What A Day - Trump’s Stellar Legal Team

Episode Date: January 21, 2020

The impeachment trial for President Trump officially kicks off today in the Senate. We’ll see if it goes exactly the way Mitch McConnell wants it to or if justice can find a way. At yesterday’s Brown and Black Forum in Iowa, an impressively direct group of moderators asked the Democratic candidates some questions of concern to the black community. We discuss the event’s history and some of the day's biggest moments.  And in headlines: computer buildings, less plastic in China, and Superyacht: Boat of Steel.

It's Tuesday, January 21st. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day. We are officially announcing our presidential endorsement of whichever candidate will let us drive their bus around. Let me drive the bus. I know it has a really big wheel, and I want to see how at Iowa's Brown and Black Forum and then some headlines. But first, impeachment. Always impeachment. Today is the day. The impeachment trial for President Trump is finally getting underway today in the Senate. Over the weekend, we got new details about how the trial will look and what Trump's defense will be.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made it pretty clear up to now that if he gets his way, there's going to be a short trial and an acquittal for Trump. We're expected to hear from McConnell today officially. What do we think he's actually going to propose? Yes, there's a couple of things we know from some of the reporting that's been out there. One is that McConnell wants to give both sides, in this case, the House managers and then Trump's lawyers on the other side, 24 hours each to make their case over the course of two days. That's the opening arguments.

That's basically, you know, why for the House managers, I think that he should be removed from office and for Trump's lawyers, why he should stay. McConnell is basing that time period on what happened during Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. But in that case, the 24 hours were split over four days, meaning you weren't going to get these sort of marathon sessions into the wee hours of the morning where people might

not be paying attention and it might sort of get lost in the shuffle. After this part, senators are allowed to question both sides for 16 hours. And they would be doing that through Chief Justice John Roberts, because like we said on a previous episode, you know, they're not standing in the middle of floor and asking questions like they typically do. That's right. Well, what about the ongoing debate allowing new witnesses and evidence? Like, are we going to see Jay Bolton in primetime? Is it going to happen for us? To be determined if we see Bolton and his glorious mustache. But it does look like at least there will be the up or down vote on the question

of witnesses after the opening arguments and these questions from senators. That's where Democrats would need to make sure that they get four Republican votes to get that process going. For that to pass, it's just simple majority, 51, and they're going to move on to questions of, you know, subpoenaing witnesses. That's different than the two thirds that you would actually need of the entire Senate for actual removal of President Trump, which is highly, highly unlikely. We also know that Schumer is expected to try to push for witnesses today, but he's not likely to get support on that. This goes back to that argument that Democrats and Republicans have been having about when and how these witnesses would be called and this, you know, just big difference between Democrats and Republicans that a lot of Democrats would much rather hear more and a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans would much rather be like, let me take the vote and go home. Big picture, we've been at this sort of push and pull over the scope of this trial for

quite some time now. Yeah. All right. Well, the other big news from over the weekend, we've got a better idea of who's going to be on Trump's legal team and what they're going to say besides mocking Adam Schiff's dainty neck. We want to run through everything that we know. Yeah, that's basically what we know about the crux of their argument. First off, though, let's take stock of the legal team. Quite a cast of characters in the mix. Recently added Alan Dershowitz, who, among many other things in his storied career, was accused of sexually abusing one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims. And he also represented Epstein legally. Dershowitz has denied the sexual abuse allegation. Then there's Kenneth Starr, who is also added to the the team best known for leading the Clinton special investigation also funnily enough once on Epstein's legal defense team so universe is

colliding in a number of different ways the legal team for Trump overall is headed by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside attorney Jay Sekulow so that's the basic cast of this legal team they released a big document. Wait, so you're saying that Rudy Giuliani won't be there? Rudy Giuliani is not, I think, supposed to be in the Senate trial at all. I don't know. I hope he's standing outside yelling. That's the goal, or at least on the phone calling in or something. So this legal team released this big document of their arguments over the weekend. It is and then additionally, 110 page brief on Monday. And within that, they weren't contesting the basic facts of the case

that Democrats have presented that all of the accusations therein happened. They were arguing that the article should be dismissed because they think that Democrats are looking to punish Trump for foreign policy decisions that are within his authority to make and the executive privilege that a president like Trump has to conduct foreign policy in this way. With bribes. Yeah, with bribes, exactly. And already, though, there's this funny contrast that exists between what Dershowitz is saying about Trump's current impeachment trial and what he said about the Clinton impeachment trial. CNN found these clips. Here's Dershowitz first now on Trump.

I will be paraphrasing the successful argument made by Justice Benjamin Curtis in the trial of Andrew Johnson back in the 1860s, where he argued that the framers intended for impeachable conduct only to be criminal-like conduct or conduct that is prohibited by the criminal law. Okay, so that argument is that it has to be a crime to warrant impeachment. Okay, and here's Dershowitz during Clinton's impeachment. It certainly doesn't have to be a crime. If you have somebody who completely corrupts the office of president and who abuses trust and who poses great danger to our liberty, you don't need a technical crime. Woof. I hope I live long enough to hear my hypocrisy in very clear audio. Well, before we go, we should highlight one other argument the White House was making over the long holiday weekend, because dear Lord, here is Kellyanne Conway. The president is preparing for Davos and agrees with many of

the things that Dr. Martin Luther King stood for and agreed with for many years, including unity and equality. And he's not the one trying to tear the country apart through an impeachment process and a lack of substance that really is very shameful at this point. I've held my opinion on it for a very long time. But when you see the articles of impeachment that came out, I don't think it was within Dr. King's vision to have Americans drag through a process where the president is not going to be removed from office. Okay, so just, um, oh, man, I just want to say Martin Luther King said that he wanted people to be judged by the content of their character. And it seems like that's what's happening. So all right, broom. Yeah, cool comment. I don't think that this position is endorsed by even the stellar legal team that's put together. Well, arguments are set to begin in the trial at 1pm. And like Conway said in that clip, Trump is going to be at the

World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as this all begins. So quite an interesting split screen there. We will keep you updated as we learn more. Yesterday was MLK Day, a day for some reflection on America's sordid racial history and for Republicans to post a quote of the one black person they could name in the event of a hostage situation. The national holiday was signed into law in 1983, but wasn't nationally observed until 1986. Yesterday was also the Iowa Brown and Black Forum, which is an event you may not be aware of, but one that has been an important stop for Democratic presidential candidates since its inception in 1984. Akilah, you were one of the moderators for the event in 2016. Want to give us a primer on this? Yeah, that was the only good

thing that happened for me in 2016, so I like to hold on to it. So the Iowa Brown and Black Forum was founded in 1984, as you said, by Mary Campos, a Latina community leader and black former Iowa rep Wayne Ford. Let me set the scene for 1984. Big hair. Ghostbusters just came out. George Orwell. Okay. I have a three-day weekend hangover, so I know there's a joke here. I can't find it.

Get off my ass. Anyway. I didn't find it either. Right. I'm not going to find it.over, so I know there's a joke here. I can't find it. Get off my ass. Anyway. I didn't find it either. Right. I'm not going to find it. Anyway, it's 1984, dear listener, and Ronald Reagan is up for reelection, and he's up against Democrat Walter Mondale, Jimmy Carter's former VP. Campos and Ford decided that since Iowa's caucuses were such a hot ticket, their respective

and tiny African-American and Latino communities in the state should also have their concerns addressed. Basically, they said if Iowa is important, all of Iowa is going to be important. Yeah, exactly. It's the idea of our votes matter. Earn them. Show that you're earning them. That's right. So the forum is held every presidential election year in Iowa, and it's the nation's oldest and only nonpartisan presidential forum dedicated exclusively to addressing issues facing communities of color. Most of the candidates we know and some we barely do were in attendance. Biden, Warren, Sanders, Delaney, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Yang and Colorado Senator Michael Bennett,

who's, I guess, been keeping a low profile by not being in any of the debates or newspapers. There's obviously the glaring absence of Mayor Bloomberg and one Thomas Steyer. Big T. The media and ourselves included talk a lot about Iowa because it is the first primary state and the caucus system is unique. But there's also this discussion being had about a state so white being the aptitude test for the eventual Democratic presidential nominee. Yeah. So according to Pew Research, for the first time ever, non-whites will account for a third of eligible voters in 2020. So the brown and black forum feels even more important now after the most diverse primary in history has become decidedly less so. And when the electorate is so much more diverse than the candidates. Yeah, exactly. So Vice was the forum's broadcast partner this year and moderated the event. Can you run us through the format of this and any of the sort of standout moments?

Hell yeah. All right. So the format is individual interviews, which I think also makes it more enjoyable and fruitful than debates because you don't have candidates like clamoring for and then complaining about the speaking time that they're allotted. Everyone has the exact same amount of time. And the questions can then be more specific and thoughtful because they're not intended to be this free for all, like everybody jump in about Medicare for all.

In terms of big moments, the moderators asked Senator Klobuchar if she was the kind of white moderate that MLK called a stumbling block to freedom. Wow, that is pretty direct. It was a very direct question. They asked really great questions. She said, look, she's totally chill and defended her moderate stance as a way to make progress over time. Fascinating. On the other hand, Sanders got asked if his policies were too radical. He answered by saying that a $15 minimum wage, fighting climate change and doing immigration reform aren't actually radical at all.

Andrew Yang talked about how he battles Asian stereotypes with humor. Read those math hats that he's selling in his merch store. And he also got asked about whether and how his universal basic income plan could solve racism. Biden got asked about his lack of support amongst young black voters under the age of 35. And I think the moment that we all anticipated, Mayor Pete, you know, who's polling at near or zero percent with black voters, he got asked about that. It hasn't been a secret, though, that your campaign has struggled a bit and has made some stumbles along the way. So what have you learned? Like, are there things that you've learned about the black community, their needs, their concerns, that maybe surprised you or you got wrong at first? Well, I think, again, first of all,

the sense that there is frustration with us Democrats, not just with Republicans, that there's a sense even now when you look, especially in the South, where black women have been the backbone of the party's ability to win anywhere, that there is still not a lot of attention being paid. I mean, we could talk about policy areas where I've learned a lot. For example, I knew about the numbers of what's going on with the black maternal mortality gap, but it was really from listening a lot to the people I've encountered that I got a better sense of how those disparities have come about and what's at stake, how it's everything from the way that patients are being treated

when they're in a clinical environment to things that happen before they even cross the doors of an ER. Buttigieg also had the chance to be pressed and talk a little bit more about policing issues in South Bend and sort of some storylines, you know, there from from last year and into this year. All great stuff, all interesting questions and answers throughout this. And I want to give you props for resisting the urge to play a clip of your time moderating the Black and Brown Forum so far. Thank you so much, Gideon. And as a reward for your belief in me, here's an exchange between Senator Sanders and me at the 2016 Iowa Brown and Black Forum. Fine. Oh, man. Senator, sorry, you guys are like raising my blood pressure. Let's talk about weed. Do you think that would help your blood pressure?

I mean, I don't know. We this medicinal weed or? We'll see. Yeah, just blaze. Well, shout out to the team at Vice for supporting and broadcasting this important forum in the days before the Iowa caucus. And if you want to hear substantive answers to important questions or just find out if Andrew Yang knows the words to the Humpty Dance, go watch clips of the 2020 Iowa Brown and Black Forum on Vice.com or their Facebook page. And now for some ads.

Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. China is taking steps to drastically limit the use of disposable plastics in the country. The government released new guidelines that first ban plastics in bigger cities like Beijing and gradually roll it out to the rest of the country by 2025. Currently, China throws away over 60 million tons of plastic a day, with 71% of it being mismanaged. That means 71% of that waste ends up in oceans, countrysides, and other places that it just does not belong. Earth. Yeah.

Adjusting to the new rules will be no small feat for our country, with a huge food delivery and e-commerce market, which both heavily depend on single-use plastics. Then again, building a huge moon base where we all could live after the world ends would also be no small feat. That's right. New leaked documents over the weekend reveal how the richest woman in Africa made her enormous fortune. Spoiler alert, she didn't do it ethically. Isabel Dos Santos is the billionaire daughter of the former president of

Angola. A trove of documents investigated by The Guardian and its partners reveal that Dos Santos got unfair access to deals involving land, oil, diamonds, and more under her father's presidency. She and her husband used the money to buy properties across Africa and Europe and other things, including a super yacht costing $29.5 million. Hmm, okay, didn't pony up for the other $30 million yacht, but fine, not a good look. Dos Santos denies any wrongdoing, calling the investigations a, quote, witch hunt, which is a phrase we hear all the time from people who are totally innocent. The Angolan government froze all of her and her husband's assets

and will try to force her to come back to the country from her house in the UK. Dibs on the super yacht. Last week, members of the Oakland-based group Moms for Housing were forcibly evicted from a home they'd been using as a resident for nearly two months. On Monday of this week, they reached a deal to buy the house from its owner, Wedgwood Inc., through a local nonprofit. This came after a groundswell of support for the group from thousands of Oakland residents who forced politicians like Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to work with the developer to negotiate the sale. Wedgwood also announced they'd give the nonprofit

right of first refusal on all their Oakland properties to help develop affordable housing. This is good news for people who support our unhoused residents and oppose new luxury apartment buildings on every block that have 9,000 empty units and look like big computers. Yeah, stop building these. No one wants to live in your HP pavilion-ass apartment building. Shit's ugly. All right, well, the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will face off at the Super Bowl in February. It should be a great game, and one cool thing is that the 49ers

will be assistant coached by Katie Sowers, the first woman and first openly gay coach to head to the Super Bowl. Sowers has been with the 49ers will be assistant coached by Katie Sowers, the first woman and first openly gay coach to head to the Super Bowl. Sowers has been with the 49ers since 2017 and played in the Women's Football Alliance before that. Congrats, Katie. I'll be watching out for you the whole game when I'm not cleaning up the big bowl of salsa. I will definitely spill on my lap at some point. Is that a thing for you? Yeah, I'm not good with it. And those are the headlines. Hold on to your salsa. That's all for today.

If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, give us a rating, look at us like Tom Steyer looks at Bernie Sanders, and tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you're into reading and not just whatever's printed on fruit by the foot paper like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Keela Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's why I'll never live in a big computer. It's ugly. We hate it. What a Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer.

Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.