"The principle that senators are not jurors in the traditional sense was well established at the outset of the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton."

"Tasked with delivering an opening statement for the House managers, who present the House’s case to the Senate, Rep. Robert Barr, R-Ga., reminded the senators of Clinton’s tendency to 'nitpick' over details or 'parse a specific word or phrase of testimony.' To Barr, the conclusion was obvious: 'We urge you, the distinguished jurors in this case, not to be fooled.' That was the moment Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, had been waiting for. 'Mr. Chief Justice,' he said, addressing William Rehnquist, who was presiding over the trial, 'I object to the use and the continued use of the word "jurors" when referring to the Senate.'... The chief justice sustained the objection. 'The Senate is not simply a jury,' he ruled. 'It is a court in this case.' Rehnquist thus admonished the House managers 'to refrain from referring to the Senators as jurors.' For the balance of the trial, they were called 'triers of law and fact.'... In an ordinary trial, the jury’s role is generally limited to fact finding, while the judge determines the scope and application of the law. In an impeachment trial, however, the Senate itself has the 'sole power' to decide every issue. Recognizing the Senate’s all-encompassing responsibility, and his own limited role, Chief Justice Rehnquist referred to himself throughout the proceeding only as 'the chair.'"

Writes lawprof Steven Lubet in (The National Interest).

Did Donald Trump utter what Ronald Reagan called the "9 most terrifying words in the English language": "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"?

You might think so from this NYT headline: "‘I’m Here to Help,’ Trump Tells Tech Executives at Meeting."

But if you watch the video — provided at the link — and read the text, you'll see what he said was "I’m here to help you folks do well." And:

“There’s nobody like you in the world,” he enthused. “In the world! There’s nobody like the people in this room.” Anything that the government “can do to help this go along,” he made clear, “we’re going to be there for you.”

Yesterday, there was a much more conspicuous example of the NYT using a deceptively incomplete quote in a headline: "Trump Strategist Stephen Bannon Says Media Should ‘Keep Its Mouth Shut.'" The full quote — which does appear in the article, in the second paragraph — is "The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while."

We discussed that article here, and the commenters observed the problem. Harkin said: