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Day two of Trump's second impeachment trial is now underway. Here's the C-SPAN link: https://www.c-span.org/video/?508741-1/impeachment-trial
Raskin is starting off again for the House managers. He quotes his father: "Democracy needs a ground to stand on, and that ground is the truth."
Raskin cites Sasse's statement that Trump was "delighted" by the attack on Congress while it happened, as well as news reports echoing it.
Raskin says the managers will present more clips today, suggests that teachers and parents exercise caution when letting kids watch.
Raskin is going in on the Trump team's argument that convicting Trump would violate his free-speech rights. Legal scholars, including many conservatives, have pushed back hard on this.
Raskin, re: Trump watching the attack on TV: "As Justice Scalia once said, 'You can't ride with the cops and root for the robbers.'"
Neguse: "That mob was summoned, assembled, and incited by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump." Says he did it to retain power even though he lost the election.
Neguse lays out three parts to the incitement of insurrection charge. "He had the power to stop it, and he didn't."
The House managers are doing a fairly good job of laying out their case with visuals, breaking it down piece by piece.
Neguse: "He didn't just tell them to fight like hell. He told them where, how, and when."
I didn't watch most of Trump's 1/6 speech live, so I'd missed that the crowd was chanting back "Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!" while he spoke. Chilling.
Neguse plays clips of the rioters saying and chanting that they were there because of Trump's request/orders.
Trump's lawyers have argued that senators should narrowly focus just on January 6 itself, perhaps because everything before then is so damning. https://twitter.com/Tierney_Megan/status/1359559910531432449
Next up are Castro and Swalwell, who will describe Trump's efforts to delegitimize the election results before 1/6.
Castro plays clips of Trump this summer and fall refusing to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses.
Castro: "The most combustible thing you can do in a democracy is convince people that their vote doesn't count."
Clever small trick there by Castro, who used Trump's "STOP THE COUNT!" and "STOP THE STEAL!" tweets as proof of how he could've responded to the riot on 1/6.
Castro recounts how Trump protesters gathered outside election centers across the country, sometimes heavily armed.
Swalwell is now laying out the extent of Trump's lies about election fraud. "This wasn't about legitimate claims. He was trying to trigger and anger his base" to fight for him.
"What President Trump did is the polar opposite of what any of us would do if we lost an election," Swalwell tells the Senate, optimistically.
"fight to the death"
Tagging three senators in this tweet is pretty macabre in hindsight.
The Senate is taking a 15-minute break.
And we're back. Lieu and Dean are up next to present how Trump tried to block/overthrow the election results before 1/6.
Remember when all those federal judges slammed all those Trump lawsuits for two straight months? So do the House managers.
Dean highlights how state/local officials publicly pleaded with Trump before 1/6 to tone down his rhetoric because of threats/violence.
"Someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get killed," one GA official said. Trump didn't stop.
"Someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get killed," one GA official said. Trump didn't stop.
"Trump ran out of non-violent options to retain power," Lieu says.
Plaskett plays the clip of Trump telling the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by," noting that the Proud Boys turned the phrase into merchandise.
Plaskett brings up the pre-election incident where Trump supporters tried to drive a Biden campaign bus off the road in Texas, then plays a tweet of Trump celebrating it.
Had forgotten about this: Trump responded to reports the FBI was investigating the bus incident by declaring "these patriots did nothing wrong."
Plaskett notes that one of the Trump supporters responsible for that was at the Capitol on 1/6.
Hell of a detail: The original permit for the Ellipse rally on 1/6 explicitly ruled out a march, like previous pro-Trump rallies in DC. Plaskett says that changed once the Trump team got involved.
Congratulations to whichever Trump supporters made this meme for TheDonald, which is now part of his second impeachment trial.
Absolutely chilling stuff in Plaskett's presentation right now. For the millionth time, it's a miracle that dozens of lawmakers weren't murdered.
Dean plays a clip of Trump praising Giuliani's speech on 1/6, followed by a clip of Giuliani calling for "trial by combat."
Dean plays the clip of Trump briefly saying the protest should be "peaceful," followed by a clip of crowd members chanting "take the Capitol!" around the same time.
The clip in question: https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359602567186173953
"When you catch someone in a fraud, you're allowed to go by very different rules," Trump says in a 1/6 clip played for the senators.
"This attack never would have happened but for Donald Trump," Dean says.
Another 15 minute recess.
And we're back. Raskin says there is violent, graphic footage coming up as Plaskett and Swalwell dive into the attack on 1/6 itself.
House managers are now playing police radio from 1/6, which hasn't been made public before.
These screenshots don't convey the sheer panic in the officers' voices on the audio.
This is a pretty powerful presentation so far, illustrating exactly who was where and when.
Plaskett shows previously unseen footage of internal security cameras to show that scene from inside. She notes that the second person inside the building is wearing full tactical armor.
Here's the audio from earlier: https://twitter.com/Walldo/status/1359613540773027844
Shortly before the moment that made Goodman famous. Hadn't seen this before. Imagine if the mob had found Romney. https://twitter.com/HayesBrown/status/1359615818183696384
Here's the clip of the Romney moment: https://twitter.com/TPMLiveWire/status/1359616620180762627
Plaskett's presentation makes pretty clear that the mob just barely missed the VP as well. She plays clips of the mob chanting "Bring out Pence!" and "Hang Mike Pence!"
In case it somehow wasn't clear enough, here's a DOJ filing from a case brought against one of the Proud Boys.
I can't help but wonder how this portion of the House managers' case is affecting the senators right now. It's incredibly potent just on my TV at home, that's for sure.
Plaskett says Richard Barnett, who was photographed in Pelosi's office, was carrying a 950,000-volt stun gun at the time.
It could have been so much worse. https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1359622124361687042
Swalwell notes that one of the Oath Keepers received messages during the riot that suggested where members could be hiding, urging him to "turn on gas" and "seal them in."
"You were about 50 steps away" from the mob, Swalwell tells the senators.
Swalwell plays the New Yorker footage showing the rioters declare that Cruz was on their side while rifling through his papers on the Senate floor. Would've liked to see a camera on Cruz during that.
The officers in this audio sound terrified and exhausted.
House managers play body camera footage of officers while the rioters stomp on them and bludgeon them. Really disturbing stuff.
Here's the clip. https://twitter.com/MrDanZak/status/1359629020728610820
The Senate is now in recess for dinner until 6:15. The last 90 minutes of the House managers' presentation was one of the worst things I've ever watched.
The Senate is back. Cicilline is up next to discuss what happened at the White House during the attack. "Donald Trump did not once condemn this attack" on January 6, he says. He only condemned Mike Pence.
I've had to stop livetweeting so I can file, but I appreciate Castro's presentation right now of various GOP figures begging Trump to call off the rioters. Clearly shows that, in the heat of the moment, everyone knew who to blame.
The "we" in this tweet is pretty conclusive as well.
As the Senate is about to wrap up for the day, Mike Lee objects to the comments attributed to him by the House managers and tries to get them stricken from the record.
Lee is inadvertently making the argument that he should be called as a witness here.
Okay, well, after a brief spell, everyone recalled their objections, Raskin withdrew the Lee thing from the record, and everyone went home.
