Senators break into laughter as Schiff points out ironic difference between Trump's legal defense and DOJ arguments

The last big question in President Trump's impeachment trial is whether a handful of Republicans will open the door to witness testimony. Thursday's Late Show dramatized how hard Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is working to keep that from happening.

On #LSSC tonight: John Bolton has a lot of obstacles to overcome before he’s a witness in the impeachment trial. pic.twitter.com/GtYuRuYSFv — The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) January 31, 2020

"Today, senators wrapped up the Q&A — tomorrow they move on to the F&U," Stephen Colbert joked in his monologue. "Now, there was a short moment of levity" from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), but also a "frightening call to action" from Trump's legal team. That invitation to "join the Hive-mind" capped "a couple of strange days for Trump's lawyers," he said. "Yesterday, Alan Dershowitz made this interesting argument: Trump can't be impeached because he believed his re-election is in the national interest," and "if this rationale alarms you, well, you're in good company,"

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, compared Trump to French King Louis XIV, and Colbert agreed, listing a handful of similarities. "The only real difference is Trump's motto: 'Let me eat cake,'" he said. Still, Dershowitz has "stiff competition" from Pam Bondi in the race for Trump's worst lawyer.

Bondi "clearly could not find her notes, and was lost without them," Seth Meyers said at Late Night, playing the clip (several times) and laughing. "Democratic House prosecutors have laid out a very clear, specific, detailed case against President Trump: He held up hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine in order to extort that country to help him cheat in the 2020 election by digging up dirt on Joe Biden," Meyers said. Trump and his team, on the other hand, "can't keep their talking points straight because they don't have a coherent defense."

wonderingsocrates on January 30th, 2020 at 20:54 UTC »

...

"You can't make this stuff up," said Schiff. As CNN reports, a DOJ lawyer on Thursday said if the House needs to enforce a subpoena, one of its options is to use its impeachment powers. As a reminder, Trump was impeached on obstruction of Congress after ordering aides to defy subpoenas that would have brought them to the House floor as witnesses. During the court hearing (related to the Trump administration's efforts to change the census, not an impeachment-related hearing), DOJ lawyer James Burnham argued the House can't ask the courts to enforce subpoenas — precisely what Trump's impeachment lawyers are suggesting Democrats should have done. Trump's legal team says Democrats should have fought in court for further witnesses, while Trump administration lawyers say courts have no right to enforce congressional subpoenas.

donnie's ironic catch-22 legal defense

_randapanda_ on January 30th, 2020 at 20:53 UTC »

I love that he’s entering this stuff into the record

whoriasteinem on January 30th, 2020 at 20:52 UTC »

Schiff said that while Trump's legal team argued the House should have gone to court to force witnesses like former National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify via subpoena, Justice Department lawyers were — nearly simultaneously — arguing in a separate case that it's up to Congress to enforce subpoenas through measures like... impeachment.

This would be funny if it wasn't already a foregone conclusion that Republicans will give zero fucks.