Trump’s second impeachment trial begins as Dem managers promise to give ‘devastating new evidence’

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Democrats began their impeachment case against Donald Trump on Tuesday with a video about the January 6th MAGA attack on the Capitol, focusing on the violence of the day and featuring the words of the former president against him.

Trump’s defense attorney, in contrast, made less of a legal case and went more for flattery, praising the senators for their work, their patriotism and dedication to country. 

The Democrats went for the gut punch, using their opening argument to remind senators of what happened the day of the riot, the confusion, fear and brute force that was in play as lawmakers fled from the mass of Trump supporters.

The 14-minute video showed highlights from the insurrection, including Trump urging his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ at a rally outside the White House that morning. It also showed the violence and destruction the rioters inflicted as they fought their way through police lines and breached the building. 

Lead Impeachment manager Jamie Raskin began the Democrats’ case with an impassioned speech on the constitutionally of the impeachment trial and ending with an emotional personal story of the riot and how it affected him. At times he held back tears as he recounted what happened on January 6th.

And it wasn’t just about him, he told a captive Senate audience, which sat in silence listening to him. 

”This trial is personal for every senator and for every member of the House, for every manager and all our staff and the capital police and the Washington DC metropolitan police and the National Guard and maintenance and custodial crews and the print journalists and TV people who were here,’ Raskin said.

In contrast, Trump attorney Bruce Castor started off his defense of the former president with a rambling soliloquy that veered between name-dropping the senators he knows and praising the Senate for its work.

‘And you know, senators of the United States, they are not ordinary people. There are extraordinary people in the technical sense, extraordinary people,’ Castor said.

‘I have been around the United States senators before. Two of them in this room from Pennsylvania and I would like to think are friendly towards me or at least friends of mine when we are not politically adverse,’ he noted.

He talked about how he worked in the Senate forty years ago and ‘I got lost then and I still do.’

He eventually got around to mentioning Donald Trump. He launched a general defense about the freedom of speech, noting people have the right to disagree with anyone, even Trump.

‘I do not expect and I don’t believe former president expect anybody to walk back any of the language. If that is how they feel about the way things transparent over the last couple of years in his country, they should be allowed to say that. And I will go to court and defend them if anything happens to them as a result,’ Castor said.

One of the arguments Trump’s legal team made is that his speech the morning of January 6th was not inciting a mob but protected free speech under the first amendment.

‘We cannot possibly be suggesting that we punish people for political speech in this country,’ he said. 

The main argument from Castor, and fellow defense attorney David Schoen, is meant to focus on the unconstitutionality of moving forward with impeachment of an ex-president. Most of their floor speech on Tuesday, however, did not present much legal argument for that stance. 

Toward the end of Castor’s more than 45-minute remarks, he said: ‘President Trump is no longer is in office. The object of the Constitution has been achieved. He was removed by the voters.’ 

The impeachment managers, however, presented a strong, coherent and cohesive argument to one from Trump’s lawyers that a former president cannot be impeachment. The Democratic prosecutors pointed out that Trump was president when the impeachable offense was conducted, making him liable under the law.

But they let the video speak for them and used the words of the rioters as part of their case: 

‘Find Mike,’ one of the rioters is heard yelling about then Vice President Pence.

‘F*** you police,’ one yelled as he confronted Capitol Police officers outside the Capitol.

‘Where the f*** are they,’ another person yells as the rioters made their way through the building.

‘There’s got to be something useful in here,’ one says as he flips through files, tossing documents on the floor.

Senators were also shown footage from the Senate that morning, where they all sat where they did on Tuesday as they heard evidence. They saw Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell speak against Trump’s attempts to overturn the election and the chamber being gavelled out of session as rioters made their way toward them. There was also a clip of officer Eugene Goodman leading the rioters away from the Senate as the senators were evacuated.

Impeachment managers included a clip of Trump’s video tweet, where he told the rioters he loved them. 

And the senators saw rioters use chairs to try and break the glass outside the House chamber, trying to get in as Capitol Police officers held them off. They heard the shot as rioter Ashli Babbitt was killed.

The sounds from the video seemed to echo through the Senate chamber, filling it with the screams and yells of the mob.

Senators were in the Capitol on January 6th, but the video brought it all back, showing a condensed version of attack and previously unseen footage of the rioters. 

When the video concluded, it was silent. Senators sat quietly until Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin began his argument again. Senators then shuffled in their seats, opening binders and rustling papers.

Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, kicked off the Democrats’ argument that the impeachment of a former president is illegal, countering one of the main defense that Trump’s attorneys will deploy, which is that an impeached president cannot be tried.

‘You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our constitution? That’s a high crime and misdemeanor,’ Raskin said, pointing to one of the monitors in the chamber after the video aired. ‘If that’s not an impeachable offense then there is no such thing.’ 

Raskin warned the Senate that Trump was trying to make them ‘powerless’ with his argument the senators couldn’t impeach him.

‘It is undisputed that we impeached him while he was president. There can be no doubt that this is a valid and legitimate impeachment. And there can be no doubt that the Senate has the power to try this impeachment,’ he said.

‘Article 1, section 3 gives the Senate the sole power to try all impeachments. The Senate has the power, the sole power to try all impeachments. All means all under no exceptions to the rule. But because the Senate has jurisdiction to try all impeachments and has jurisdiction to try this on. It’s really that simple,’ he noted.

Raskin, a professor of constitutional law, gave a passionate speech about the founding fathers’ intent with the constitution and he showed the legal history of impeaching officials, pointing out the first Senate impeachment trial was of a former official.

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado took up Raskin’s argument there is no ‘January exception’ for a president when it comes to impeachment.

‘The text of the constitution makes clear there is no January exception to the impeachment power. That president can’t commit grave offenses in their final days and escape any congressional response. That’s not how our constitution work,’ he said.  

And Democratic Rep. David Cicilline argued: ‘The president of the United States sided with the insurrectionists.’ 

Democrats, in their prosecution argument, promised to deliver ‘devastating new evidence’ that the former president incited the MAGA mob’s deadly riot at the Capitol.

ACCUSED EX-PRESIDENT WATCHES FROM HIS FLORIDA HOME 

The Senate president pro tempore Patrick Leahy gaveled in the chamber at 1:01 p.m. as Trump’s aides claim the former president will watch every minute on TV from the comfort of his Mar-a-Lago residence.

A senior aide to a Democratic impeachment manager, according to NBC News, said that the proceedings will resemble a ‘violent crime criminal prosecution.’  

The nine managers are using their two hours to prove that Trump spent weeks laying the groundwork for what happened the day Congress moved to certify the election for Joe Biden. And an aide claimed they would try to prove that he intentionally ‘incited it further’ after the violence broke out. 

Meanwhile, Trump has told his aides he is preparing for a guns blazing return to politics after his almost assured acquittal.

At the end of the four-hour debate on Tuesday – two hours for the prosecution and two hours for the defense – the full Senate will cast a vote on whether it’s constitutional to impeach an ex-president, which only requires a simple majority. 

The former president is comparing the whole ordeal to his time as a reality TV personality, claiming the period between leaving Washington and waiting for the trial to conclude is like waiting for a new season of his show to start. 

‘He’s compared it to that time in between seasons of ‘The Apprentice,’ building anticipation and wonderment for what’s to come,’ one adviser told Politico of his preparations for a ‘second act.’

As the Senate trial kicks off Tuesday afternoon, the former president will forgo his usual routine of hitting the links at his Palm Beach golf club and instead set up in front of the TV for the remainder of the proceedings, his aides say.

In a press conference before the proceedings, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats are aiming to hold Trump ‘accountable for the most serious charges, ever, ever levied against a president.’

‘Those who say, ‘let’s move on, that brings unity,’ are false,’ Schumer said.

He added: ‘The Senate has to find – is he guilty of inciting the violence that ensued?’

Impeachment managers, led by Representative Jamie Raskin, tried on Thursday to compel Trump to testify in the trial. But Senate leadership has snubbed the idea of witness calling in general in an effort to expedite the process.    

Following the vote, the Senate will adjourn for the day and pick back up Wednesday morning.  

David Schoen, one of Trump’s impeachment defense attorneys, withdrew his previous request to pause the trial Friday evening and all Saturday so he could observe the Sabbath.

‘I very much appreciated your decision,’ Schoen said in a letter to Senate leadership on Monday, ‘but I remain concerned about the delay in the proceedings in a process that I recognize is important to bring a conclusion for all involved and for the country.’ 

‘I am writing today to withdraw my request so that the proceedings can go forward as originally contemplated before I made my request,’ he wrote to Senate’s President pro tempore Patrick Leahy, Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell – adding that changes were made in the defense strategy that will allow him to take off but the trial to proceed.

This means the trial proceedings could run straight through the weekend without any break. 

While Schoen is expected to present the defense’s case on Tuesday, the president’s other impeachment defense lawyer Bruce Castor – and his associate Michael van der Veen – are expected to take over for the remainder of the defense case. 

Democrats are charging Trump with ‘incitement of insurrection’, specifically pointing to a speech he made to thousands of his supporters on January 6 before they marched to the Capitol and stormed the building.

The riot resulted in five deaths and hundreds of injuries – it also caused six hours of chaos and fear among Congress members who were forced to shelter in place, evacuate or bunker down in the chambers as protesters banged on the doors.

Despite Trump’s overall public silence since leaving office, those close to him say he is reveling in his ability to still shape the news cycle without a Twitter account and garner mass coverage with just a few public statements.

‘He finally realizes less is more,’ an adviser to the 45th president told Politico. 

Trump became quickly known in his 2016 campaign for his outward presence on Twitter and his say-whatever’s-on-his-mind approach.

His account was finally indefinitely suspended last month after Twitter claimed he was inciting violence with his posts. 

Since leaving Washington, Trump has taken the advice of his closest aides, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, by spending most of his days on his Palm Beach golf course and out of the public eye.

One aide said: ‘Right now Trump is thinking, ‘I’ve got 45 votes, all I have to do is go golfing and not do anything.’

Ivanka and Jared, who both served as his senior advisers during Trump’s presidency, have warned him that being too public too soon could screw up his chances of acquittal in the Senate.

Kushner has reportedly used the phrase, ‘Snatch defeat for the jaws of victory,’ several times.  

 REP. RASKIN’S EMOTIONAL PLEA

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland fought back tears as he asked for a moment to speak personally to the Senate. He recalled being in the Capitol on January 6th and how his family was there with him, as they wanted to be close to him after his son Tommy committed suicide on New Year’s Eve.

He gave an emotional plea about how the trial was personal for everyone on Capitol Hill during the January 6th riot. 

‘This trial is personal for every senator and for every member of the House, for every manager and all our staff and the capital police and the Washington DC metropolitan police and the National Guard and maintenance and custodial crews and the print journalists and TV people who were here and all of our families and friends. I hope this trial reminds America how personal democracy is and how personal is the loss of democracy two,’ he said.

Raskin, the lead House impeachment manager, noted his youngest daughter Tabitha and his son-in-law came with him on January 6th after he reassured them it was safe.

‘It was the day after we buried her brother, our son Tommy, the saddest day of our lives,’ he said of his daughter.

The chamber was silent while he spoke. Those senators who were fiddling with papers or adjusting stopped. 

He talked about how he couldn’t get to them on the day of the attack and how he listened to his colleagues call their loved ones to say goodbye as the rioters tried to break onto the House floor.

‘I couldn’t get out there to be with them in the office. All around me people were calling their wives and their husbands, their loved ones to say goodbye. Members of Congress – the House anyway – were removing their congressional pins so they wouldn’t be identified by the mob as they tried to escape the violence. Our new chaplain got up and set a prayer for us and we were told to put our gas masks on and then there was a sound I will never forget, the sound of pounding on the door like a battering ram in the most haunting sound I ever heard and will never forget,’ he said.

‘They thought they were going to die,’ Raskin said of his family, staff and lawmakers on January 6th.

He wiped away tears as he recalled being reunited with his daughter and noted she told him: ‘She said, dad, I don’t want to come back to the Capital.’

‘Of all the terrible, brutal things I saw and heard on the day and since then that one hit me the hardest. That and watching someone use an American flag poll with the flag still on it to spear and pummel one of our police officers ruthlessly, mercilessly tortured by a poll with a flag on it that he was defending with his very life,’ he said.

Raskin then described the injuries suffered by Capitol Police officers who defended the Capitol that day.

‘People died that day and officers ended up with head damage and brain damage and people’s eyes were gouged and an officer had a heart attack. An officer lost three fingers that day. Two officers had taken their own lives,’ he said.

‘Senators, this cannot be our future. This cannot be the future of America. We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence to get our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people under the constitution of the United States,’ he said, wrapping up the Democrats’ opening argument.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN STAYS SILENT ON TRIAL

Even as impeachment managers presented emotional arguments and played dramatic violent video of the Capitol riot, President Joe Biden refused to comment on the substance of the unfolding trial.

Asked about it during a meeting with business leaders and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Biden responded: ‘Look, I told you before, I have a job, my job is to keep people – we’ve already lost over 450,000 people, we’re going to lose a whole lot more if we don’t act and act decisively quickly.’

‘A lot of people as I said are going to – a lot of children are going to bed hungry. A lot of families are food insecure. They’re in trouble. That’s my job. The Senate has their job they’re about to begin it. I’m sure they’re going to conduct themselves well. And that’s all I’m going to have to say about impeachment.’

He called for getting the pandemic under control as well as shoring up the economy.

‘I think we’re in a position to think big and to move big and to move in a direction that can not only get the economy back on its feet, but we have to get people well before we get people on their feet,’ he said.

MASKLESS RAND PAUL DOODLES THROUGH VIOLENT VIDEO AND RICK SCOTT BROUGHT A BOOK

During the trial, including the 14-minute video showing clips edited together of Trump’s speech and the violent Capitol clashes on January 6, most senators appeared to pay attention while others seemed uninterested.

Some took notes.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who has made clear he believes the proceedings are unconstitutional, was doodling random squiggles on a white pad of paper as the video played as Democrats made their prosecution argument against Trump.

Florida Senator Rick Scott brought the book ‘Vicksburg: Grant’s Campaign That Broke the Confederacy’ to the Senate chamber. And Senator Mike Lee of Utah brought a book titled ‘Senate procedure.’

At one point Indiana Senator Mike Braun sat back in his chair on the Senate floor and read The Hill newspaper – he also had a copy of Roll Call on his desk.

Josh Hawley, one of Trump’s biggest Senate allies, was reading some documents that were likely not trial-related as they did not have the symbols on the papers indicating so.

Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas had a glass of milk at his desk.

Paul, a Republican, was not wearing a mask throughout the trial. Senator James Risch of Idaho had his mask off for about 20 minutes during Trump’s defense lawyer Castor’s speech. During that time with his mask down, Risch took notes, itched his eyes, wiped his forehead and rubbing his face multiple times before pulling it back up over his mouth and nose from under his chin.

All of the other senators kept their masks on except for Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, who pulled it down for an extended period of time in the first hour.

Other than the 50 senators and nine House impeachment managers – Representative Al Greene also attended the trial, taking a seat in the upstairs gallery.

Hawley and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia chewed gum behind their masks.

FRAMERS’ WORST NIGHTMARE COME TO LIFE

Representative Joe Neguse of Colorado was second to bat after Raskin presented the opening arguments for why Democrats feel impeachment of an ex-president is constitutional.

He said that Trump’s defense team’s argument to drop the case on the basis of its constitutionality it’s the ‘framers’ worst nightmare.’

‘The framers have answered that question for you – for us – and you don’t need to be a Constitutional scholar that the argument President Trump asks you to adopt is not just wrong, it’s dangerous,’ Neguse said in his statements from the Senate floor.

He said it’s a dangerous precedent to say that a president can do whatever they want in their final days in office because they won’t face any congressional backlash – like impeachment.

‘There is no January exception to the impeachment power,’ Neguse asserted. ‘That presidents cannot commit grave offenses in their final days and escape any congressional response. That’s not how our Constitution works.’

What has become known as the ‘January rule’ suggests presidents in their lame duck period can act out of character and unlawfully and somehow not face any fallout.

Neguse said that even that argument doesn’t make sense since the House did vote for the second impeachment before Trump vacated the White House due to conduct while still president.

He noted during his remarks that even the first ever impeachment in the U.S. – in the late 1790s – was taken against a former Tennessee senator.

‘Honestly it is hard to imagine a clearer example of how a president could abuse his office – inciting violence against a co-equal branch of government after seeking to remain in power after losing an election. Sitting back and watching it unfold,’ Neguse detailed.

‘We all know the consequences.’

‘Like every one of you, I was in the Capitol on January 6, I was on the floor with lead manager Raskin,’ he continued. ‘Like every one of you, I was evacuated as this violent mob stormed the Capitol’s gates. What you experienced that day, what we experienced that day, what our country experienced that day is the framers’ worst nightmare come to life.’

Neguse concluded: ‘President’s can’t inflame insurrection in their final weeks and then walk away like nothing happened and yet that is the rule that President Trump asks you to adopt.’ 

Already 45 Republicans, led by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, voted that it’s unconstitutional to go forward with impeaching Trump in Congress since he has already left office.

At least 17 Republicans would need to vote for Trump’s impeachment for a successful conviction.  

Part of the video will show Democrats, like Representative Maxine Waters of California and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, using ‘inflammatory rhetoric’ and calling for violence against Republicans and Trump supporters.

They will also present instances when Democrats objected to election results in the past – like Representative Jim McGovern objecting in 2016 to Trump’s win in the deep red state of Alabama.

Trump’s lawyers also plan to present a premeditated attempt to boot Trump from office from Day One, playing sounds bites of Democrats pushing for Trump’s impeachment before he ever was sworn in.    

What to watch as the trial kicks off:

FIRST, AN EFFORT TO DISMISS

Tuesday’s proceedings will begin with a debate to dismiss the trial before it even begins. Trump’s lawyers have argued the trial is moot now that Trump is out of office, and 45 Senate Republicans have already voted once to move forward with an effort to dismiss the trial on those grounds. 

The Senate will debate the constitutionality of the trial for four hours on Tuesday and then hold a vote on whether to dismiss it. The effort to dismiss is expected to fail, allowing arguments in the trial to begin on Wednesday.

Democrats point to the opinion of many legal scholars – including conservatives – who say the trial is valid under the Constitution. They point to an 1876 impeachment trial of a secretary of war who had resigned and note that Trump was impeached before he left office. Trump’s lawyers dismiss that precedent and say language in the Constitution is on their side. 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE PRESIDING

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the president pro tempore of the Senate, will preside over the second impeachment of Donald Trump – unlike the first trial, which Chief Supreme Court Justice John Roberts oversaw.

Unusual with Leahy’s presiding is that he also has a say in the verdict when it comes time to vote on whether to convict Trump for ‘incitement of insurrection.’

As pro temp, Leahy presides over the Senate session in the absence of Vice President Kamala Harris – who currently holds the tie-breaking vote with a 50-50 split Senate.

While the Constitution requires the top Supreme Court justice to preside over presidential impeachment proceedings, historically, the president pro tempore took the lead in impeachment trials of non-presidents.

Leahy, who at 80 is the longest-serving member of the Senate, disclosed last month he would preside over Trump’s trial.

Some Republicans – and Trump’s lawyers David Schoen and Bruce Castor, are concerned whether Leahy, a liberal senator, will be able to conduct the trial fairly since he is not an impartial party.

‘Now, instead of the Chief Justice, the trial will be overseen by a biased and partisan Senator who will purportedly also act as a juror while ruling on issues that arise during trial,’ the former president’s attorneys wrote in a legal brief filed Monday.

They went as far as to suggest Leahy’s role could already set them up for a legal challenge if Trump is convicted.

The day after Leahy announced his presiding role last month, he was brought to Washington hospital for what he described as ‘muscle spasms.’ The next day he was back at work. 

WEDNESDAY: ARGUMENTS BEGIN

The House managers will present their arguments first, beginning Wednesday. Each side will have up to 16 hours, running no more than eight hours per day.

The Democrats are expected to try and take advantage of the 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. The carnage led to five deaths.

The impeachment managers have argued that the mob subverted democracy and that Trump was ‘singularly’ responsible for their actions after months of falsely saying there was widespread fraud in the election. They will appeal to Senate Republicans to vote to convict after most of them criticized Trump in the wake of the riots, with many saying he was responsible for the violence.

There was no widespread fraud in the election. Election officials across the country, and even then-Attorney General William Barr, contradicted Trump’s claims, and dozens of legal challenges to the election put forth by Trump and his allies were dismissed.

It appears unlikely, for now, that there will be witnesses at the trial. But the managers can ask for a Senate vote on calling witnesses if they so choose.

TRUMP’S TEAM HITS BACK

Defense arguments are likely to begin Friday. In their main filing with the Senate, Trump’s lawyers made clear that they will not only argue against the trial on process grounds, but also present a full-throated defense of Trump’s actions that day and why they believe he did not incite the riot.

While the Democrats are expected to appeal to the senators’ emotions, Trump’s lawyers have signaled they will try and tap into raw partisan anger. They repeatedly go after the Democrats personally in the brief, describing their case as a ‘selfish attempt by Democratic leadership in the House to prey upon the feelings of horror and confusion’ and another example of ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ after four years of trying to drive him out of office.

The lawyers argue that Trump’s words ‘fight like hell’ did not mean to literally fight, that the rioters acted on their own accord.

A (LESS) CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

As they were last year, at Trump’s first impeachment trial, senators are expected to listen to every word of the arguments before they cast their votes.

But this trial will look a bit different than the last one due to COVID-19 restrictions. To protect against the virus, senators don’t have to be stuck at their desks for the entirety of the trial, and will be allowed to spread out in the upper galleries or watch a video feed in a room just off the chamber.

REPUBLICANS TO WATCH

Five Republican senators voted with Democrats two weeks ago not to dismiss the trial on constitutional grounds. Those senators so far appear the most likely to vote to convict Trump.

The five senators, all of whom have harshly criticized the president’s behavior, are Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Democrats appear to have little chance of persuading 17 Republicans to find Trump guilty, the minimum number that they would need for conviction. But some GOP senators who voted in favor of the effort to dismiss, such as Rob Portman of Ohio and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, have said they are coming into the trial with an open mind.

Democrats are likely to focus, too, on senators who are retiring in 2022 and will have less to lose politically if they vote to convict. In addition to Toomey and Portman, also retiring are Alabama Senator Richard Shelby and North Carolina Senator Richard Burr.