Live Updates
Our live coverage has ended. See how the day unfolded in the posts below.
The House impeachment managers wrapped up their case for the conviction of Donald Trump for inciting the US Capitol riot on Jan. 6, centering their argument on connecting the former President’s words in advance of the riot and the actions taken by his supporters on that day.
In case you missed it, here are some of the key takeaways from the trial today:
Former President Trump was seen playing golf Thursday during the third day of his second impeachment trial.
Trump was spotted by CNN photojournalists just before 3:30 p.m. ET at Trump National Golf Corse in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He left the golf course at 4:20 p.m ET in a black SUV.
The House impeachment managers have finalized presenting their case against former President Trump in the Senate trial. The Senate has adjourned until noon ET tomorrow.
“We humbly, humbly, ask you to convict President Trump for the crime for which he is overwhelmingly guilty of. Because if you don’t, if we pretend this didn’t happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who’s to say it won’t happen again?” House impeachment manager Joe Neguse said in his closing remarks.
Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin thanked the members of the Senate for the “close attention and seriousness of purpose” they demonstrated during their presentations.
“We’ve made our very best effort to set forth every single relevant fact that we know in the most objective and honest light. We trust, we hope, that the defense will understand the constitutional gravity and solemnity of this trial by focusing like a laser beam on the facts and not return to the constitutional argument that’s already been decided by the Senate,” Raskin said in his closing remarks.
“Senators, America, we need to exercise our common sense about what happened. Let’s not get caught up in a lot of outlandish lawyers’ theories here. Exercise your common sense about what just took place in our country,” Raskin urged his colleagues.
During their final day of presentations, the managers charged that the insurrectionists carried out their attack on the US Capitol on behalf of Trump, and they used the insurrectionists’ own words before and during the attack to show that they believed they were acting at Trump’s direction.
What comes next: Trump’s defense team will now have the opportunity to argue their case against conviction for up to 16 hours over two days.
Senators will then have time to ask questions of the two legal teams after the initial days of arguments conclude. After the Q&A, the two legal teams will debate the need to subpoena witnesses and documents. The Senate will vote and a majority will be required in order to carry forward with these subpoenas.
Then there will be up to four hours of closing arguments and an unspecified amount of time for senators to deliberate. Then a vote on the article of impeachment.
CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf contributed reporting to this post.
House impeachment manager Joe Neguse detailed the case against former President Trump and why he thinks Trump committed an impeachable offense.
In his closing arguments, he laid out three key questions that impeachment managers believe are at the core of their arguments against Trump:
“Was violence foreseeable?” “Did he encourage violence?” “And did he act willfully?”
Neguse went on to say the answer to those questions must be yes.
He ended his remarks with a final plea to senators.
“We humbly, humbly, ask you to convict President Trump for the crime for which he is overwhelmingly guilty of. Because if you don’t, if we pretend this didn’t happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who’s to say it won’t happen again?” he said.
Impeachment manager Joe Neguse made the argument that violence was both predictable and foreseeable at the Jan. 6 rally before the Capitol riot.
“Was it foreseeable that the violence would erupt on January 6th if President Trump lit a spark? Was it predictable that the crowd at the ‘Save America rally’ was poised on a hair trigger for violence that they would fight literally if provoked to do so? Of course it was. When President Trump stood up to that podium on January 6th, he knew that many in that crowd were inflamed, were armed, were ready for violence. It was an explosive situation. And he knew it,” Neguse said.
Using a combination of tweets, photos and videos, he explained how Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric was part of an intentional pattern used by Trump to provoke his supporters.
“You’ve seen it, the images, the videos, the articles, and the pattern which show that the violence on that terrible day was entirely foreseeable. We’ve showed you how this all began with the big lie, the claim that the election was rigged and that President Trump and his supporters were the victims of a massive fraud, a massive conspiracy to rip away their votes. We’ve showed you how President Trump spread that lie and how over the course of months with his support and encouragement, it inflamed part of his base, resulting in death threats, real-world violence, and increasingly extreme calls to stop the steal. We established that after he lost the election, the President was willing to do just about anything to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. That he tried everything he could do to stop it,” Neguse said.
He listed numerous examples of how Trump tried to pressure individuals to overturn the election results and how he continued to rally his base around the false idea that the election was stolen.
“There can be no doubt that the risk of violence was foreseeable,” Neguse said. “And what did he do in the days leading up to the rally? Did he calm the situation? Ask yourself. I mean, did he call for peace? No. He didn’t do that. He spread his big lie more. The most dangerous lie, as I mentioned, that Americans’ votes were being stolen and the final act of theft would occur here in the Capitol. And then he assembled all of those supporters. He invited them to an organized event on a specific day, at a specific time, matched perfectly to coincide with the joint session of Congress to coincide with the ‘steal’ that he had told them to stop. By any and all means. Again, he was told by law enforcement and all over the news that these people were armed and ready for real violence. He knew it. I mean, he knew it perfectly well. That he had created this powder keg at his rally. He knew just how combustible that situation was. He knew there were people before him who had prepared, who are armed and armored. He knew they would jump to violence at any signal, at any sign, from him that he needed them to fight. That he needed them to ‘stop the steal.’ And we all know what happened next. Second question. Did he encourage the violence? Standing in that powder keg, did he light a match? Everyone knows the answer to that question.”
Neguse argued that Trump’s rhetoric not only incited the Capitol riot, but said it threatened national security and said a failure to convict the former President would set a precedent that “inciting violence is OK.”
Watch the moment:
As the House impeachment managers prepare to finalize their arguments before the Senate, lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin laid out what impeachment is — and what it is not — in their case against former President Trump.
“I hope we all can agree today that if a president does incite a violent insurrection against the government, he can be impeached for it. I hope we all can agree that that is a constitutional crime,” Raskin said.
The article of impeachment passed by the House in January reads, in part: “Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”
Raskin went on to argue that despite the claims of Trump’s defense team, the question of the case against Trump is not whether he committed a crime under the federal code, DC law or a law of a state.
“Impeachment does not result in criminal penalties, as we keep emphasizing. No one spends a day in jail. There are not even criminal or civil fines,” Raskin said.
He continued:
“Centuries of history, not to mention the constitutional text, structure, and original intent and understanding, all confirm the teaching of James Wilson, another framer, who wrote that impeachments and offenses come not within the sphere of ordinary jurisprudence. Simply put, impeachment was created for a purpose separate and distinct from criminal punishment. It was created to prevent and deter elected officials who swear an oath to represent America, but then commit dangerous offenses against our republic. That’s a constitutional crime,” Raskin said.
“And, senators, what greater offense could one commit than to incite a violent insurrection at our seat of government during the peaceful transfer of power?,” Raskin said.
Trump’s defense team will have an opportunity to present their case starting tomorrow.
Hear Rep. Jamie Raskin:
Ahead of their presentation tomorrow, former President Trump’s defense attorneys are arguing that — despite the evidence presented at trial — there’s no “direct” link between the actions of the insurrectionists and Trump himself.
The Trump team appears poised to argue before the Senate that no evidence exists where Trump explicitly commands a rioter to go to the Capitol and commit acts of violence.
That’s what the two main attorneys, David Schoen and Bruce Castor, clearly signaled to CNN in interviews in the Capitol this afternoon.
Asked about evidence showing insurrectionists carrying out Trump’s orders, Castor said: “Did someone say that they heard directly from President Trump to do that?”
Pressed about the evidence in trial where insurrections said they were carrying out Trump’s order, Castor said: “I don’t believe that’s what happened, no.”
Schoen made a similar case.
“They haven’t in any way tied it to Donald Trump,” Schoen said when asked about Democrats’ presenting video evidence of rioters citing Trump’s demands as a reason for their actions. “And I think it’s offensive quite frankly, in reference to the healing process, to continue to show the tragedy that happened here that Donald Trump has condemned, and I think it’s with the American people now, frankly.”
During today’s proceedings, House impeachment managers are arguing that the results of former President Trump’s second trial will send a signal likely felt around the globe.
Pointing to various media reports, Castro noted that adversaries of the US — including China and Iran — have latched on to the events of Jan. 6, citing them as an example of vulnerability.
“For America’s adversaries, there was no greater proof of the fallibility of Western democracy than the site of the US Capitol shrouded in smoke and besieged by a mob whipped up by their unwillingly outgoing president,” Castro read from a news headline.
US allies, meanwhile, have shown support for America amid the turmoil, placing even greater importance on the result of Trump’s second impeachment trial.
“Following the insurrection on January 6th, even our allies are speaking up,” said Castro, pointing to our neighbors to the north.
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, ‘what we witnessed was an assault on democracy by violent rioters incited by the current president and other politicians,’” read Castro, continuing Trudeau’s statement:
“‘As shocking, deeply disturbing, and frankly saddening as that event remains, we have also seen this week that democracy is resilient in America, our closest ally and neighbor.’”
Castro concluded his message on global perspective by commenting further on the lifeblood and framework of American democracy.
“The world is watching and wondering whether we are who we say we are,” Castro said. “Because other countries have known chaos, our Constitution has helped keep order in America. This is why we have a constitution. We must stand up for the rule of law because the rule of law doesn’t just stand up by itself.”
“This trial is an opportunity to respond and to send a message back to the world. I say this as somebody who loves my country, our country, just as all of you do,” Castro continued, speaking to the senators in the room.
Watch the moment:
A source close to former President Trump’s legal team says the defense is eyeing shortening their presentation and possibly making it as short as three hours in an effort to make it “short, tight and direct.”
The team plans to include video presentations showing Democratic leaders using similar language to Trump, including one clip of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer outside the US Supreme Court, saying “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions,” referring to Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Although Schumer’s words were not followed with violence against the justices, and his supporters did not storm the Capitol, the legal team plans to argue hypocrisy and say Trump never intended for the protesters at the “Stop the Steal” march to take over the Capitol building.
Trump’s defense team has said that the former President’s false claims – that the presidential election was rigged and claims made in his speech to the crowd ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot – are protected by the First Amendment.
House impeachment manager Rep. Joe Neguse took a swipe at this defense during his presentation today, saying that their argument is “a distraction.”
The First Amendment is often brought up in cases to protect people’s claims but it doesn’t always guarantee you the rights you think it does.
Here’s what the First Amendment actually says:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
That’s the entirety of the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
There’s a lot going on in those few sentences, and it’s important to know when and how it applies to common situations – and, equally as important, when it doesn’t.
Our constitutional experts look at some common First Amendment arguments and when the Amendment actually applies. You can read them here.
Former President Trump has been talking with advisers in recent weeks about moving on from his “stop the steal” messaging, once the impeachment trial scrutinizing his inflammatory words ends, sources close to Trump say.
One of the sources says he realizes continuing to push out that messaging would be politically damaging, because talking about the election will only conjure up images of the riots.
The Trump adviser who has been in touch with the former President in recent days says, “He’s past the election – he understands he needs to be past it.”
But a separate source close to the Trump team, when asked whether Trump would stick to moving on said, “Good luck with that!”
CNN has previously reported that Trump is not showing any remorse for his words and actions leading up to the Jan. 6th riot – even as Democrats present damning new evidence this week.
The source also said that the Trump defense team’s focus would be on how the former President told his supporters to go “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” on Jan. 6.
After Democrats were criticized for not showing Trump using the “peacefully and patriotically” line during their evidence on Tuesday, impeachment manager Madeleine Dean included video evidence of it in her portion of Wednesday’s session.
Trump’s lawyers are expected to focus on this line during their defense.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said he found today’s presentation “emotionally difficult.” He said the House impeachment managers made a case that former President Trump incited the mob that attacked the Capitol and that he “should bear responsibility.”
“They brought together all the victims, and others who verified the case they made yesterday, that Donald Trump incited this mob and should bear responsibility,” he said. “They keep bringing us to the point of saying ‘and if you walk away and do nothing, what is the message to this former President and every president’?”
Durbin said he would leave to the House managers the question of witnesses, but said that there’s “been a lot of witnesses’ statements that’s been taken and put on the record.”
The Senate is back in session after taking their first break of the day.
House impeachment managers will continue to present their case against former President Trump – it’s their last day to do so.
So far, managers have used video – some from as early as 2015 – to show how Trump’s behavior over the years has demonstrated a pattern of inciting violence.
They have also made the case that Trump’s lack of remorse is crucial to this impeachment trial. House impeachment manager Rep. Lieu said it showed that the former President “will undoubtedly cause future harm if allowed.”
House impeachment manager Rep. Dianna DeGette, meanwhile, used the rioters’ own words before, during and after attack to show that they believed they were acting as a result of Trump’s guidance.
The allegation of “incitement” is central to the impeachment case House Democrats are trying to make, because it ties Trump’s words and actions to the insurrection on Capitol Hill. Read more about the Democrats’ case against Trump here.
Trump’s defense will start their arguments tomorrow.
CNN’s Zach Wolf contributed reporting to this post.
Trump Defense attorney Bruce Castor denied to CNN that rioters said they were ordered by former President Trump to do what they did – even though that has been a key part of the evidence Democrats have been presented.
“Did someone say that they heard directly from President Trump?” Castor said when asked for his reaction to the videos played.
“I don’t believe that’s what happened, no,” Castor said.
Earlier, one of Trump’s other lawyers David Schoen argued that the impeachment managers have failed to tie the Capitol attack on Jan. 6 to the former President.
During the House impeachment managers’ presentation to convict the former President, David Schoen, Trump’s defense lawyer, left the Senate chamber to appear on Fox News.
Schoen told the network, “this trial never should have happened,” and said his goal is to make it “as short as possible.”
Trump’s defense will take the Senate floor tomorrow as they begin their arguments against conviction. Each side has 16 hours spread over two days to make their case.
Schoen has indicated he will only take one day.
CNN’s Pam Brown has more:
The Senate has just paused for their first break of the day.
Today is the last day for House impeachment managers to present their case against former President Trump.
So far, managers have used video – some from as early as 2015 – to show how Trump’s behavior over the years has demonstrated a pattern of inciting violence.
They have also made the case that Trump’s lack of remorse is crucial to this impeachment trial. Impeachment manager Rep. Lieu said it showed that the former President “will undoubtedly cause future harm if allowed.”
While highlighting the trauma that many present on Capitol Hill went through during the riot on Jan. 6, House impeachment manager Rep. David Cicilline highlighted a tweet thread posted by a CNN producer one month after the attack.
“There are countless people who are still living with the trauma of what happened that day. This includes, by the way, another group of people who were with us in the Capitol on that day, and that’s the press,” Cicilline said.
CNN producer Kristin Wilson recounts in the twitter thread the impact the Capitol riot had on her team of journalists.
“None of us should have feared for our lives. Not one,” she writes in one of the tweets.
Read her tweets:
Impeachment manager Rep. David Cicilline mentioned the most prominent conspiracy case against members of the Oath Keepers, an extremist militant anti-government group whose members were involved in the Capitol insurrection.
During his remarks on the Senate floor he cited the burgeoning case against Jessica Watkins, Donovan Crowl and Thomas Caldwell, who stand accused by the Justice Department of elaborately planning to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.
They face some of the most serious allegations to emerge from the far-reaching investigation.
Earlier on Thursday, federal prosecutors said they had evidence that Watkins “indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump.” The new assertion was the most direct language yet from the Justice Department linking Trump’s “stop the steal” rhetoric to actions of some of the insurrections.
Trump’s lawyer David Schoen took a break as the House impeachment managers were trying their case on the third day of the Senate impeachment trial for an interview with Fox News.
Schoen told Fox that Trump is “very upbeat” and he doesn’t want to be associated with the violent incident. “He’s quite offended at trying to be tied into it,” he said.
On criticism Trump’s other lawyer Bruce Castor has received for his performance the first day of the trial, Schoen said, Castor “got up the first day, he jumped right into it to respond to something that had been said and I think he’s been very, very unfairly maligned, frankly … let’s just see how this thing plays out.”
Asked about the No. 2 Senate Republican John Thune’s comments that the House managers did an “effective job” and were “connecting the dots” from Trump’s words to the insurrection, Schoen argued the videos shown were taken out of context and were presented as an “entertainment package.”
Schoen said tomorrow — when the defense team is expected to begin laying out their case — “is our opportunity” when “we start to present our case and to give answers.”
Asked if Trump’s team will finish their arguments tomorrow, he said. “we’ll see how that goes … there’s no reason for us to be out there a long time as I said from the start, this trial never should have happened.”
Impeachment manager Ted Lieu explained why former President Trump’s lack of remorse is such an important factor in his impeachment trial, suggesting that “he will undoubtedly cause future harm if allowed.”
“President Trump expressed no regrets for last week’s violence insurrection at the US Capitol. This sends exactly the wrong signal to those of us who support the very core of our democratic principles and took a solemn oath to the constitution. It is time to say enough is enough,” Lieu said.
Lieu explained that no one is saying a President cannot contest the election, “But what President Trump did, as his former chief of staff explained, was different. It was dishonorable. It was un-american. And it resulted in fatalities.”
Lieu went on to describe how Trump spent months inflaming his supporters ahead of the riot, saying he:
“Spread lies to incite a violent attack on the Capitol, on our law enforcement and on all of us and then he lied again to his base to tell them that this was all okay, that this was all acceptable. And that is why President Trump is so dangerous. Because he would have all of us, all Americans believe that any President who comes after him can do exactly the same thing. That’s why lack of remorse is an important factor in impeachment. Because impeachment, conviction, and disqualification is not just about the past, it’s about the future, it’s making sure that no future official, no future president, does the same exact thing President Trump does.”
“President Trump’s lack of remorse shows that he will undoubtedly cause future harm if allowed because he still refuses to account for his previous high grave crime against our government,” Lieu concluded.
Remember: Conviction requires two-thirds of senators present to offer “guilty” votes. Normally, two-thirds is 67 senators, which would require 17 Republican votes.
If Trump is convicted, there would be a subsequent vote on whether to bar him from further office. This would require only a simple majority — that’s 50 votes.
House impeachment manager Ted Lieu said former President Trump failed to show remorse or take responsibility in the days following the Capitol riot.
“For days he did not address the nation after this attack. We needed our commander-in-chief to lead, to unite a grieving country, to comfort us. But what did President Trump do? Nothing. Silence,” Lieu said on the Senate floor.
He also slammed the former President for not paying his respects to the late US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, when he lay in honor in the Capitol earlier this month.
“It took President Trump three days before he lowered the flag of the United States of America. Three days. And President Trump, who was commander-in-chief at the time, did not attend and pay respects to the officer who lay in state in the very building that he died defending.”
Lieu also reminded the Senate that Trump did not think he had a role to play in the riot and had told reporters that his speech “was totally appropriate.”
Watch Rep. Lieu here:
After presenting evidence on the Senate floor against former President Trump, lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin closed his remarks by asking the senators, who are serving as jurors in the case, a series of questions.
“My dear colleagues, is there any political leader in this room who believes if he’s ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way? Would you bet the lives of more police officers on that? Would you bet the safety of your family on that? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that? President Trump declared his conduct totally appropriate. So if he gets back into office and it happens again, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.”
The impeachment managers argue that Trump is responsible for inciting the rioters that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Remember: Conviction requires two-thirds of senators present to offer “guilty” votes. Normally, two-thirds is 67 senators, which would require 17 Republican votes.
If Trump is convicted, there would be a subsequent vote on whether to bar him from further office. This would require only a simple majority — that’s 50 votes.
Former President Trump gave a Jan. 6 speech near the White House in which he exhorted his supporters to march on the US Capitol to challenge the final certification of President Biden’s electoral victory.
That speech is at the heart of the House Democrats’ case against him – a single impeachment charge of inciting the insurrection that followed.
“January 6 was not some unexpected radical break from his normal law-abiding and peaceful disposition, this was his state of mind,” lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin told senators today after showing videos where Trump appears to be condoning violence among his supporters.
“He knew that egged on by his tweets and his messages for a wild time in Washington, his extreme followers would show up bright and early, ready to attack, ready for extreme violence to fight like hell for their hero,” Raskin continued.
Read a CNN transcript of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech here. Here is a fact-check from CNN’s Daniel Dale on his remarks.
Hundreds of protesters — some of whom were armed — who jammed into the Michigan Capitol on April 30, 2020, were a “preview of the coming insurrection,” lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin said in his presentation.
“This Trump-inspired mob may indeed look familiar to you: Confederate battle flags, MAGA hats, weapons, camo Army gear, just like the insurrectionists who showed up and invaded this chamber,” Raskin said.
Raskin said former President Trump’s response to the two events were “strikingly similar,” with Trump refusing to condemn the extremists in Michigan and urging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to “make a deal” with them.
On Oct. 8, 2020, 13 people were charged in an alleged domestic terrorism plot to kidnap Whitmer, according to federal and state officials.
“If we don’t draw the line here, what’s next?” Raskin said. “What makes you think the nightmare with Donald Trump and his lawmaking and violent mobs is over? If we let him get away with it, and then it comes to your state capitol or it comes back here again, what are we going to say? These prior acts of incitement cast a harsh light on Trump’s obvious intent.”
House impeachment managers are playing a collection of videos from as early as 2015, in which former President Trump appears to be condoning violence among his supporters.
A video from a 2015 rally showed White attendees shoving, tackling and kicking a Black protester who disrupted his speech. Trump went on to say of the protester: “Maybe he should have been roughed up.”
The managers also showed video of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville that turned deadly after White nationalists, neo-Nazis and other groups arrived to protest a city decision to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Trump later said “both sides” — both the White nationalists and the counter-protesters — were to blame.
The managers went on to note a 2018 incident where Trump praised a Republican congressman who body slammed a reporter.
Watch Rep. Raskin here:
The allegation of “incitement” is key to the impeachment case House Democrats are making against former President Trump because it ties his words and actions to the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill.
House impeachment managers have devoted most of their presentation this week to the results, airing graphic video footage and audio from the attack on the Capitol — which put members of the Senate, who will vote on the charges, personally at risk.
Their argument is that Trump was responsible for what happened, even though he did not join the mob that marched from his Jan. 6 rally near the White House to the US Capitol, where electoral votes were being tallied to seal Joe Biden’s victory.
The article of impeachment passed by the House in January reads, in part: “Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” Read the whole thing here.
Here are a few key things the Democrats have said so far:
Trump’s defenders, namely Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, have argued that Trump can’t be held accountable because the people who made up the mob are “entitled to be idiots” and Trump was just whipping up the crowd, which is what politicians do.
“The President’s language at times is a little overheated,” Cruz told Sean Hannity on Fox News. “But if you look at the language he used, saying things like ‘fight,’ saying things like ‘go retake our country,’ if that is now incitement then we better prepare a long line to indict every candidate for office, anyone who’s ever run.”
We should note here that Cruz, in the days before the Jan. 6 riot, was himself egging on election-skeptics to fight against the counting of electoral votes and promising them “we will win.” Cruz also pointed out Trump told the festering mob to be peaceful, which he did, once — as opposed to the 20 times he told the crowd to “fight,” according to the impeachment managers.
CNN asked Sen. Mitt Romney how his family reacted to the video presented by House impeachment managers yesterday. The video showed Officer Eugene Goodman leading Romney away from the mob that had breached the Capitol, potentially saving his life.
“I don’t think my family or my wife understood that I was as close as I might have been to real danger, and they were surprised, and very, very appreciative of officer Goodman and his being there and directing me back to safety,” he said.
Romney reiterated he was headed to his Capitol hideaway after getting a text from staff warning that protestors had breached the building.
“And as I started going down that hall, Officer Goodman said, ‘hey, go back in. You’re safer in the chamber,” he said.
Asked what he thought might have happened to him, Romney said: “I don’t want to speculate but clearly I was walking in the direction of danger and that’s not a good thing.”
Romney, asked if he is leaning towards voting for former President Trump’s conviction, said: “I’m keeping an open mind and will wait until both sides have had a chance to take their cases forward.”
Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado, repeatedly name-dropped one rioter, Jacob Chansley, during her presentation on Thursday.
He has become Internet famous for showing up at the Capitol with a horned bearskin headdress, and is known as the “QAnon shaman” among followers of the conspiracy theory movement.
He’s important to the Democrats’ case because he was one of the most prominent figures during the insurrection, making it to the Senate floor and brazenly posing for photos on the Senate dais where then Vice President Mike Pence stood shortly before the attack.
Democrats have also played videos of Chansley where he explicitly says he is taking his cues from Trump, including after Trump finally told the rioters to “go home” in a social media video several hours after the attack began.
Chansley’s case has also made headlines for his demands to only get organic food in jail. A federal judge ruled in his favor last week, ordering jail officials in the DC area to give him organic food in accordance with his Shamanism religion.
The second Senate impeachment trial of former President Trump is underway, and multiple key players will take the spotlight throughout various moments of the trial.
These are the key people to watch:
House impeachment manager Diana DeGette is presenting the Democrats’ case now against former President Trump on the Senate floor, and she is focusing on statements made by the rioters before the attack on the Capitol.
“In the next few minutes, I want to step back from the horrors of the attack itself and look at Jan. 6 from a totally different perspective, the perspective of the insurrectionists themselves. Their own statements before, during and after the attack make clear the attack was done for Donald Trump at his instructions and to fulfill his wishes. Donald Trump had sent them there,” DeGette told the senators.
DeGette, of Colorado’s 1st district, is considered a veteran Democrat who has served in Congress for more than 20 years. She was the Democratic chief deputy whip for 14 years.
In 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose DeGette to preside over the debate of then President Trump’s first House impeachment trial.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed DeGette as an impeachment manager on Jan. 12. DeGette tweeted, “I look forward to doing my part to remove [Donald Trump] from office immediately.”
DeGette also serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee as chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
She is serving her thirteenth term in office. Before serving in the US House of Representatives, DeGette was an attorney focusing on civil rights before being elected to serve two terms in the Colorado House, including one term as assistant minority leader.
Sen. Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri, told reporters that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell once again laid out a potential timeline, during a GOP lunch, for the impeachment trial.
Asked when the trial would end, Blunt said, “Saturday is looking better all the time.”
On the other side of the aisle, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan and a member of leadership, said she thinks the trial will be done late Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Asked if she sees a need for witnesses, Stabenow said, “I personally don’t.” Although she said she would support whatever House Democrats ultimately want.
Each side has 16 hours spread over two days to make their case. The Democrats will conclude their arguments today and former President Trump’s defense team will take the floor tomorrow.
Trump’s defense team say they expect to finish their arguments in the impeachment trial by Friday night, two sources told CNN.
Once both sides have presented their case, the Senate would vote on witnesses – which will determine what happens next in the trial.
House impeachment managers are presenting their case now on the Senate floor against former President Trump. They have up to 8 hours to wrap their arguments today.
The length of the trial and whether Democrats will call on witnesses is still unknown, but top Democrats are signaling they are skeptical about including witnesses.
“I personally don’t,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat and a member of leadership, told CNN when asked if she sees a need for witnesses. She said she would support whatever House Democrats ultimately want.
Stabenow and other Democrats say they think the trial will be done late Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
The third day of Trump’s impeachment trial has started.
“Almighty God, our shelter from the storms. Give our Senate jurors discernment that will rescue our nation from ruin. Illuminate their minds with your truth as you speak through the whispers of conscience. Remind them that the seeds they plant now will bring a harvest,” Senate Chaplain Barry Black prayed as the session opened.
House impeachment managers will continue to make their case against the former President today. According to senior aides on the team, they plan to zero in on Trump’s lack of remorse following the deadly attack and go further into the role he played.
The managers also intend to examine the harm the attack caused to the people in the Capitol, including beyond just the physical scars, the aides said.
They have up to 16 hours spread over two days – yesterday and today – to convince GOP senators that Trump was responsible for inciting the deadly Capitol riot.
Trump’s defense team will begin their presentation tomorrow.
Asked if the team plans to use up their allotted 16 hours to make their argument, Trump’s lawyer David Schoen told reporters: “I don’t know – hope not.”
Trump’s other attorney’s Michael van der Veen and Bruce Castor declined to answer questions on whether their legal strategy has changed at all after hearing the House managers case on Wednesday.
Schoen, an Orthodox Jew, also told CNN that he still chooses not to wear his yarmulke inside the Senate chamber. “Yeah, I usually try to take it off in a formal procedure, in court and in front of a jury,” he explained as he got into the elevator Thursday morning.
CNN asked Schoen after noticing he wore his yarmulke around the Capitol on trial breaks, but didn’t see him wearing one as he sat and listened to the House managers arguments inside the chamber on Wednesday.
As CNN previously reported, both Schumer’s office and former senate parliamentarian Alan Frumin told CNN they are not aware of any rules against wearing a yarmulke on the Senate floor.
Former President Trump’s defense team expects to finish their arguments in the Senate’s impeachment trial by Friday night, two sources told CNN.
His lawyers will take the Senate floor on Friday after impeachment managers wrap up today, but they are not currently expected to use all of their allotted time. Each side gets 16 hours for presentations.
Attorneys David Schoen, Bruce Castor, Michael van der Veen and William Brennan are all expected to speak during Friday’s arguments, according to a person familiar with the latest plan. Using videos of Democratic lawmakers, they plan to argue that Democrats glorified violence by recreating the Jan. 6 riot, will claim the trial is unconstitutional and stress Trump’s First Amendment rights.
Because the legal team is so disorganized, Trump’s allies are apprehensive about how the defense will go. Trump erupted Tuesday as Castor made a meandering opening argument during which he praised the prosecutors.
Several of Trump’s allies lobbied him to get rid of Castor that day, which Trump briefly considered, according to two people. Trump was upset as he watched multiple people, including his usual allies on Fox News, trash Castor’s performance. But Castor has remained on the team and is expected to present, at least in part, on Friday. He has told people he wasn’t planning on speaking Tuesday, which led to the muddled speech. Castor also admitted on the Senate floor that he swapped speaking roles with David Schoen because Democrats presented such a strong opening argument.
Though Castor was supposed to lead the defense, as CNN reported, that’s now expected to be Schoen, who has said he will not participate in the proceedings during the Sabbath. Trump’s team believes they will likely wrap up their arguments by then.
The second day of former President Trump’s impeachment was dominated by detailed documentation of the events leading up to the Jan. 6 riot.
House impeachment managers presented chilling video – some that had never been seen before – depicting various violent and graphic moments of the insurrection.
In case you missed it, here are some key things we learned:
What happens next: Impeachment managers will continue to make their case against Trump today. The trial resumes at noon. They have up to 16 hours spread over two days to convince GOP senators that Trump was responsible for inciting the deadly Capitol riot.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is holding her weekly news conference.
Her briefing comes less than an hour before arguments begin in the third day of the second impeachment trial against former President Trump.
Today, the House impeachment managers will continue to present their case against the former President.
Questions about impeachment will likely come up at Pelosi’s news conference.
President Biden said Thursday that he watched news coverage of Wednesday’s impeachment trial, predicting that some minds may be changed in the Senate as Republicans weigh whether to vote to convict amid powerful video evidence presented by House impeachment managers.
Biden — who has largely been restrained from weighing in on the ongoing trial this week — initially said that he was focused on doing his job and fulfilling his own campaign promises, including working on jobs and infrastructure. But he then said he watched coverage of the trial.
“I, like other Americans, watched the news. I didn’t watch any of the hearings live because I was going straight through last night until a little after 9. But I watched some this morning,” Biden said.
He continued, “I think the Senate has a very important job to complete. And I think, my guess is some minds may have been changed. But who – I don’t know,” he said as he met with a bipartisan group of senators hours before the third day of proceedings gets underway.
He declined to respond to a question on whether he thought conviction was possible.
House impeachment managers presented disturbing and gripping footage during their arguments Wednesday, showing how rioters violently attacked officers as they breached the Capitol on Jan. 6. The video emphasized just how close they came to reaching lawmakers, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, as they fled the House and Senate.
The House’s presentation included never-before-seen Capitol security camera footage, body camera footage from local Washington, DC, police and police radio dispatches, providing the fullest view to date of how the Capitol was overrun and the grave threat the rioters posed to everyone in the Capitol – including the senators now acting as the jury in former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
The violent footage was intended to drive home the House impeachment managers’ overarching case: that Trump was responsible for inciting the rioters who attacked the Capitol, as they sought to violently stop Congress from certifying Trump’s election loss and assassinate Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“They were coming at the urging of Donald Trump to keep Congress, a separate branch of government, from certifying the results of a presidential election,” said Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, one of the impeachment managers who presented the new footage. “Vice President Pence was threatened with death by the President’s supporters because he rejected President Trump’s demand that he overturn the election,” she added.
Read more about their video presentation here.
The House impeachment managers plan to conclude their case against former President Trump on Thursday by zeroing in on Trump’s lack of remorse following the deadly attack and going further into the role he played, according to senior aides on the impeachment team.
The managers also intend to examine the harm that the attack caused to the people in the Capitol, including beyond just the physical scars, the aides said.
They will discuss the legal issues surrounding the case, according to the aides, in what will likely be a prebuttal to the arguments they expect to hear from Trump’s legal team when the defense presentation begins.
The aides would not get into specifics on the evidence they plan to present today, or whether they will show any additional new video of the Capitol riots.
As the House impeachment managers continued their presentation yesterday evening, they placed the blame for the mob’s pursuit of Vice President Mike Pence squarely on the shoulders of former President Trump.
“You’ll recall Donald Trump had made Vice President Pence a target. He attacked the Vice President at the rallies, in speeches and on Twitter,” said impeachment manager Rep. Joaquin Castro, adding “and during President Trump’s speech that morning of the attack, he ramped it up again.”
Noting that Trump directed his supporters’ ire at his vice president on nearly a dozen occasions, Castro then quoted the former President, reading a snippet from Trump’s Jan. 6 morning rally.
“Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of your country. And if you’re not, I’m going to be disappointed in you,” read Castro, sharing Trump’s words.
Castro went on to explain the impact those words had on the mob.
“By 2:15 p.m., the crowd was chanting in unison, ‘Hang Mike Pence,’ outside the very building he’d been evacuated from with his family,” said Castro.
And as the insurrectionists continued to threaten Pence, Trump failed to temper the situation. Rather, said Castro, he enflamed it.
“He fueled the fire,” said Castro, further laying out the afternoon timeline. “At 2:24 p.m. [Trump] tweeted ‘Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution.’”
Next, the House impeachment manager linked Trump’s social media posts to the unruly mob’s actions.
“The insurgents amplified President Trump’s tweet, attacking the vice president with a bullhorn,” Castro said. “Some of these insurgents were heard saying ‘that they hoped to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him, by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor.’”
Finally, Castro presented a photo, one depicting the US Capitol in the background, with instruments of execution framing the government building.
“They erected a gallows with a noose. This is what Donald Trump incited,” he said. “Please, take a close look at that picture. It harkens back to our nation’s worst history of lynching. A President’s words have the power to move people to action. These were the results.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, lead House impeachment manager, said it was a moment of “special pride” to introduce impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett yesterday to speak on the Senate floor as she is the first delegate to ever serve on a team of impeachment managers. Raskin also noted that Plaskett was his former law student at American University.
“She was an A student then and an A-plus student now,” Raskin said.
Plaskett represents the United States Virgin Islands’ at-large congressional district. During her Senate remarks, she shared a bit of her personal story ahead of detailing the Democrats’ arguments against former President Trump.
“I’ve learned throughout my life that preparation and truth can carry you far. Can allow you to speak truth to power. I’ve learned that as a young black girl growing up in the projects in Brooklyn, housing community on St. Croix, sent to the most unlikeliest of settings and now as an adult woman representing an island territory speaking to the US Senate,” she said.
“And because of truth, I am confident today speaking before you, because truth and facts are overwhelming, that our president, the President of the United States incited a mob to storm the capitol, to attempt to stop the certification of a presidential election,” she continued.
Since Plaskett is considered a delegate because she represents a US territory, she is not able cast votes on the House floor and was unable to vote to impeach Trump. Now she is be able to make the case to convict Trump as an impeachment manager for the second trial.
Before her election to Congress, Plaskett served as assistant district attorney for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office and as senior counsel at the Department of Justice. She was also general counsel for the Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority.
CNN’s Clare Foran, Janie Boschma and Curt Merrill contributed reporting to this post.
The third day of former President Trump’s second impeachment trial begins today, and the House impeachment lawyers will once again be front and center as they continue to present their case.
Here’s a recap of what has happened so far in the trial, and what comes next:
Yesterday: The impeachment managers kicked off their two-day presentation walking through Trump’s months of false statements about election fraud and his refusal to concede, arguing that his speeches were designed to anger and incite his supporters, so they were ready to fight when they marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The managers also aired new Capitol security footage showing how the rioters violently breached the Capitol and the threat they posed to everyone in the building during the riots on Jan. 6 as the managers argued that Trump was responsible for inciting the rioters.
The footage included Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman running through the Capitol hallways to respond to the rioters, running into Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah to tell him to turn around to safety.
Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, one of the nine impeachment managers, walked senators through the security footage, showing where the rioters breached the Capitol and how close they were to Vice President Mike Pence, whom the rioters were targeting.
On Tuesday: House Democrats previewed their case against Trump on the trial’s opening day, playing a dramatic and visceral 13-minute video that interspersed disturbing video of the rioters breaching the Capitol, attacking police officers and invoking Trump’s name with the President’s Jan. 6 speech and tweets.
Trump’s legal team has argued that the managers are ignoring Trump’s comments on Jan. 6 that the protests should be peaceful, while claiming his call for supporters to fight was figurative political speech protected by the First Amendment.
The Senate also voted 56 to 44 on Tuesday that the trial was constitutional, meaning 44 Senate Republicans voted that the trial itself was unconstitutional. While one Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, changed his vote as a result of the strong Democratic arguments on the constitutionality of the trial, other Republicans stayed firmly opposed even as they panned the meandering presentation made by Trump’s legal team on Tuesday.
What comes next: Trump’s lawyers will get the chance to respond to the House arguments Friday, and like the House impeachment lawyers, will be allotted up to 16 hours spread over two days to present their cases.
Senators will then have four hours to ask questions submitted in writing to both sides, and the Senate could debate and vote on whether to subpoena witnesses, though it remains unclear whether any will be sought at trial.
