The historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump is heading to a likely vote Saturday after the former president’s legal defense team rested its case and senators asked questions Friday evening.
The Senate adjourned until 10 a.m. Saturday.
Before calling it a day, senators unanimously passed legislation awarding a Congressional Gold Medal to Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who led many senators to safety during the deadly insurrection Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.
The Senate just unanimously passed legislation awarding Officer Goodman, who stood in the back of the chamber, a Congressional Gold Medal.
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 12, 2021
Senators gave him a standing ovation. pic.twitter.com/4d8ccxu847
Goodman, who stood at the back of the chamber, received a standing ovation.
On Friday evening, the lead House prosecutor in Trump’s impeachment trial appeared to have had enough of the defense argument that the former president wasn’t responsible for inciting the deadly Capitol siege.
“Get real,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
The defense lawyers have been arguing that Trump didn’t mean it when he told a rally to go to Congress and “fight like hell” for his presidency as lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s election.
“How gullible do you think we are?” Raskin said Friday. “We saw this happen.”
The defense has tried to compare his words to those used by other Democratic politicians fighting for health care or other priorities. The argument is drawing eyerolls from the senators on the Democratic side of the aisle.
Senators are posing questions to the lawyers as the trial heads toward a vote whether to convict or acquit the former president on the charge of incitement of insurrection.
Earlier Friday, a House impeachment manager said she questions why lawyers for Trump played multiple video clips of people of color or women talking about fighting in a political context.
Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands told senators Friday that she noted a particular focus in the lawyers’ presentation on “Black women like myself who are sick and tired of being sick and tired for our children, your children, our children.”
Trump’s lawyers have argued that his words exhorting his supporters to fight the election are protected by the First Amendment. They repeatedly showed clips on Friday of Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who is Black.
Democratic impeachment managers say Trump’s Jan. 6 speech was the culmination of a monthslong campaign to sow doubt about his election loss to Biden and that he should be found guilty of inciting the riot.
The former president’s counsel also used a video montage that created a false equivalency between the Capitol riot and Black Lives Matter protests that followed the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis last May, invoking race in arguments for the president’s innocence.
Plaskett told senators Friday: “I thought we were past that. I think maybe we’re not.”
Not every question received a response.
Trump’s attorneys did not answer a question about “exactly when” the former president learned of the breach of the Capitol, according to reporter Rick Klein.
Trump's attorneys are not answering the Collins & Murkowski question about "exactly when" Trump learned of the breach at the Capitol and what he did to bring riot to an end. They say the House managers presented no evidence on that (?)
— Rick Klein (@rickklein) February 12, 2021
Trump’s team took far less than the 16 hours allocated to argue the former Republican president was not responsible for the deadly riot.
Only hours before his defense team was set to begin his defense, Trump was reportedly hoping attorney David Schoen would take the lead following a disastrous performance from his other attorney, Bruce Castor, on Tuesday. Trump, according to ABC News, is also hoping Castor won’t speak at all.
However, another attorney, Michael van der Veen, began Friday’s defense and was soon followed by Schoen. Castor wrapped up the defense’s case about 3:15 p.m.
Trump’s lawyers argued that his words to his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol — to “fight like hell” — are common political rhetoric, using a video montage to show almost every single Senate Democrat using the word “fight” in political speeches.
The lengthy video featured Vice President Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and countless other Democrats using the word “fight.” The video also featured most of the Democratic impeachment managers who are prosecuting the case that Trump incited the violent insurrection.
Once the video finished, Schoen pointed at the senators and the impeachment managers and told them to “stop the hypocrisy.” The Democratic prosecutors have argued Trump’s supporters were primed for violence on Jan. 6, the day of the attack, and that he egged them on with “obvious intent” before they interrupted the electoral count of votes. Five people died in the chaos.
In an appearance Friday morning on Newsmax, Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said Friday would be “redemption day” for Castor and his arguments were going to be crisper and tighter.
On Tuesday, Castor delivered a rambling argument that Republican senators criticized as perplexing, “disorganized” and “random.” Trump, too, was furious over the performance of his defense team as he watched the proceedings from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, according to an anonymous source quoted by The Associated Press.
Trump’s legal team also argued that Trump’s speech was protected by the First Amendment. The lawyers have also raised questions about the trial’s constitutionality because Trump is no longer in office.
The case is likely to conclude as soon as Saturday.
“They haven’t in any way tied it to Trump,” Schoen told reporters near the end of two full days of Democrats’ arguments. Schoen previewed the essence of his argument Tuesday, telling the Senate jurors: “They don’t need to show you movies to show you that the riot happened here. We will stipulate that it happened, and you know all about it.”
In legal filings and in arguments earlier in the week, Trump’s lawyers have made clear their position the people responsible for the riot are the ones who actually stormed the building and who are now being prosecuted by the Justice Department.
House Democrat impeachment managers spent days trying to tie Trump directly to the violence through reconstructions of never-been-seen video footage alongside clips of the president’s months-long urging of his supporters to undo the election results.
Democrats, who wrapped their case Thursday, used the rioters’ own videos and words from Jan. 6 to pin responsibility on Trump. “We were invited here,” said one. “Trump sent us,” said another. “He’ll be happy. We’re fighting for Trump.”
The prosecutors’ goal was to cast Trump not as a bystander but rather as the “inciter in chief” who spent months spreading falsehoods and revving up supporters to challenge the election. In addition to seeking conviction, they also are demanding that he be barred from holding future federal office.
Here’s what to watch for on Friday from Trump’s defense team:
THE ARGUMENTS
Trump’s lawyers plan to argue their client’s innocence on multiple fronts. Their main arguments include that the trial is unconstitutional, that the insurrectionists who broke into the Capitol did so on their own accord and that Trump’s rhetoric to supporters was common political speech protected under the First Amendment.
Hoping that brevity will appeal to their restless Senate audience, the lawyers are expected to keep their arguments short. A Trump adviser said Thursday that they are expected to wrap up their defense in less than a day.
Like the House prosecutors, Trump’s lawyers have up to 16 hours over two days to plead their case. Once the defense’s presentation is finished, senators will have time to submit written questions to both sides.
PARTISAN ANGER
Taking a cue from their client, Trump’s lawyers have injected searing criticism of Democrats into their arguments, hoping to convince not only GOP senators but also viewers of the trial around the country that Trump’s second impeachment is fueled by “hatred” of the former president. They are expected to continue with that strategy Friday, calling out Democrats they say similarly incited violence in cities around the country.
Schoen told reporters in the Capitol on Thursday that Democrats’ recounting of the riots on Wednesday — almost 90 minutes of brutal footage that saw the rioters injuring law enforcement and calling for the death of the vice president and the speaker of the House — was “offensive.”
He said he believed Democrats were effectively making the public relive the tragedy in a way that “tears at the American people” and impedes efforts at unity.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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