Trump impeachment trial day 2: Live updates and video

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., previewing House Democrats’ case, informed senators that Trump’s speech on Jan. 6 ahead of the storming of the Capitol was particularly targeted to prompt his advocates to violence.

“Some have said that president Trump’s remarks, his speech on Jan. 6, was just a speech. Well let me ask you this: When in our history has a speech led thousands of people to storm our nation’s Capitol with weapons? To scale the walls, break windows, kill a Capitol police officer?” Neguse asked.

“This was not just a speech. It didn’t just happen. And as you evaluate the facts that we present to you, it will become clear exactly where that mob come from,” Neguse stated.

The Colorado legislator stated that Trump’s speech was packed with significance, which Democrats would show it.

“President Trump’s words, as you will see, on Jan. 6, in that speech, just like the mob’s actions, were carefully chosen. Those words had a very specific meaning to that crowd,” Neguse stated.

— Tucker Higgins

Lead House impeachment supervisor Jamie Raskin, D-Md., started the 2nd day of the trial by reading previous President Donald Trump’s words and actions prior to and throughout the Capitol riot.

Blasting Trump as “the inciter in chief,” Raskin set out his group’s case that Trump actively motivated and straight prompted the Jan. 6 attack.

“They were sent here by the president,” Raskin stated of the rioters. “They were invited here by the President of the United States of America.”

Raskin likewise kept in mind reports at the time explaining Trump as “enthusiastic” and “delighted” as he saw the scene unfold live on tv.

“He watched it on TV like a reality show. He reveled in it, and he did nothing to help us,” Raskin informed the Senate.

Raskin then played parts of a video Trump had actually launched while the riot was continuous, in which the previous president duplicated his incorrect claim that he won the 2020 election “in a landslide.”

“He’s still promoting the big lie that was responsible for inflaming and inciting the mob in the first place,” Raskin stated. — Kevin Breuninger

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the leader of Democrats’ impeachment push, started his opening declaration on Wednesday appearing to deal with criticism of Trump’s defense attorney the day in the past.

“Some people think this trial is a contest of lawyers or, even worse, a competition between political parties,” Raskin, a previous constitutional law teacher, stated. “It’s neither. It’s a moment of truth for America.”

Trump lawyer Bruce Castor had actually dealt with severe criticism, even from some Republicans, for his rambling efficiency on Tuesday.

Castor protected himself previously on Wednesday, stating that Trump didn’t his efficiency which he didn’t expect altering his technique.

Raskin later on handled Castor’s argument that Trump was basically an innocent onlooker, which Raskin stated “unerringly echoes” Trump’s own claims.

— Tucker Higgins

Defense lawyer Bruce Castor Jr. pressed back on reports that previous President Donald Trump, wasn’t pleased with his efficiency in the impeachment trial up until now.

Castor, whose rambling speech in the Senate on Tuesday was instantly panned on social networks and by bipartisan legislators alike, likewise informed press reporters that he had no strategies to alter his technique moving forward.

Asked if Trump revealed any annoyance about his efficiency, Castor stated, “Far from it … only one person’s opinion matters and that is what I am going by.”

“I don’t anticipate any” modifications to the defense group’s strategy, Castor stated.

He included that he has actually talked with Trump considering that his much-criticized Senate look, however declined to explain about their discussion, pointing out attorney-client advantages. — Kevin Breuninger

The leading district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, has actually opened a criminal examination into a call by previous President Donald Trump in which he looked for to press state election authorities to reverse Joe Biden’s win by discovering votes to tip the election in his favor.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent out a letter to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other state authorities asking for that they maintain proof of Trump’s January call, a state authorities with understanding of the matter informed NBC News.

In the letter, Willis states she is examining “the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”

— Spencer Kimball

Democratic House supervisors got bipartisan appreciation for their efficiency on the opening day of the impeachment trial, while Donald Trump’s legal group was not so warmly gotten — not even by the previous president himself, outlets reported.

The House district attorneys, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., remained laser-focused on the concern at hand: whether the Senate had jurisdiction under the Constitution to attempt Trump, although he is no longer in workplace.

They pointed out adequate precedent, provided a close reading of the text of the Constitution itself and even pointed out the views of modern-day scholars who have actually supported Trump’s positions in the past. Their discussion likewise linked on a psychological level: A teary-eyed Raskin stated his experience at the Capitol in the context of handling an individual catastrophe, and he shared a prolonged video montage that put the criminal offenses of the Jan. 6 intrusion on complete display screen.

Trump’s legal representative Bruce Castor Jr., on the other hand, provided a tortuous, tangent-filled speech that hardly ever grappled straight with the arguments advanced by his challengers.

Trump, viewing on tv from his Palm Beach club Mar-a-Lago, was not amazed, The New York Times and other outlets reported.

“There is no argument. I have no idea what he’s doing. I have no idea why he’s saying what he’s saying,” stated Alan Dershowitz, who formerly stated he would want to protect Trump in the trial.

A 2nd lawyer for Trump, David Schoen, provided a more concentrated and strong argument, implicating the Democrats of being inspired by their “hatred” of Trump.

But it wasn’t enough to stop the Senate from voting that the trial was constitutional, and might for that reason continue. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who had actually formerly voted to dismiss the trial on constitutional premises, voted together with the Democrats Tuesday night.

“If anyone disagrees with my vote and would like an explanation, I ask them to listen to the arguments presented by the House Managers and former President Trump’s lawyers,” Cassidy stated in a declaration.

“The House managers had much stronger constitutional arguments. The president’s team did not,” he stated. — Kevin Breuninger

The Democratic supervisors of the impeachment trial of previous President Donald Trump strategy to reveal the Senate on Wednesday formerly hidden security video footage from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, assistants stated.

Aides speaking with press reporters hours prior to Trump’s trial started its very first day of proof stated the video “shows a view of the Capitol that is quite extraordinary and a view of the attack that has never been public before.”

The video is being utilized to support the charge that Trump prompted the intrusion of the Capitol, which left 5 individuals dead, in an unlawful effort to get Congress to revoke the election of Joe Biden as president.

The assistants stated that the brand-new video proof “will provide new insight into both the extreme violence that everyone saw, the risk and the threat that it could have led to further violence and death to many but for the brave actions of the officers and shows really the extent of what Donald Trump unleashed on our Capitol.”

“Yesterday was our dry constitutional argument day,” the assistants stated, describing arguments by House supervisors and Trump’s legal representatives over whether the Senate can attempt a previous president.

“Today, the actual trial begins. We have the goods, we will be presenting the goods,” the assistants stated.

“We will be tying the evidence all together in a compelling case that will make it clear for everyone — Democrats, Republicans, everyone — that Donald Trump committed the most heinous Constitutional crime possible.”

“Expect a compelling presentation from manager after manager,” they stated. — Dan Mangan

The impeachment argument in the Senate ought to detect Wednesday as the Democrats leading the prosecution relocation beyond the heady conflict over jurisdiction and begin sparring over the primary concern of whether the ex-president dedicated impeachable offenses.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., started Tuesday’s argument by keeping in mind that he was a constitutional law teacher — and specified “professor” as one who talks while others sleep. On Wednesday, he is anticipated to remove his teacher hat and pursue the case like a district attorney.

Given the nature of the impeachment trial, Wednesday’s argument will be more vital than what has actually come in the past.

It stays extremely not likely that anything stated from the Senate flooring will convince 16 Republicans to found guilty Trump, who, off Twitter and living in Florida, is still a significant force in the GOP.

Because of that, Wednesday’s arguments, in which Democrats will make the case that Trump prompted the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, are even more crucial than Tuesday’s, as they are anticipated to load a bigger political punch.

But Democrats, basically not able to disqualify Trump from running for workplace once again, might still have the ability to make Republicans pay a political cost for sticking to the ex-president. Or, a minimum of, that is their hope. — Tucker Higgins