Trump has no legal team or strategy for Capitol riot impeachment trial

[sabra]

Source: CNBC

Ex-President Donald Trump is not prepared for his Senate impeachment trial despite the fact that it could begin as early as next week.

Trump, who is charged with inciting the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a mob of his supporters, still has not assembled a group of lawyers to defend him at what will be his second impeachment trial, NBC News reported.

He also has no clear legal strategy for the trial, according to NBC. Democratic senators, and likely a number of Republican ones, hope to convict Trump and then vote to bar him from becoming president ever again.

The failure to prepare for the trial is consistent with Trump’s behavior this month, where he did little actual work related to the presidency.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/21/trump-not-prepared-for-senate-impeachment-trial-for-capitol-riots.html

[sakabatou]

1. Is he going to try and defend himself?

Or more likely, he's going to have a court appointed lawyer.

[unblock]

7. No such thing for impeachments. It's not a judicial proceeding.

[NewJeffCT]

39. I would welcome the train wreck his testimony would be

under oath

[Xipe Totec]

2. Assign him a public defender. nt

[FakeNoose]

3. In the famous words of Melania Chump

[Lil Mushakan]

24. I've seen this a lot on Twitter and my answer is

Yes. I do care. If it bars him from ever being President again, I very much care.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. Rudy, Wood, Powell, and Kracken are available to provide their legal services.

[CaptYossarian]

9. That's the punchline.

Maybe he'll have to pronounce "Nolo Contendre".

[SeattleVet]

30. I think that Orly Taitz is also still available.

I don't recall seeing anything about her getting disbarred.

[yellowdogintexas]

37. perfect! She could clean everyone's teeth afterward

I wonder if she is still around - Stephanie Miller hasn't mentioned her in forever

[barbtries]

32. Guiliani at the least

and maybe all of them will be witnesses.

i never really thought that the first thing trump would run out of would be lawyers.

[Zoonart]

5. I think NO plan IS the plan...

To claim that since he has no legal representation... the trial is inherently unfair, and therefore self nullifying.

The NO PLAN plan seems to be it's favorite gambit.

[unblock]

6. Not clear he needs to mount a defense or even be there

I'm still not convinced 17 republicans will vote to convict.

He might not show up and call the whole thing fake news.

[PJMcK]

8. Trump has moved on

He'll always portray himself as the victim of "the greatest election fraud in history" but he's already looking for his next scam.

Whatever happens in the Senate, perhaps it's irrelevant to him. He never wanted the JOB of being president. He just wanted the POMP and influence of the gig. It also helped that he enjoyed such impenetrable legal immunity while he was president.

It wouldn't me if he doesn't even send a representative to the Senate trial. No matter what he does, he can't win. The best he could hope for is an acquittal but he'll still have been impeached twice.

I think he's moved on.

[Escurumbele]

22. "He never wanted the JOB of being president." that is a true statement but...

He wanted the presidency to use it as a cash machine, his intent was to take as much money as he could from the tax payers to hopefully pay some, or maybe all his debts.

Between the Golf that made him a lot of money by overcharging to have security around, and who knows what else, he figured that eight years as president, which was not a very hard job for him as he didn't do anything, he could make enough money to pay his debts.

[Rhiannon12866]

29. +1000

That is what I have always believed.

[ProfessorGAC]

35. I'm Leaning A Different Way

I don't think it was about making money.
Actually, there's no evidence he knows how to make money. He knows how to lose money, borrow money & squander money, but not sure he has a clue on how to make money.
I think the presidency was about the pomp, the privilege, & the power.
On top of that, speaking of money, being POTUS kept the wolves at bay.
Less about making money than about not having to pay it back.

[poli-junkie]

10. ...or did he secret-pardon himself for this?

[Lonestarblue]

19. That's my question also. Along with Jr., Ivanka, Jared, and Eric.

Wouldn’t secret pardons have to be recorded somewhere to make them legal? I suppose there’s no way to find out if he secretly pardoned himself and the other four unless they are indicted for some federal crime and they whip out their pardons. I do believe he did the secret pardons, though.

[paleotn]

43. The word is...no. He didn't.

Apparently he was convinced that pardoning himself would look like an admission of guilt and would most likely run aground on the rocks of SCOTUS and sink in less than 5 minutes, taking all hands with it. Nothing for hell's spawn either. I still find that hard to believe, but that's the word on the street.

[SledDriver]

11. "...consistent with Trump's behavior this month"

"...consistent with Trump’s behavior this month, where he did little actual work related to the presidency."

*This MONTH*??? Just this month? How about the last *FOUR YEARS*?

I guess if you set the bar low, you can count golfing and live-tweeting Fox & Friends as "work".

[truthisfreedom]

12. It has been theorized that Biden can reveal any secret pardons that 45 created, if he wishes.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. It's a calculation of how to re-enter the scene and get the most publicity

My guess would be stage no defense and then whine Democrats wouldn't allow him a defense forever.

He won't show up in person, he knows he wouldn't be well received.

Some are saying he can't be his own lawyer, but I don't know where that's written.

[GeorgeGist]

14. I think he should defend himself ...

he knows everything, and certainly has the time.

[NCjack]

25. A person who has successfully navigated six corporate bankruptcies

should be able to do his 2nd Senate trial.

[IsItJustMe]

15. Don't see a problem here. He has plenty of cultist United States Senators that would

gladly fill in for his Lawyer. Ted Cruz and Hawley to name a few. Let's do it.

[Marcuse]

16. He's a scofflaw. He'll ignore it just as he ignored the inauguration.

He really is quite weak and ignorant.

[Borderer]

17. His number of impeachments is less than fifteen and "close to zero"

so why would he worry about it? Within a few months there will be zero impeachments outstanding against him. Why would he go to the expense of engaging so-called "experts" over such a small number of impeachments? Being impeached is like the flu. He has been impeached before so has immunity, which some people on a conspiracy website assume lasts a lifetime. He has granted pardons to so many other corrupt Republicans that there is herd immunity. He has a very good brain.

[eggplant]

38. Perfect! You win an internet! n/t

[TeamPooka]

18. The White House Office of Legal Counsel is no longer his law firm.

He's going to have to pay lawyers again.
That will not end well.

[Rhiannon12866]

31. But we know he rarely pays anybody

Their reward is the honor of representing him.

[kristofarian]

41. well sometimes he DOES

pay them but he Always strips them of their
Wallets as he tosses them Under the Bus -- it's his Signature Move.

he figures
they owe
Him.

[Rhiannon12866]

45. I still remember an OP that made it to the top of The Greatest Page here

That told of his behavior towards the caterer who catered his last wedding. She nearly went out of business when he refused to pay her, said she could use the fact that she catered for him in-lieu-of payment. And when his numerous businesses foundered, he took to selling his "name," which has now become a liability

[gldstwmn]

20. I can't wait to see how it all works out for him.

[jalan48]

21. Great! Get it started ASAP then.

[marble falls]

23. He's going to cross his arms and repeat over and over, "I was President, you have no authority", ...

... get found guilty, go back to Florida and some golf.

[Stallion]

26. Wing-it!!!: Trump: "I know more about Impeachments than Anybody"

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

27. "Believe me!"

[canetoad]

34. Ironically, that is probably a true statement

Having been impeached twice.

[Marie Marie]

28. Trump's Brain: If I ignore it, it will just go away.

[George II]

33. He probably figures 17 republicans won't vote to convict anyway.

[ProfessorGAC]

36. Some Lawyer From SC Took The Gig

Heard it on CNN. Don't remember the name.

[Politicub]

42. His ridiculous name is Butch Bowers

And his website looks like it was put together by an illiterate cousin.

[ProfessorGAC]

44. Thanks

That made me remember Bowers, but I don't recall hearing Butch.
Does he have "Esquire" on his business card? Cartoon lawyer?

[apnu]

40. Did Trump have a legal defense team for his first impeachment?

I don't think so. So what is this bullshit?

[mdbl]

46. He didn't need one with a complicit senate

they covered his ass while showing theirs.