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ffr

(22,671 posts)
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 05:19 PM Oct 2019

House Dems Accuse Impeachment Witnesses of Coordinating Testimony

Source: Daily Beast

Some Democrats involved in the impeachment inquiry are beginning to suspect that certain witnesses have coordinated with each other ahead of testifying to ensure their stories do not conflict—the very outcome investigators are trying to avoid by conducting hearings behind closed doors.

Two Democratic lawmakers told The Daily Beast that, over the course of the nine witness depositions they have conducted over the last several weeks, there have been suggestions that certain witnesses spoke to each other about what they would say to impeachment investigators.

“We have direct evidence from our investigation that witnesses have talked to each other about their testimony,” said Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, adding that the evidence concerns two witnesses in particular, whom he declined to name.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/house-democrats-accuse-impeachment-witnesses-of-coordinating-testimony?fbclid=IwAR3CZEtPZXbVEaDuhsjh0Mn0DQRCS3Yc0x6t-ZllowHvFeYwTM79onWWi5M



Those ratf__cking republicans!
27 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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House Dems Accuse Impeachment Witnesses of Coordinating Testimony (Original Post) ffr Oct 2019 OP
Time for SDNY to start the subpoenas. dem4decades Oct 2019 #1
What does the SDNY have to do with this? onenote Oct 2019 #3
Didn't SDNY just arrest two people involved with Ukraine? dem4decades Oct 2019 #9
THIS orangecrush Oct 2019 #14
....is not a sentence DemocracyMouse Oct 2019 #16
I see what you did there. calimary Oct 2019 #22
THIS SURE IS! orangecrush Oct 2019 #27
..Let's say this is true, and a couple of "rat__cking republicans" are doing this. Stuart G Oct 2019 #2
It is a common misperception that it is illegal for witnesses to communicate with each other onenote Oct 2019 #4
But if witnesses have to coordinate what they say, docgee Oct 2019 #5
there would need to be actual evidence of perjury onenote Oct 2019 #6
If they conspire to give false testimony, that's not a crime? dem4decades Oct 2019 #10
If they give false testimony individually its also a crime onenote Oct 2019 #19
Consider the witnesses. dem4decades Oct 2019 #21
So you'd convict a witness of perjury simply because you don't like the witness. onenote Oct 2019 #23
I thought we all just assumed that witness tampering was occurring... EarthFirst Oct 2019 #7
+1 Lulu KC Oct 2019 #17
witnesses speaking to each other isn't witness tampering. onenote Oct 2019 #25
There is a rule noneof_theabove Oct 2019 #8
An attorney can ask them what they know, what they plan to say. onenote Oct 2019 #24
Sondland and Volker? Mr. Ected Oct 2019 #11
Yeah, my first thought as well, Mr. ...shifty people, seems like Leghorn21 Oct 2019 #26
Could this blow up the impeachment? Quemado Oct 2019 #12
Unfortunately for Tronald Dump, he confessed on TV, Hassler Oct 2019 #13
The repiggies are lying sacks of shit. warmfeet Oct 2019 #15
Let them. All it does it set themselves up for perjury charges down the road if they lie. cstanleytech Oct 2019 #18
Two Democratic lawmakers ... DOES NOT EQUAL ... GeorgeGist Oct 2019 #20

dem4decades

(11,297 posts)
9. Didn't SDNY just arrest two people involved with Ukraine?
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 07:11 PM
Oct 2019

It's all tied in together. Rudy, those guys, and Trump, Ukraine and SDNY. Sondland was an idiot tho go on record at the Congressional hearings. His time in the barrel is coming.

Stuart G

(38,436 posts)
2. ..Let's say this is true, and a couple of "rat__cking republicans" are doing this.
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 05:28 PM
Oct 2019

..In the end, even though this is against the law, which it is, it won't matter in my opinion. The truth about all this is out, and the show is in the last act, very close to the end of the play.

onenote

(42,715 posts)
4. It is a common misperception that it is illegal for witnesses to communicate with each other
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 05:43 PM
Oct 2019

It is not illegal for witnesses to talk to each other, to discuss what they might say in their testimony etc. before a trial and, even during or after a trial, there is no bar to doing so unless the judge has expressly admonished them not to do so (in which case a witness might be found in contempt).

onenote

(42,715 posts)
6. there would need to be actual evidence of perjury
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 06:51 PM
Oct 2019

the fact that one witness spoke to another is not, in and of itself, evidence that one or both committed perjury.

onenote

(42,715 posts)
19. If they give false testimony individually its also a crime
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 08:43 PM
Oct 2019

But there is no presumption that testimony is false because the witnesses have conferred with one another.

onenote

(42,715 posts)
25. witnesses speaking to each other isn't witness tampering.
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 10:17 PM
Oct 2019

Amateur lawyering is a thing here on DU. Not a good thing.

noneof_theabove

(410 posts)
8. There is a rule
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 07:00 PM
Oct 2019

Link: https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/solosez/solosez_11_thread_1_contacting_a_non.authcheckdam.pdf


You can talk to a non-party witness as much and in as detailed a fashion as
you wish, as long as you neither suggest nor provide answers for them.


Do you really believe the were "seeing how the grand-kids are doing"?

Nothing a ReThug does is illegal until they get caught.

In this case, answer with the absolute same answer, then I call tampering.

onenote

(42,715 posts)
24. An attorney can ask them what they know, what they plan to say.
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 10:16 PM
Oct 2019

You're not limited to taking about the grand kids. And these are rules applicable to counsel. Not to witnesses talking to each other.

I take it you skipped some classes in law school

Mr. Ected

(9,670 posts)
11. Sondland and Volker?
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 07:22 PM
Oct 2019

Seems we already know that Sondland's testimony was counter to Taylor's and Cooper's.

These Trumpanzees haven't stopped lying and coordinating their lies since the Great Indignity first came into the picture.

Leghorn21

(13,524 posts)
26. Yeah, my first thought as well, Mr. ...shifty people, seems like
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 10:23 PM
Oct 2019

Ultimately though, fuck em - I think the truth will out and that the reams of testimony gathered will knock them into the land of “who cares”...or maybe “perjuryville”...

Fuck em

Quemado

(1,262 posts)
12. Could this blow up the impeachment?
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 07:30 PM
Oct 2019

If witnesses are coordinating with each other, could the Republicans use this to blow up the impeachment?

Hassler

(3,379 posts)
13. Unfortunately for Tronald Dump, he confessed on TV,
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 07:34 PM
Oct 2019

Was corroborated in his confession by the Freedumb alum, and further corroborated by Taylor and others. He's fcked.

warmfeet

(3,321 posts)
15. The repiggies are lying sacks of shit.
Thu Oct 24, 2019, 07:48 PM
Oct 2019

This should not surprise anyone. The constitution, federal, state and local laws mean nothing to them. They will do anything to retain power. I am weary of showing up to a gunfight with only a nail clippers.

Demand accountability. Demand consequences for illegal actions. Demand the rule of law.

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