READ: House Impeachment Managers Say Trump ‘Fired a Cannon’ at the Capitol in Brief to Senate
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Nine House Democrats, managers in the impeachment of President Donald Trump, made their case that that the Senate should convict for high crimes and misdemeanors in a lengthy brief detailing his attacks on the election and the subsequent riot at the Capitol by his supporters.
“[He] summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the Democrats argued in a brief filed with the Senate Tuesday. “President Trump’s incitement of insurrection requires his conviction and disqualification from future federal officeholding.”
The brief, which accuses Trump of being directly responsible for the ransacking of the Capitol Building that left five people dead, bases the case first on Trump’s repeated attempts to undo the election he lost to now-President Joe Biden. It notes Vice President Mike Pence’s refusal to block the election results, and Trump’s attacks on him for doing so.
It notes Trump’s call for his supporters to come to Washington D.C. the day of the Electoral College certification and “fight”.
“The Nation will indeed remember January 6, 2021—and President Trump’s singular responsibility for that tragedy,” the brief argues. “It is impossible to imagine the events of January 6 occurring without President Trump creating a powder keg, striking a match, and then seeking personal advantage from the ensuing havoc.”
The brief also accuses Trump of dereliction of duty during the attack, based on reports that he was delighted by the spectacle, and public comments he made, like continuing to attack Pence on Twitter shortly after his vice president was evacuated by police.
“As will be shown at trial, President Trump endangered our Republic and inflicted deep and lasting wounds on our Nation,” the Democrats write. “His conduct resulted in more than five deaths and many more injuries. The Capitol was defiled. The line of succession was imperiled. America’s global reputation was damaged. For the first time in history, the transfer of presidential power was interrupted. And the threat of violence remains with us: as President Biden was inaugurated and even now, the Capitol more closely resembles an armed camp than the seat of American democracy.”
