(1 of 2) I worry that Democrats are preparing for the wrong sort of Senate trial. Trump's defense will be a parade of witnesses alleging (or confessing to) contact with Ukrainians during the 2016 election, as well as accusations of misconduct by the Poroshenko administration.
(2 of 2) Democrats must counter this evidence by emphasizing that the *relevant* Trumpist conspiracy theories are only the Crowdstrike and Burisma ones—as these were the only ones Trump ever raised with Ukraine in 2019. All the rest of it is just noise, and Democrats must say so.
(PS) Democrats can also recite (a) the litany of contacts with Russia Trump insisted were fine but were in fact far deeper in content and larger in number than any DNC-connected Ukraine contacts, and also (b) the litany of world leaders who *openly* supported Trump, to his glee.
(PS2) In short, once *Trump* can call witnesses, the smokescreen he is going to throw up will be *astonishing* and *spectacular* and include a small number of true—but misleading—facts that most Americans haven't heard yet, which facts Trump therefore believes will exculpate him.
(PS3) I strongly advise Democratic lawyers to keep the trial laser-focused on CROWDSTRIKE and BURISMA—the two conspiracy theories Trump used to justify withholding official acts from Ukraine. There's *no* basis for a focus on—e.g.—Chalupa, Chaly, Shulyar, Telizhenko or Artemenko.
(PS4) So the trial will be fought on *this* ground:
PROSECUTION: How debunked conspiracy theories—CROWDSTRIKE, BURISMA—were pretext for bribe-soliciting.
DEFENSE: How Trump would've been justified in trying to broadly investigate Ukraine—even though that's not what he demanded.
PROSECUTION: How debunked conspiracy theories—CROWDSTRIKE, BURISMA—were pretext for bribe-soliciting.
DEFENSE: How Trump would've been justified in trying to broadly investigate Ukraine—even though that's not what he demanded.
(PS5) As media hasn't done much yet to prepare Americans for the *actual* evidentiary grounds on which this historic upcoming (January) Senate trial will be fought, I expect that Americans will find the trial—particularly Trump's defense—absolutely shocking, bizarre and gripping.
