Trump's actions described as 'a betrayal of historic proportions' in trial brief filed by House
Source: Washington Post
House Democrats made their case to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in a sweeping impeachment brief filed with the Senate Tuesday that accused Trump of whipping his supporters into a frenzy and described him as singularly responsible for the mayhem that ensued.
In the brief, the nine House impeachment managers argue that Trump is not protected by the First Amendments freedom of speech provision, which was never intended, they wrote, to allow a president to provoke lawless action if he loses at the polls. If provoking an insurrectionary riot against a Joint Session of Congress after losing an election is not an impeachable offense, it is hard to imagine what would be, the brief states.
Democrats also rejected the claim embraced by many Republicans that it is unconstitutional to convict a president after he has left office an argument that Trumps lawyers are expected to make in his defense. There is no January Exception to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution, the House Democrats wrote. A president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first day in office through his last. Later Tuesday, Trumps legal team is set to file its initial response to the impeachment trial summons. The Senate trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 9.
The House Democrats wrote that Trumps embrace of unfounded accusations that the 2020 election was stolen from him helped foment his supporters attack on the Capitol. When those false assertions failed to overturn the election, the Democrats wrote, Trump summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-impeachment-trial-brief/2021/02/02/8eca2f14-6557-11eb-8c64-9595888caa15_story.html
Full headline: Trumps actions described as a betrayal of historic proportions in trial brief filed by House impeachment managers
samsingh
(17,571 posts)chriscan64
(1,789 posts)The Senate audio/visual crew need to let their families know that they will be working overtime.
bucolic_frolic
(42,678 posts)Linked to convicting Trump they wouldn't agree the sky is blue. Republicans are making impeachment - which is the defense of the Constitution and the Republic - into a total farce. The worship business and money, and Trump to the extent to which he is tied to them totally, ONLY, and in my view will never defend the public good again.