February 13 - Day 5
The 2nd impeachment trial of Donald Trump was cut short after senators reached an agreement to not hear witness testimony, and instead proceeded to vote.
The vote total was 57-43 to acquit Donald Trump of the charge of inciting an insurrection. Seven senators crossed party lines to convict Trump, but it wasn’t enough to meet the two-thirds quota for a conviction. After the trial Trump issued a statement stating that the impeachment was "yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country."
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February 12 - Day 4
Trump’s defense team did not take very long to present their case. Their entire defense took three hours out of their allotted 16. The defense team stated that Trump’s statements were taken out of context, and that the news media was unfair to him. The defense emphasized that much of the statements made by Trump and presented by the prosecution were metaphorical. They believed that the president was trying to get his supporters out to peacefully protest. They insisted that when Trump told his supporters to “fight” that he did not mean to fight with violence.
The defense team referred to the prosecution’s arguments as “divorced from the facts.” During the Q&A portion of the trial, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont questioned the Trump representatives if they believed that Donald Trump had won the election and if they would argue as such. They did not directly respond to the question and cited it as “irrelevant.” At the end of the trail a vote was passed unanimously that gave Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal. This is the highest award given by Congress.
Goodman received this award for his efforts on January 6th which helped guide senators away from the charging mobs.
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February 11 - Day 3
The prosecution used the final day of their arguments to argue that the Capitol siege would not have occurred without Donald Trump. The Impeachment Managers presented videos of Trump Supporters who attended the riot who stated that the reason that they were there because of Donald Trump’s words.
“I thought I was following my president. I thought I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there, he asked us to be there, so I was doing what he asked us to do.” - Jennifer Ryan, a real estate agent who stormed the capitol building on January 6th.
In a separate video, Ryan states “President Trump requested that we be in D.C. on the 6th, so this was our way of going and stopping the steal.” These clips accompanied several others with the same direct proclamation of their inspiration.
The prosecution also presented the fact that Donald Trump never apologized for the actions of the riot which left five dead and many injured. They also played the video that Trump released toward the end of the siege in which he told the rioters “We love you. You’re very special.” The prosecution argued that this lack of remorse showed that Trump had completely intended these events to take place.
The impeachment managers also responded to a popular sentiment among Republican lawmakers that since Trump had already been removed from office by the voters, an impeachment trial was pointless. The prosecution explained that Donald Trump should be impeached to prevent him from running for office again. They stated that if he could incite violence of this magnitude once, he is very capable of replicating it.
Representative Ted Lieu of California said “I’m not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years... I'm afraid he's going to run again and lose. Because he can do this again."
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February 10 - Day 2
Day 2 of the trial was marked by Trump’s own words. The prosecution pulled several examples of Donald Trump’s tweets, speeches and interviews. These examples showed Donald Trump’s intent regarding the election, and the language he used was very clear.
The prosecution also presented never-before-seen videos from inside the Capitol on the day of the siege. This video depicted several Trump supporters storming in and looking specifically for Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to harm them. This video was part of a reenactment of the January 6th siege which gave context as to how close the mob was to reaching their intended targets. The rioters at one point came within 100 feet from where the Vice President was sheltering while they chanted “Hang Mike Pence!”
Toward the end of the arguments, Senator Mike Lee of Utah invoked an impeachment rule to strike his name from the prosecution’s arguments. This is because the prosecution stated that President Trump called the senator by mistake, and told him to continuously object to the certification of Joe Biden as president. Lee objected to this and struck down the claims as false. Representative of Maryland and Impeachment Manager Jamie Raskin later rescinded these claims.
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February 9 - Day 1
Donald Trump’s 2nd Impeachment Trial opened with a video presented by the Impeachment managers. This video was a 13 minute compilation video that showed Donald Trump during his now infamous Stop the Steal Rally the day of the Capitol siege. The prosecution used this video to open their argument that Donald Trump’s words directly incited the riot at the Capitol.
Another main focus of the prosecution was to argue the constitutional validity of an impeachment hearing of a president who has already left office. Representative Joe Neguse of the prosecution argued this by referencing specific sections of the constitution. He referenced that in Article I, section 3, clause 7 of the Constitution, the Senate holds the power to pass judgement onto current officials and officials who have already left office.
He also presented Article II of the Constitution which states that all officials shall be removed from office upon being impeached. He made it clear that this does not mean that officials being in office is not an absolute requirement for impeachment. Trump’s opening statement was given by the current head of his legal team, Bruce Castor. Bruce was not meant to lead this team several weeks ago. The entire legal team that was going to defend Donald Trump quit only a couple weeks before the beginning of the trial.
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Former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial to start on Tuesday, February 9, and it's expected to last into the weekend and possibly longer.
Late Tuesday February 9, the Senate voted the impeachment as constitutional.
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