politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
It kind of does say it all, but in a criminal trial, refusing to testify cannot be held against you under the 5th Amendment. In a civil trial, though, refusing to testify can be factored into reaching a verdict.
So yeah, while it may make you appear guilty as hell, refusing to testify in your criminal trial cannot be held against you.
That was hammered into us every time I had to report for jury duty.
Idealistically, you're right. But it says volumes that someone would be willing to say a lot of shit in front of a camera (where the consequences are miniscule), but refuse to say the exact same shit in front of a judge (where the consequences are serious [assuming you're not a "rich" ~~white~~ orange cult leader]).
Trump doesn't testify for the one reason we all know: he'd incriminate himself faster than any piece of evidence that could ever be produced.
Oh, yeah. We all know. lol. But, for better or worse, he's entitled to the same constitutional protections as the rest of us (despite the fact he routinely wipes his ass with it).
Yes, it can't impact the trial, that he didn't testify. Doesn't mean we can't infer, out here away from the court, that he put up a big front in public and slunk away with his tail between his legs in court, because he knew he was guilty and would only have made things worse if he testified, along with earning some counts of perjury.