Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial said Wednesday they would prove that Trump was no “innocent bystander” but the “inciter in chief” of the deadly attack at the Capitol aimed at overturning his election loss to Joe Biden.
»Watch Day 2 of the impeachment trial through C-SPAN’s YouTube channel here.
»You can also watch the trial via the Senate’s live floor webcast, found here.
When the trial resumed after a dinner break, House impeachment managers focused on Trump’s silence on Jan. 6 as the siege began to unfold at the Capitol.
Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, one of the prosecutors in Trump’s trial, said Wednesday the former president had a “breathtaking dereliction of duty” and violated his oath of office by failing to call off rioters.
Cicilline noted that as senators were being evacuated, Trump mistakenly called Utah Sen. Mike Lee while trying to reach Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville to discuss contesting the counting of electoral votes.
Cicilline said that while Trump did not stop the attack or address it, his phone call made clear his focus was the same as the rioters’: to stop the certification of the election and transfer of power.
When the trial resumed after an afternoon break, House impeachment managers provided footage of then-Vice President Mike Pence and his family being evacuated from the Capitol during the riot.
House impeachment managers also released footage of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman ushering Sen. Mitt Romney to safety while the Capitol was under siege.
House impeachment managers also provided footage of then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and security detail running in opposite direction from rioters inside the Capitol.
Democrats say Capitol Police evacuated House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the Capitol complex entirely because they feared for her safety Jan. 6.
Prosecutors at Trump’s second impeachment trial Wednesday played audio of Pelosi’s barricaded staffers whispering for help and showed images of the mob trying to break down a door into Pelosi’s office.
The 80-year-old Pelosi was a longtime political target of the president, who derisively nicknamed her “Crazy Nancy.”
House impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett said Pelosi was rushed to a secure offsite location because some of the rioters publicly declared their intent to harm or kill Pelosi.
Plaskett said if the rioters had found Pelosi, they would have killed her. She said, “They did it because Donald Trump sent them on this mission.”
As the mob breached the Capitol, one officer told dispatch, “We’re still taking rocks, bottles and pieces of flag and metal pole.”
In another recording, an officer said, “We have been flanked, and we’ve lost the line.”
Opening the first full day of arguments, the lead House prosecutor promised to lay out evidence that shows the president encouraged a rally crowd to head to the Capitol, then did nothing to stem the violence and watched with “glee” as a mob stormed the iconic building. Five people died.
“To us, it may have felt like chaos and madness, but there was method to the madness that day,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland.
Trump’s attorneys sought to halt the trial on constitutional grounds but lost that bid Tuesday. Their arguments were meandering at times, leaving Trump reportedly fuming about his lawyers’ performance and allies questioning the defense strategy. Some called for yet another shakeup to his legal team.
House Democratic prosecutors are seeking to link Trump directly to the riot that left five people dead, replaying videos of the rioters trying to stop the certification of Biden’s victory and Trump’s statements urging them to fight the election results.
Senators, many of whom fled for safety the day of the attack, watched Tuesday’s graphic videos of the Trump supporters who battled past police to storm the halls, Trump flags waving.
While Democrats won Tuesday’s vote, it also signaled that they will not likely have the votes for an eventual conviction, because they would need a minimum of 17 Republicans to vote with them. Democrats say they know they are arguing the case uphill, but they are holding out hope that they will convert more Republicans by the final vote.
Democrats are trying to take advantage of senators’ own experiences, tapping into their emotions as they describe in detail — and show on video — what happened as the mob broke through police barriers, injured law enforcement officers, ransacked the Capitol and hunted for lawmakers. Democratic aides working on the impeachment team said Tuesday that they think they have a “devastating” case against the former president, and that they will prosecute it like a criminal trial.
On Tuesday, as House impeachment managers argued the trial was constitutional, they strayed from their arcane arguments about historic precedent and the Federalist Papers to show a video that took senators through a visceral, graphic timeline of Jan. 6, starting with Trump’s speech to supporters in which he told them to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat. It juxtaposed Trump’s words with what was happening inside and outside the Capitol as supporters broke in, showing violence and jeers aimed at police and lawmakers.
Trump’s lawyers had a bad day Tuesday, as Trump fumed at their performance and GOP senators leaving the trial criticized their arguments as “random,” “disorganized” and “perplexing.” Trump felt that the team, especially lead lawyer Bruce Castor, came off badly on television and looked weak compared with the Democratic prosecutors, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
On Friday, they will get another chance, starting what is likely to be two days of arguments that last into the weekend. They plan to argue that Trump did not incite the violence, that rioters acted of their own accord and that the former president is protected by freedom of speech.
While the Democrats have appealed to the senators’ emotions, Trump’s lawyers have tried to tap into raw partisan anger. David Schoen, who spoke after Castor, criticized statements from Democrats that he said were also inciting violence and told the chamber that the Democratic prosecutors are fueled by a “hatred” of Trump and fear that they will lose power.
Six Republican senators voted with Democrats on Tuesday not to dismiss the trial on constitutional grounds. Those senators so far appear the most likely to vote to convict Trump.
The six senators, most of whom have harshly criticized the president’s behavior, are Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Cassidy was the only one who did not side with Democrats in a similar vote two weeks ago. He said after the vote Tuesday that he thought Democrats had a better argument and that Trump’s team had done a “terrible” job. He said he will watch the additional arguments as an impartial juror and then decide whether to convict.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, who voted Tuesday to dismiss the trial, is retiring in 2022 and has also said he has an open mind about conviction.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
