Trump was ‘reveling’ in bloodshed of Capitol riot, say Democrats

21

View
comments

Lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin on Wednesday called Donald Trump ‘a man who praised and encouraged and cultivated violence’ when it came to the January 6th MAGA riot on Capitol Hill.

Raskin made his charge as the prosecution began its case against the former president. Trump is charged on one count of impeachment – inciting the insurrection at the Capitol that left five dead.

In his opening remarks, Raskin blasted Trump for inciting the insurrection and claimed the former president saw the violence coming.

‘He watched it on TV like a reality show, he reveled in it,’ he charged. ‘There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the U.S. of his office and his oath to the Constitution.’

Raskin, in his nearly 20 minute speech, painted Trump as betraying his duties as president in order to preserve his political power. 

‘He incited this attack and he saw it coming,’ Raskin argued. ‘To us it may have felt like chaos and madness but there was method and the madness that day. This was an organized attack on the counting of the electoral college votes in joint session of the United States Congress.’

Raskin said the House managers, over the next 16 hours, will show Trump violated his oath of office and abdicated his duty as commander in chief. 

‘The evidence will show you that ex-President Trump was no innocent bystander. The evidence will show that he clearly incited the January 6th insurrection. It will show that Donald Trump surrendered his role as commander in chief and became the inciter in chief,’ he said. 

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse picked up Raskin’s argument and doubled down on charging Trump with forgoing his oath of office.

‘That mob was summoned, assembled and incited by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump. He did that because he wanted to stop the print transfer of power so he could obtain power even though he had lost the election. And when the violence erupted, when they were here in our building with weapons, he did nothing to stop it,’ Neguse said.

He focused his argument on demonstrating that Trump was ramping up his supporters long before his January 6th speech, intending to counter Trump’s defense that his speech was free speech and wasn’t a call to arms.

‘I’d respectfully ask that you remember those three phrases as you consider the evidence today. ‘Election was stolen. Stop the steal. And fight like hell’ because they did not just appear on January 6,’ he said. 

He showed clips of Trump speeches and rallies where the president complained – falsely – that the election was stolen. 

‘He didn’t just tell them to fly like hell, he told them how, where, and when, he made sure they had advance notice, 18 days advance notice, he sent his save the date for January 6th,’ Neguse said. 

He also showed video clips of the rioters from January 6th, saying they were at the Capitol because of Trump: ‘Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!,’ one said. ‘We were invited by the president of the United States,’ said another.

Neguse argued Trump didn’t do enough to stop the rioters that day.

‘He alone, our commander in chief, had the power to stop it. And he didn’t. You will hear evidence tonight, tomorrow, throughout the trial about his refusal as commander in chief to respond to numerous desperate pleas on the phone, across social media, begging him to stop the attack,’ he said. 

Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro showed repeated examples of Trump falsely claiming the election was stolen from him.

Castro appealed to the senators to remember their own election contests when listening to what Trump said. 

‘All of us in this room have run for election. It’s no fun to lose. I’m a Texas Democrat. We’ve lost a few elections over the years. But can you imagine telling your supporters that the only way you could possibly lose is if an American election was rigged and stolen from you? Ask yourself if you have ever seen anyone make the same claim about their own election. That’s exactly what President Trump did,’ he said.

He went on to say when the media, including Fox News, said when the remaining votes were counted Joe Biden would be the victor ‘President Trump began urging his supporters to stop the count. I would imagine that if we went around this room, there are folks sitting here that started down on election night and ended up coming back up and winning their races. Perhaps that’s why some of you are seated in this room today. But imagine if you were behind and the results start coming in, and as you started pulling ahead, your opponent said, that’s not fair, stop the count while I’m still ahead. That’s what Donald Trump did. But that’s not how America works. Here every vote counts. You don’t just stop counting when one person is ahead. We count every vote.’

As part of their case, House impeachment managers will show never-before-seen Capitol security footage of the January 6th riot as they start their case for impeaching Donald Trump.

The footage will demonstrate the extent of the violence that occurred and the threat the rioters posed to everyone in the Capitol, senior aides on the House impeachment team told CNN. 

They did not say what the new footage was, or whether it came from Capitol Police or Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police. 

The video will show ‘extreme violence’ and make clear what additional safety risks were posed by the insurrection, a House aide told The Washington Post, including ‘just how close Trump’s mob came to senators, members of Congress and staff.’

‘It will show the extent of what Donald Trump unleashed on our Capitol,’ said the aide.

The Democratic impeachment managers will begin their prosecution on Wednesday.  

They will argue the riot, which left five dead and a wake of destruction in the Capitol, was not just the result of Trump’s January 6th speech, where he urged supporters to ‘fight like hell’ and march on the Capitol. They will claim the insurrection was the culmination of Trump’s conduct over several months, where repeatedly and falsely claimed the election was stolen. 

The House members are not expected to use the full 16 hours they are allotted for their presentation. After they finish, the defense will make its case and also is not expected to use its full 16 hours.

Trump’s second impeachment trial could end as soon as this weekend. He is expected to be acquitted. 

The Democratic impeachment managers previewed their case against the former president with a 14-minute video on Tuesday that contained dramatic footage of Trump supporters storming the Capitol and taunting police officers with obscenities as they bashed in doors and windows.

Trump’s defense tried to counter the lingering image of the video, which visibly affected many senators in the chamber. Those lawmakers were also in the Capitol on January 6th.

But Trump wasn’t happy with his defense team after their first day making arguments, according to reports.   

Trump, viewing the proceedings from his new home at Mar-a-Lago, was aghast that one of his lawyers, Bruce Castor, acknowledged the potency of the opening argument put forward by House Democratic impeachment managers, ABC News reported. 

Castor even acknowledged that his team changed course after viewing the Democrats’ dramatic video.

‘I’ll be quite frank with you, we changed what we were going to do on account that we thought that the House managers’ presentation was well done,’ Castor admitted. ‘And I wanted you to know that we have responses to those things.’ 

One Trump advisor even told CNN getting good legal representation was a concern if he is ever charged in criminal court, which is now possible since he is out of office. 

‘Trump is f***** if anyone ever charges him. No one wants to work with him,’ said the advisor. 

Raskin compares Trump to a fire chief ‘who set the theater on fire’

Democratic impeachment manager Jamie Raskin sought to explode the First Amendment defenses put forward by Donald Trump’s lawyers in their impeachment legal brief.

Trump’s team had argued that the president’s call for his supporters to ‘fight’ where not an incitement to riot but protected political speech.

Raskin, a constitutional law professor, picked apart the claim and brought up the well-worn example of a limit on free speech – that you can’t yell ‘fire in a crowded theater,’ a concept explored by Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

‘But even that time-honored principle doesn’t begin to capture how off base the argument is,’ Raskin said. ‘This case is much worse than someone who falsely shouts fire in a crowded theater. It’s more like a case where the town fire chief who’s paid to put out fires sends a mob yet to yell fire in a crowded theater but to actually set the theater on fire,’ he said.

He continued: And who then when the fire alarms go off and the calls start flooding into the fire department asking for help, does nothing but sit back, encourage the mob to continue its rampage and watch the fire spread on TV with glee and delight.’

Raskin was alluding to Trump’s inaction during the riot, and his tweets praising rioters even when he finally asked them to go home.

‘So then we say this fire chief should never be allowed to hold this public job again and you’re fired and you’re permanently disqualified and he objects. And he says, we’re violating his free speech rights just because he’s pro-mob or pro-fire or whatever it might be,’ he added.

Then he quoted conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. ‘As Justice Scalia once said, memorably, you can’t ride with the cops and root for the robbers.’

Raskin acknowledged the potential attractiveness of the free speech argument – but said it didn’t apply.

‘They present president trump as merely like a guy at a rally expressing a political opinion that we disagree with, and now we’re trying to put him in jail for it. That has nothing to do with the reality of these charges where his constitutional offense,’ he said.

He said his legal team would demonstrate ‘with overwhelming evidence portraying Trump as a guy on the street being punished for his ideas is a false description of his actions, his intent, and the role that he played on January 6th when he willfully incited an insurrectionary mob to riot at the Capitol.’

Impeachment manager Rep. Joe Neguse pointed to the specifics of some of Trump’s comments in and around the riot.

‘He didn’t’ stop it. He didn’t’ condemn the violence. He incited further,’ Neguse said.

‘He didn’t’ just tell them to fight like hell. He told them how, where and when.’

‘What time was that rally scheduled for?’ Neguse told senators. ‘The exact same time that this chamber was certifying the election results in joint session,’ he said. He noted that Trump concluded his Jan. 6 speech ‘literally moments’ after Pelosi gaveled the House into session.