WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s legal team thoroughly distorted its comments from last month’s rally preceding the Capitol storming, addressing one case when Trump spoke of peaceful protest in his ‘fight as hell’ tirade of anger and grievances.
Trump attorney Michael van der Veen accused House Democratic impeachment managers of showing selectively edited scenes of the violence and words of Trump on January 6.
Still, he ignored the incendiary content and tenor of that staging speech, as well as the president’s words of affection for the attackers later, while they were still hunting lawmakers and pillaging their office. He also ignored the fact that all of Trump’s provocations that day and weeks before centered on the lie of stolen elections.
Another Trump attorney, Bruce Castor, denied that the siege was an uprising, saying this is a “ term of art ” not deserving of being put forward by the day’s events. It’s basically a term of dictionaries and legal texts, and what happened on January 6 was an uprising.
A look at the rhetoric of the Senate impeachment process, accusing Trump of instigating the siege of the Capitol before Congress confirmed his defeat of Joe Biden in the presidential election:
VAN DER VEEN: “No thinking person could seriously believe that the president’s speech on January 6 about the Ellipse was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection. … Nothing in the text can ever be construed as encouraging, condoning or tempting illegal activities of any kind. Far from fostering rebellion against the United States, the president’s remark explicitly encouraged those in attendance to exercise their rights peacefully and patrioticly. “
THE FACTS: This characterization is nothing like Trump’s speech. Trump has defended the case for more than an hour that he and his supporters had been “cheated” and “cheated” in the demonstration in the “falsified” election by a “criminal enterprise” made up of some of the “weak” lawmakers the insurgents were about to face.
As for Trump “explicitly” encouraging nonviolence, as the lawyer put it, the president’s only gesture in the speech was this casual remark, lost in the wind of the fury of the day: “I know everyone will be marching here soon to the Capitol to speak peacefully and patriotically. ”
There were no other approximate calls for calm, order, or respect for the institutions Trump attacked as a “ swamp ” in the speech.
“That was the only time, the only time President Trump used the word ‘peaceful’ or any suggestion of nonviolence,” said Pennsylvania Representative Madeleine Dean, one of the Democratic impeachment managers, at the trial. “President Trump has used the word ‘fight’ or ‘fight’ 20 times.”
Her count is correct. In addition, Trump thanked supporters when they sang, “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! “
Of course, not all of Trump’s “ fighting ” words about the march to the Capitol. Some were about the political battle to overturn a fair and certified election he lost, or about his other battle in Washington.
But he sent his followers to the Capitol, saying, “If you don’t fight hard, you have no land.”
This, after his attorney Rudy Giuliani told the crowd, “Let’s face a fight.”
This, after Trump called his followers to Washington in the first place with the promise, “Be there, get wild!”
At the meeting, Trump awoke his followers with words like these:
– “Let the weak out. This is a time for strength. “This referred to Republicans in Congress who disagreed with his attempt to undermine the election.
– “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” That was specific to the protesters.
– “If you catch someone committing fraud, you can follow completely different rules.” Despite this remark, Van der Veen argued on Friday that the “whole premise” of Trump’s demonstration was that the democratic process “should proceed according to the letter of the law.”
– “You’re getting an illegitimate president. That’s what you get, and we can’t let that happen. A reference to Biden’s rise to the presidency when he was not stopped.
– “We’re going to the Capitol,” Trump told his followers, to try to give them the kind of pride and courage they need to take our country back. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. “He didn’t actually go with them.
Despite all that, his lawyer claimed Friday that Trump had “devoted almost his entire speech to an extensive discussion” about the voting process.
During the fight that followed, Trump made a video telling the attackers it was time to “go home.” Only when the violence was on did he emphasize the need for “law and order” and “peace”. But he added, “We love you. You are very special people. “Others are” so bad and bad “.
He later followed up with a tweet not concerned about the deadly consequences of the siege. He seemed to see justice in what had happened.
“These are the things and events that happen when a holy landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously disposed of great patriots who have been treated so badly and unfairly for so long,” he wrote. Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever! “
CASTOR: Clearly there was no uprising. Insurrection is a term of art, defined in law, involves taking over a country … a shadow government that takes over the TV stations and has a plan of what to do when you finally take power. “
THE FACTS: It was a textbook rebellion.
As “defined in law,” a rebellion is “the act or example of rebelling, in particular. violent against civil or political authority or against an established government, ”says Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law.
Under the United States Code, the crime of insurrection is committed by “Anyone who instigates, sets foot, assists, or engages in, or provides assistance or comfort in an insurrection or rebellion against the authority of the United States or its laws. “
Beyond the law and legal texts, rebellion is defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary, used by The Associated Press, as “a rebellion against established authority; rebellion; rebellion. “
On January 6, attackers physically and violently revolted against the established authorities – Congress, while carrying out its constitutional duties, surrounded and protected by US government personnel and police. Many in the siege planned to stop Congress from confirming Trump’s defeat.
A rebellion is usually understood to be a momentary rebellion that fails, as it did. Castor may have mistaken an uprising for a coup d’état, indicating a more organized and sophisticated attempt to seize power, perhaps with a shadow government ready to take over. January 6 was not.
EDITOR’S NOTE – A look at the veracity of claims made by political figures.
Find AP fact checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck
Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck