Lawyer: Evidence Shows Congress Should Impeach

PALM SPRINGS – A persuasive and undeniable case has been presented to easily impeach President Donald J. Trump, according to Jill Wine-Banks, one of the prosecutors during the Watergate scandal.

“There is a compelling case on the grounds of the evidence, on the grounds of the facts, on the grounds of the testimony of all the witnesses in the last few weeks, on the grounds of the phone records, on the grounds of the summary of evidence put forward by the majority in their report, which is rebutted by only denials without a single fact, Wine-Banks told Uken Report.

The Republicans have not laid a hand on any of the facts that have been alleged, she said.

“It’s admitted that the President did everything that he’s charged with, and they’re just quibbling about whether it’s impeachable,” Wine-Banks said in a telephone interview. “And then you had four witnesses testify on the constitutional basis for impeachment.”

Jonathan Turley, a law professor Republicans called as a witness, was the only one of the four to tell the House Judiciary Committee that to impeach President Trump was a bad idea. He has since been threatened, according to CNN.

“(It) was totally inconsistent with what he said when he argued for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, so he has no credibility,” Wine-Banks said. “He’s completely an outlier in terms of his opinion.”

Wine-Banks is the prosecutor who interrogated Rosemary Woods about the notorious missing 18 ½-minute Nixon tapes.

Today, Wine-Banks offers almost-daily commentary on MSNBC regarding the efforts to impeach Trump.

Wine-Banks is in Palm Springs as the keynote speaker at the JFK Awards Luncheon on Saturday, Dec. 7. The event, which will be held at the Agua Caliente Resort in Rancho Mirage, is sold out. The event is hosted by the Riverside County Democratic Party. Congressman Adam Schiff, D-California, chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence was also scheduled to appear but will not be able to attend due to a scheduling conflict, according to Eileen Stern, chair of the JFK Awards Luncheon.

On her way to The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens, Wine-Banks made time to answer Uken Report’s series of rapid-fire questions about the effort to impeach Trump.

Uken Report (UR): The Senate, in my humble opinion, seems poised to acquit the President. Do you believe with any fiber of your being that they will give the “evidence” a fair trial?

Wine-Banks (W-B): No, I do not. I agree with you, based on Lindsey Graham saying, he won’t even read the impeachment hearing transcripts.” (Graham has said, ‘This Is All B.S.’) Lindsey Graham represents, I believe, most Republicans. They will not consider the evidence, and that is a violation of their constitutional oath. They swore to defend and uphold the Constitution and they should be reviewing the facts and considering the facts. And I’m not talking about the summary and the commentary, I’m talking about, read the transcript of the phone call. It’s not exactly a transcript. Read the memorandum of the call, read the transcript of the testimony of all the witnesses, read the minority report and read the majority report. Any fair juror would conclude that he has violated his constitutional oath and he has abused power.

“Read the Mueller report. You will conclude that he has obstructed justice. I think that it is, based on The Federalist Papers, the language of the Constitution and everything else, that the Senate will probably acquit him, but it will not be based on facts. And I think that’s a disgrace and a threat to democracy. I think the threat going forward of allowing him to be held unaccountable is quite significant and that that should not be the outcome. It depresses me to think that it might be.

“I will say in addition, I don’t know if you remember Paula Duncan, she was a juror in the Manafort trial, and she was a loyal Trump supporter by her own announcement. She said she believed that the entire investigation was a hoax and a witch hunt, but that as a juror, she considered the evidence presented, and she voted to convict Manafort on all 18 counts because of the evidence. That’s what I’m hoping for.

“As a trial lawyer, I’ve seen juries set aside their preconceived notions and act on the facts. There’s some slight hope. And also based on the historical precedent of bipartisanship in Watergate. I recognize that with the media landscape and gerrymandering, we’re in a different world now. I still have some inkling of hope, but in general I would have to agree with you.

UR: What do you say to President Trump and his supporters who call this a hoax and a witch hunt?

W-B: “Well, I’m not in touch with them and they don’t want to hear from me. But I would just say set aside your refusal to accept fact. To Donald Trump, it’s hopeless. I would say nothing to his base. I would say nothing because they believe anything he says, and they don’t care about the facts.

“To any middle-of-the-road Independent or Republican who sees how devastating Trump’s behavior is to our national security and that of the world, I would say please pay attention to the facts. Read the evidence. Don’t listen to commentary. Read the actual words of the witnesses and watch the video of their testimony and judge their credibility for yourself. You will be forced to conclude, both on the constitutional basis and on the factual basis, that President Trump has done things that endanger our democracy, that threaten the 2020 election. We cannot wait until after the election to take action. We must stop him from preventing a fair election coming forward.”

UR: I understand you have a new book coming out.

W-B: Yes, “The Watergate Girl.” It hits stores on Feb. 25, 2020. It is available by pre-order today.”

In “The Watergate Girl,”  Wine-Banks takes readers inside this troubled time in American history, and it is impossible to read about the crimes of Richard Nixon and the people around him without drawing parallels to today’s headlines, according to a synopsis on Amazon.com. The book is also the story of a young woman who sought to make her professional mark while trapped in a failing marriage, buffeted by sexist preconceptions, and harboring secrets of her own. Her house was burgled, her phones were tapped, and even her office garbage was rifled through.