The process per second accusation a Donald Trump is nearing his end. The Senate this Friday evening closed both the former president’s defense and the senators’ interrogation phase to the parties, leaving the case almost seen for punishment. Trump is accused of instigating insurgency for the attack on the Capitol that a mob of his followers carried out on Jan. 6 to boycott Joe Biden’s confirmation of election victory. The House will resume the session next Saturday at 10 a.m. (Washington time) for the final arguments and a vote on the verdict is expected during the day. Two preliminary votes in this trial indicate that the magnate retains enough support from the Republicans to be acquitted again.
The senators’ questionnaire to the Prosecution and defense attorneys raised the temperature of a trial that has already taken place in an atmosphere of commotion, in a room that was the object of the attack a month ago, where many of the 100 senators who are now jury and have to pronounce the verdict had to hide from the siege of the ultras. The only consensus was reached at the end of the day, when the Senate voted unanimously to award the Congressional Medal, the highest honor, to Agent Eugene Goodman for his heroic end-of-day performance. Goodman, present in the room, received a standing ovation.
Just a few minutes earlier, the focus turned to when Trump learned of the attack and especially the danger posed to then Vice President Mike Pence. Time helps to assess the former president’s possible collusion with the vandals. At 2:24 pm he wrote on Twitter: “Mike Pence has not had the courage to do whatever it takes to protect our country and our constitution.” By then there was already TV footage of the attack and Pence had been evacuated. The National Guard was not mobilized until three, a delay that the Democrats also question.
Three Republican senators who often criticized Trump – Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, and Susan Collins – asked the defense when the president learned of the situation, something that went unanswered. Another Republican, Bill Cassidy, asked the question as if he were a prosecutor, “Does this show that President Trump tolerated intimidation by Vice President Pence?” Lawyer Michael van der Veen denied the premise. Republican Tommy Tuberville also said, in statements to the press on the sidelines of the trial, that he called the president at the time to warn him about Pence’s evacuation.
This Friday night, a House Republican, Jaime Herrera Beutler, added fuel to the fire by confirming that Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy told her Trump had sided with the attackers from January 6. According to Herrera Beutler, McCarthy told him that he also called the president that day asking him to call his followers to stop the attack on the Capitol, but that the tycoon dismissed him saying, “ They are more angry about the election than you. “
Leftist Senator Bernie Sanders, for his part, tried to embarrass the defense by asking if they believed Trump had in fact won the election, as the New York tycoon did not tire of repeating even when the assault on the Capitol took place . . Who asked that? My opinion is irrelevant in this procedure ”, replied Van der Veen.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio provided the ultimate note of the day by hinting at the possible prosecution of Hillary Clinton, one of Donald Trump and his followers’ old obsessions, an essential motto of their 2016 rallies when they sang, “Put her in jail, put her in jail.” Without mentioning his name, Rubio wondered if he could undergo accusation to an out-of-office president with the following question: “ Isn’t it true that with this new precedent, a future House of Representatives under partisan pressure to ‘put her in jail’ could depose a former Secretary of State? ‘
The questions began after a brief but agitated presentation of Trump’s defense, which took just three of the 16 hours he had. The lawyers argued that the Republican’s fiery words on the day of the assault on the Capitol are not a literal call to violence, but are framed in the “usual political rhetoric” protected by the freedom of speech guaranteed by the United States. constitution.
Michael van der Veen, who opened the session, called the trial a “witch hunt with political intent” and gave way to his own battery of videos. These include several statements by Trump in favor of “law and order” and the security forces, in line with the wave of riots and protests against racism last summer, as well as multiple speeches from prominent Democrats, from Elizabeth Warren to Nancy Pelosi, through Alexandria. Ocasio-Cortez, with the phrase “fight.” At one point, they even used a Madonna speech at a demonstration. His aim was to emphasize that these speeches are part of the common political discourse. Biden’s election slogan, Van der Veen recalled, was “a struggle for America’s soul.”
The buts of strategy have to do with both content and context. This judgment is not about the use of language. Trump had been whipping up the election fraud hoax for months, calling on authorities to break the law. First, he asked to stop postal voting, knowing he was the loser. When he also lost the battle in court, he called on congressmen and senators not to confirm Biden’s victory. That same morning, when Congress was supposed to go ahead with this process, he asked Pence to violate his constitutional duty and not declare the Democrat elected president.
Not only the former president is on trial, but also his own party, this time very divided, in contrast to the impeachment trial a year ago, around the figure of Trump. After the attack, more than a dozen positions in the administration and the White House decided to resign in protest. And up to 10 Republican congressmen voted to try him in the House of Representatives, where the first stage of the trial is taking place. Others, such as Senator Mitch McConnell, have divorced him and even condemned his behavior, but have given no directions to vote to condemn him, pushing away the possibility of a guilty verdict that 17 Republican senators would have to vote for .