@Snakelady what crime? name something, oh that’s right, you can’t
doesn’t matter anyway when you can’t convict someone when they did nothing wrong
@steve marshall I’m not even sure what your stance or point in that statement is?!?!
@Peege Clarke Are you sure he didn’t hold them back on porpoise? It’s sounding kind of fishy to me.
“It was a perfect speech”
DOMINION AI MACHINES ARE STILL BEING USED TO CONTROL ELECTIONS. CCP IS IN CONTROL OF OUR POWER STRUCTURE AS PER THE DEMONCRACKS/GOPTRAITORS. EO ARE NAZISM BACK IN CONTROL ….FACISM/COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM EQULS=UN ;(SATANISM(; … FBI/CIA/NSA/NASA/FEMA and the new Death Camps/FAKE NEWS…And the worst BIG TECT SENSORHIP ..Voice of the people of America is gone…PREPARE DO NOT WAIT ANYMORE…STOP IT NOW…..OR LOSE IT ALLL
@Msgt D Oorah you again? Take your medication and try to relax
@Msgt D Oorah ?
Yep, it was!
3:45
Does the Second Impeachment Trial of a One Term President literally begin with a typo?
Of course it does!
Literally.
Just paying homage to the former Illiterate in Chief.
Trumpets just want some extra covfefe!
Er, coverage!
oh man, I’m disappointed. I was hoping for ‘ inciting an erection’ to be the typo
Their arguments will be and I quote: I know you are but what am I? Repeatedly
There was no voter fraud. Claiming so means the Senators elected shouldn’g be there as well. Do not buy into this lie or your part of the problem.
@Losaiko Biden WON!!! those judges were liberal Democrats!! The mail in ballots were total fraud!!!!!
@LumbeeWarrior Trump appointed some of “those judges’.
@Losaiko Biden WON!!! doesn’t matter…there traitors!! The mail in ballots is where the fraud took place!!! You must didnt comprehend what I wrote earlier??
@Losaiko Biden WON!!! Those cases were dismissed for technicalities, not based on the evidence put forth by the attorneys. A virginia court earlier this month declared that the virginia election boards changing the rules for when mail in ballots are accepted is Unconstitutional
@Dan Keep drinking that kool-aid…..
He was impeached while he was in office. Granted if and when found guilty they can’t kick him out but they can ban him from holding office again
If Dems truly believe they won the election, why are they trying to ban him from running again? 🧐
@Zedek they did win. Trump shouldn’t run again because he has only been interested in how beingPresident can put money in his pocket and will do and say whatever he needs to in order to put more money there.
@Paul Smith lol there’s absolutely no proof of that. He always donated his check to charities . Democrats claimed that supposably Trump only cared about making Billionaires from Wall Street rich, and now with the GameStop issues going on. We can now see that most of those Wall Street billionaires are friends of Democrats and not of Trump. That’s why they are all angry because they lost money.
@Paul Smith I think he lost money while in office. Here’s what things would look like if he weren’t president:
1) His money would skyrocket as he would have time for other things than being president
2) He most likely would not have donated his paycheck
3) He wouldn’t be wanted as a dead man
So all in all, I’d say that him running for president puts him more at risk than anything else. He literally gave up his old egotistical nature to actually defend the republic. The republic I repeat, not democracy.
The election was over and the results certified. The only thing to “fight like Hell” for was to kill democracy.