{"id":147693,"date":"2019-12-12T22:43:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=147693"},"modified":"2019-12-12T23:54:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T06:54:26","slug":"i-the-jury-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/12\/i-the-jury-2.html","title":{"rendered":"I, the Jury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sure, everyone sort of expected that the GOP Senate would never actually convict Trump in an impeachment trial, and that Mitch McConnell, as Republican Majority Leader in that chamber of congress would make certain it never happened.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, it&#8217;s kind of shocking that he&#8217;d actually, publicly confess \/ brag that he&#8217;s in the bag for Trump.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#39;s worth noting that Mitch will give this oath: &quot;\u2018I solemnly swear &#8230; that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GOPerjury?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GOPerjury<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iyjyWlX2id\">https:\/\/t.co\/iyjyWlX2id<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ***Dave Hill (@Three_Star_Dave) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Three_Star_Dave\/status\/1205362696813547520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 13, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Everything I do during this, I&#8217;m coordinating with White House Counsel. There will be no difference between the President&#8217;s position and our position as to how to handle this &#8230; in total coordination with the White House Counsel&#8217;s office and the people who represent the President &#8230;.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Can I just note how &#8230; profoundly <em>wrong<\/em> this is?<\/p>\n<p>The US Constitution &#8212; you know, the thing Mitch (and other federal officials) swore an oath to uphold and defend &#8212; the Constitution dictates that the Senate serves as the place for an impeachment trial. The House indicts (with articles of impeachment), and the Senate acts as jurors (with the Chief Justice of the United States serving as judge).<\/p>\n<p>Mitch McConnell, effectively the jury foreman, just proclaimed he&#8217;s coordinating with the defense counsel.<\/p>\n<p>And if that oath to uphold and defend the Constitution isn&#8217;t enough, there&#8217;s an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawfareblog.com\/imagining-senate-trial-reading-senate-rules-impeachment-litigation\">additional oath<\/a> Mitch will be taking, along with every other Senator.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I solemnly swear &#8230; that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald J. Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I don&#8217;t see how he can possibly do that, if he&#8217;s already confessing his coordination with Donald Trump&#8217;s counsel.<\/p>\n<p>McConnell&#8217;s statements are emblematic of the ultimate corruption of the Republican party, whose sole purpose has become, it seems, to protect and defend the presidency of Donald Trump, regardless of what he says or does.<\/p>\n<p>Given that, it&#8217;s unlikely that the impeachment trial will result in a conviction, not because there is\u00a0 (or isn&#8217;t) sufficient evidence to convict, but because the GOP majority (as led by Mitch McConnell) simply are disinterested in &#8220;impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, there are loud rumors that Mitch will simply push through a vote to acquit, without any witnesses being heard (this after the GOP spend the last month or two complaining about not being able to call witnesses, even as the White House forbade any of its people to respond to subpoenas to act as witnesses).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">McConnell is urgently trying to get enough senators to sweep this all under the rug without the risk of inconvenient White House witnesses being called. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YuVcWoJtSP\">https:\/\/t.co\/YuVcWoJtSP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ***Dave Hill (@Three_Star_Dave) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Three_Star_Dave\/status\/1205156789014188032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Through such tactics, they can ensure that Donald Trump won&#8217;t be convicted under the articles of impeachment. But history &#8212; assuming it is written by Americans &#8212; not be kind to their dereliction of duty, and their being forsworn of their oaths.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mitch McConnell, the jury foreman in the impeachment trial is admitting that he&#8217;s collaborating with defense counsel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[78,532,358,1071],"tags":[1990,723],"class_list":["post-147693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-tweets","category-elections-2016","category-poor-citizenship","category-trump","tag-goperjury","tag-nt","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138896,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/05\/25\/the-do-nothing-democrats.html","url_meta":{"origin":147693,"position":0},"title":"The &#8220;Do Nothing&#8221; Democrats","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 25-May-19 9:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a fascinating, if maddening, case of \"The Big Lie\"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~Tweets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137693,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/01\/19\/trump-tightens-the-wall-debate-but-not-meaningfully.html","url_meta":{"origin":147693,"position":1},"title":"Trump tightens the wall debate, but not meaningfully","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 19-Jan-19 3:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no doubt that there are a lot of folk who will say, \"Look, Trump offered meaningful concessions, so now it's all the Dems' fault if the government stays shut down.\"But the concessions Trump offered were trivial and transient. Temporary protection for \"Dreamers\" and those who have been granted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135457,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/28\/deal-making-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":147693,"position":2},"title":"The Deal-Making President","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 28-Nov-17 11:27am","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump ran, of course, on the basis of what an incredible business leader he is, his ability to make great deals -- the greatest deals -- and his expertise in getting things done. So the federal government is running into one of its all-too-regular show-downs of shut-down chicken, because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Binsults%2Bnegotiations.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Binsults%2Bnegotiations.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Trump%2Bmeme%2Binsults%2Bnegotiations.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":138952,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/05\/28\/in-case-there-was-any-doubt-mitch-mcconnell-is-a-partisan-hack.html","url_meta":{"origin":147693,"position":3},"title":"In case there was any doubt, Mitch McConnell is a partisan hack","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 28-May-19 10:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"His reversal on SCOTUS appointment timing settles it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Poor Citizenship&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Poor Citizenship","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/poor-citizenship"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mitch-mcconnell-laugh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mitch-mcconnell-laugh.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mitch-mcconnell-laugh.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mitch-mcconnell-laugh.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mitch-mcconnell-laugh.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mitch-mcconnell-laugh.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":130207,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/16\/mitch-mcconnell-is-a-dolt-the-informal-three-year-presidency-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":147693,"position":4},"title":"Mitch McConnell is a Dolt (The Informal Three Year Presidency Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-Mar-16 6:36pm","format":false,"excerpt":"GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is, for the moment, sticking to his guns about not even holding hearings on anyone President Obama nominates to the Supreme Court. And he's trotting out the same, lame excuses:'Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed again Wednesday to block President Obama's Supreme Court nomination,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137714,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/01\/25\/trump-backs-down-on-holding-the-federal-government-hostage-for-a-few-weeks.html","url_meta":{"origin":147693,"position":5},"title":"Trump backs down on holding the federal government hostage (for a few weeks)","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 25-Jan-19 12:59pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Though I can't help thinking it's so he can come up with an even more dastardly plan. And, even if folk are again getting paid (and folk other than contractors will eventually get back pay), we're still in a \"The government is shutting down again in a few weeks\" hostage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147703,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147693\/revisions\/147703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}