Donald Trump speaks to followers outside the White House, January 6 (Tasos Katopodis/Getty)
In an 80-page brief, House impeachment managers conclude that Donald Trump is “singularly responsible” for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
The nine managers laid out the case against Trump, who encouraged his followers to march on the Capitol and block the Congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden. About 800 swept past Capitol Police into the building, some threatening to kill legislators and Vice President Mike Pence.
Five people died during the assault, including a Capitol Police officer beaten to death with a fire extinguisher.
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The managers describe how Trump whipped up his followers into a “frenzy”, less than two hours before the attack, as he called on them to “fight like hell” over his falsehood of a “stolen election”:
The framers of the Constitution feared a President who would corrupt his office by sparing ‘no efforts or means whatever to get himself re-elected’. 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.
Read the Brief on “Incitement of Insurrection”
The managers set out Trump’s falsehoods and disinformation about a “rigged” election from early summer, when he said that he might not recognize the outcome, to January 6. The case is supported by hours of footage from Parler, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
Noting that his followers yelled “invade the Capitol building” after Trump called on them to “Stop the Steal” and “show strength”, the managers summarize, “He summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
In a grievous betrayal of his Oath of Office, President Trump incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol during the Joint Session, thus impeding Congress’s confirmation of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. as the winner of the presidential election. As it stormed the Capitol, the mob yelled out “President Trump Sent Us,” “Hang Mike Pence,” and “Traitor Traitor Traitor”.
The insurrectionists assaulted police officers with weapons and chemical agents. They seized control of the Senate chamber floor, the Office of the Speaker of the House, and major sections of the Capitol complex. Members and their staffs were trapped and terrorized. Many officials (including the Vice President himself) barely escaped the rioters. The line of succession to the Presidency was endangered. Our seat of government was violated, vandalized, and desecrated.
Trump Attorneys: Claim of Stolen Election Cannot Be Disproved
Attorneys for Trump, appointed last weekend after his five-member defense team quit, insisted that the Senate “lacks jurisdiction” to try a former President — even though, since 1876, the chamber has tried former Cabinet officials and judges who have left office.
House managers explained in their brief:
Presidents do not get a free pass to commit high crimes and misdemeanors near the end of their term. The Framers of our Constitution feared more than anything a President who would abuse power to remain in office against the will of the electorate. Allowing Presidents to subvert elections without consequence would encourage the most dangerous of abuses.
The 14-page filing by Trump’s defense insisted that he had not incited the attack and said he was expressing his First Amendment rights to “express his belief that the election results were suspect” and that he “won it by a landslide”. They said his claim of a stolen election could not be disproved because there is “insufficient evidence”.
Attorneys David Schoen and Bruce Castor maintained that Trump’s “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore” were only “about the need to fight for election security in general”.
