Former President Trump’s lawyers refused Friday to say what Trump knew about the Violation of the Capitol and when.
Trump’s lawyers refused to answer questions about two key areas: when Trump first learned of the capitol attack and the nature of his response, and Joe Biden actually won the 2020 presidential election.
At first, Trump himself can deal with the factor clearly; in the second, the answer is obvious.
The senses. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) asked the former what Trump knew about the attack at the time of the attack and what steps he took to prevent it.
“When was President Trump informed of the violation of the Capitol?”reading. ” And what express moves did you take to end the riots?And when did you take them? Please be as fast as possible. “
Surprisingly, Trump’s lawyer, Michael van der Veen, responded by telling House administrators, the prosecution, to answer that question.
“In a hurry to file this accusation, there’s probably no investigation,” he said, “and that’s the challenge with this total procedure. “
– TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) February 12, 2021
It was an astonishing reaction in the component because Trump is van der Veen’s client; asking the user who hired him is, in theory, all it would have taken to get an answer about a factor that holds the key to the senate trial.
But it’s also about answering the incredibly vital question in the court of Trump’s opponents.
Other senators continued to ask Trump’s defense, in one case, evidence suggesting trump knew that Vice President Mike Pence in particular had been evacuated when he sent a tweet criticizing Pence for his lack of “courage” to overturn Biden’s victory.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Collins asked if Trump knew Pence was in danger when he sent the tweet.
This time, van der Veen had an answer: “The answer is no, at no point did the president report that the vice president is in danger. “Then he turned to the fact that the explanation for why we don’t know is that the House is presenting an investigation.
Van der Veen didn’t talk about what Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) revealed Wednesday: he spoke to Trump on the phone before the tweet and told the president that Pence had been evacuated from the Senate chamber.
Van der Veen also did not provide a positive and potentially exculpatory explanation of why Trump sent the tweet, but we blame the House for not doing so.
But it was Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) who followed up with a consultation quoting Tuberville directly. Senator Cassidy noted that, according to Tuberville, he had told Trump that Pence had been evacuated by phone minutes before the president sent the angry tweet.
“Even after hearing this, at 2:24 p. m. , President Trump tweeted that Mike Pence lacked courage,” Cassidy said. “The tweet and lack of reaction recommend that President Trump didn’t care that Vice President Pence was in danger or that the police overwhelmed him. “
“Does this show that President Trump tolerated Vice President Pence’s intimidation?” asked Cassidy.
Van der Veen responded by suggesting that Tuberville was blaming the House for alleged confusion.
“I spread the facts set out in this question, ” he said. ” And unfortunately, we will know the answer to the facts in this process, because the House has done everything it can to investigate what happened. “
“But Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence have been dating a lot for a long time,” added van der Veen.
Rep. Raskin noted that he had invited President Trump to testify at the hearing, which may have clarified all the problems on which van der Veen claimed to be be baffled.
“Instead of yelling at us and shouting at the fact that we didn’t have time to know all the facts about what your consumer did, bring your consumer here and ask them to testify under oath as to why he sends tweets denouncing his vice president of the United States while the vice president is stalked through a mob seeking to hang him. “Raskin said.
At one point, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) asked managers and the defense who had won the 2020 election.
“In my opinion, who for this?” Van der Veen replied.
“I did!” he said. Hurla Senator Sanders.
“My judgment is in this proceeding,” van der Veen replied, at the laments of the Senate and Senator Sanders’ reaction: “You are the president of the United States!”
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) called the Senate back to order, before Van der Veen continued unanswered or said Biden had won. Sanders got up and left the room while Trump’s lawyer responded.
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