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House impeachment managers opened their first day of oral arguments Wednesday by seeking to lay out a pattern of former President Donald Trump "inciting" supporters, arguing that his consistent provocations led to the "foreseeable" and "predictable" violent riots on Jan. 6.
The managers used dozens of Trump's own tweets and statements to bolster their argument that he can't be dismissed as "an innocent bystander" and, therefore, should face conviction. They constructed a long timeline of Trump seeking to undermine the 2020 election with excerpts from speeches and tweets in December decrying a "stolen election" and others dating back to the summer when he wouldn't commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost.
They sought to piece together moments over the past few months that they believe led to the attack on the Capitol: sowing doubt about the fairness of the election, encouraging supporters to "stop the steal" and "promoting" the Jan. 6 march to the U.S. Capitol to halt the certification of President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory.
Trump's lawyers - and many Republicans - are pushing back that the former president's speech to supporters in the lead-up to the riots was not an incitement of violence. In a written brief before the trial, his attorneys said Trump's words to "fight like hell" shouldn't be taken literally and was used in a "figurative sense that has long been accepted in public discourse when urging people to stand and use their voices to be heard on matters important to them."
But at the second day of Trump's impeachment trial, managers sought to pick apart that argument with the ex-president's own words as well as ones from supporters who ransacked the Capitol and former allies that ran counter to the defense's claims.
"Some of you have said there's no way the president could have known how violent the mob would be. That is false because the violence, it was foreseeable," said Delegate Stacey Plaskett, who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands as a non-voting member and becomes the first delegate to serve as an impeachment manager.
"The violence that occured on Jan. 6 . did not just appear," Plaskett continued. "He had every reason to know they were armed, they were violent, and they would actually fight. And he still gave the marching orders to go to the Capitol to 'fight like hell' and 'stop the steal.'"
The nine House managers summed up their arguments that Trump committed "incitement of insurrection" in three parts: the provocation, the attack and the harm.
They also used the words of former Trump allies and Capitol rioters to back up their claims that the former president was aware of how the events of Jan. 6 would unfold.
Managers played a clip of former White House chief of staff John Kelly's interview with CNN a day after the riots in which he commented that the president "knows who he's talking to" and "knows what he wants them to do."
"The fact that he's been saying the things he's been saying since the election in encouraging people, it's no surprise again at what happened yesterday," Kelly said at the time.
The prosecution also used videos of pro-Trump supporters who say they engaged in the riots at the direction of the former president. One clip shows rioters outside of the Capitol screaming that they were "invited" by Trump, while another rioter after the fact said she got involved because she "thought I was following what we were called to do."
"The president had every reason to know that this would happen because he assembled the mob, summoned the mob and he incited the mob," House manager Joe Neguse of Colorado said. "He knew when he took that podium on that fateful morning that those in attendance had heeded his words and they were waiting for his orders to begin fighting."
"He told them to fight like hell," he said, "And they brought us hell."
The case that managers built on Wednesday comes a day after they made an emotional and personal appeal to senators while arguing in support of the constitutionality of the trial. They played a 13-minute video of dramatic footage from the riots that showed violence against police officers, property damage and the evacuation of lawmakers.
And on Wednesday, the managers presented new evidence that includes previously unreleased and graphic footage from security cameras around the Capitol showing then-Vice President Mike Pence and senators evacuating the chamber, Officer Eugene Goodman fending off the mob and directing GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah to turn around as well as more dramatic clips of rioters breaking into the Capitol.
Once they wrap up on Wednesday evening, managers will finish their final eight hours of arguments on Thursday, followed by two days of arguments from Trump's legal team that'll stretch into the weekend.
Trump attorneys Bruce Castor and David Schoen argued Tuesday that it's unconstitutional for the Senate to try a private citizen. They also contend that Trump's speech and claims about the 2020 election are protected speech under the First Amendment.
But they largely centered their arguments around claims about political calculations made by Democrats, noting the party's years-long efforts to impeach Trump and chalking impeachment up to a partisan process aimed at "retribution" against a political opponent.
A two-thirds majority is needed for conviction. In an evenly split Senate, that means 50 Democrats will need support from 17 Republicans. If they're successful, Democrats will move to a vote to bar Trump from holding future office.
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