Today is the \u201cthat day\u201d in history. The day we will remember in twenty years. Where were you? What did you think? What side were you on? I remember watching Nixon resign. I remember explaining Clinton\u2019s case in my classroom. Here we are again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been weeks. Weeks of listening to the Intelligence Committee hearings, the Judiciary Committee hearings, and yesterday, the Rules Committee hearings. Days to see what the President\u2019s defense against the facts might be. I\u2019ve spent hours of frustration, listening to Jim Jordan\u2019s demonstrably false \u201cLitany of the Four Things\u201d over and over again. I heard it from Republican Congressman Doug Collins once again in the Rules Committee, spoken with heartfelt repetition, as if saying it over and over and over would somehow make it true. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But today, I have the President\u2019s defense, written in hyperbole on White House stationary. It\u2019s addressed to \u201cthe Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives,\u201d but it has been delivered to the masses. Not trying to be \u201csnarky,\u201d but it\u2019s difficult to believe that the President wrote this himself. He doesn\u2019t seem to be the kind that could concentrate long enough to author six pages of single spaced type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonetheless, we now have his personal defense, and what we can expect him to stand on these terms in the Senate trial for his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s starts with Mr. Trump\u2019s interpretation of the US Constitution. He claims that \u201cbribery, high crimes and misdemeanors\u201d as defined by the Founding Fathers must include legal felonies. That seems pretty self-serving, as he has made it clear that the President is beyond the legal system. His lawyers argued in Court that he could literally shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and there would be nothing the law could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He claims that the House is in fact invalid, violating their oaths office, and breaking allegiance to the Constitution. That\u2019s kind of scary: the next step from there is to ignore their legal actions \u2013 a lawlessness that could further divide our government and nation. Oh wait: he already is doing that, refusing to honor any requests for information or testimony. But there\u2019s a darker side, foreshadowing future action, that is more concerning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then he joins in recitation of the Jordan Litany. First he claims that his phone conversation with the Ukrainian President was \u201cinnocent\u201d (no longer \u201cperfect\u201d). He stands on the word \u201cus\u201d versus \u201cme\u201d, stating that he spoke for \u201cus\u201d the United States, not \u201cus\u201d the \u201croyal we\u201d of the Trump Presidency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He then recites the second stanza of the Jordan Litany: Zelenskiy says \u201c\u2026I did nothing wrong and there was NO pressure\u201d. He further outlines that Zelinskiy\u2019s staff and Foreign Minister all claim there was \u201cNO pressure\u201d. But of course, Ukraine and Zelenskiy are still dependent on US aid, still controlled by the President. So, like any hostages, the Ukrainians will say whatever they need to say to protect their further financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Trump explains that Sondland said, \u201c\u2026No Quid Pro Quo\u201d. That the Trump quote came after he was caught with his \u201chand in the cookie jar\u201d is ignored. Where was no \u201cno quid quo pro\u201d in the July 25th<\/sup> phone call as he claims, or the Sondland, Volker and Giuliani meetings in July and August? It was all \u201cquid pro quo\u201d then: give us investigations and get your money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The President then abandons the other two stanzas of the Litany: that the money was delivered and there was no investigation. He moves onto Article II of impeachment, Obstruction of Congress. He wraps himself in Presidential prerogative, claiming that he is simply doing what every other President has done by denying Congress any information. Of course that\u2019s not true: even Nixon gave Congress information and allowed his staff to testify (though the tapes were pried lose by the Supreme Court).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then he made his main complaint \u2013Democrats have been trying to impeach hime since he won the election. This may be the only point he\u2019s got right. There\u2019s no question, \u201cthe Resistance\u201d began before the inauguration, not so much in \u201cimpeachment\u201d mode, but in \u201cprotection mode\u201d for our democracy. Mr. Trump, of course, sees \u201cresistance\u201d as anti-democratic. I bet he didn’t feel that way when the Senate resisted everything that President Obama wanted to do: ask Merrick Garland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He then calls the firing of Jim Comey \u201c\u2026one of our country\u2019s best decisions\u201d and attacks Congressmen Talib and Green for looking for reasons to impeach him. He claims that Democrats were simply looking for a reason, and when the Mueller Investigation (he calls it the \u201cRussia Hoax\u201d) didn\u2019t \u201cget him\u201d then Ukraine was just the next thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again, he\u2019s not wrong. Those of us who carefully read the Mueller Report know how close Mueller was to charging the Trump Campaign, only prevented by the stonewalling of the President and his men. And the \u201cobstruction section,\u201d Volume Two, was clearly indictable \u2013 if Mueller believed he could indict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, changing the subject once again, he makes his attack on the messenger, Adam Schiff. He calls Schiff \u201c\u2026a shameless liar\u201d and a main source of Trump\u2019s troubles. I can only hope that the Senate calls Schiff as a witness (though he will likely be a Impeachment Manager from the House). Schiff would nail the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Trump then goes off on how well he\u2019s done. How could you remove such a successful President, he demands. He lists all of his \u201cachievements\u201d, then claims that he is \u201cthe victim\u201d of unfair and unwarranted investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He tells Democrats:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou are the ones interfering in America\u2019s elections. You are the ones subverting America\u2019s Democracy. You are the ones Obstructing Justice. You are the ones bringing pain and suffering to our Republic for your own selfish personal, and partisan gain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And he whines that the Democrats never apologized for the \u201cRussian Witch Hunt\u201d. Even today, he stands with the Bill Barr definition of the Mueller Report as vindication. It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and the President then jumps to the defense of another victim, poor Carter Page. The FBI was against him, so the FBI must have been against Mr. Trump as well. And he claims the House denied him \u201cdue process\u201d, as if criminal rights defined in the Constitution apply to the impeachment process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The President claims; \u201c\u2026more due process was afforded those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.\u201d He seems pretty hung up on witches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, the House did its job, hearing evidence to find cause that Donald John Trump committed impeachable offenses. The President will get the chance to have his say in the Senate. We will see if McConnell will allow a fair hearing, or even witness testimony. More likely he will simply create a Republican rubber-stamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Trump ends his defense by stating he is writing \u201cfor the purpose of history\u201d in a \u201cpermanent and indelible record\u201d. So his defense will be. He wants Americans one hundred years from now to look back and understand. His letter will make sure they get the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I suspect it will go down in history, somewhere. Right along side the night that Nixon wandered the White House having long talks with the portraits.\u00a0\u00a0Nixon resigned soon after that, but I expect Trump will have to be dragged out of the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article II <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Resistance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
A Victim as President<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Carter Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n