(Bloomberg) -- House Democrats argued former President Donald Trump inflamed his base long before a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and committed an egregious violation of his oath of office.
"The evidence will show you that ex-President Trump was no innocent bystander," Representative Jamie Raskin, the lead House manager, said as he made opening arguments in the second full day of Trump's impeachment trial Wednesday. "The evidence will show that he clearly incited the Jan. 6 insurrection. It will show that Donald Trump surrendered his role as commander-in-chief and became the 'inciter-in-chief' of a dangerous insurrection."
The House managers serving as impeachment prosecutors already used some graphic video footage from last month's deadly rampage at the Capitol to start the trial Tuesday on a dramatic note. Raskin warned senators and the public that the prosecution will again show disturbing video of attacks on police officers at the Capitol.
Although six Republicans voted with all Democrats and independents on Tuesday to proceed with the trial, dismissing the defense argument that it is unconstitutional, the House team remains far from winning enough GOP votes to reach the two-thirds majority necessary to convict the former president.
Democrats will be showing previously unreleased video footage from Capitol security cameras, according to senior aides on the impeachment managers' team. Trump's lawyers have said the former president didn't incite the riot on Jan. 6 and that Democrats are using selectively edited footage while ignoring that he also told his supporters that day to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."
Raskin said that even hours after the attack, Trump continued to spread the lie that he had won the election and commiserated with the rioters, and violated his oath to protect and defend the Constitution and the country.
"He told them to fight like hell and they brought us hell that day," he said.
Democratic aides said House managers believe they made much stronger arguments in Tuesday's debate about whether trying a former president is constitutional than Trump's defense lawyers, one of whom presented a meandering speech that was widely panned by GOP senators and displeased Trump. But only six Republicans voted with Democrats to continue the trial, and a conviction would require 17 GOP votes.
Prosecution Strategy
House managers plan to use Wednesday and Thursday to lay out a story of how Trump's efforts to overturn election culminated in the mob attack, with each chapter presented by one of the team's nine members, the aides said. They said the House managers plan to finish presenting their case on Thursday, not using all 16 hours allotted for them. Trump's defense team would then have 16 hours to argue their case.
Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, said that the House managers' focus on the weeks and months leading up to the election will be part of an effort to show "intent" on the part of Trump.
The prosecution team previewed their strategy Tuesday as the Senate considered constitutional questions about the trial with a 13-minute video montage juxtaposing Trump's fiery speech to the crowd before the attack with scenes of his supporters overwhelming barriers, smashing windows, fighting police, even trapping one officer in a door while he cried out in pain.
Republican senators gave the House team high marks for its presentation Tuesday even though many argue that the former president can't be impeached because he is out of office. Some GOP lawmakers also faulted the rambling arguments of one of his defense lawyers, saying that he often didn't address the constitutional issues being debated.
Video: House Prosecutors' Montage From Events of Jan. 6
Still, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy was the only Republican who voted last week to declare the trial unconstitutional who changed his vote on Tuesday.
"Anyone who listened to those arguments would recognize that the House managers were focused," Cassidy said. "Anyone who listened to President Trump's legal team saw they were unfocused, they attempted to avoid the issue, and they talked about everything but the issue at hand."
Trump, who remained in his private quarters at his Mar-a-Lago resort during the televised proceedings, didn't think one of his lawyers, Bruce Castor, performed well, but still believes that the trial will end with his acquittal, according to people familiar with the matter.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is signaling to fellow Republicans that the final vote is a matter of conscience and that senators who disputed the constitutionality of the trial could still vote to convict the former president, according to two people familiar with his thinking. McConnell on Tuesday voted to dismiss the impeachment articles on constitutional grounds.
McConnell made no comment when asked by a reporter on Wednesday whether he's open to conviction as he headed to the Senate floor
McConnell's approach contrasts to his stance before Trump's first impeachment trial a little more than a year ago when he said he was "not impartial" and predicted Trump's eventual acquittal.
Emotional Appeal
It's still unlikely that the Senate will vote to convict Trump, and the House impeachment managers are making an emotional appeal designed to resonate with the American public as well as making arguments on the facts of the case.
Raskin spoke on Tuesday of law enforcement officers at the Capitol who suffered brain damage, had their eyes gouged and one who lost three fingers in the attack, along with two who died by suicide in the days following.
"This cannot be our future," the Maryland Democrat said. "This cannot be the future of America. We cannot have presidents, inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people."
Trump's lawyers argued that the impeachment was a politically motivated attempt to remove him as a challenger to Democratic power rather than a remedy for wrongdoing.
"We are really here because the majority of the House of Representatives do not want to face Donald Trump as a political rival," Castor told the Senate.
Castor said Trump's incendiary rhetoric was protected by the First Amendment and that going forward would start a cycle of retaliation and serial impeachments by both parties.
© BloombergPresident Trump Speaks At Save America Rally
Donald Trump speaks during a "Save America Rally" near the White House on Jan. 6.
Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg
The impeachment managers on Wednesday will also try to prove that Trump knew and was fully aware of the potential harm of what he was doing, yet kept pursuing it anyhow -- and that when he saw images of the insurrection on television, rather than stop it, he encouraged it.
Some of the evidence will include the voices of people who were at the Capitol, among them people who say they committed acts of violence on Trump's behalf, the aides said.
© BloombergProtests As Joint Session Of Congress Confirms Presidential Election Result
Trump supporters breach the U.S. Capitol building during the protest on Jan. 6.
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
The managers haven't yet decided whether they will ask the Senate to call witnesses to testify in person, according to the aides. Trump rejected a request by Raskin that he testify at the trial though the Senate could subpoena him.
Senate Republicans and the Biden White House are both pressing to keep the trial short. It could wrap up as soon as Saturday. Republicans are anxious to avoid a prolonged focus on Trump's role in the assault against the Capitol and President Joe Biden's team is determined to secure quick passage of a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package it considers essential to halt an economic slide.
(Updates with details from start of House managers' case from first paragraph.)
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