WASHINGTON 鈥� Dire harm from Donald 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 false and violent incitements will vex American democracy long into the future unless the Senate convicts him of impeachment and bars him from future office, House prosecutors insisted Thursday as they concluded two days of emotional arguments in his historic trial.
Making their case, they presented piles of new videos of last month's deadly Capitol attack, with invaders proudly declaring they were merely obeying 鈥渢he president鈥檚 orders鈥� to fight to overturn the election results as Congress was certifying his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump is accused of inciting the invasion, which prosecutors said was a predictable culmination of the many public and explicit instructions he gave supporters long before his White House rally that unleashed the Jan. 6 attack.
鈥淚f we pretend this didn鈥檛 happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who鈥檚 to say it won鈥檛 happen again?鈥� argued prosecutor Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo. Even out of office, Democrats warned, Trump could whip up a mob of followers for similar damage.
罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚
The Democrats, with little hope of conviction by two-thirds of the evenly divided Senate, are also making their most graphic case to the American public, while 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 lawyers and the Republicans are focused on legal rather than emotional or historic questions, hoping to get it all behind as quickly as possible. Five people died in the Capitol chaos and its aftermath, a domestic attack unparalleled in U.S. history.
Trump's second impeachment trial, on a charge of incitement of insurrection, has echoes of last year鈥檚 impeachment and acquittal over the Ukraine matter, as prosecutors warn senators that Trump has shown no bounds and will pose a continuing danger to the civic order unless he is convicted. Even out of the White House, the former president holds influence over large swaths of voters.
The Democratic House members acting as prosecutors drew a direct line Thursday from Trump's repeated comments condoning and even celebrating violence 鈥� praising 鈥渂oth sides鈥� after the 2017 outbreak at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia 鈥� and urging his rally crowd last month to go to the Capitol and fight for his presidency. He spread false claims about election fraud and urged his supporters to 鈥渟top the steal鈥� of the presidency.
Prosecutors used the rioters' own videos from that day to pin responsibility on Trump. 鈥淲e were invited here,鈥� said one. 鈥淭rump sent us,鈥� said another. 鈥淗e鈥檒l be happy. We鈥檙e fighting for Trump.鈥�
鈥淭hey truly believed that the whole intrusion was at the president鈥檚 orders,鈥� said Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado. 鈥淭he president told them to be there.鈥�
At the White House, President Biden said he believed 鈥渟ome minds may be changed鈥� after senators saw chilling security video Wednesday of the deadly insurrection at the Capitol, including of rioters searching menacingly for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Biden said he didn鈥檛 watch any of the previous day鈥檚 proceedings live but later saw news coverage.
Though most of the Senate jurors seem to have made up their minds, making 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 acquittal likely, the never-before-seen audio and video released Wednesday became a key exhibit.
Senators sat riveted as the jarring video played in the chamber. The footage showed the mob smashing into the building and rioters engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police, with audio of officers pleading for backup. Rioters roamed the halls chanting, 鈥淗ang Mike Pence,鈥� and eerily singing out, 鈥淲here are you, Nancy?鈥� in search of Pelosi.
Videos of the siege have been circulating since the day of the riot, but the graphic compilation offered a moment-by-moment retelling of one of the nation鈥檚 most alarming days. And it underscored how dangerously close the rioters came to the nation鈥檚 leaders, shifting the focus of the trial from an academic debate about the Constitution to a raw retelling of the assault.
Trump attorney David Schoen took issue, saying that the presentation was 鈥渙ffensive鈥� and that the Democrats 鈥渉aven鈥檛 tied it in any way to Trump.鈥�
He told reporters Thursday at the Capitol that he believed Democrats were making the public relive the tragedy in a way that 鈥渢ears at the American people鈥� and impedes efforts at unity in the country.
And by Thursday, senators sitting through a second full day of arguments appeared somewhat fatigued, slouching in their chairs, crossing their arms and walking around to stretch.
One Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, said during a break: 鈥淭o me, they鈥檙e losing credibility the longer they talk.鈥�
The goal of the two-day presentation by prosecutors from the House, which impeached the outgoing president last month a week after the siege, was to cast Trump not as an innocent bystander but rather as the 鈥渋nciter in chief鈥� who spent months spreading falsehoods and revving up supporters to challenge the election.
鈥淭his attack never would have happened but for Donald Trump,鈥� Rep. Madeleine Dean, one of the impeachment managers, said as she choked back emotion. 鈥淎nd so they came, draped in 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 flag, and used our flag, the American flag, to batter and to bludgeon.鈥�
Trump's lawyers are likely to blame the rioters themselves for the violence.
The first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office, Trump is also the first to be twice impeached.
His lawyers say he cannot be convicted because he is already gone from the White House. Even though the Senate rejected that argument in Tuesday's vote to proceed to trial, the issue could resonate with Senate Republicans eager to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his
While six Republicans joined with Democrats to vote to proceed with the trial on Tuesday, the 56-44 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes needed for conviction.
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Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire and Kevin Freking in Washington, Nomaan Merchant in Houston and Michelle L. Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick And Jill Colvin, The Associated Press
