WASHINGTON (AP) – Senators stand ready to vote on whether Donald Trump will be held responsible for instigating the horrific attack on the Capitol after a swift trial that exposed the violence and danger to their own lives and the fragility of the national tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Barely a month since the deadly riot, there are closing arguments for the historic impeachment trial as senators arrive for a rare Saturday session, all overseen by armed forces from the National Guard who still guard the iconic building.
The outcome of the swift, raw and emotional proceedings is expected to be a reflection of a nation divided between the former president and the future of his kind of politics in America.
“What’s important about this lawsuit is that it actually targets Donald Trump to some extent, but is more focused on a president we won’t even know in 20 years,” said Senator Angus King, the Maine independent, who are to vote.
The trial of almost a week has delivered a grim and graphic account of the January 6 riot and its consequences for the nation in a way that senators, most of whom fled that day for their own safety, recognize they still have a grip on it.
Acquittal is expected in the equally divided Senate, a verdict that could greatly affect not only Trump’s political future but also that of the senators who have vowed to exercise impartial justice as jurors in casting their vote.
House prosecutors have argued that Trump’s rallying cry to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” for his presidency just as Congress rallied on Jan.6 to confirm that Joe Biden’s election was part of an orchestrated patron. of violent rhetoric and false claims made by the gang. Five people were killed, including a rioter who was shot and a police officer.
Defense lawyers rebutted in a short three hours on Friday that Trump’s words were not intended to incite violence and impeachment is nothing but a “witch hunt” designed to prevent him from re-entering office.
Only by watching the graphic videos – rioters threateningly calling for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the vote – did senators say they were beginning to understand how dangerously close the land was turning into chaos. Hundreds of rioters stormed into the building, took over the Senate, and some led a bloody battle with the police.
While it’s unlikely that the Senate would be able to garner the two-thirds of the votes needed to convict, several senators still seem to be weighing their votes. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell will be widely watched for clues, but he’s not putting pressure on his GOP side of the aisle, telling senators to vote on their conscience.
Many Republicans representing states where the former president is still popular question whether Trump was fully responsible or whether impeachment is the right response. Democrats seem almost united in the direction of belief.
Trump is the only president to have been impeached twice, and the first to be prosecuted after taking office.
In contrast to the impeachment lawsuit against Trump in last year’s Ukraine affair, a complicated allegation of corruption and obstruction of his attempts to get the foreign ally to dig dirt on then-rival Biden, delivered an emotional blow to the unexpected vulnerability of the tradition of the country. of peaceful elections. The charge is singular, inciting insurrection
On Friday, Trump impeachment lawyers accused Democrats of waging a campaign of “hatred” against the former president as they finalized their defense and sent the Senate to a final vote in its historic trial.
The defense team vehemently denied that Trump had instigated the deadly riot and played video clips out of context showing Democrats, some of whom now serve as senators as jurors, and who also told supporters to “ fight ”, to draw a parallel with Trump’s overheated rhetoric.
“This is normally political rhetoric,” said Trump attorney Michael van der Veen. “Numerous politicians have spoken of fighting for our principles.”
But the presentation blurred the difference between general encouragement given by politicians to fight for health care or other causes and Trump’s fight against officially accepted national election results, minimizing Trump’s efforts to undermine those election results. The defeated president told his supporters to keep fighting after each state verified its results, after the electoral college confirmed them, and after nearly every election case brought by Trump and his allies was dismissed in court.
Democratic senators shook their heads at what many called a false equivalence with their own fiery words. “We didn’t ask them to ‘fight like hell’ to overthrow an election,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Democrats say Trump was the “incendiary chief” whose months-long campaign against the election results was rooted in a “big lie” and laid the groundwork for the riot, a violent domestic attack on the Capitol unparalleled in history.
“Get real,” said Chief Prosecutor Jamie Raskin, D-Md., At one point. “We know this is what happened.”
The Senate has been convened as a court for impeachment for former Presidents Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and now twice for Trump, but the unprecedented nature of the case as he is no longer in the White House has Republican senators one of many arguments delivered against conviction.
Republicans argue that the procedure is unconstitutional, even though the Senate voted on the issue at the outset of the process confirming it has jurisdiction.
Six Republican senators who have joined Democrats to vote for the cause are among those who are most watching their vote.
Early signals came on Friday during questions to the lawyers. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked the first question, the two centrists known for their independent streaks. Leaning on a point made by prosecutors, they asked exactly when Trump learned of the Capitol breach and what specific actions did he take to end the riot?
Democrats had argued that Trump did nothing when the crowd revolted.
Another Republican who voted to start the trial, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, asked about Trump’s tweet criticizing Pence, shortly after being told by another senator that the vice president had just been evacuated.
Van der Veen replied that the president had “at no time” been informed of any danger. Cassidy later told reporters it was not a very good answer.