Washington – House Democrats are concluding their arguments for sentencing former President Donald Trump to his Senate impeachment trial on Thursday, the day after presenting a dramatic video schedule shedding new light on the extent of the attack on the Capitol on January 6.
Senior advisers to the impeachment team said Thursday’s arguments would focus on the consequences of the attack, including the role of Trump. They also plan to examine the damage caused by the disturbances, both physical and otherwise, the president’s lack of remorse and the legal issues that apply to this case.
“We, the team and the leaders, remain convinced that the evidence has the power to change minds and, in fact, we think we saw a little more movement yesterday,” said an aide. “At the end of today, I think that many of the questions raised by the senators who spoke to the press last night will have been meticulously answered and their duty to condemn will become clear.”
On Wednesday, impeachment managers spent hours building the case that Trump was responsible for inciting the crowd that assaulted the Capitol, arguing that the attack was the violent culmination of months of efforts by the former president to undermine the integrity of the election.
Managers revealed unpublished security footage from inside Congressional corridors to show how close the protesters came to lawmakers, officials and vice president Mike Pence, who resisted Trump’s calls to obstruct the counting of electoral votes. Senators were silent as managers presented the meticulously constructed timeline, with many saying they were shaken after reliving the violent episode.
“I know what I was feeling in the Senate when I heard those voices. I knew what it meant to be running down this hall with my colleagues,” said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski. “I was not fully aware of everything else that was going on in the building. So when you see all the pieces coming together, just the total awareness of this, the enormity of this, this threat, not just for us as people, as legislators, but the threat to the institution and to what Congress represents is worrying. ”
The trial resumes at noon on Thursday, with Democratic impeachment managers having eight hours to close the case before Trump’s legal team begins its defense on Friday.