An undertaking like no other in U.S. history, Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial in the Senate began Tuesday with a jarring, graphic video of the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Watch a replay of Day 1 of the impeachment trial, courtesy of The Associated Press and Senate TV:
After statements by the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team, the Senate voted 56-44 to proceed with the impeachment trial. The trial is scheduled to resume at noon Wednesday.
The impeachment managers picked up one additional vote from Republicans — Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy. Two weeks ago, he voted in favor of an effort to dismiss, but on Tuesday he voted with Democrats to move forward. Cassidy joined Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mitt Romney of Utah in dismissing the Trump team’s claims.
The trial began at 1 p.m. and concluded Tuesday with a vote on the trial’s constitutionality. Opening arguments from the House impeachment managers and the former president’s defense team followed. The former Republican president has been charged by House Democrats with inciting the violent mob attack on the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election in what prosecutors argue is the “most grievous constitutional crime.”
A lawyer for Trump argued the former president’s impeachment trial should be dismissed because it is unconstitutional and because it will “tear this country apart.”
David Schoen said Tuesday that Democrats are fueled by a “hatred” of Trump and fear that they will lose power. He says if the trial moves forward, it will make “everyone” look bad and other countries that wish the U.S. harm will watch with “glee.”
Trump was impeached on a count of incitement of insurrection over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by a mob of his supporters. Both sides were debating the trial’s constitutionality Tuesday, and the debate will be followed by a vote to dismiss the case, which is expected to fail.
Trump’s team is arguing that the trial is not constitutional because Trump is out of office. Democrats, citing legal scholars and precedent from a secretary of war’s 1876 impeachment, have detailed the historical precedent and the violence of the rioting to argue that it is constitutional.
Trump was impeached one week before he left office and one week after he told his supporters to “fight like hell” before they laid siege on the Capitol. The rioting resulted in five deaths.
Another one of Trump’s lawyers conceded Trump lost the election to Joe Biden, a fact that Trump himself has refused to acknowledge.
In opening remarks Tuesday, lawyer Bruce Castor said: “The American people are smart enough to pick a new administration if they don’t like the old one. And they just did.”
Later, Castor referred to Trump, saying: “He was removed by the voters.”
Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the election, falsely claiming he won in a “landside.” He kept up the unsubstantiated claim during a speech before the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
There was no widespread fraud in the election, as has been confirmed by election officials across the country and former Attorney General William Barr. Dozens of legal challenges to the election put forth by Trump and his allies were dismissed.
Lead House prosecutor Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, told senators the case would present “cold, hard facts” against Trump, who is charged with inciting the siege of the Capitol to overturn the election he lost to Biden. Senators sitting as jurors, many who themselves fled for safety that day, watched a video showing the chaotic scene, rioters pushing past police to storm the halls, Trump flags waving.
Watch the video below. Warning: Language may offend some viewers.
“That’s a high crime and misdemeanor,” said Raskin. “If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there’s no such thing.”
Raskin spoke about his personal experience in the Capitol on Jan. 6. He had been joined by family members that day — the day after he had buried his son, who reportedly died by suicide in December.
His daughter and son-in-law were in an office in the Capitol and hid under a desk, where they sent what they thought were their final texts. He said, “They thought they were going to die.”
Separated from them in the House chamber, Raskin described people around him calling to say goodbye to their families, members removing their congressional pins to try to evade detection. And he said he heard the rioters “pounding on the door like a battering ram” — a sound he said he would “never forget.”
He choked up as he recounted his daughter telling him she never wanted to return to the Capitol. Through tears, Raskin said, “This cannot be the future of America.”
Security remained extremely tight at the Capitol, a changed place after the attack, fenced off with razor wire and armed National Guard troops on patrol. The nine House managers walked across the shuttered building to prosecute the case before the Senate.
In an opening prayer, Senate Chaplain Barry Black asked God to “take control of this impeachment trial” and “have mercy on our beloved land.”
With senators gathered as the court of impeachment, sworn to deliver “impartial justice,” the trial began with debate and a vote over whether it’s constitutionally permissible to prosecute Trump after he is no longer in the White House. First, senators approved on a resolution laying out the trial schedule for the day’s ahead.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was the senators’ “solemn constitutional duty” to conduct a fair trial of “the gravest charges ever brought against a president.”
Trump’s lawyers insist as the trial opened he is not guilty on the sole charge of “incitement of insurrection,” even as he encouraged a rally crowd to “fight like hell” for his presidency. The Capitol siege on Jan. 6 stunned the world as rioters stormed the building to try to stop the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
No witnesses are expected to be called, in part because the senators sworn as jurors will be presented with graphic videos recorded that day. Trump has declined a request to testify.
The first president to face charges after leaving office and the first to be twice impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors while in office, Trump continues to challenge the nation’s civic norms and traditions even in defeat. Security remains extremely tight at the Capitol. While acquittal is likely, the trial will test the nation’s attitude toward his brand of presidential power, the Democrats’ resolve in pursuing him and the loyalty of Trump’s Republican allies defending him.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden will be busy with the business of the presidency and won’t watch the televised proceedings. “He’ll leave it to his former colleagues in the Senate,” she said.
In filings, lawyers for the former president lobbed a wide-ranging attack against the House case, dismissing the trial as “political theater.”
Trump’s defenders are preparing to challenge the constitutionality of the trial and any suggestion that he was to blame for the insurrection. They suggest that Trump was simply exercising his First Amendment rights when he encouraged his supporters to protest at the Capitol, and they argue the Senate is not entitled to try Trump now that he has left office.
House impeachment managers, in their own filings, asserted that Trump had “betrayed the American people” and there is no valid excuse or defense.
“His incitement of insurrection against the United States government — which disrupted the peaceful transfer of power — is the most grievous constitutional crime ever committed by a president,” the Democrats said.
With senators gathered as the court of impeachment, the trial will begin Tuesday with a debate and vote on whether it’s constitutionally permissible to prosecute the former president, an argument that could resonate with Republicans keen on voting to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.
Under an agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the opening arguments are scheduled to begin at noon Wednesday, with up to 16 hours per side for presentations.
After that, there are hours for deliberations, witnesses and closing arguments. The trial was set to break Friday evening for the Jewish Sabbath, but Trump’s defense team withdrew the request, concerned about the delay, and now the trial can continue into the weekend and next week.
A presidential impeachment trial is among the most serious of Senate proceedings, conducted only three times before, leading to acquittals for Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and then Trump last year.
Typically senators sit at their desks for such occasions, but the COVID-19 crisis has upended even this tradition. Instead, senators will be allowed to spread out, in the “marble room” just off the Senate floor, where proceedings will be shown on TV, and in the public galleries above the chamber, to accommodate social distancing, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Trump’s second impeachment trial is expected to diverge from the lengthy, complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was charged with having privately pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency.
This time, Trump’s “stop the steal” rally rhetoric and the storming of the Capitol played out for the world to see. The trial could be over in half the time.
The Democratic-led House impeached the president swiftly, one week after the most violent attack on Congress in more than 200 years. Five people died, including a woman shot by police inside the building and a police officer who died the next day of his injuries.
House prosecutors are expected to rely on videos from the siege, along with Trump’s incendiary rhetoric refusing to concede the election, to make their case. His new defense team has said it plans to counter with its own cache of videos of Democratic politicians making fiery speeches.
Senators were sworn in as jurors late last month, shortly after Biden was inaugurated, but the trial was delayed as Democrats focused on confirming the new president’s initial Cabinet picks and Republicans sought to stall.
At the time, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky forced a vote to set aside the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office. The 45 Republican votes in favor of Paul’s measure suggest the near impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate in which Democrats hold 50 seats but a two-thirds vote — or 67 senators — would be needed to convict Trump.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
