Trump impeachment (2021)

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      Trump left behind a monstrous predicament. Here's how to tackle it | Robert Reich

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      Next week’s Senate trial is unlikely to convict Donald Trump of inciting sedition against the United States. At least 17 Republican senators are needed for conviction, but only five have signaled they’ll go along.Why won’t Republican senators convict him? After all, it’s an open and shut case. As summarized in the brief submitted by House impeachment managers, Trump spent months before the election telling his followers that the only way he could lose was through “a dangerous, wide-ranging conspiracy against them that threatened America itself”.Immediately after the election, he lied that he had won by a “landslide”, and later urged his followers to stop the counting of electoral ballots by making plans to “fight like hell” and “fight to the death” against this “act of war” perpetrated by “Radical Left Democrats” and the “weak and ineffective RINO section of the Republican Party”.If this isn’t an impeachable offense, it’s hard to imagine what is. But Republican senators won’t convict him because they’re answerable to Republican voters, and Republican voters continue to believe Trump’s big lie.A shocking three out of four Republican voters don’t think Joe Biden won legitimately. About 45% even support the storming of the Capitol.The crux of the problem is Americans now occupy two separate worlds – a fact-based pro-democracy world and a Trump-based authoritarian one.Trump spent the last four years seducing voters into his world, turning the GOP from a political party into a grotesque projection of his pathological narcissism.Regardless of whether he is convicted, America must now deal with the monstrous predicament he left behind: one of the nation’s two major political parties has abandoned reality and democracy.What to do? Four things.First, prevent Trump from running for president in 2024. The mere possibility energizes his followers.An impeachment conviction is not the only way to prevent him. Under section three of the 14th amendment to the constitution, anyone who has taken an oath to protect the constitution is barred from holding public office if they “have engaged in insurrection” against the United States. As constitutional expert and former Yale Law professor Bruce Ackerman has noted, a majority vote that Trump engaged in insurrection against the United States is sufficient to trigger this clause.Second, give Republicans and independents every incentive to abandon the Trump cult.White working-class voters without college degrees who now comprise a large portion of its base need good jobs and better futures. Many are understandably angry after being left behind in vast enclaves of unemployment and despair. They should not have to depend on Trump’s fact-free fanaticism in order to feel visible and respected.A jobs program on the scale necessary to bring many of them around will be expensive but worth the cost, especially when democracy hangs in the balance.Big business, which used to have a home in the GOP, will need a third party. Democrats should not try to court them; the Democratic party should aim to represent the interests of the bottom 90%.Third, disempower the giant media empires that amplified Trump’s lies for four years – Facebook, Twitter and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and its imitators. The goal is not to “cancel” the political right but to refocus public deliberation on facts, truth and logic. Democracy cannot thrive where big lies are systematically and repeatedly exploited for commercial gain.The goal is not to ‘cancel’ the political right but to refocus public deliberation on facts, truth and logicThe solution is antitrust enforcement and stricter regulation of social media, accompanied by countervailing financial pressure. Consumers should boycott products advertised on these lie factories and advertisers should shun them. Large tech platforms should lose legal immunity for violence-inciting content. Broadcasters such as Fox News and Newsmax should be liable for knowingly spreading lies (they are now being sued by producers of voting machinery and software which they accused of having been rigged for Biden).Fourth, safeguard the democratic form of government. This requires barring corporations and the very wealthy from buying off politicians, ending so-called “dark money” political groups that don’t disclose their donors, defending the right to vote and ensuring more citizens are heard, not fewer.Let’s be clear about the challenge ahead. The major goal is not to convict Trump for inciting insurrection. It is to move a vast swath of America back into a fact-based pro-democracy society and away from the Trump-based authoritarian one.Regardless of whether he is convicted, the end of his presidency has given the nation a reprieve. But unless America uses it to end Trumpism’s hold over tens of millions of Americans, that reprieve may be temporary.Thankfully, Joe Biden appears to understand this. More

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      Liz Cheney censured by Wyoming Republican party for voting to impeach Trump

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      Liz Cheney, the third-highest-ranking Republican leader in the House, was censured by the Wyoming Republican party on Saturday for voting to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the 6 January riot at the US Capitol.The overwhelming censure vote was the latest blowback for Cheney for joining nine Republican representatives and all Democrats in the US House in the 13 January impeachment vote.On Saturday only eight of the 74-member state GOP’s central committee stood to oppose censure in a vote that did not proceed to a formal count. The censure document accused Cheney of voting to impeach even though the US House didn’t offer Trump “formal hearing or due process”.“We need to honor President Trump. All President Trump did was call for a peaceful assembly and protest for a fair and audited election,” said Darin Smith, a Cheyenne attorney who lost to Cheney in the Republican US House primary in 2016. “The Republican party needs to put her on notice.”Cheney in a statement after the vote said she remained honored to represent Wyoming and would always fight for issues that matter most to the state. “Foremost among these is the defense of our constitution and the freedoms it guarantees. My vote to impeach was compelled by the oath I swore to the constitution,” Cheney said.Republican officials said they invited Cheney but she did not attend. An empty chair labeled “Representative Cheney” sat at the front of the meeting room.Cheney will remain as the third-ranking member of the House GOP leadership, however, after a 145-61 vote by House Republicans on Wednesday to keep her as conference committee chair.In Wyoming just three months after winning a third term with almost 70%, Cheney already faces at least two Republican primary opponents in 2022. They include the Republican state senator Anthony Bouchard, a gun-rights activist from Cheyenne, who was at the meeting but not among those who spoke. Smith also has said he is deliberating whether to run for Congress again.On 28 January the Republican US Representative Matt Gaetz, of Florida, led a rally against Cheney in front of the Wyoming Capitol. About 1,000 people took part, many of them carrying signs calling for Cheney’s impeachment though several were supportive.Trump faces trial in the US Senate on Tuesday over allegedly inciting insurrection when a mob of supporters stormed into and rampaged through the Capitol after a nearby rally led by Trump and close allies.Censure opponents mainly came from Casper, Wyoming’s second-largest city, and the Jackson Hole area near Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.“Let’s resist this infusion of leftwing cancel culture to try to censure and get rid of anybody we disagree with,” said Alexander Muromcew with the Teton county GOP.Momentum for censure had been growing for weeks as local Republicans in around a dozen of Wyoming’s 23 counties passed their own resolutions criticizing Cheney’s impeachment vote. More

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      Trump's second impeachment trial: the key players

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      The US Senate is set to formally begin its second impeachment trial of Donald Trump next week on charges that he helped incite a riot at the Capitol on 6 January. The formal article of impeachment is a charge of incitement of insurrection that the US House approved, with support from 10 Republicans, earlier this month.Trump is the first US president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office and the votes of 67 senators are needed for a guilty verdict and conviction. Trump abruptly hired a new legal team on Sunday, less than two weeks before his impeachment trial was set to begin. He parted ways with Butch Bowers, a well-known South Carolina lawyer who was set to lead his defense. There are reports the breakup was over strategy and legal fees. Trump’s new lawyers have filed a flimsy 14-page brief arguing Trump cannot be impeached because he has already left office and was not responsible for inciting violence at the Capitol. Trump told supporters they needed to “fight like hell” before the riot.The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has tapped nine Democrats to be House impeachment managers and essentially serve as prosecutors against Trump. Here’s a look at some of the major players in the trial.Trump’s counselDavid Schoen The Georgia-based attorney is no stranger to controversy. He briefly represented Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime ally, during an appeal of Stone’s criminal conviction last year. He told the Atlanta Jewish Times that Stone, who was eventually, pardoned by Trump was “was very bright, full of personality and flair” and that the case against him was “very unfair and politicized”. During the same interview, he touted his work defending unsavory clients.“I represented all sorts of reputed mobster figures: alleged head of Russian mafia in this country, Israeli mafia and two Italian bosses, as well a guy the government claimed was the biggest mafioso in the world,” he said.In 2019, Schoen met with Jeffrey Epstein in jail after Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. After Epstein died by suicide, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he planned to get into the case to fight and win. In the interview with the Atlanta Jewish Times, he embraced a conspiracy theory, saying he believed Epstein was murdered.Schoen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he considers himself primarily a civil rights lawyer.Bruce Castor A former prosecutor in Pennsylvania, Castor is best known for declining to bring sexual assault charges against Bill Cosby when Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee, accused him of drugging and raping her in 2005. Castor has said he did not believe he could win the case and secured an agreement from Cosby not to plead the fifth amendment in a civil case. Dozens of women would come forward to say Cosby sexually assaulted them and in 2018, Cosby was convicted on three counts of sexually assaulting Constand.Castor, who briefly became Pennsylvania’s acting attorney general during a 2016 scandal, has a flair for the spotlight, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2015, when reporters came to his home amid scrutiny of the Cosby case, he threatened them. And in 2008, he made it known that he hung the certificate marking his position as Montgomery county commissioner above his toilet, according to the Inquirer, symbolizing his feelings about the local government.Castor’s cousin is Stephen Castor, who questioned witnesses on behalf of House Republicans during Trump’s first impeachment. Stephen Castor reportedly recommended his cousin for the job to Trump, according to the New York Times.Senate party leadersMitch McConnell The cunning House minority leader, McConnell won’t be making a case for or against Trump during the trial, but will remain one of the most powerful Republicans. In a significant move, McConnell has left the door open towards voting for impeaching Trump, which could encourage other Republicans following along. Even if they do get McConnell’s vote, Democrats would still need to get at least 16 other senators to vote for impeachment – a high bar.Chuck Schumer The newly elected Senate majority leader, Schumer will be responsible for keeping his caucus aligned and trying to win over Republican support, all while helping to maintain messaging during the trial. Schumer has been outspoken about the need to impeach Trump.House impeachment managersJamie Raskin The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, tapped Raskin, a Maryland congressman first elected in 2016, to be the lead House impeachment manager to make the case for convicting Trump. A longtime constitutional law professor at American University, Raskin has been unsparing in his criticism of the role Trump played in inciting the 6 January riot. He reportedly began drafting the article of impeachment against the president hours after the attack.Raskin is taking on the role at a time when his family is in mourning – his 25-year-old son Tommy died by suicide on New Year’s Eve. Raskin has pointed to his son as one of the reasons why he chose to take on leading the impeachment effort. “I’ve devoted my life to the constitution and to the republic. I’m a professor of constitutional law, but I did it really with my son in my heart, and helping lead the way. I feel him in my chest,” he told the Guardian.Diana DeGette DeGette has represented Denver and some of its suburbs since 1997. A former civil rights and employment law attorney, has called Trump “one of the greatest threats to the future of our Democracy”.David Cicilline A Democrat on the House judiciary committee, Cicilline has represented Rhode Island in Congress for the last decade, and before that served as the first openly gay mayor of Providence. A former public defender, Cicilline signed on to the article of impeachment days after the 6 January riot.Joaquín Castro The Texas congressman from San Antonio has been in Congress since 2013 and serves on the intelligence and foreign affairs committees. He is also the twin brother of Julián Castro, the former HUD secretary and presidential candidate. In an interview on ABC’s This Week earlier this month, Castro defended impeaching Trump after he left office, saying impeachment was in part about making sure Trump could never run for office again. If Trump is convicted, senators can take another vote on whether to bar him from holding public office again.Ted Lieu A four-term congressman representing the Los Angeles area, Lieu reportedly helped organize the impeachment effort while the Capitol was still under attack. Hiding in an office, Lieu sent text messages to every member on the House judiciary committee, saying it should immediately begin drafting articles of impeachment, with or without the blessing of House leadership, according to the Los Angeles Times. Lieu, an immigrant from Taiwan and an air force veteran who frequently needled Trump on Twitter, told the New York Times that on the day of the attack he was unbothered over whether or not top Democrats would support his effort. “I was just super pissed off,” he said.Stacey Plaskett A delegate representing the US Virgin Islands, Plaskett was picked by Pelosi to serve as an impeachment manager after passing her over for Trump’s first trial. A former prosecutor in the Bronx and litigator at the justice department, Plaskett said in 2019 being picked to be an impeachment manager would be symbolic to her constituents, who do not get to cast votes for president (as a delegate, Plaskett also does not get to vote on House legislation), according to BuzzFeed. Plaskett also told Pelosi in 2019 it would be symbolic to pick a Black woman to serve as an impeachment manager. “I understand the importance of being a House manager and know that there will be quite a few young ladies and women for that fact of color who will be looking to me as I take on the position of House manager,” she wrote to Pelosi, according to BuzzFeed.Eric Swalwell A former prosecutor and outspoken critic of Trump, Swalwell has represented his Bay Area California district for almost a decade. A member of the House judiciary committee, he worked on the first Trump impeachment and briefly ran for president but ended his campaign in July 2019.Madeleine Dean First elected in the 2018 Democratic wave, Dean represents a district that includes the Philadelphia suburbs and sits on the House judiciary committee. A lawyer, she reportedly requested to serve on the committee to apply her legal skills. “The first impeachment was serious and grievous and amounted to high crimes and misdemeanors against our country, but this one is so much worse,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer.Joe Neguse A second-term congressman from Colorado, Neguse is the son of Eritrean refugees who ran for Congress in response to Trump’s immigration policies, according to the Washington Post. The 36-year-old will be the youngest lawmaker to ever serve as an impeachment manager, according to the Post. More

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      Donald Trump will refuse to testify at Senate impeachment trial, lawyers say

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      Donald Trump’s legal team has said the former president will not voluntarily testify under oath at his impeachment trial in the Senate next week, where he faces the charge from House Democrats that he incited the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.
      The lead House impeachment manager, Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, wrote to Trump asking him to testify under oath before or during the trial, challenging the former president to explain why he and his lawyers have disputed key factual allegations at the center of their charge that he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol.
      “You denied many factual allegations set forth in the article of impeachment. You have thus attempted to put critical facts at issue,” Raskin wrote in a letter made public on Thursday.
      He went on to say that if Trump refused to do so, an adverse inference would be made from his reluctance.
      Hours after the letter was released, the Trump adviser Jason Miller said that the former president “will not testify” in what he described as an “unconstitutional proceeding”. Trump’s lawyers dismissed the request as a “public relations stunt”.
      The request from House impeachment managers does not require Trump to appear – though the Senate could later force a subpoena – but it does warn that any refusal to testify could be used at trial to support arguments for a conviction. Even if Trump does not testify, the request nonetheless makes clear Democrats’ determination to present an aggressive case against him even though he has left the White House.
      The Senate impeachment trial starts on 9 February. Trump is charged with inciting an insurrection on 6 January, when a mob of his supporters broke into the Capitol to interrupt the electoral vote count. Democrats have said a trial is necessary to provide a final measure of accountability for the attack. If he is convicted, the Senate could hold a second vote to disqualify him from seeking office again.
      In the letter, Raskin asked that Trump provide testimony about his conduct “either before or during the Senate impeachment trial”, and under cross-examination, as early as Monday, 8 February, and not later than Thursday, 11 February.
      The request from Raskin cites the words of Trump’s own attorneys, who in a legal brief earlier this week not only denied that Trump had incited the riot, but also asserted that he had “performed admirably in his role as president, at all times doing what he thought was in the best interests of the American people”.
      With that argument, Raskin said, Trump had questioned critical facts in the case “notwithstanding the clear and overwhelming evidence of your constitutional offense”. He said Trump should be able to testify now that he is no longer president.
      Raskin said if Trump refuses to appear, the managers will use his refusal against him in the trial – a similar argument put forth by House Democrats in last year’s impeachment trial, when many Trump officials ignored subpoenas. Trump was eventually acquitted of the Democratic charges that he abused his presidential powers by pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden, now the president.
      The impeachment managers do not have the authority to subpoena witnesses now since the House has already voted to impeach him. The Senate could vote to subpoena Trump, or any other witnesses, on a simple majority vote during the trial. But it is unclear if the Senate would be willing to do so.
      Shortly after Raskin’s letter was made public, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said he would listen to the House managers’ arguments if they felt a subpoena was necessary. But he said that “the more I see what’s already in the public record, the more powerful the case” against Trump, based on his own words and actions.
      Trump’s statements before and after the attack on the Capitol “are the most powerful evidence”, Blumenthal said. “His own words incriminate him. They show his guilty intent.”
      The South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest GOP allies, said he thought the letter was a “political ploy” and noted that Democrats did not invite or subpoena him to testify before the House, which voted to impeach Trump on 13 January.
      Asked if he thought Trump would testify, Graham said it would be a “bad idea”.
      “I don’t think that would be in anybody’s interest,” he said.
      Associated Press contributed to this report More

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      Biden pays respects to Capitol officer as Trump impeachment trial nears

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      Joe Biden paid his respects at the US Capitol on Tuesday night to the police officer killed by the violent mob of Donald Trump supporters who staged the insurrection on Congress on 6 January.The remains of Brian Sicknick, 42, are lying in honor in the Capitol’s towering central rotunda where rioters had rampaged on the day, ahead of a ceremony for the fallen officer on Wednesday.Sicknick was hit on the head with a fire extinguisher as the mass of rioters, egged on by Trump at a rally near the White House immediately prior, swarmed into the Capitol four weeks ago. He later collapsed and died in hospital.The ceremony for Sicknick, a former member of the National Guard whose ashes will be buried at Arlington National Ceremony, comes less than a week before the impeachment trial of Trump is due to begin.Prosecutors from the House of Representatives have accused Trump of creating a “powder keg” among his supporters which eventually led to the insurrection which caused Sicknick’s death, accusing him of being “singularly responsible” for inciting the insurrection.After losing the presidential election Trump repeatedly made false accusations of widespread voter fraud, before holding the rally on 6 January as electors met in both chambers of the US Congress in Washington DC to confirm Joe Biden’s victory.There, Trump encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” and urged them to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.On Wednesday hundreds of congressional staff signed a letter to the US Senate, urging them to convict Trump.Five people, including Sicknick, died in the 6 January riot, as Trump’s supporters broke into the building and threatened violence against members of Congress. A reported 60 Capitol police officers were injured.Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, arrived at the Capitol late on Tuesday night, as the viewing ceremony for Sicknick began.The president briefly placed his hand on a wooden box containing Sicknick’s ashes, Associated Press reported, before saying a prayer and sadly shaking his head as he observed a memorial wreath nearby. Sicknick’s ashes stood next to a tri-folded American flag in a polished wooden case.Nanci Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the most senior Democrats in the House and Senate, announced in late January that Sicknick would lie in honor, a procedure usually reserved for government leaders.Sicknick’s actions on 6 January “helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and ensure that the Congress was not diverted from our duty to the Constitution,” Pelosi and Schumer said. More

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      Democracy or the white supremacist mob: which side is the Republican party on? | Richard Wolffe

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      In 2001, nine days after terrorists attacked the United States and its federal government, a Republican president stood before Congress with the overwhelming support of a terrified nation, as he presented a stark choice to the world.“Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” said George W Bush to loud applause in September 2001. “From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”Thus was born the post-9/11 era, which survived for the best part of two decades, costing trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives, and realigning American diplomacy and politics in stark terms.Republicans fought and won two elections on the basis that they were strong and unequivocal in defending the nation, while Democrats were weak flip-floppers who tried to have it both ways.Today Washington is staring at something like a new dawn – the start of the post-Trump era – and Republicans don’t know which side of the war they’re on. Are they with the United States or with the insurrectionists?The early answers are catastrophically weak in a world where the threats are not distant or abstract. This is not a risk posed to American officials halfway around the world, or a potential threat that might one day materialize in a foreign capital.This is a clear and present danger for the very members of Congress who must now decide between protecting their own careers or protecting the lives of the people working down the hall. With the second impeachment trial of Donald J Trump starting next week, there’s no escaping the moment of decision for at least 50 Republican senators: are you with the United States or not?In every single other working environment, this would not be a hard choice. Given the chance to save your own job or save the lives of your co-workers – even the ones you dislike – the vast majority of decent people would save lives.Just listen to the first-hand accounts of representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Katie Porter. Ocasio-Cortez gave a chilling account of hiding in her office bathroom to save her life as insurrectionists stormed the Capitol last month.It is long past time to admit the blindingly obvious: the Republican party has been hijacked by fascist extremistsThere’s no question that she, like many others, feared for her life. Porter recalled her friend desperately seeking refuge in her office. She gave Ocasio-Cortez a pair of sneakers in case they needed to run for their lives.The mortal threat was not confined to high-profile Democrats. Mike Pence, the most toady of Trump loyalists, was hiding from the mob with his family, while terrorists chanted about hanging him. If anyone needed confirmation of their murderous intent, there was a makeshift gallows outside the Capitol.It is long past time to admit the blindingly obvious: the Republican party has been hijacked by fascist extremists. It is now a far-right organization in league with neo-Nazis who have made it painfully clear they want to overthrow democracy and seize power, using violence if necessary.Every decision the so-called leaders make at this point defines which side they are on: the United States as we know it, or the white supremacist mob.In these few weeks since the mob trashed the Capitol, leading to five deaths, Republican leaders have bathed themselves less in glory than in the sewage of fascism. Given a choice between the conservative Liz Cheney and the fascist Marjorie Taylor Greene, House Republicans have shunned the former and hugged the latter.It’s Cheney whose position as part of the Republican leadership is under threat, while Greene is only coming under pressure from Democrats – who for some reason find themselves alone in feeling horrified by Greene’s advocacy for the execution of Democrats and white supremacy in general.Republican leaders now find themselves in a prisoner’s dilemma of their own making. Both Mitch McConnell in the US Senate and Kevin McCarthy in the House of Representatives could escape the worst public punishment if they act together to take back their own party. Instead, they are ratting on each other.McConnell said in a statement on Monday that Greene posed an existential threat to the party. “Loony lies and conspiracy theories are cancer for the Republican party and our country,” he said, while also supporting Cheney’s leadership.Technically this is McCarthy’s mess to clean up, in the House rather than the Senate. But McCarthy can’t bring himself to say something in public about the QAnon cultist Greene, or what she represents.Instead he traveled to Florida at the weekend to kiss the ring of the man who really stands at the center of this threat to our democracy: one Donald J Trump, who is supposedly a Greene fan, according to Greene herself.There may be rational short-term reasons why McConnell and McCarthy have parted ways on this fascist thing.McConnell just lost control of the Senate because it’s challenging to win statewide contests – even in conservative places like Georgia – when you’re trying to overthrow democracy at the same time. McCarthy, meanwhile, deludes himself that he can get closer to power because House districts are so gerrymandered that Republicans are only threatened by the cannibalizing power of the mob.But in reality, there is no choice. This isn’t about loony lies or conspiracy theories, as McConnell suggests. It’s not about Republican primaries or Trump’s disapproval, as McCarthy fears.The choice in front of Republicans is whether they support democracy or not; whether they want to live and work in fear of the mob, or not. QAnon may be loony but its goals are to murder elected officials, and its supporters include heavily armed insurrectionists. The 1930s fascists were also unhinged and proved themselves deadly serious about mass murder.Next week Republicans in Washington have one more chance to turn their backs on fascism. They could reject the laughable claims from Trump’s lawyers that he was merely exercising his free speech rights by telling his mob to march on Congress and fight like hell. Apparently such conduct does not constitute incitement to riot, because the word “incitement” has lost all relationship to reality.Nobody expects Republican senators to vote in enough numbers to convict Trump of the obvious charges that played out on television. Nobody expects enough of them to reject the violent overthrow of the democracy that put them in the Senate.They represent, to use Bush’s language, a hostile regime inside the nation’s capital. Until Republicans split with the insurrectionists – by ejecting them from their party or forming their own – democracy itself is unsafe. More

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      Impeachment trial: Trump lawyers claim 'fight like hell' speech didn't incite riot

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      In a damning summary of the case against Donald Trump to be made at his impeachment trial next week, prosecutors from the House of Representatives on Tuesday submitted an 80-page memorandum documenting how the then president called supporters to Washington and set them loose on the US Capitol.
      Describing scenes of violence inside the Capitol in previously undisclosed detail, the prosecutors accused Trump of creating a “powder keg” of discontent among supporters who on 6 January became an “armed, angry, and dangerous” mob.
      Lawyers for Trump issued a thinly argued 14-page document that said his speech did not amount to a call to storm the Capitol, and argued his trial was unconstitutional because he has left office.
      In their memo, the House impeachment managers said Trump’s supporters had arrived in Washington “prepared to do whatever it took to keep him in power. All they needed to hear was that their president needed them to ‘fight like hell’. All they needed was for President Trump to strike a match.”
      They placed the blame for the violence that followed – five died, hundreds were injured, members of Congress and staff were terrorized and the building was left with “bullet marks in the walls, looted art, smeared feces in hallways” – squarely at Trump’s door.
      “President Trump’s responsibility for the events of 6 January is unmistakable,” the prosecutors charged.
      The document cleared the way for a dramatic showdown next week, prosecutors indicating they will use new footage and witness accounts, thought to include police officer testimony, to make their case in the eyes of the public – and to extract the maximum political price from Republicans set to refuse to convict Trump no matter what the evidence against him.
      Trump is charged with incitement of insurrection. If convicted, Trump could be barred from political office. But it seems unlikely Democrats will find the 17 Republican votes they need.
      Trump’s lawyers said: “It is denied that President Trump incited the crowd to engage in destructive behavior.
      “It is denied that the phrase, ‘If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore’ had anything to do with the action at the Capitol, as it was clearly about the need to fight for election security in general, as evidenced by the recording of the speech.”
      The Trump strategy was the result of a late personnel shift. After five lawyers resigned at the weekend, the former president announced two new lawyers, frequent Fox News contributor David Schoen and former county prosecutor Bruce Castor, as replacements.
      Schoen told Fox News that “President Trump has condemned violence at all times” and “this has nothing to do with President Trump”. That assertion appeared to wither next to dozens of pages of footnoted Trump quotations going back six months that peppered the document submitted by the House managers. The document culminated with a description of Trump’s speech to supporters before he sent them to the Capitol.
      “Surveying the tense crowd before him, President Trump whipped it into a frenzy, exhorting followers to ‘Fight like hell [or] you’re not going to have a country anymore’,” the memo said.
      “Then he aimed them straight at the Capitol, declaring: ‘You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.’
      “He summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the prosecutors charged.
      The nature of Trump’s defense had been in question for weeks, amid reports he was insisting lawyers build their case around the central lie the election was stolen. A team, led by South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers,resisted the strategy but the relationship fell apart over fees, according to multiple reports. The memo filed on Tuesday said Trump could not be tried because he had already left office.
      “The 45th president believes and therefore avers that as a private citizen, the Senate has no jurisdiction over his ability to hold office,” it said.
      The argument was anticipated and forcefully rebutted by the House prosecutors, who wrote, “That argument is wrong. It is also dangerous … There is no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the constitution. A president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first day in office through his last.”
      The article of impeachment was approved in a bipartisan House vote. Many constitutional scholars agree there is debate to be had over whether Trump’s speeches amount to “incitement” as charged.
      “The rights of speech and political participation mean little if the president can provoke lawless action if he loses at the polls,” the House managers wrote. “President Trump’s incitement of deadly violence to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, and to overturn the results of the election, was therefore a direct assault on core first amendment principles.”
      The document underscored how narrowly the lawmakers trapped in the Capitol on 6 January and the country escaped more calamitous violence.
      “Rioters chanted, ‘Hang Mike Pence!’” the memo said, noting that the vice-president had informed Trump he would fill his ceremonial role of counting the electoral vote in favor of Joe Biden. “Another shouted, ‘Mike Pence, we’re coming for you … fucking traitor!’ Others shouted, ‘Tell [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi we’re coming for that bitch’.
      “To protect our democracy and national security – and to deter any future president who would consider provoking violence in pursuit of power – the Senate should convict President Trump and disqualify him from future federal officeholding,” the memo concluded.
      “Only after President Trump is held to account for his actions can the nation move forward with unity of purpose and commitment to the constitution.” More