Trump’s Impeachment Attorneys Pretty Much Admit That He Did It and Bet That Republican Senators Don’t Care
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This is just begging for jury nullification and, of course, the Republican jurors here have already all but pledged to do just that. They'll pay a political price.
After House impeachment managers played that emotional and compelling video of the Capitol riot on Tuesday, Fox News’ Martha MacCallum tweeted, “Methinks they could have showed that video and said. ‘The Prosecution rests.’ But brevity is rarely the Congressional way…”
Indeed, it was a mic-drop moment. The video was devastating. A part of me thinks the prosecution should simply show it on a loop. This would have the benefit of reminding open-minded viewers what the trial is really about, and also torturing Republicans who have decided to acquit no matter what.
Having made the case for Trump’s culpability with footage, Reps. Jamie Raskin and Joe Neguse then made the constitutional case for conviction, preemptively rebutting team Trump’s predictable arguments, citing legal scholars, clearly establishing that a president can be impeached after leaving office, and showing how anything else would essentially give a lame-duck president a get-out-of-jail-free card. Rep. Raskin also touched on the emotional impact of the Capitol insurrection, telling the story about how his daughter and son-in-law were with him on January 6, in part to comfort him after the death of his son just days before, on what Raskin called “the saddest day of our lives.” He described the sound of rioters pounding on the door “like a battering ram,” saying “It’s the most haunting sound I ever heard, and I will never forget it.” Afterward, he said his daughter told him, “Dad, I don’t want to come back to the Capitol.”
