NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.—A year ago, a father of four from this New York City suburb deteriorated in days from having a mild cough to feeling like he was drowning.
He was one of New York’s first coronavirus cases. Soon Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed a containment zone on his town to curb its spread and called him “Patient Zero.” There was an outpouring of support for the man’s family as he lay in a medically induced coma, as well as a few jabs from people who blamed him for an outbreak.
Now Lawrence Garbuz says he feels deep gratitude for the joys of being alive—his family, his Orthodox Jewish community and the beauty of a tree near his doorstep that he barely noticed before he got sick.
At 51 years old, he has counseled other Covid-19 patients who call for advice, and his wife, Adina Lewis, has comforted many spouses. Some were devastated by loss to a disease that killed more than half a million Americans by Monday, including 38,557 in New York.
“If you’re able to sit and talk to somebody and listen, that in itself is very therapeutic,” Mr. Garbuz said in an interview. “I think that we will get through this whole pandemic, when we listen more than we speak.’’
For the military veteran, the night took a turn when T.I. and Ms. Harris invited her and a few others to join them when they left the club, she said. Believing they were going to continue the party elsewhere, she recalled going along willingly.
Instead they went to a hotel room where the other guests were quickly asked to leave, according to the lawyer’s letter, and the woman began to suffer the effects of whatever she’d ingested — though she’d consumed less than two drinks, the letter said. Her friend, from whom she’d been separated, never made it to the room; she was throwing up in the lobby restroom, she said in an interview.
According to the letter, Ms. Harris suggested that the military veteran “freshen up,” and brought her to the bathroom, where the woman, intoxicated and overwhelmed, allowed Ms. Harris to undress and bathe her and T.I.
By the time they got her back to the bed, all three people were naked, and the veteran began vomiting, the letter said. T.I. then “attempted to put his foot into her vagina.” She told him no, the letter said. The woman recalled T.I. laughing at her for throwing up and him leaving to retrieve condoms.
“The next thing she remembers,” the letter continued, “was waking up naked on the couch, with a towel thrown over her, with a very sore vagina.” A security guard was banging on the door, telling her to leave, she recalled.
The woman fled. When her friend picked her up, she recounted the rest of her night, they said in separate interviews. At home, the woman made a beeline for the bath, scrubbing her body with soap and Tide with bleach, she said. She was too embarrassed to go to a doctor, she said, but later self-treated for an infection.
But now his lawyer has. On the floor of the US Senate.
Bruce Castor Jr.’s performance at the outset of Trump’s second impeachment trial will likely be remembered more for his aimless rambling than anything else. But Castor’s Tuesday monologue was also noteworthy for something he said while attempting to get to a rare point.
Castor argued that the real reason Trump was impeached again is that his opponents in the House Democratic majority do not want to see him run in the 2024 election. (If two-thirds of senators present vote to convict Trump, a simple majority of senators could then decide to ban Trump from holding future office.) Castor said the decision on who serves as the next president should be left up to the American people.
And Castor said: “The people are smart enough … to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one. And they just did.” Then, soon after, Castor added that this is commonplace: “The people get tired of an administration they don’t want. And they know how to change it. And they just did.”
Castor’s assertion about what the people “just did” is obvious to anyone who is willing to acknowledge reality. Except Trump has tried hard to create an alternative reality.
Though Joe Biden trounced Trump in the Electoral College and earned over seven million more votes, fair and square, Trump has declared again and again that the people actually reelected him in a “landslide” and that fraud and theft cheated him out of his rightful victory. (He repeated this nonsense even in the video he tweeted out during the Capitol insurrection.)
While Trump eventually admitted, in his waning days in office, that a new administration would be taking over, he never conceded that voters had truly chosen someone else over him — much less that voters had done so because they did not “want” or “like” the Trump administration.
Trump’s lawyers’ pre-trial statements were filled with Trump-style false claims and distortions. But Castor just meandered his way into truthfully blowing up one of his client’s favorite lies.
An impeachment attorney for former President Donald Trump blasted video evidence presented by Democrats Tuesday, which he claimed was probably made by a large movie company to dupe the American public.
“It’s very easy to stand up and show spliced and manufactured films,” David Schoen told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday night.
Schoen was referring to a lengthy video montage shown by lead House manager Jamie Raskin on the first day of Senate arguments in Trump’s second impeachment trial.
The 14-minute production mashed together clips from Trump’s speech and footage of his supporters, as well as images of the deadly riot.
“Literally, the Democrats, the House managers, probably hired a large movie company and a large law firm to put together this thing,” Schoen told Hannity.
Trump’s Jan. 6 speech is at the center of the Democrats’ impeachment case, as they will assert it fired up his supporters to march on the Capitol in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Schoen said the video was meant to deceive the American people by making it appear as if the two events occurred simultaneously.
“Why do we want to trick the American people? And listen, they have great entertainment value. People are glued to a movie that’s made professionally like that,” he said.
Without naming him, Hannity also questioned Schoen on the “extemporaneous” and “somewhat meandering” opening remarks from fellow Trump lawyer Bruce Castor, noting his remarks have faced heavy criticism from Democrats and conservatives alike.
Schoen defended Castor and said he was not planning to present today.
“I’m sure that they will be very well prepared in the future and do a great job in the case,” Schoen said of Castor and his law firm.
Bruce L. Castor Jr. speaks on the Senate floor. Senate TV
Former President Trump’s lawyers are arguing now on the Senate floor against the constitutionality of the impeachment trial.
The lawyers who signed on to lead Trump’s impeachment defense team bring a curious history of experience. David Schoen, a seasoned civil and criminal lawyer, and Bruce L. Castor, Jr, a well-known lawyer and the former Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, district attorney, are defending him in the trial.
The lawyers, both of whom have legal careers peppered with curiosities, joined Trump’s team a day after five members of his defense left, effectively collapsing the team.
Trump’s lawyers are tasked with devising a defense strategy for a former President who faces the impeachment charge of inciting a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, something that if convicted could also result in him being barred from holding federal office ever again.
For Schoen, whose website says he “focuses primarily on the litigation of complex civil and criminal cases before trial and appellate courts,” Trump is just the latest controversial figure his career has brought him to in recent years.
Schoen was on the team of lawyers representing Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime friend and former adviser, in the appeal of his conviction related to issues Stone took with the jury. Stone dropped that appeal after the then-President commuted his prison sentence, but before Stone received a full presidential pardon for convictions, including lying to Congress to protect Trump.
Schoen, who holds a master of laws from Columbia University and a juris doctorate from Boston College, according to his biography, serves as chair of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the Civil Rights Litigation Committee.
Castor, meanwhile, served as Montgomery County district attorney from 2000 to 2008, before serving two terms as the county commissioner, according to a release from Trump’s office.
He was involved in at least one high-profile case as district attorney, when he declined in 2005 to prosecute Bill Cosby after Andrea Constand reported the actor had touched her inappropriately at his home in Montgomery County, citing “insufficient credible and admissible evidence.”
Cosby was later tried and convicted in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting Constand at his home in 2004, despite the fact that Castor argued during a pre-trial hearing that he’d already committed the state to not prosecuting the actor.
Former President Donald Trump will not testify in his impeachment trial in the Senate next week and will not submit a written statement, his attorney said Thursday after Democrats requested he appear.
A written statement was something that had been under consideration by Trump’s former legal team.
Lead impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., earlier Thursday requested that Trump testify under oath.
Bruce Castor, who is part of the team representing Trump in his impeachment trial, said “no” when asked by NBC News if Trump would testify. “It’s a publicity stunt in order to make up for the weakness of the House managers’ case,” Castor said
Raskin responded that any official accused of inciting violence against the government should welcome the chance to testify. “His immediate refusal to testify speaks volumes and plainly establishes an adverse inference supporting his guilt,” Raskin said.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on Jan. 13 on an article charging him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the violent riot by a pro-Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol earlier that month.
Bruce Castor heads back into courtroom A after a break in a pre-trail hearing for entertainer Bill Cosby, in Norristown, Pa., on Feb. 2, 2016.Clem Murray / Pool/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP file
The crux of Trump’s defense will focus on the argument that impeaching him after he’s left office is unconstitutional — something that is in dispute.
“If you take the House’s position to its logical conclusion, they could impeach Donald Trump and convict him if he was dead,” Castor said. “And that would be a ridiculous result. They could impeach Abraham Lincoln.”
Democratic House impeachment managers say Trump’s actions warrant his disqualification from federal office. They also argue that nothing in the Constitution says only current officials can be tried.
They wrote in a brief that the Constitution “clearly intended for the impeachment process to reach former officials,” adding that the Senate found it had the power to try former officials as far back as 1798, in the case of former Sen. William Blount.
In 1876, Congress impeached and then tried Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary of war — William Belknap — who had resigned after he discovered he was about to be impeached. He was tried anyway, but was acquitted after the Senate reached a majority but failed to reach the two-thirds threshold needed.
Trump’s impeachment is the first time a president has been impeached twice. The Senate trial is expected to begin Tuesday.
Earlier this week, attorneys for Trump filed briefs in the impeachment proceedings that called the trial partisan and unconstitutional. His lawyers have urged a quick dismissal.
On Thursday Raskin had requested that Trump testify at the trial. “In light of your disputing these factual allegations, I write to invite you to provide testimony under oath,” Raskin wrote in a letter to Trump.
Raskin in his letter noted that former Presidents Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton “both provided testimony while in office” and cited a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that found that a president is not immune from criminal prosecution.
“So there is no doubt that you can testify in these proceedings,” Raskin wrote.
The impeachment article charges Trump with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the violent riot by a pro-Trump mob in the U.S. Capitol that left several people dead and terrorized lawmakers as they sought to affirm President Joe Biden’s victory.
The article also cites Trump’s Jan. 2 phone call urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s election results as part of his effort “to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
The Democratic-controlled House approved the article on a 232-197 vote; 10 Republicans sided against Trump. It was the most bipartisan vote on a presidential impeachment in history, doubling the five Democrats who voted to impeach Clinton in 1998.
Castor said that Trump’s claims of voter fraud — which have never been substantiated and have been called baseless — won’t be part of the defense.
“We are not planning on going down that road, and I don’t see any reason to,” he said. “As far as I can tell the case is a winner. And I’m not going to inject the problem into the case. That’s injecting a problem into the case.”
And Biden’s plans during the impeachment trial are to proceed with their work as if it’s not taking place, according to White House officials.
Aides are crafting a busy schedule for the president focused on the coronavirus pandemic and the economy, and meetings with state and local officials — all aimed at showing he’s on the job and undistracted by the impeachment of his predecessor, officials said.
One official said that from the White House’s perspective, the impeachment trial can’t end — and Congress can’t move on — soon enough.
The request for Trump to testify in the Senate trial was met with some consternation. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said it would be a “dog and pony show,” and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a close ally of Biden’s, called it “a terrible idea.”
Asked why it would be a terrible idea, Coons responded by asking, “Have you met President Trump?”
Castor, a former district attorney in Pennsylvania, said that he expects the trial to end either Friday or Sunday.
Castor noted the other lawyer on Trump’s legal team, David Schoen, cannot work on Saturday because of his Jewish faith.
The Senate impeachment rules dictate that the trial goes from Monday to Saturday, with no trial on Sundays. Changing that would need to be done through an agreement amongst Senators, who are able to change anything about the trial with all 100 senators in agreement.
Castor said Schoen will make the opening argument on behalf of the former president, while a yet-to-be-named lawyer will likely handle the middle portion of the trial, and Castor expects to deliver the team’s closing argument.
Asked if there will be any surprises in the trial, Castor said: “It will be exciting.”
Adam Edelman
Adam Edelman is a political reporter for NBC News.
Kristen Welker
Kristen Welker is chief White House correspondent for NBC News.
Carol E. Lee
Carol E. Lee is an NBC News correspondent.
Frank Thorp V
Frank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner and Phil Helsel contributed.
The sentencing hearing featured an impassioned speech from Page, in which the energy industry analyst complained that his life was turned upside down by the media firestorm that followed public disclosure of the fact that he was a focus of the FBI probe into potential Russian influence on the Trump campaign.
Clinesmith pleaded guilty last August to a felony false statement charge in a plea deal with John Durham, the prosecutor then-Attorney General William Barr tapped in 2019 to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe. Barr formally designated Durham as a special counsel last fall, in an apparent bid to complicate any attempt by a new administration to shut down Durham’s inquiry.
Prosecutors argued that Clinesmith’s misconduct was so serious that he deserved between about three and six months in prison. Clinesmith’s lawyers asked that he be spared prison time. The maximum sentence on the false statement charge is five years in prison, although judges usually sentence in accord with federal guidelines that called for Clinesmith to serve between zero and six months in prison.
Clinesmith became a poster child of sorts for Republicans critical of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and the FBI investigation that preceded it. Indeed, many Mueller critics — including Trump — suggested Clinesmith was just the first of many government officials likely to be charged for crimes related to launching or conducting the investigation.
At a news conference last year, Trump called Clinesmith “a corrupt FBI attorney” and predicted more prosecutions.
“So, that’s just the beginning, I would imagine, because what happened should never happen again,” Trump said.
Texts and other messages Clinesmith sent in 2016 contributed to suspicion that his actions were part of a deliberate effort to smear Page and target the Trump campaign.
Among the messages uncovered in an inspector general report was one sent the day after Trump’s election in 2016:
“Who knows if the rhetoric about deporting people, walls, and crap is true. I honestly feel like there is going to be a lot more gun issues, too, the crazies won finally,” Clinesmith wrote. “This is the tea party on steroids. And the GOP is going to be lost, they have to deal with an incumbent in 4 years. We have to fight this again. Also Pence is stupid.”
Two weeks later, when a colleague asked Clinesmith about whether he was rethinking his commitment to serving in the Trump administration, Clinesmith replied “Hell no” and added “Viva le resistance.”
Prosecutors said in a written sentencing submission that political bias may have led to Clinesmith’s misconduct.
“It is plausible that his strong political views and/or personal dislike of the current President made him more willing to engage in the fraudulent and unethical conduct to which he has pled guilty,” prosecutors wrote. “While it is impossible to know with certainty how those views may have affected his offense conduct, the defendant plainly has shown that he did not discharge his important responsibilities at the FBI with the professionalism, integrity, and objectivity required of such a sensitive job position.”
However, the FBI lawyer could not have single-handedly done much to affect or fuel the Trump-Russia probe, since he played a relatively minor role in the inquiry. In addition, his alteration of the email came in June 2017, at the tail end of the FBI’s surveillance of Page.
Indeed, when Boasberg granted Page permission to speak at Friday’s hearing, the judge told Page to limit himself to comments on the impact of the FBI’s June 2017 surveillance application and not the prior three surveillance orders the FBI won to snoop on Page.
The New York Times is reporting Susquehanna Valley congressman Scott Perry played a significant role in persuading then-President Donald Trump to contest the results of the 2020 election. The NYT cites an unnamed source who told its reporters, Rep. Perry introduced President Trump to former U.S. Justice Department Official Jeffery Clark, who was sympathetic to Trump’s claims that the election was stolen.The source also claimed that Perry and Clark planned to have the Justice Department send a letter to Georgia to investigate the possibility of voter fraud in states’ election results. The report goes on to state, acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen refused to send that letter. Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro has reacted to the article on Twitter saying: “Representative Perry ought to familiarize himself with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. There must be consequences for this conduct.”A fellow Pennsylvanian in the state house, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta has released a statement calling on Perry to resign saying, “Scott Perry, this is not your first time being a national embarrassment but make it your last – resign.”On Sunday, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Patton Mills released the following statement on the PA Dems. website. “Scott Perry has disgraced South Central Pennsylvania, failed his country, and betrayed the trust of anyone who cares about our democracy. He is a stain on our Congress and must resign immediately.””If he fails to do so, Leader McCarthy must remove him from his committee assignments, and the NRCC and PA GOP must formally refuse to spend on his behalf.” WGAL News 8 has reached out to Rep. Perry’s office for comment and has not heard back.
The New York Times is reporting Susquehanna Valley congressman Scott Perry played a significant role in persuading then-President Donald Trump to contest the results of the 2020 election.
The NYT cites an unnamed source who told its reporters, Rep. Perry introduced President Trump to former U.S. Justice Department Official Jeffery Clark, who was sympathetic to Trump’s claims that the election was stolen.
The source also claimed that Perry and Clark planned to have the Justice Department send a letter to Georgia to investigate the possibility of voter fraud in states’ election results.
The report goes on to state, acting Attorney General Jeffery Rosen refused to send that letter.
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro has reacted to the article on Twitter saying: “Representative Perry ought to familiarize himself with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. There must be consequences for this conduct.”
This content is imported from Twitter.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Representative Perry ought to familiarize himself with Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of our Constitution.
There must be consequences for this conduct.https://t.co/09boH490Pv
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) January 24, 2021
A fellow Pennsylvanian in the state house, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta has released a statement calling on Perry to resign saying, “Scott Perry, this is not your first time being a national embarrassment but make it your last – resign.”
On Sunday, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Patton Mills released the following statement on the PA Dems. website.
“Scott Perry has disgraced South Central Pennsylvania, failed his country, and betrayed the trust of anyone who cares about our democracy. He is a stain on our Congress and must resign immediately.”
“If he fails to do so, Leader McCarthy must remove him from his committee assignments, and the NRCC and PA GOP must formally refuse to spend on his behalf.”
WGAL News 8 has reached out to Rep. Perry’s office for comment and has not heard back.
The city of Keller has agreed to pay $200,000 to a man who was pepper-sprayed and arrested after he videotaped a police officer who pulled over his son for making a wide right turn, according to the father’s attorney.
Marco Puente filed a lawsuit in federal court in Fort Worth last month against two Keller police officers alleging excessive force and illegal arrest in the Aug. 15 incident.
According to the officers’ body camera footage, Marco Puente’s son Dillon was pulled over by Sgt. Blake Shimanek for making a wide right turn.
Dillon Puente’s father soon appeared at the scene in a separate vehicle and started to videotape what was going on from across the street.
That’s when Shimanek ordered another officer, Ankit Tomer, to arrest the father and pepper spray him. Tomer was also named in the lawsuit.
Both the father and son were taken to jail but police supervisors quickly dropped the charges after they reviewed the case and Shimanek was demoted to officer.
The Keller City Council has scheduled a special meeting Tuesday to discuss a controversial police traffic stop and complaints of excessive force that resulted in a federal lawsuit.
Scott Palmer, attorney for the Puentes, said Sunday both sides agreed to settle the lawsuit during a mediation session on Friday when the city agreed to pay $200,000.
“The Puente family is pleased to have this unfortunate and needless situation behind them,” Palmer and attorney James Roberts said in a statement. “This settlement will justly compensate both Dillon and Marco.”
The statement credited police chief Brad Fortune with acting quickly in “addressing the issues” in the case, but added, “it is disappointing that these officers are still employed at the Keller Police Department.”
Keller Mayor Armin Mizani on Sunday confirmed that the mediation took place but said he was waiting for the agreement to be signed by both sides.
The mayor declined to confirm the settlement amount was $200,000 but said the city itself would be limited to paying a $5,000 deductible. The Texas Municipal League, which insures cities, will pay the rest, he said.
“The city plans to share details once all is finalized,” Mizani said.
A city spokeswoman also noted the deal hasn’t been finalized but said, “The city is pleased that a mediated settlement agreement has been achieved.”
The lawsuit claimed the sergeant targeted the younger Puente because he was Hispanic and wrongfully believed he had drugs in his car.
The attorney for Anthony Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman who made rounds on social media for his outlandish outfit during the Capitol riot, is blaming former President TrumpDonald TrumpMcCarthy says he told Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene he disagreed with her impeachment articles against Biden Biden, Trudeau agree to meet next month Trump planned to oust acting AG to overturn Georgia election results: report MORE for his client’s involvement.
“He regrets very, very much having not just been duped by the president but by being in a position where he allowed that duping to put him in a position to make decisions he should not have made,” Al Watkins, a lawyer for Chansley, told Missouri’s NBC-affiliated television station KSDK.
Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, was arrested on Jan. 9 for his role in the riot. At the time, Chansley told NBC News he saw nothing wrong with his actions.
The attorney is blaming Trump’s months of election fraud conspiracy theories for the riot and his client’s actions.
“Let’s roll the tape. Let’s roll the months of lies and misrepresentations and horrific innuendo and hyperbolic speech by our president designed to inflame, enrage, motivate,” Watkins told KSDK. “What’s really curious is the reality that our president, as a matter of public record, invited these individuals, as president, to walk down to the Capitol with him.”
Chansley went viral after the riot for wearing horns and fur and carrying an American flag. He is said to have left a threatening note for former Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PenceTrump planned to oust acting AG to overturn Georgia election results: report Trump actions illustrate why Congress must pass the For the People Act Cheney tests Trump grip on GOP post-presidency MORE.
Trump peddled conspiracy theories that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent and that he was the winner. He also invited supporters to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to support him in a protest.
Trump told supporters to walk toward the Capitol, where Congress was certifying the Electoral College votes, but he never said to break in or put people in harm’s way. However, he called the rioters “special people” in a video that same day.
Chansley has been involved in many protests in Arizona, where he was photographed carrying a “Q sent me” sign, referring to the far-right Qanon conspiracy theory that purports Trump is fighting an underground ring of Satanic pedophiles in the federal government.
Some rioters were hoping for a presidential pardon before Trump left office, but none of them got one. There have been more than 100 arrests, with more to come as the FBI continues to investigate the matter.
