Trump Impeachment Trial v2.0 – Day 2… or, Senator Mike Lee Gets Pissed

Suddenly, a Juror becomes a Witness!

Senator from Utah, Mike Lee suddenly stood up and said…

“Statements were attributed to me moments ago by the House Impeachment Managers. Statements relating to the content of conversations between a phone call involving President Trump and Senator Tuberville were not made by me. They’re not accurate, and they’re contrary to fact. I move pursuant to Rule 16 that they be stricken from the record.”

There is NO court of jurisdiction EVER which has allowed a juror to become a witness also.

Lead Impeachment Manager Representative Jamie Raskin, Maryland-8, Democrat

In the trial’s final hour of arguments on Day 2, Wednesday, February 11, 2021, Representative David Cicilline, an Impeachment Manager, and Democrat of Rhode Island-1, spoke of then-President Trump who, during the very midst of the insurrection and breach of the Capitol building, had mistakenly called Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah, in an effort to reach newly-elected first-time politician Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, a former football coach for Auburn University. In describing the call, which was detailed in numerous news reports, Representative Cicilline asserted that Senator Lee had stood by as Trump asked Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification of President Biden’s electoral votes.

In an interview with Deseret News on January 7, 2021, Senator Mike Lee described a phone call made to him by then-President Trump, which reported that,

“With a mob of election protesters laying siege to the U.S. Capitol, Sen. Mike Lee had just ended a prayer with some of his colleagues in the Senate chamber when his cellphone rang.

Caller ID showed the call originated from the White House. Lee thought it might be national security adviser Robert O’Brien, with whom he’d been playing phone tag on an unrelated issue. It wasn’t O’Brien. It was President Donald Trump.

“How’s it going, Tommy?” the president asked.

Taken a little aback, Lee said this isn’t Tommy.

“Well, who is this? Trump asked. “It’s Mike Lee,” the senator replied. “Oh, hi Mike. I called Tommy.”

Lee told the Deseret News he realized Trump was trying to call Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the newly elected Republican from Alabama and former Auburn University football coach. Lee walked his phone over to Tuberville who was talking to some colleagues.

“Hey, Tommy, I hate to interrupt but the president wants to speak with you,” Lee said.

Tuberville and Trump talked for about five to 10 minutes, Lee said, adding that he stood nearby because he didn’t want to lose his cellphone in the commotion. The two were still talking when panicked police ordered the Capitol to be evacuated because people had breached security.

As police were getting anxious for senators to leave, Lee walked over to retrieve his phone.

“I don’t want to interrupt your call with the president, but we’re being evacuated and I need my phone,” he said.

Tuberville said, “OK, Mr. President. I gotta go.”

Lee said when he later asked Tuberville about the conversation, he got the impression that Trump didn’t know about the chaos going on in the Senate chamber.

Impeachment Manager David Ciciline, a Democrat representing Rhode Island-1 said,

“Senator Lee described it. He had just ended a prayer with his colleagues here in the Senate chamber, and the phone rang. It was Donald Trump. Senator Lee explains that the phone call goes something like this. ‘Hey, Tommy,’ Trump asks. Sen. Lee says, ‘This isn’t Tommy.’ He hands the phone to Senator Tuberville.

“Senator Lee then confirmed that he stood by as Senator Tuberville and President Trump spoke on the phone. And on that call, Donald Trump reportedly asked Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification process.”

Senator Lee NEVER objected to the news report which he himself had told to Deseret News on January 7, 2021.  Nor did he note that any corrections should be made to it, and there is no errata or corrections cited on the story.

As Impeachment Manager Representative Ciciline was speaking, Senator Lee became apparently agitated and wrote in large letters upon a sheet of paper from a legal pad at his desk “This is not what happened.” and then handed the paper to David Schoen, one of Trump’s lawyers.

As Lead Impeachment Manager Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat representing Maryland’s 8th Congressional District, was at the speaker’s podium and was attempting to close the day’s session, Senator Lee then stood up, and

Lamar Alexander And Lisa Murkowksi Vote To Acquit Charles Manson

United States Senator from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander

Tennessee’s United States Senator, Lamar Alexander (b.1940), a 3-term Republican who is retiring this year, recently said of his decision to vote to acquit the President in the Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump, that, “I’m going to vote to acquit. I’m very concerned about any action that we could take that would establish a perpetual impeachment in the House of Representatives whenever the House was a different party than the president. That would immobilize the Senate.”

Alexander’s remarks were made in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press” which aired Sunday, 02 February 2020.

He had previously issued a press release 30 January 2020, which stated in part that,

“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But

Did Trump ever express concern for Ukraine corruption BEFORE Joe Biden started campaigning?

While the news reporting outlets (aka “media”) do their best to report on the goings-on of the Senate Trial of the Impeachment of Donald John Trump, President of the United States, they are hampered significantly because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has disallowed electronic devices in the chambers – even for Senators – and the press is squirreled away in a little cubby corner of the viewing gallery on the 2nd floor.

The only cameras are 2 television cameras owned/operated by the Senate. Even C-SPAN (the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) must carry the Senate’s broadcast version of the public proceedings.

Majority Leader McConnell did that specifically to limit exposure of the event to the press, which in turn reports to the public. He claimed that it would prevent “grandstanding” and “preening” by the Senators to the press, some of whom have a well-known-and-deserved reputation for being attention hogs.

West Virginia Senator Robert C. Byrd’s body lies in repose in the United States Senate Chamber. Pool photograph by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

As an aside, the Senate is, as groups go, a very stodgy group of curmudgeonly old White men (primarily). Unlike the more vigorous (some say rancorous) House of Representatives, they are very “straight-laced,” and sticklers for the rules – which Majority Leader McConnell enforces with an iron fist. Aside from the C-SPAN cameras during Senate proceedings, they do not allow (and have not allowed) photography. During the funeral for Senator Robert C. Bryd (D-WV), the longest-serving Senator, a rarity of a still camera was allowed to make a few limited photographs of the event.
Read the related story here: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/behind-46/

“The very Senate that has defied still photographers and an independent television camera asked both Sotomayor and Kagan in their confirmation hearings if they would support camera coverage of Supreme Court proceedings,” Mr. Crowley said.

As it is now, he said, “every image you see out of the House and Senate, except the State of the Union, is controlled by the government.”

“They would say, ‘Senator Byrd doesn’t want any technology in there.’ They used him as an excuse.”

“With respect to Senator Byrd,” Mr. Crowley said, “I hope the leadership of both chambers will revisit the issue.”

Often, try as they might, the media doesn’t get it 100% error-free, though to their credit, they often acknowledge that their transcriptions are rushed, and for that reason, may contain errors. Thus, the only spot-on word-for-word transcript of the days proceedings are to be found in the Congressional Record of the Senate, which is published daily.

The following is excerpted from the CRS. The “S663” refers to the page number in the journal from which it is taken, and refers specifically to the Senate’s proceedings. The “116” in the url refers to the 116th Congress, while “CREC” in the url refers to “Congressional RECord.”

Congressional Record – Senate S663 January 29, 2020

https://www.congress.gov/116/crec/2020/01/29/CREC-2020-01-29-pt1-PgS645-2.pdf

–––––

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. Chief Justice.

The CHIEF JUSTICE. Senator.

Ms. COLLINS. I send a question to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator MURKOWSKI.

The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you. The question is to counsel for the President: Witnesses testified before the House that President Trump consistently expressed the view that Ukraine was a corrupt country. Before Vice President Biden formally entered the 2020 presidential race in April 2019, did President Trump ever mention Joe or Hunter Biden in connection with corruption in Ukraine to former Ukrainian President Poroshenko or other Ukrainian officials, President Trump’s cabinet members or top aides, or others? If so, what did the President say to whom and when?

Mr. Counsel PHILBIN. Mr. Chief Justice, Senators, thank you for that question. Of course, I think it is important at the outset to frame the answer by bearing in mind I am limited to what is in the record, and

Dershowitz: Trump’s violation of law doesn’t apply because he is trying to get re-elected.

Alan Dershowitz Argues Presidential Quid Pro Quos Aimed At Reelection Are Not Impeachable

When I read the headline, I LITERALLY laughed out loud.

Yet, it would sad, if it weren’t so funny.

Alan Dershowitz, a once-respected attorney, retired Harvard Law School professor, and member of Trump’s legal team in his Senate trial for Impeachment, has recently argued that Trump did not violate law when he withheld Ukraine money, and asked Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky saying “I would like you to do us a favor, though” in the now-infamous July 25th phone call, because… he is trying to get re-elected.

That, of course, comes after the General Accountability Office wrote in their report that, “we conclude that OMB violated the ICA.”

The preposterous absurdity of that argument is blatantly evident. In other words, the POTUS can do anything illegal to get re-elected.

New York Magazine published a story with exactly such a headline:
Dershowitz: President Can Abuse Power If It Helps Get Them Reelected

Using that argument, one could claim that

House Judiciary Committee Votes to Impeach Trump, Senate Likely Won’t Convict

The House Judiciary Committee has concluded Voting on Articles of Impeachment.
Read them here:
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20191211/110331/BILLS-116755ih-U1.pdf

Article 1 – Abuse of Power: 23 Ayes, 17 Noes
Article 2 – Obstruction of Congress: 23 Ayes, 17 Noes

As expected, based upon the evidence, the Democrats have voted to impeach POS45, and the GOP denies anything ever happened.

To be reported to the House.
Committee is adjourned.

The House, with 235 Democratic members, has the majority over Republicans’ 199. Presumably, all Democrats will vote to approve the Articles of Impeachment.

From there (the House), if approved by the House, the Articles of Impeachment would go to the Senate for a Trial, which would be presided over by SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts.

Senate votes to watch:
1.) Mitt Romney-UT, R
2.) Cory Gardner-CO, R, Class 2, up for re-election
3.) Tim Scott-SC, R,
4.) Susan Collins-ME, R, Class 2, up for re-election
5.) Angus King-ME, I
6.) Rand Paul-KY, R
7.) John Kennedy-LA, R
8.) Lisa Murkowski-AK, R, Class 2, up for re-election
9.) Martha McSally-AZ, R, up for Special Election in 2020, appointed to fulfill John McCain’s (Class 3) term, following John Kyl’s resignation. General Election will be in 2022.
10.) Lamar Alexander-TN, R, Class 2, retiring

Senator Alexander issued a written statement about impeachment October 8, 2019 as follows:

“It’s inappropriate for the president to be talking with foreign governments about investigating his political opponents, but impeachment would be a mistake. An election, which is just around the corner, is the right way to decide who should be president. Impeachment has never removed a president. It will only divide the country further.

“If the House impeaches the president, the Senate would be the jury. There would be many twists and turns between now and a Senate trial. Therefore, as a potential juror, I will have nothing more to say about impeachment until all the evidence is presented and all the arguments are made.”

All are GOPers, save Angus King, who defected from the Democrats to become independent in 1993, though like Bernie Sanders, he caucuses with them.

There are 53 GOP Senators, and to convict, and thereby remove from office, requires a Constitutionally-mandated ⅔ vote of members present (Article I, section 3). The VP CANNOT participate.

I sincerely doubt the Senate will vote to convict

– even on Obstruction of Congress charges –

despite overwhelming open evidence that he did,
and his own public admissions that he did.

The Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of all Senators present to convict. If all 100 are present, that’s 67 votes.

There are 53 GOPers in the Senate (and 2 Independents, who caucus with the 45 Democrats), which would mean that, in order to obtain the 67 necessary votes, 20 GOPers would have to vote with the Democrats and Independents (who presumably will vote to convict). And, there are 4 GOP Senators retiring in 2020 – which is important, because they could vote their conscience to convict, and not be concerned about re-election.

Even if all 10 votes to watch (as mentioned above) voted with the Democrats, there’d still be 10 more GOP votes needed to convict, and that most likely ain’t gonna’ happen.

This is STRICTLY a power play, and the ONLY reason the GOP tolerates Trump is because of a line in the Bob Seger song “Night Moves”:

“I used her, she used me; neither one cared.”

However, come November, there’ll be several Senators up for re-election, and five announced retirements, and in at least one

“Too Big To Fail” Banks Get Bailout, Gave Customers The Shaft

Update: Saturday, 20 February 2021
NOTE: TO THE READER: As you read any story mentioning, involving or written by Donald V. Watkins, Sr., it must be borne in mind that he is now a Federal Convict, and along with his son, Donald V. Watkins, Jr., was found guilty of numerous charges. “Donald Watkins Sr. was convicted of seven counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Donald Watkins Jr. was convicted of one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy.” As of the date of this note, he is in Federal Custody at Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center, an administrative security facility, having been relocated away from the minimum security Federal Prison Camp on Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

DONALD V. WATKINS
Register Number: 36223-001
Age:	72
Race:	Black
Sex:	Male
Located at: Oklahoma City FTC
Release Date: 01/10/2024

Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama
FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO PRISON IN MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR INVESTMENT FRAUD SCHEME
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/father-and-son-sentenced-prison-multimillion-dollar-investment-fraud-scheme

Here also is the SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT dated December 2018 entitled as:
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN DIVISION, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. DONALD V. WATKINS, SR. and DONALD V. WATKINS, JR. – 2:18-cr-166-KOB-TMP
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1116081/download

See also: Donald Watkins, Son Sentenced For Federal Fraud Convictions
Updated Jul 16, 2019; Posted Jul 16, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/07/donald-watkins-son-to-be-sentenced-for-federal-fraud-convictions.html

See also: Donald Watkins’ $1.5 Billion Question: Was It Ever Real?
Updated Feb 23, 2019; Posted Feb 23, 2019
https://www.al.com/news/2019/02/donald-watkins-15-billion-question-was-it-ever-real.html

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Chalk One Up for the Working Man

By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on December 18, 2016
Used with permission

On Thursday, I tried a case for a close friend on mine in the Jefferson County, Alabama District Court in Bessemer, Alabama. My friend is a hard working Bessemer resident and family man whose world was turned upside down when Citibank sold his credit card account to San Diego-based junk debt buyer, Midland Funding, LLC. He is one of millions of bank credit card customers each year whose accounts are bundled in loan pools and then sold to junk debt buyers without the customer’s knowledge.

Midland Funding is one of several mega junk debt buyers in America. This group of financial sharks buys unsecured bank debt for pennies on a dollar and then strong arms debtors who miss one or more of their monthly payments. Midland is part of a multi-billion industry of shady financial predators.

In my friend’s case, Citibank sold his account to Midland Funding. The balance on the account was $6,800. My friend paid his credit card monthly on a regular basis, but had an unexpected hiccup in his monthly cash flow a couple of years after he opened the account. As a result he failed to make a couple of his payments on time. When this occurred Citibank sold my friend’s account to Midland, and Midland eventually sued my friend. This is how my friend became my client.

Remember, Citibank had a similar hiccup during the Great Recession of 2008. The bank requested and received a total of $181.6 billion in federal bailout assistance to keep from collapsing. In fact, Citibank led the banking industry’s “welfare queens” by receiving more financial bailout assistance than any big bank in the U.S.

Citibank’s “Thank You” to the taxpayers like my client, whose tax dollars made the financial bailout possible for these big banks, was the low-down act of selling his credit card account to a shark like Midland Funding. The big banks were quick to take taxpayer-sponsored financial assistance, but slow to give taxpayers similar financial assistance in return.

[Editor’s Note: Alamerica Bank, which is

Huntsville Judge Donna Pate Sentences Daniel Ray Proctor to TWO Life Sentences on Theft

Alabama‘s prison system will again be pushed to the taxpayers’ breaking point by stupidity such as this sentence. It is extreme – even with the increased severity of punishment required for habitual offenders.

This is the so-called “Three Strikes and you’re out” law in action.

Realistically, “Three Strikes and you’re out” only applies in baseball games. But someone thought it sounded cool, and morphed it into a law in California. Subsequently, California’s prison population has exploded because that state adopted that law. They’ve now seriously modified it. It may be time to rethink sentencing guidelines in Alabama. But the likelihood of that happening is practically negligible.

Thanks to our legislature, this man will now burden every honest Alabama taxpayer.

That’s not to say he and others like him should not be punished, but rather acknowledges the failure of a pop-culture-driven bumper sticker slogan to effectively remedy, ameliorate or mitigate criminality. In essence, there is little or nothing done to correct, and much done to punish. Oddly, every state has a “Department of Corrections,” rather than a ‘Department of Punishments.’ There’s a reason for that, and it’s because there is a two-fold purpose (to punish and correct), with the higher one being correction.

Yet standing in stark contrast is the as-yet-untried, and officially indefinitely delayed case of Amy Bishop, the Harvard PhD-educated biology professor who went on a shooting rampage and killed three, and wounded three other colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Even though she has a track record of mental instability,

Republican Alabama Senator Scott Beason’s recorded racist remark to play in Federal Court

Were I to call Scott Beason a derogatory name, I would be falling into the same type trap & garbage dump in which he lives & from which he operates. So I shall refrain. However, suffice it to say what he says, and what he has done – collaborating with Kansas racist GOP Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach to write a horrid experimental law in Alabama – remains proof positive of their misguided notions. In their case, it’s not “airs of superiority,” they really believe it!

Judge says defense can play aborigine tape in bingo trial

Published: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 4:23 PM     Updated: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 4:27 PM

By Kim Chandler — The Birmingham News

Republican Alabama state senator Scott Beason

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — The federal judge in the State House vote-buying trial said he will let defense lawyers play recordings in which a wire-wearing legislator says disparaging things about black voters, if they become relevant during the trial.

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson told prosecutors that it’s not his job to “sanitize” the motives of Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, who recorded State House conversations for investigators.

“These are obviously explosive, explosive recordings,” prosecutor Edward T. Kang told Thompson.

“I agree it’s explosive, but it’s only explosive because Mr. Beason made the comments,” Thompson responded.

Thompson said jurors should have the full picture of Beason’s possible motives when

Casey Anthony juror signs book deal

Tomorrow’s headlines today.

In a sure-to-be-a-hit-deal, a juror in the murder trial of Casey Anthony has signed a book deal with publishers for an undisclosed amount. Speculators have said the deal may be at least worth as much as

Why the State should NOT execute Amy Bishop

Yeah… she’s a crazy ass bitch. No question about it.

But, do YOU want to pay out the nose for all the numerous and extensive mandatory appeals that accompany the death penalty?

Here’s an excerpt from today’s (Thursday, 18 February 2010) front-page Huntsville Times article by Staff Writer Patricia McCarter: “To receive a court-appointed attorney, a defendant must