In His Impeachment Defense, Trump Cites Mike Pence Admitting Trump Made an Unconstitutional Demand..

[Nevilledog]

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In His Impeachment Defense, Trump Cites Mike Pence Admitting Trump Made an Unconstitutional Demand

In His Impeachment Defense, Trump Cites Mike Pence Admitting Trump Made an Unconstitutional Demand...
In his first impeachment brief, Donald Trump spent 14 pages ignoring key allegations pertaining to Mike Pence. In his defense brief, Trump not only ignores those allegations, but cites a document in...
emptywheel.net
10:50 AM · Feb 8, 2021

https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/02/08/in-his-impeachment-defense-trump-spends-five-times-as-long-not-addressing-the-mike-pence-allegations/


Eleven pages into his 75-page impeachment defense, Trump makes this claim:

President Trump did not direct anyone to commit lawless actions,

In context, he’s speaking about his speech before the riot, claiming that his invocation that his mobsters “fight” didn’t mean he wanted them to fight illegally. His defense only addresses the meaning of that word, “fight,” in his speech, while treating impeachment over and over as akin to the passage of a law restricting First Amendment protected speech and not the political act that impeachment is.

But this brief, like in the 14-page answer brief he submitted last week, barely addresses one of the times he quite clearly did direct people to commit lawless action, first, when he called Brad Raffensperger and asked him to find him votes that didn’t exist.

The article also discusses in passing other “statements” of Mr. Trump as well as a telephone call to the secretary of state of Georgia.

[snip]

The allegation that Mr. Trump should be convicted for “incitement of insurrection” based upon the telephone call to the Georgia secretary of state rests on even shakier ground. The allegations of “threats of death and violence” come not from Mr. Trump at all; they come from other individuals from the internet, not identified (nor identifiable) in the House Trial Memorandum, who took it upon themselves to make inane internet threats, which were not urged or “incited” by Mr. Trump in any way shape or form.150 Examining the discussion with the Georgia secretary of state under the standard of “incitement,” leads to the same conclusion as the January 6, 2021 statements of Mr. Trump: there is nothing said by Mr. Trump that urges “use of force” or “law violation” directed to producing imminent lawless action.151

More strikingly, given the greater length of this brief, Trump again completely ignores a key part of the article of impeachment against him: his actions targeting Mike Pence, both his demand that Pence commit an unconstitutional act by throwing out the votes of key swing states, and his comments that specifically riled up the crowd against Pence, even after the rioters started looking for him at the Capitol to assassinate him.

*snip*

[lagomorph777]

1. Looks like Trump got the Z Team of lawyers.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. Ummm, who says you can only incite insurrection by calling for violence....

[crickets]

3. Excellent point. nt