Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

their names will be attached to this vote.

i hope they pay for it when they are up for re-election...

I'm talking more of public opinion than Trump's acquittal. Whether the defense gave those senators a talking defense they can use to justify their votes to the public and future history. It shouldn't have, they used misleading and twisted statements but that has never stopped republicans from still supporting Trump.

Donald Trump's many defenses, explained

Quote:

Will this defense work? Yes, in that Trump will likely be acquitted.

"What they are looking for, so many of these Republican senators, most of them, I would even say, is a way out and a way to vote to acquit," said Dana Bash on
CNN after the defense ended its case.

But it may be a harder sell among a larger body of Americans expected to suspend common sense to agree with the Trump defenses.

I don't have as much hope in our fellow man, but then again, I was wrong when I thought Trump would be elected again. I hope I am wrong in how the public will perceive the 2 impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

I hear you. But it doesn’t matter to me whether or not public opinion eventually wakes up and smells the stink of Trump. All that matters to me is whether or not the various and sundry attorneys general and prosecutors who actually do pursue Trump can make him suffer some consequences.

Trump's new lawyers have Canadian connections — through Mafia boss and Bill Cosby victim


One of Trump's impeachment lawyers defended Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, the other didn't heed a Canadian's allegations against Bill Cosby


Both U.S. lawyers named as Donald Trump’s defence team for his second impeachment trial have important Canadian connections: one defended Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto against racketeering murder charges and the other was the prosecutor who declined to pursue sex assault charges against Bill Cosby after the first accusations against the comedian were filed by a Canadian woman.

David Schoen is an accomplished civil rights and criminal lawyer based in Alabama known for his fierce advocacy. He certainly was vocal in his defence of Vito Rizzuto, who was the most powerful Mafia boss in Canada when Schoen represented him in a Brooklyn court.

Schoen was handpicked picked in 2006 by the Rizzuto family after interviewing several attorneys; he was the one they liked the best, National Post was told at the time.

“In my view, there is no need or valid reason whatsoever for Mr. Rizzuto to be incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn, or anywhere. He is no risk of flight whatsoever and certainly no danger to anyone in any community,” Schoen said before Rizzuto’s trial for three gangland murders. The messy 1981 slayings became a rich part of underworld lore and were recreated in the movie Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.

After Rizzuto’s guilty plea and sentencing, Schoen continued his strong advocacy. “I think he was penalized very unfairly,” he said. Even after Rizzuto’s death in 2013 Schoen spoke up for his former client, saying: “He was a very honorable man.”

Loyalty is a quality the former U.S. president likely admires.

Schoen did not return a request for an interview prior to deadline, Tuesday. He told his hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Trump personally called him about the job.

“I was flattered he asked me, and I’m honored to represent him,” Schoen is quoted as saying. He is not ordinarily placed “in that category” of a Trump supporter. Last year he won a suit to get a candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the presidential ballot and he is widely lauded for his civil rights work.

Schoen likely came into Trump’s orbit when he represented Roger Stone, a Republican strategist and longtime friend and advisor to Trump. Stone was convicted in 2019 of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding and five counts of making false statements, but was pardoned by Trump as his presidency drew to a close.

Now that Schoen is representing Trump, his connection with another former client is making headlines: Jeffrey Epstein.

Schoen had met with the man accused of underage sex trafficking several times to discuss leading his defence team. They last met for five hours mapping out a legal strategy a few days before Epstein died in jail, ruled a suicide but with lingering questions.
...............

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/trumps-new-lawyers-have-canadian-connections-through-mafia-boss-and-bill-cosby-victim

A 57-43 majority of the Senate voted to convict Trump, but fell short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Seven Republicans joined the 50 lawmakers who caucus with Democrats. Trump was also acquitted a year ago in his first trial about his dealings with Ukraine, when a majority opposed conviction and only one Republican joined Democrats voting to convict.

The thumb bandit is back.

Anyway, a ray of sunshine:

Quote:

A 57-43 majority of the Senate voted to convict Trump, but fell short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. Seven Republicans joined the 50 lawmakers who caucus with Democrats. Trump was also acquitted a year ago in his first trial about his dealings with Ukraine, when a majority opposed conviction and only one Republican joined Democrats voting to convict.

USA Today