WASHINGTON (AP) – The impeachment trial against Donald Trump is more than an attempt to convict the former president for instigating an uprising. It’s an opportunity for public accounting and a reminder of the worst attack on the Capitol in 200 years.
In the month since the Jan. 6 siege by a pro-Trump gang, emboldened by his call to “fight like hell” to overturn the election, defenders of the former president say it’s time to move on .
Trump is long gone, nestled in his Mar-a-Lago club, and Democrat Joe Biden is the new president in the White House. With the trial beginning Tuesday and an overwhelming majority of senators unlikely to convict him on the single charge, the question arises: why bother?
But for many lawmakers who were witnesses, onlookers, and survivors of that bloody day, it’s not over.
One by one, lawmakers have started sharing personal accounts of their experiences from that poignant afternoon. Some were on the run for safety in the Capitol, while others watched in disbelief from adjacent offices. They say they hide behind doors, arm themselves with office supplies and fear for their lives as the rioters roamed the corridors, chased political leaders and destroyed the dome-shaped icon of democracy.
“I never imagined what would come,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., Told in a House floor speech.
Remembrance is a powerful tool and their memories will keep a public record of the attack for the Congressional Record in addition to the impeachment process. Five people died and more than 100 people arrested in a nationwide FBI rally of alleged leaders and participants, a drag net unlike many in recent times. While that is enough for some, assured that the perpetrators will be brought to justice, others say the trial will force Congress and the country to be accountable.
Todd Shaw, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina, said the founders envisioned a check on the presidency and that the lawsuit provides a moment that will delineate whether American democracy is correcting its course, saying that “things are going too far. have gone “- or not, he said.
“We are at a time when many Americans are very aware of that question,” he said.
Defenders of the former president question the legality of the impeachment process, the rationale for punishing an elected official who is no longer in office, and the political ramifications of preventing his re-election.
Even Republican critics of Trump, who watched in horror as he encouraged a crowd outside the White House to come to the Capitol, have cooled their outrage over time and as the reality of Trump’s lasting hold on the party takes shape.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who was one of the leaders of Trump’s indictment to challenge Biden’s election, derided the Senate impeachment case as a “show trial” and a waste of time. “It’s time to move on,” he said.
But Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., A former prosecutor, said a trial can have a lasting effect on informing the public, regardless of the verdict or outcome.
“A public trial serves an essential purpose,” he said. “What has mobilized, encouraged and incited Donald Trump is an expression of domestic terrorism that the public must see and understand.”
Several lawmakers stood before the House Late Thursday and shared their memories: seeing the crowd gather outside the Capitol grounds and hearing the taunts, screams and glass breaking down the hallways.
And then “the feeling,” like Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., Said “to be imprisoned”.
The House and Senate had counted the votes of the electoral college confirming Biden’s election victory when Trump, who had refused to admit, left his supporters for the Capitol.
Phillips said that when he heard the screams in the building, he realized that a pencil was about all he had to defend himself. He was thinking of moving to the Republican side of the Chamber of the House “so we could mingle.” He and others believed the rioters “would spare us if they just mistook us for Republicans.”
Then, he said, he realized something – for his colleagues who aren’t white like him, “mixing wasn’t an option.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., said the thousands of personal stories of the day, some “as valid and important as the other,” should be told at a time when some are trying to minimize what happened. She herself faced opponents who criticized her story as exaggerated.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked lawmakers to consider compiling their experiences in essays.
Pelosi led the Democrats in ousting Trump, the only president to be impeached twice and the first in history to stand trial after his term in office.
“Why bother? Why bother?” Pelosi asked. “Ask our founders why you care. Ask those who wrote the constitution. Ask Abraham Lincoln. “
Pelosi said the House impeachment managers will make their case and “we’ll see if it becomes a senate of bravery or cowardice.”
When you walk into the Capitol it’s a different place. Outside, barbed wire stands above tall fences around an expansive perimeter, even blocking the country’s bookshelves in the Library of Congress.
Inside, troops of the National Guard armed with long guns patrol the marbled halls day and night, some stopping to take photos of the ornate statues and symbols of the country’s history.
While the building buzzes with familiar sights and sounds, brewing coffee in the basement cafeteria is also a new normal. Broken glass will remain on some windows, some of which may want to keep as a reminder. Posters and handwritten notes thanking Capitol Police officers adorn a basement tunnel.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat, DN.Y., said in a speech that the attack on the Capitol was an attack on the voters representing the lawmakers.
“We are their voices here,” he said. “We can’t sweep this under the rug.”
___
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.