Yesterday, House Impeachment managers rested their case after just slightly more than four hours of very methodical closing remarks. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), lead manager, was the last to speak closing his statement with a quote from Thomas Paine offering Republicans a chance to be “Winter Soldiers”:
Tom Paine wasn’t an American, but he came to help us in our great revolutionary struggle against the kings, and queens, and the tyrants. In 1776, in the crisis, he wrote these beautiful words, it was a very tough time for the country, people didn’t know which way things were going to go. Were we going to win, against all hope? Because for most of the rest of human history, it had been the kings and queens and tyrants and nobles lording it over the common people. Could political self-government work in America, was the question.
And Paine wrote this pamphlet called “The Crisis,” and he said these beautiful words…He said, “These are the times that men and women’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will shrink at this moment from the service of their cause and their country, but everyone who stands with us now will win the love and favor and affection of every man and every woman for all time. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, but we have this saving consolation: the more difficult the struggle, the more glorious in the end will be our victory.
Good luck in your deliberations.
Heather Digby Parton has the highlights of the days closing arguments
Today the private citizen Donald Trump’s lawyers will have their chance to defend their client against the massive amount of evidence presented by the managers.
I don’t believe for a second that there will be seventeen Republicans to vote to convict Trump but this needed to be done. Even if Trump get away with this, his problems are far from over. Some prosecutors believe that the Democrats have paved the way for Trump’s criminal prosecution in the courts. In Georgia, the Fulton County district attorney has opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the Georgia election. Visions of Trump in a Georgia County jail are dancing in Charlie Pierce’s head. Don’t forget New York State and New York City’s Manhattan DA, they are only just starting looking into Trump’s real estate fraud and tax evasion.
It’s expected that the defense lawyers won’t need the full two day sixteen hours to lay out their case. It’s quite possible they could rest sometime this afternoon. After that, Senators will have the opportunity to submit written questions to both sides.