The Senate began on Tuesday Trump’s second historic impeachment trial, on the charge that he incited the deadly Capitol insurrection on January 6.
Raskin, the Democratic congressman who led the charge, told the assembled senators – serving as jurors – that Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol.
“This cannot be America’s future,” said Raskin. “We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government.”
Video transcription
ADAM RASKIN: This judgment is really personal for each senator, for each member of the House, for each manager, for all of our employees, the Capitol Police, the Washington Metropolitan Police, DC, the National Guard, maintenance and custody teams, press journalists and TV people who were here, and all of our families and friends. My youngest daughter, Tabitha, was with me on Wednesday, January 6. It was the saddest day of our lives after we buried your brother, our son Tommy. They wanted to be with me in the middle of a devastating week for our family.
And I said I had to get back to work, because we were counting the electoral votes that day, January 6th. It was our constitutional duty. And instead, I invited them to come with me to witness this historic event, the peaceful transfer of power in America.
And they said they heard that President Trump was calling on his followers to come to Washington to protest. And they asked me directly, would it be safe? Would it be safe? And I told them, of course, it should be safe. This is the Capitol.
And when they were finally rescued about an hour later by Capitol officers and we were together, I hugged them and apologized. And I told my daughter Tabitha – I told her how sorry I was, and I promised her that it wouldn’t be like that again the next time she came back to Capitol with me. And do you know what she said? She said: Dad, I don’t want to go back to Capitol.
Of all the terrible and brutal things I saw and heard that day, and since then, that was the one that hit me the most, and to see someone use an American flagpole, still with the flag on it, to relentlessly punch and punch one of our police officers , no mercy. Tortured by a flagpole with a flag that he defended with his life.
People died that day. The officers ended up with head and brain damage. People’s eyes were gouged out. An officer had a heart attack. An officer lost three fingers that day. Two officers committed suicide.
Senators, this cannot be our future. This cannot be America’s future. We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing popular violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people under the United States Constitution.