House impeachment managers have unveiled another previously unseen security footage about the January 6 Capitol riots on the second day of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, arguing that Mr Trump repeatedly failed to call off rioters and stop the violence at the U.S. Capitol last month.
The video showed the mob of rioters breaking into the Capitol, smashing windows and doors searching menacingly for Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as “overwhelmed police begged on their radios for help.” The video also shows police shooting into the crowd through a broken window, killing a San Diego woman, Ashli Babbitt. In another footage, a police officer is seen being crushed by the mob. Five people died during the riots.
The former Vice President, who had been presiding over a session to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump is shown being rushed to safety, where he sheltered in an office with his family just 100 feet from the rioters.
“They were within 100 feet of where the Vice President was sheltering with his family. And they were just a few feet away from one of the doors to this chamber where many of you remained at that time,” House impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett said.
The presentation opened the second day of the trial as the prosecutors argued Trump was no “innocent bystander” but the “inciter in chief” of the deadly Capitol riot. They said the former President then did nothing to stop the violence and watched with “glee” as the mob ransacked the iconic building.
Jamie Raskin, the lead prosecutor, who pointed to Trump as the instigator stated that the evidence showed that the former President had been “warned that these followers were prepared for a violent attack targeting us at the Capitol through media reports, law enforcement reports, and even arrests.
“To us, it may have felt like chaos and madness, but there was method to the madness that day. And when his mob overran and occupied the Senate and attacked the House and assaulted law enforcement, he watched it on TV like a reality show. He revelled in it.”
Jamie Raskin
Raskin further argued that Trump showed little remorse during and after the deadly US Capitol riot, noting the then-President told rioters “we love you” and that they were “special” in a video address urging them to go home.
The lead prosecutor also noted that Trump tweeted shortly after the riot saying “these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long”.
Joe Neguse, another impeachment manager, called the riot “part of a carefully planned months-long effort with a very specific instruction to show up on January 6, and get [his supporters] to fight the certification.
“This mob was well orchestrated. Their conduct was intentional. They did it all in plain sight proudly openly and loudly, because they believed, they truly believed that they were doing this for him.”
Joe Neguse
Neguse added that Trump’s January 6 speech moments before the riot was a “call to arms. It was not rhetorical. Some of his supporters had been primed for many months.”
While six Republicans joined with Democrats to vote to proceed with the trial, the 56-44 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes that would be needed for conviction.
Some Republican senators interviewed after proceedings did not appear to have changed their minds, even after seeing the graphic video.
“I’ve said many times that the president’s rhetoric is at times overheated, but this is not a referendum on whether you agree with everything the president says or tweets,” said Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who was among those leading the effort to challenge the Electoral College tally. “This is instead a legal proceeding.”
Senator Josh Hawley, another leader of the election challenge simply said, “Nothing new here for me at the end of the day.”
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