The House Democrats prosecuting Donald Trump resumed their case against him Thursday, turning to the words of rioters who said they stormed the Capitol on January 6 at his behest and warning that the former president’s “lack of remorse” suggested he would stoke fresh violence if not barred from holding office again.
A day after delivering the Senate a harrowing account of the deadly violence, replete with chilling previously unseen security footage, the impeachment managers began displaying new video clips, court documents and media interviews in which the rioters defended their actions by citing Trump’s directives and desires.
“We were invited here,” one of them screamed, the clip echoing through the Senate chamber.
“Their own statements before, during and after the attack made clear the attack was done for Donald Trump — at his instructions and to fulfil his wishes,” said Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado, one of the nine House managers.
Making their concluding arguments, the prosecutors sharpened their case for making Trump the first impeached president ever convicted and the first ex-president disqualified from holding future office. They argued he had encouraged and celebrated violence before Jan. 6 — from a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 to his campaign rallies — and shown no remorse for whipping up thousands of his loyal supporters by telling them to “fight like hell” that day. Afterwards, they noted, Trump called his speech “totally appropriate.”
“I’m not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years,” said Rep. Ted Lieu of California, another manager. “I’m afraid he’s going to run again and lose because he can do this again.”
Their task is a daunting one, aimed at persuading Republican senators who have shown no appetite for breaking with Trump to do so and building a historical record of his role in the worst attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812.
By turn, the managers sought to appeal to Republicans’ sense of patriotism and common sense. They read them the words of fellow Republicans who voted in the House to impeach Trump and from the former president’s own Cabinet secretaries — including Elaine Chao, wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and the Transportation secretary — who resigned in protest after the deadly riot.
“My dear colleagues, is there any political leader in this room who believes if he’s ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way?” Raskin asked. “Would you bet the lives of more police officers on that? Would you bet the safety of your family on that? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that?”
But already Wednesday, Republican senators who sat through a traumatic retelling of an assault they lived through appeared unmoved from their determination to acquit Trump.
Seventeen Republicans would have to join every Democrat to achieve the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.
Trump’s lawyers are expected to present his defence beginning Friday. They intend to deny that Trump was responsible for the attack or meant to interfere with the electoral process underway at the Capitol, despite his repeated exhortations to supporters to “fight like hell” to “stop the steal.”
One of the lawyers, David I. Schoen, derided the Democrats’ presentation as a thinly sourced “entertainment package” and “offensive” during an appearance on Fox News while the trial was underway Thursday.
“In no setting in this country where someone’s guilt or innocence is being adjudicated would this kind of approach be permitted,” he said.
The trial is moving at a galloping pace, and senators could reach a verdict by the end of the holiday weekend. But first, senators will have a chance to question the prosecution and defence, and the managers may force a debate and vote on calling witnesses.