Impeachment managers have admonished that “dire harm” from Donald Trump’s violent incitements will “vex American democracy long into the future” unless the Senate convicts him of impeachment and bars him from future office, as they concluded their two-day arguments against the former President.
Making their case, the prosecutors presented new videos of last month’s Capitol attack, with invaders proudly declaring they were merely obeying “the President’s orders” to fight to overturn the election results as Congress was certifying his defeat to Joe Biden.
“If we pretend this didn’t happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who’s to say it won’t happen again?” argued prosecutor Joe Neguse. He warned that even out of office, Mr Trump could whip up a mob of followers for similar damage.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead Democrat prosecuting the impeachment charge against former President Donald Trump, also argued that the First Amendment right to free speech does not protect acts of incitement.
“His conduct represented the most devastating and dangerous assault by a government official on our Constitution, including the First Amendment, in living memory.
“President Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanours sought to nullify the political rights and sovereignty of the American people.
“He chose to incite violence to try to replace and usurp the will of the people as expressed in the states, ignore the judicial branch of government, and then run over the legislative branch of government with a mob.
“There can be no doubt whatsoever, none at all, the president lacks any First Amendment excuse, defence or immunity. He incited a violent insurrection against our government. He must be convicted.”
Lead Prosecutor, Rep. Jamie Raskin
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Representative Joaquin Castro, another Impeachment Manager, showed the senators statements of foreign leaders in China, Russia and Iran derogating the United States after the Capitol riot. He urged senators to stand on this to convict the former President of incitement of insurrection.
“They are using President Trump’s incitement of an insurrection to declare that democracy is over. Now, the world is watching us, wondering whether our constitutional republic is going to respond the way it should.”
Rep Joaquin Castro
Representative Jamie Raskin concluded his case arguing that “common sense” shows former President Donald Trump committed the high crime of incitement of insurrection and urged senators acting as jurors to “weigh the judgement of history in their deliberation.”
“This is a trial on the facts of what happened. And incitement, as we said, is a fact-intensive investigation that each of you will have to make.
“Senators, America, we need to exercise our common sense about what happened. Let’s not get caught up in a lot of outlandish lawyers’ theories here. Exercise your common sense about what just took place in our country.”
Meanwhile, one of Donald Trump’s defence lawyers, David Schoen has criticized the impeachment trial in an interview, saying that the defence will not spend “a long time” making their case.
“There is no reason for us to be out there a long time. This trial never should have happened, and if it happened, it should be as short as possible given the complete lack of evidence, and the harm that this is causing to the American people.”
Lawyer David Schoen
Schoen slammed the Democrats’ presentation of graphic video and audio of the riot as “offensive” and an “entertainment package”. He posited that he’ll argue that the article of impeachment and subsequent trial represent a “complete lack of due process”.
democracy
