"Lack of witnesses at Trump's trial is not the problem. Witness intimidation is."

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Ted Boutrous
@BoutrousTed
.@danielsgoldman nails it: “Lack of witnesses at Trump’s trial is not the problem. Witness intimidation is.”

Perspective | Lack of witnesses at Trump’s trial is not the problem. Witness intimidation is.
The former president has a record of threatening rhetoric toward anyone who crosses him. Now there’s a record of supporters willing to back him with violence.
washingtonpost.com
6:50 PM · Feb 15, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/02/15/witness-intimidation-trump-impeachment/

On Saturday morning, former president Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial appeared to be drawing to a close in the U.S. Senate. The House managers had brilliantly prosecuted their case, and Trump’s counsel had wrapped up what defense they could muster. The lone outstanding question was whether witnesses would be called. While most observers — including many senators — believed the answer would be no, a Friday night statement from a Republican congresswoman changed the calculus.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) provided information about a heated phone conversation that Trump had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the middle of the riot, which shed light on whether Trump had been aware of the immediate danger to then-Vice President Mike Pence during the mob attack on the Capitol.

“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump reportedly said when McCarthy angrily told him that he needed to call off his supporters. Recognizing that Herrera Beutler’s testimony about that phone conversation might add a dimension to the evidence, Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), the lead impeachment manager, stood in the well of the Senate on Saturday morning and requested that she be called as a witness. The Senate voted yes. But the House managers stood down after it was stipulated that Herrera Beutler’s statement be made part of the record. No witnesses were called. The Senate voted to acquit Trump of inciting insurrection — with 43 not-guilty votes, failing to reach the 67 votes needed for a conviction.

Based on what we now know, the House managers made the right call. The problem was not that they decided against witnesses. The Herrera Beutler statement bolstered what was already a strong case. Additional witnesses almost certainly would not have changed the outcome. Too many Republican senators had already made up their minds not to cross Trump — or his supporters — based largely on technical arguments unrelated to the overwhelming evidence of Trump’s guilt.

*snip*

[niyad]

1. INSURRECTION, wapo. Not "riot".

[Irish_Dem]

2. Witness and jury intimidation is going to be a big issue in any Trump court cases.

He and his pals are like a crime family.