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lanlady

(7,134 posts)
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 06:38 PM Dec 2019

White House Signals Trump Won't Mount House Impeachment Defense

Source: New York Times

The White House signaled on Friday that it did not intend to mount a defense of President Trump or otherwise participate in the House impeachment proceedings, in a sharply worded letter to Democrats calling the process “completely baseless” and urging lawmakers to get it over with quickly.

“You should end this inquiry now and not waste even more time with additional hearings,” the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, wrote in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York.

“Adopting articles of impeachment would be a reckless abuse of power by House Democrats and would constitute the most unjust, highly partisan and unconstitutional attempt at impeachment in our nation’s history,” he added.
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The letter did not explicitly say what Mr. Trump’s legal team planned to do, but it ended by quoting the president saying that the House should vote quickly on impeachment so a trial in the Republican-controlled Senate, where White House officials believe Mr. Trump will have a better chance to mount a defense, can commence.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/us/politics/white-house-signals-trump-wont-mount-house-impeachment-defense.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage



Seems so uncharacteristic of Trump. Wonder what's going on?
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White House Signals Trump Won't Mount House Impeachment Defense (Original Post) lanlady Dec 2019 OP
Trump is so stupid he does not ever realize he is in trouble. PuffedMica Dec 2019 #1
"reckless abuse of power"? HA! Pot, meet Kettle. onetexan Dec 2019 #2
They know impeachment is inevitable now EarlG Dec 2019 #3
This is a propaganda move Captain Zero Dec 2019 #10
Ahhhh, and the Nation ask Dan Dec 2019 #4
The reTHUGS know that there's NO defense for tRUMP. It'd save us all a lot of time if tRUMP, Barr, abqtommy Dec 2019 #5
Trump legal team want to limit the impeachment time so Trump can return to controlling the narrative steventh Dec 2019 #6
By these actions, Trump is attacking the Constitution and Rule of Law bucolic_frolic Dec 2019 #7
Exactly. iluvtennis Dec 2019 #18
Post removed Post removed Dec 2019 #8
After trying repeatedly duforsure Dec 2019 #9
How do they write such crap and manage to keep a straight face? Alliepoo Dec 2019 #11
Fuck you Cipillone! And the horse you rode in on! machoneman Dec 2019 #12
Calling impeachment "unconstitutional" is a red herring. LastLiberal in PalmSprings Dec 2019 #13
If trump doesn't participate in the House inquiry why should he be allowed to participate in2herbs Dec 2019 #14
No defense needed with a rigged jury Raven123 Dec 2019 #15
He, in effect, pleads "nolo contendere". He will not contest House impeachment nor admit guilt. Marcuse Dec 2019 #16
Because mounting a defense means acknowledging the legitimacy of the inquiry. Beartracks Dec 2019 #17

PuffedMica

(1,061 posts)
1. Trump is so stupid he does not ever realize he is in trouble.
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 06:47 PM
Dec 2019

Trump probably thinks his Republican fixers in the House will take care of the issue. His tweets will smooth it over without even interrupting his time alone with a Big Mac.

EarlG

(21,947 posts)
3. They know impeachment is inevitable now
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 06:49 PM
Dec 2019

They're just trying to do what they can to try to make the process seem illegitimate.

They know the Dems want to move quickly. Earlier this week Jonathan Turley testified that impeachment was happening too fast (even though he, their handpicked witness, suggested that impeachment would not be inappropriate if more hearings were held). So my guess is that the White House is now demanding that Democrats hurry up so they can then whine about how the process was rushed.

Desperate times...

Captain Zero

(6,805 posts)
10. This is a propaganda move
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 07:31 PM
Dec 2019

Urge BOTH strategies for the Dems as most fair to Trump. Whichever one happens claim it was the wrong one for fairness to Trump. In fact after the articles are voted on and returned they will claim both in the press loudly and repeatedly. After it goes to the Senate we will hear both. The Dems rushed the process ! The Dems went far too slowly with this process ! Anything to confuse the process, muddy the waters, and distract from the facts.

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)
5. The reTHUGS know that there's NO defense for tRUMP. It'd save us all a lot of time if tRUMP, Barr,
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 07:01 PM
Dec 2019

Moscow Mitch and all the rest would just report to Gitmo now.

steventh

(2,143 posts)
6. Trump legal team want to limit the impeachment time so Trump can return to controlling the narrative
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 07:05 PM
Dec 2019

Also, they expect to have no facts to refute the current and future evidence.

bucolic_frolic

(43,157 posts)
7. By these actions, Trump is attacking the Constitution and Rule of Law
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 07:13 PM
Dec 2019

Our sovereignty is being violated from within.

Response to lanlady (Original post)

Alliepoo

(2,216 posts)
11. How do they write such crap and manage to keep a straight face?
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 07:38 PM
Dec 2019

Unjust, highly partisan and unconstitutional... Good grief.

13. Calling impeachment "unconstitutional" is a red herring.
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 08:02 PM
Dec 2019

Fat Donnie still thinks the fix is in. First, he tried to keep the House from getting hold of any evidence or testimony. The willingness of long time non-partisan government employees put the kibosh on that. He probably asked Mulvaney if he could stop their testimony by having the Secret Service arrest them and lock them up.

Now he's blowing impeachment off as no big deal. He's about to find it is a big deal, and it will be forever linked with his name. Turtleman has probably assured him that any vote will be done by roll call, and that assures an acquittal, because a Repug senator is willing to sell their soul rather than face the wrath of Trump's "base."

Moscow Mitch has probably assured him that there's no way the Senate will remove him. That's not absolutely certain, however, if five Republicans join the Democrats in calling for a secret ballot. I think that's one of the reasons Mitch wants to cut the Dems out of the process of establishing the rules for the trial.

Trump probably thinks that even if the Senate votes against him, he's got a firewall in the SCOTUS, which has a conservative majority, with two justices being his appointees. I guess nobody has told him that there's no appeal from a decision by the Senate to remove him. If they vote to against him, he's gone. Get your ass out of the People's House, and take your grifter children and Melania's ugly Christmas trees (which are all white, just like his supporters) with you.

BTW, you might stop for moment once you're through the WH gate so you can be served with criminal indictments and civil complaints. Take a pair of clean underpants you can wear when SDNY locks you up.

This is all a fantasy, of course. There are too many uncertainties involved, the primary one being the secret vote. Once a senator knows he can tap dance around that, they might be willing to vote with the Constitution.

Stay tuned, boys and girls. It's about to get interesting. As Rachel says, "Watch this space."

in2herbs

(2,945 posts)
14. If trump doesn't participate in the House inquiry why should he be allowed to participate
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 09:18 PM
Dec 2019

in the Senate trial? That's like a judge ordering a default judgment but then allowing you to have a trial even though you have never participated in the lower court proceedings. (Yes, I know impeachment is not a criminal matter.)

Marcuse

(7,480 posts)
16. He, in effect, pleads "nolo contendere". He will not contest House impeachment nor admit guilt.
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 10:33 PM
Dec 2019

Of course he doesn’t have the decency to resign.

Beartracks

(12,809 posts)
17. Because mounting a defense means acknowledging the legitimacy of the inquiry.
Fri Dec 6, 2019, 10:38 PM
Dec 2019

Why mount a defense, and cooperate with the inquiry to clear your name (if that's possible) when DENYING everything is so much cheaper and plays really, really well on rightwing media?

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