THE CASE OF THE WILLFULLY BLIND AND BIASED JURORS

©Wendell Griffen, 2020

January 22, 2020

Little Rock, Arkansas

The United States Senate debated from 1 p.m. on January 21 until almost 2 a.m. January 22 about the procedural resolution which established the rules for the impeachment trial of Donald John Trump, 45^th President of the United States.  The nation and world watched as three major developments happened that will do more than determine the process for Trump’s trial.  The upshot of what happened arguably signaled the beginning of the end of democracy in the United States.

First, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made a last-minute change to the proposed resolution for the proposed trial rules.  McConnell originally intended drafted rules that call for the House impeachment managers and President Trump’s defense counsel to each have twenty-four (24) hours for opening statements that would be delivered over the course of two twelve-hour business days.  When the trial began, McConnell submitted a proposed resolution that contained hand-written notes calling for each side to deliver opening statements over the course of three eight-hour business days. 

Second, McConnell’s Republican majority voted (53-47) to not allow witnesses and documents to be subpoenaed from the White House Department of Defense, Department of State, and Office of Management and Budget for the beginning of Trump’s trial.

The nation and world watched Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduce eleven (11) proposed amendments to McConnell’s trial rules resolution aimed at authorizing the Senate to subpoena live witnesses and records from the White House, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), State Department, and Defense Department (Pentagon) related to the charges that Trump abused presidential power and obstructed the Congress. 

The nation and world watched House managers and Trump’s lawyers argue each amendment. 

And the nation and world watched McConnell’s Republican majority vote to table each amendment.  The vote to table Schumer’s amendments means that White House, OMB, State Department, and Pentagon witnesses and records related to the impeachment charges against Trump will not be available until after the following events have transpired, if at all: 

·        after both sides have presented six days of opening statements (three days per side) starting at 1 p.m. today; and

·        after Senators have questioned each side (through written questions submitted to and read by Chief Justice John Roberts) for up to 16 hours concerning its opening statement; and

·        if Senators then vote to issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents from the White House, OMB, State Department, and Pentagon. 

The eleven votes to table amendments that would have authorized the Senate to subpoena witnesses and records at the beginning of the trial mean that Trump’s trial will begin without any witnesses and documentary evidence available to House managers and Trump’s lawyers to present concerning the impeachment charges against Trump.  McConnell’s procedural resolution for Trump’s trial, as adopted by a 53-47 party line vote, sets up the possibility that Senators may vote to dismiss the charges against Trump after the opening statements without any witness testimony and documentary evidence.  McConnell’s resolution also raises the possibility that Senators may vote whether to convict or acquit Trump of the charges without any witness testimony and documentary evidence. 

Has another trial occurred where lawyers were prevented from obtaining witness testimony and documentary evidence they could tell the jury about during opening statements?  Opening statements allow lawyers to tell jurors what the evidence will be that supports their competing versions of the facts about the case.  The McConnell procedural rules adopted for Trump’s trial call for each side to spend three days talking about what they expect to prove during a trial where no witness testimony and documentary evidence has been subpoenaed thus far, and may not be subpoenaed at all. 

It takes time to prepare to introduce witness testimony and documentary evidence for trials.  Before opening statements are delivered, lawyers need to know who the witnesses are, what the witnesses know, and what the witnesses can reliably testify about.  Lawyers need to know how many documents exist concerning the controversy and what they reveal.  Lawyers need to know what the witnesses know and can testify about the documents before delivering opening statements in any trial, let alone an impeachment trial.  And no presiding judge begins a trial where the lawyers don’t know what witnesses will testify and what documents will be introduced as relevant evidence about the controversy.  However, opening statements will be delivered for Trump’s impeachment trial without House managers, Trump’s lawyers, and Chief Justice Roberts knowing who the witnesses (if any) will testify and what documents (if any) will be introduced. 

Finally, McConnell and his Republican majority voted by the same 53-47 margin during the early hours of January 22 against an amendment to the procedural rules that would have authorized Chief Justice John Roberts to decide if witness testimony and documentary evidence is relevant during Trump’s trial.  In this trial the Chief Justice of the United States – the highest ranking judge in the nation – has no authority to rule whether testimony and documentary evidence is relevant, or even whether it can be subpoenaed. Judges in law school mock trials have more authority than Chief Justice Roberts will exercise during Trump’s impeachment trial. 

Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, like Trump University, Trump’s business dealings, his now defunct charitable foundation, and everything else associated with Trump, is a sham.  Republican Senators don’t intend to be impartial.  They don’t want to see witnesses, observe demeanor, assess credibility during cross-examination, and determine whether witness testimony proves if Trump abused presidential power and obstructed Congress. They don’t want Chief Justice Roberts to behave like a trial judge by hearing and ruling on motions that witness testimony and documentary evidence are relevant to proving whether Trump abused presidential power and obstructed Congress.   McConnell’s procedural rules practically guarantee that Trump’s impeachment “trial” will be a farce. 

Thanks to Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republican Senators, yesterday the United States Senate stepped away from any pretense of upholding the Constitution of the United States and respecting its guarantee of three co-equal branches of federal government.  They willfully voted the Senate into an indefinite servile status to Trump and any other president.  And because the Senate prides itself on following tradition, the vote to disempower the Chief Justice from making evidentiary rulings about whether evidence is relevant and admissible reduced Chief Justice Roberts and his successors in office to figureheads during future impeachment trials. 

A political system where power is centered in one individual or party and abuse of power is not subject to oversight and correction is an autocracy.   Yesterday, the United States Senate essentially voted to accord Donald Trump and every president after him the same political status as Vladimir Putin, Trump’s main role model.  Thanks to Mitch McConnell and his willfully blind and biased Republican-majority voting bloc Donald Trump is now de facto dictator of the United States of America.

Many people may consider that an unfair and dismal assessment about Trump’s trial and what it portends for the future of the United States.  I agree that my assessment is dismal, but deny that it is unfair.  Impeachment is the ultimate process by which corrupt and/or abusive political leadership can be challenged and ousted. 

But the impeachment process can’t work unless the legislative and judicial branches exercise power to charge corrupt and/or abusive political leaders with misconduct.  The impeachment process can’t work if legislative leaders can’t or won’t find and consider evidence relevant to charges of political misconduct.  It certainly can’t work if legislative leaders choose to be lackeys for an allegedly corrupt and/or abusive politician and disempower impartial judges from ruling whether proposed witness testimony and documentary evidence is relevant and admissible.

Hail to Donald John Trump, Autocrat in Chief.