As the senate impeachment trial
quickly approaches, we're hearing a
little more from Trump's legal team
regarding what his defense will be.
And what's fascinating is that his
lawyers aren't focusing so much on
the impeachment charge against him
which alleges that Trump incited
the insurrectionists who then
stormed the capital on January 6th.
Most of the focus of their filling
which is about 14 pages long, was
about the procedural issues, right?
The fact that Donald Trump is no
longer a sitting president.
And since he's no longer a sitting
president, it doesn't make sense to
impeach him.
Trump's lawyers argued that since
Trump is no longer president,
an impeachment trial ought to be
dismissed out of hand
because the constitution quote
requires that a person actually
hold office to be impeached.
But that's not actually true.
Now, House Democrats filed their
own legal filing and
what they argue is that it's
unthinkable that the framers of
the Constitution left us virtually
defenseless against the President's
treachery in his final days
allowing him to misuse power,
violate his oath and incite
insurrection against Congress and
our electoral institutions
simply because he is a lame duck.
They also argue that there's no
January exception to impeachment or
any other provision
of the Constitution.
A president must answer
comprehensively for his conduct in
office from his first day in office
through his last.
And there have been legal experts
who have weighed in on this and
they've argued that there's
absolutely nothing in
the constitution that indicates
that Trump gets a get out of jail
free card simply because he's no
longer in office, what he did took
place while he was still in office,
and so he should face
the consequences for that.
And before I hear your point of
view on this Jenk, I do want
to toss to a video featuring one of
Trump's lawyers, who furthers
the ridiculous argument that I just
outlined for you.
Let's take a look at that.
>> Does this country really need to
see videotapes?
We know now apparently, that Mr.
Swalwell and the other managers
tend to show videotapes of
the riots and people calling in,
people being hurt,
police officers talking.
Why does the country need that now,
we would stipulate that there
was a riot that went on that day.
It was a tragedy.
President Trump has
condemned violence at all times.
Read the words of his speech,
it calls for peacefulness.
This has nothing to do with
President Trump and
the country doesn't need to just
watch videos of riots and unrest.
We need to heal now.
>> Do we need to heal now?
Do you not want to see videos of
what Trump provoked in the Capitol?
You don't want to see that,
is it incriminating?
Does it hurt your feelings?
Now unfortunately 45 Republican
lawmakers have already come out to
argue that the impeachment trial
is unconstitutional,
which gives you a sense of where
they plan to stand on this issue.
And unfortunately, you need at
least 17 Republicans to vote with
Democrats in order to convict,
Trump.
But Trump's lawyers Bruce Castor,
Jr. and David Schoen said in their
filing that Trump telling rally
goers if you don't fight like hell,
you're not going to have a country
anymore moments before the riots
took place, by the way,
had nothing to do with the action
at the Capitol as it was clearly
about the need to fight for
election security in general,
that is a weak argument.
But look, Jake,
my point is it doesn't even matter.
Trump can show up,
he can testify on his behalf.
He can scratch his ass while he's
there testifying, and
it doesn't matter.
45 Republicans have already
preemptively said they're going to
support and empower the kind of
behavior we saw from Trump during
the Trump White House.
>> Actually, there is one scenario
where that wouldn't happen.
So let me explain.
So first of all, to Anna's point
about this still being relevant.
One of the things that could happen
if you get convicted in the Senate
is you can get permanently banned
from politics.
So that would mean that Trump could
never run for office again.
So is that relevant to
a president who might
have committed impeachable
offenses on his way out the door?
Of course it's relevant,
how could it not be relevant?
So to say that there's nothing
relevant to discuss in
the impeachment is absurd, and
everybody knows it.
So the only way that that
Trump wouldn't win given that 45
republicans already voted with him
on the theoretical constitutional
issue, which as we just
explained is not remotely true,
is if he angers some
of those Republican senators by
saying things that aren't true and
it turns out, that's the thing that
Trump is planning to do.
So, [LAUGH] of course, so
five lawyers from Trump's team just
resigned two days ago.
Why did they resign?
One was a difference in strategy.
Trump wanted to talk
almost exclusively about how he had
actually won the election.
Now, wait a minute.
Not only is that not remotely true,
not only is that not an effective
legal strategy in this case, but
you're going to piss off people
like Mitch McConnell,
who are now furious that his life
was in danger, he doesn't give
a damn about anybody else.
But you messed with him.
So the only way you can get people
like Mitch McConnell to rally
Republicans to ban you permanently
from politics is if you go in
there and go, you had it coming.
You guys are all wrong.
I won it anyway and I'll show you.
If you do that,
that's your only chance of losing.
So his previous lawyers were like,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no,
don't go in there and say that.
Mr. Trump, 45 Republicans just told
you that they're going to vote to
acquit you if we just use only
the constitutional argument, so
why don't we just go in and
win on minute one?
We don't have to do anything.
We just go, hey, Republicans
do like we told you to do, okay?
You don't have to do anything.
He's like, no, no, no, no.
I want to prove that I won
the election.
I want to be a witness.
And they're like, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no.
You see everybody that deals with
Trump, goes in thinking, come on,
he's not really insane.
No, I'll convince him.
I'm so smart,
I'll talk him into it.
It's not a big deal.
And then they go and they go,
my God, he's actually insane.
We told you,
we told you he was nuts.
By the way, the second reason he's
having a rift with his lawyers,
the money Lebowski as always,
Trump raised $170 million, not for
his campaign after his campaign for
his legal defense, $170 million
from you schmucks out there,
or MAGA.
The lawyers are asking for
the last round was a million bucks.
He's like, no, I don't want to pay,
no, I want to keep the $170 million
because I don't have any money and
I put an asterix in all those
emails saying I could keep it.
So I didn't want to pay a million
dollars, even though I raised the
money for this specific purpose.
>> Well, Jake,
Deutsche Bank is coming to collect,
the IRS is coming
to collect home boy is broke.
So that $170 million can't be used
for his legal defense, I mean, or
his defense in this
impeachment trial.
And look,
I actually disagree with you.
I think that if Trump's lawyers
decide to show up to the Senate
trial and make the exact arguments
that Trump is hoping that
they make, again, repeating
the nonsensical, ridiculous claims
of widespread voter fraud.
Even if there's any type of
provocation to Republican lawmakers
directly, I guarantee you that
they will not impeach Donald Trump.
I guarantee you.
I mean, this scenario would never
happen.
But my prediction would be if one
of his lawyers made the argument
that hey, Mitch McConnell,
Lindsey Graham, it's your fault,
if they said it's your fault that
this happened, and Trump did
nothing wrong, they still would not
vote to impeach Donald Trump.
That's my guess, because they're
not afraid of Donald Trump.
They're afraid of
Donald Trump's voters.
Because the Q'Anon guys, Trump's
base, that is not some fringe part
of the Republican party.
That is the Republican party.
That consist of the majority
of Republican voters,
the majority of whom had Trump at
an incredibly high approval rating
among Republican voters as he was
leaving the White House.
That's not going to change,
they're afraid of those people, and
so they will not vote to impeach
Donald Trump, which is why this
whole thing is frustrating, and
maybe Trump realizes it and
that's why he doesn't want to spend
a million dollars on his lawyers,
because he doesn't need to.
>> Yeah, well, that's a great
point, of course and this civil war
within the Republican Party is
basically Trump versus McConnell.
And that might be the only fight
that McConnell ever loses because,
yes, the majority of the Republican
Party voters are generally nuts.
And so they like Trump,
they think that all the things that
he's done are just hunky dory and
they don't have any issues with it.
And yes, they would definitely be
furious with Republicans who vote
against them.
They're furious of the Republicans
who voted against him in the house
already, the usual set of death
threats and all that stuff.
But it's not again,
not just fringe.
It's a majority of
the Republican voters.
So the Republicans in
a sense are right to be scared, but
I want to say one last thing about
the the lawyers.
So the old lawyers which lasted
about 10 days, all resigned.
Almost all lawyers who aren't nuts
resigned because Trump thinks you
hire lawyers, not to follow
the law but to break the law.
He's like, if I followed the law,
I wouldn't need
you in the first place.
I need you to help me break the law
and the lawyers go no, I resign
right, except Rudy and Cracken and
Spider and all the nut jobs right?
So the new lawyers you know who
they represented.
One of them represented
Roger Stone.
And well he got off, didn't he?
No he got convicted,
Trump pardoned him after his lawyer
bungled it and, to be fair,
Roger Stone was totally guilty.
So it was a hard case.
But the other guy he represented
Jeffrey Epstein so all the Q'Anon
guys the child molester,
the child molester!
And then they're like,
the guy who's the worst
child molester in American history.
Trump wishes his co conspirator
Ghislaine Maxwell well,
several times ago, I wish her well
I hope she's doing great,
that child molester.
And then hires Jeffrey Epstein's
lawyer, and Q'Anon's like,
Trump's a good guy.
I think you guys I mean,
you broken every record for
stupidity that there is.