Day 4: Question and Answer

And now a word about the Q&A session.  Yeacch! 

The Senators were not trying to elicit useful information.  They were (mostly) not even trying to embarrass the other side.  They were just asking highly rhetorical questions of their own side to give them an opportunity to make a speech.  The advocates responded by reiterating what they had already said.  The impeachment managers emphasized various points they had already made.  The defense team was briefer and generally tried to turn the subject to the inadequate investigation by the House managers, which denied their client due process.  And Ted Cruz tried to draw an equivalence between Trump's speech to the crowd before they marched on the Capitol and Kamala Harris donating a fund that paid bail for Black Lives Matter rioters.

There were a few worthwhile questions.  Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski asked the defense team when Trump learned of the breach and what he did about it.  The defense team said they didn't know; the investigation was inadequate. Senators Edward Markey and Tammy Duckworth directed the same question to the impeachment managers, who said of course he knew, it was all over TV and he didn't send in reinforcements.  Mitt Romney asked the defense team if Trump knew of Mike Pence's danger and they gave much the same answer.   

Bernie Sanders asked by far the best gotcha question when he asked the defense team if they recognized Biden's victory as legitimate.  Van der Veen dodged the question, saying that his opinion on who won was not relevant to the issue at hand and changed the subject.  Oddly enough, he did not see it as irrelevant to ask, say whether it was impossible for Trump to be anti-Semitic given his support of Israel.

"The Senator from Wisconsin" (not clear which one) also asked a pretty good gotcha question -- if the violence was predictable and foreseeable, why weren't further security measures taken. Naturally Van de Veen gave his usual answer -- not enough information because there was not enough investigation.  And Stacey Plaskett, normally excellent in her presentation, did her own share of skipping and dodging here -- emphasizing the signs that violence was imminent and avoiding the question of why Congress did not raise security.  She gave a better response to Senator Manchin, who asked if Trump would have been briefed on the dangers and gave good reasons to believe he had been.

Other than that, the production was worthless and definitely a total waste of time.

Do I want to subject myself to the final day of the trial?