The House Democratic impeachment managers opened the second day of the impeachment trial by laying out how former President Donald Trump laid the groundwork for the Capitol insurrection months before the attack itself.
They used clips of Trump spreading election fraud lies and preparing various rally crowds to “fight” for his electoral victory. The presentation was a direct rebuttal to Trump’s lawyers, who have argued that he cannot be held responsible for the raid because it was planned before his infamous January 6 speech.
The managers are planning to unveil new footage from Capitol security cameras at some point on Wednesday, according to senior aides. The video, an aide said, would show how close the situation came to even more fatal escalation.
The managers pulled off an effective presentation Tuesday, showing evocative clips of the insurrection to undergird head manager Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) emotional and deeply personal argument. Democratic and Republican senators alike said that the impeachment managers outperformed Trump’s lawyers, to the point that Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) actually changed his mind on the constitutionality of the impeachment trial.
Follow along with the proceedings below.
In the middle of the mob attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, Donald Trump attacked Mike Pence in a tweet. At that point, we learned Wednesday, Pence and his family had still not been evacuated to a safe location.
Continue reading “Trump Tweeted Mike Pence Attack Two Minutes Before VP And Family Were Evacuated” →
Scanning the channels I’m seeing lots of commentators saying it “just got a lot harder to vote to acquit.” Alas, with the exception of three or four who already signaled an openness to conviction, Republican senators won’t to find it hard at all.
It was an incredibly powerful presentation – and a lot of it is still coming. But the real audience for this is outside the chamber. Inside the chamber, with the possible exception of some of the Republican senators who voted for the constitutionality of the trial I would be quite surprised if any minds were changed by today’s presentation.
It’s a bleak commentary. But that is the reality we find ourselves in.
Over and over again on Jan. 6, the mob that attacked the Capitol came within mere feet of their targets — members of Congress and the vice president.
Continue reading “New Capitol Footage Shows Multiple Near-Misses Between Rioters, Members Of Congress” →
Del. Stacey Plaskett made a key point Wednesday afternoon: Trump supporters’ Jan. 6 rally — timed to coincide with Congress certifying the election results — wasn’t just incidental. It occurred at Trump’s behest.
One of the rally’s early planners can corroborate that.
Continue reading “In Interview With TPM, Jan. 6 Rally Organizer Ties Date Change To Trump” →
Notice something subtle about the way the House impeachment managers are presenting the timeline of Trump’s actions: As we approach Jan. 6, the operable unit of time goes from months to weeks to days to hours to minutes.
Continue reading “In Impeachment Arguments, Prosecutors Stretch Time As Attack Draws Closer” →
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) used his time just now to lay out a compelling structure for the argument against Trump. In essence, Trump cultivated the mob as it became clear his options to overturn the elections through the courts and by attempting to pressure and cajole officials were dwindling.
Continue reading “The Impeachment Case: As Trump’s Options Dwindled, He Turned To The Mob” →
The first big theme the House managers will tackle Wednesday is how former President Trump provoked the Jan. 6 attack. Then their presentations will cover the attack itself and the harm it did, as Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) laid out to the Senate.
Continue reading “How The House Managers Will Show That Trump Provoked The Mob On The Capitol” →
As if we needed more evidence after yesterday’s performance that Trump’s hodge-podge legal defense wasn’t going great, this morning we learned that one of his own lawyers sued him last year.
And he sued him over the very issue that he will be defending the ex-president against.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Trump’s Own Impeachment Lawyer Sued Him Last Year” →
Georgia prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation of the Jan. 2 phone call in which President Trump tried to overturn election results in the state, the New York Times reports.
Continue reading “NYT: Georgia Opens Criminal Probe Of Trump Election Meddling” →
