Defending a President

Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris ruffled West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s feathers when ...

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Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris ruffled West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s feathers when she sat down with local television stations in his state to chat about Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill without first giving him a heads up. On today’s episode, our hosts break down why these sorts of intra-party kerfuffles matter and how they might shape the Biden administration’s relationship with the Senate moving forward. Also in the hopper for today, Sarah and David put their trial lawyer skills on full display when they explain the former president’s best defense against impeachment.

Show Notes:

-“The Senate’s impeachment trial is illegal and a sham” by Rand Paul in the Washington Examiner.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Benjamin Woodard

    If y'all need another expert to interview: I've been on WSAZ (the local WV channel that interviewed Harris thus pissing off Manchin) two more times than the Vice President lol

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    Jason Gibson

    agreed David and Sarah I am very anti overdub and I agree with Sarah that you lose some of the art........I watched it with the overdub and was too lazy to change it.

    I am really amazed at how good overdubbing is these days.

    I love Lupin!!!

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  3. Noah Liben

    Small point, David: Fauda is its own show, about an elite Israeli anti-terrorism unit. Definitely worth watching in the original Hebrew/Arabic, with English subtitles. Homeland is actually based on a different Israeli show called Hatufim (which translates to “Prisoners of War”).

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    Campshrop

    Re: exhausted. Yes. That's it. We just going to walk away. And I will make the prediction Sarah turned away from ;) : the lunatic fringe wins. Reasons: the lunatic fringe of the gop is indefatigable, and the big middle is cowardly.

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    Doug Herbert

    Sarah reviewed the bio of Trump impeachment defense lawyer David Schoen and noted some highly dubious factual assertions. I would add to Sarah's list Schoen's assertion that Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. and Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Frank M. Johnson were both a "mentor" to him. Although I can't conclusively disprove this assertion (both judges have now passed away), it seems highly unlikely to me that these two heroes of the Civil Rights era served as mentors to Schoen.

    Judge Higginbotham served on the Third Circuit, with his chambers in Philadelphia. David Schoen attended Boston College Law School. Schoen offers no explanation of how a famous judge sitting in Philadelphia, with many demands on his time, came to be his "mentor."

    Judge Johnson served on the Fifth Circuit, with his chambers in Montgomery, Alabama. I clerked for Fifth Circuit Judge John Godbold in Montgomery in 1978-1979, whose chambers were in the same building as Judge Johnson's (who was then a district court judge). Judge Johnson was not the kind of judge who welcomed clerks from other judges into his offices. In fact, I never met Judge Johnson during my 12 months in Montgomery, even though I would have loved to do so and suggested this to his clerks at the time.

    David Schoen clerked for District Court Judge Truman Hobbs, who would have been in the same building as Judge Johnson. So it is at least possible that somehow Judge Johnson and a district court clerk like Schoen would have crossed paths and perhaps even talked to one another at reception or party, it seems highly unlikely that a Circuit Court Judge, who has to spend time bonding with his own set of clerks, would develop a close mentoring relationship with a clerk from another judge's chambers.

    If Schoen claimed to have had EITHER Judge Higginbotham OR Judge Johnson as a mentor, I might not be so suspicious. But for him to claim that both famous men were mentors strongly makes me suspect name-dropping rather than any real life mentor relationships.

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  6. Kit Johnson

    David, since you mentioned never watching anime films so while I am by no means on the topic of anime films but I can recommend a few:
    --SPIRITED AWAY: perfect for kids in their early teens., 11-13 years old.
    --Princess Mononoke: An epic fantasy set in medieval Japan that is also a (smart) environmental parable. Good for those in mid teens and up.
    --Wolf Children: A movie about a single (human) mother raising a pair of werewolves after her werewolf husband dies. An adorable and beautiful movie about motherhood and growing. Your wife Nancy will probably love this, though she will probably be crying at the end. It kind of puts Pixar to shame in the get the tear ducts flowing department. Same goes for Sarah, who would probably also like it.


    In the first two the dubs were done by Disney and Princess Mononoke features some fairly big names (Gillian Anderson, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, etc.)

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    Angie

    That was fun...creepy a bit on the defense for Trump, because I read today some of those very thoughts...maybe they listen to you guys? lol...I don't get this really, everyone assumes he is not going to be indicted, so what difference does a defense make?

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    WKDawson

    I think the people prosecuting the impeachment case should seriously listen to y'all "evil lawyers" to prepare for this trial.

    I wonder though. It is frustrating that it seems like the most rotten people are the ones who constantly evade justice. Maybe it is "martingales", and we only see the luckiest of these crooks. Anyway, for a person who is really worth defending, someone who is basically a good person, who has a moral compass (that works), and who just really screwed up for some reason (even something really really dumb), I always wonder if the justice system is merciful with those sorts of people. I'd feel less frustrated at this "lawyer" sort of thing, if I felt any sort of real justice was accomplished with the system.

    Anyway, it was a very informative, enlightening, and useful discussion you presented.

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    DougAz

    Looks like Joe Manchin will need to grow up into something more substantial. I grew up in West Virginia. When Republican Billionaire Governor 'Big' Jim Justice calls for the passage of the Biden plan, it's pretty clear that help is needed. The GOP ain't offering any to states.

    Manchin would be well served by supporting Biden.

    https://www.newsweek.com/west-virginia-governor-jim-justice-breaks-joe-manchin-calls-large-stimulus-bill-1565868

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  10. Laurie

    Good podcast! I especially liked Sarah's in depth info on the new legal team. They are never just, you know, normal are they?

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