Old one President Trump
Donald Trump, NRCC finance president: Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment will not be penalized Blinken, the UN chief’s first contact after the US reinstated the Climate Agreements, WHO GOP senators met with the impeachment team Trump to discuss strategiesThe group’s legal team ended its defense at the impeachment trial after speaking for less than four hours on Friday, accusing Democrats and the media of double standards.
The lawyers said the Democrats themselves used violent rhetoric about social justice protesters, disputed the victory of Trump’s Electoral College and questioned the outcome of previous elections.
They repeatedly displayed images of the Republican Party’s greatest antagonists, including the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate. Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton Trump’s DOJ officials tried to block the search for Giuliani’s records: The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by TikTok – New riot video irritates many senators Hillary Clinton: Trump’s absolution will be because the jury includes his co-conspirators’ MORE, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer
Chuck SchumerNewly released images showing Schumer’s “near accident” with Capitol rioters. There is more to repairing federal courts than expanding the Supreme Court. Five things Biden must do to tackle the climate emergency MORE (DN.Y.), Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy PelosiOn The Money: House Panel Advances Part of Aid Package That Includes 400 Checks | Study: Increasing unemployment benefits did little to discourage unemployed people from finding jobs. Managers seek to make the Republican Party think twice about Trump’s absolution. Night Defense: Air Force Joins Army and Navy to End Extremism | Biden ax Trump emergency order for border wall MORE (D-Calif.) And Stacey Abrams, a Democratic candidate for the 2018 Georgia government.
There were also celebrity appearances, with images of Johnny Depp and Madonna making incendiary comments about Trump.
“The impeachment article now before the Senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political revenge,” said attorney Michael Van Der Veen. “This terrible abuse of the Constitution further divides our nation when we should try to unite around shared priorities.”
Democrats criticized the “false equivalence” and accused the Trump team of ignoring his central claim that the former president intentionally incited his supporters to break into the Capitol building on January 6.
“I think they are raising scarecrows to bring them down, instead of dealing with the fact that the events of the 6th happened, including Donald Trump doing nothing to protect this place,” said the senator. Michael Bennet
Michael Farrand Bennet Senate Democrats are calling for more resources for Capitol workers after the Jan. 6 attack. Centrist Democrats pose a major problem for progressives. NIGHT ENERGY: DOJ will let companies pay for environmental projects again to reduce fines | House Democrats reintroduce green energy tax package MORE (D-Col.).
Trump’s defense team rested after using only about 3 hours and 15 minutes of the 16 hours of allocated time, signaling their confidence that the outcome is predetermined and that Republican Party senators will vote for absolution.
“Members of the Senate, our country needs to get back to work,” said attorney Bruce Castor. “I know you know that. But instead, we are here. The majority party promised to unify and deliver more relief from COVID, but instead, they did. We will not take up most of our time today, we in the defense, in the hope that you will recover those hours and use them to get COVID’s relief delivery to the American people. “
The former president’s lawyers only briefly addressed specific incitement allegations, arguing that Trump did not direct the crowd to invade the Capitol and that his speech was protected by the First Amendment.
Lawyers said Trump’s comments were covered by the comprehensive protections offered by the Constitution and that a conviction would make all lawmakers responsible for the actions of his party’s worst actors.
The defense said there is a high standard for convicting someone for incitement and that previous Supreme Court cases require the speaker to ask directly for violence.
Trump’s lawyers also accused the House’s impeachment managers of intentionally editing or manipulating their evidence to make it appear that Trump wanted violence. They said Democratic prosecutors ignored Trump’s remarks that his supporters should march on Capitol Hill “in a peaceful and patriotic way.”
“Far from promoting the insurrection … the president’s comments explicitly encouraged those present to exercise their rights in a peaceful and patriotic manner,” said Van Der Veen. “The peaceful and patriotic protest is the antithesis of a violent attack on the nation’s Capitol.”
These arguments came after the Democrats spent two days showing Trump’s old tweets and his previous speeches, in which he warned his supporters that if they didn’t “fight like hell”, they would lose their country.
Democrats were angered by Trump’s lawyers’ claims that they interpreted their tweets and videos out of context.
They also accused Trump’s lawyer David Schoen of lying when he claimed that the defense did not receive the dramatic new video of the siege beforehand. The never-before-seen videos of senators running for their lives and almost losing confrontations with the angry mob rocked lawmakers when impeachment managers aired the clips earlier this week.
“Somewhere between repeatedly showing videos of Democratic comments cut entirely out of context, Trump’s attorney raised a false accusation of selective editing among House managers and, in doing so, selectively edited the managers’ presentation to defend his point. of view “The Democratic aide said,” Schoen’s statement is incorrect. “
The preponderance of Trump’s defense focused on the argument that Democrats share the blame for fostering the current polarized political environment and that impeachment was a final push to remove Trump from politics once and for all.
“The goal is to eliminate a political opponent to replace his judgment by the will of the voters,” said Castor.
“It is about canceling 75 million Trump voters … Asks that the culture of constitutional cancellation take over,” he added.
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly shown videos of Democrats urging their own supporters to march in last summer’s social justice protests, or confront Trump administration officials when they are in public.
A long segment featured Democrats saying they would “fight” to win the elections, in contrast to Trump’s calls for his supporters to “fight like crazy”.
Another video showed Democrats, including impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin
Jamin (Jamie) Ben Raskin GOP senators praise impeachment managers, but say Trump will be acquitted. (D-Md.), Contesting the victory of Trump’s Electoral College in 2016, while another exhibited a montage of Democrats questioning the results of previous elections.
The clips were intended to plead Democrats guilty of all the things they are accusing Trump of doing.
“It seems that the position of the House manager … is that when Republican candidates for office claim that the election has been stolen or the winner is illegitimate, this is an incitement to an insurrection and candidates must know that,” said Schoen.
“But Democratic Party candidates for elected public office have every right to claim that the election was stolen or that the winner is illegitimate, or to make any other outrageous claims they can … regardless of whether there is evidence to support their claim. “
Sen. Martin Heinrich
Martin Trevor Heinrich No sign of demand for witnesses at the Trump trial. Centrist Democrats pose a major problem for progressives. MOST (DN.M.) called this argument “false equivalence”.
“I mean, you have a story, in one case, of encouraging violence through, you know, open statements, but also dog whistles … against a story that in no case resulted in deaths, police deaths, rebel behavior. It’s not the same, “said Heinrich.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) Called the defense videos a “distraction” from Trump, “inviting the crowd to Washington”.
“They are trying to draw a dangerous and distorted equivalence,” he said.
Sen. Mazie Hirono
Mazie Keiko HironoHillicon Valley: Democratic Senators Announce Section 230 Reform Bill | Labor council denies Amazon’s request to postpone union vote Robinhood suspends GameStop restrictions, other actions Democratic senators present bill to limit section 230 protections VA secretary, nominated for confirmation hearing MORE (D-Hawaii) called the attacks on Democrats “childish”.
“It was pathetic and amateurish,” she said.
Updated at 16:49