“The story of the president’s actions is captivating and horrific,” Maryland Democrat and Attorney General Jamie Raskin said in an interview. “We think every American should know what happened – that the reason he was charged by the House and that he should be found guilty and incompetent to hold the future federal office is to make sure that such a attack on our democracy and Constitution will never be. happens again. ”
By mr. To make Trump the first U.S. president to be arrested twice, the Democrats essentially gave themselves an unprecedented surrender. When Representative Adam B. Schiff, a Democrat from California, prepared himself for Mr. Trump first prosecuted for a pressure campaign on Ukraine, he read the 605-page report of President Bill Clinton’s indictment in 1999, and sent so much help. than 20 shipments a day while trying to modernize a process that had only taken place twice before.
This time, a new group of nine Democratic executives just need to get a year back to learn the lessons of the prosecution of Mr. Schiff to study: do not contradict Republicans, use many videos and above all business arguments to avoid the jury of legislators in boredom or distraction.
Mr. Trump’s attorneys have indicated they intend to tackle a largely technical defense, arguing that the Senate “does not have” jurisdiction “to judge a former president after he leaves office because the Constitution does not explicitly says that it can not. Although many jurists and a majority of the Senate disagree, Republicans have largely flocked to the argument as a justification for dismissing the case without questioning Mr. Trump to weigh in.
But the attorneys, Bruce L. Castor Jr. and David Schoen, also intends to deny that Mr. Trump has in any way incited the violence or intended to interfere in the formalization of Mr. Prayed by Congress, claiming that its unfounded allegations that the election was “stolen” were protected by the First Amendment. And Mr. Castor told Fox News he would also rely on video, possibly of unrest in U.S. cities led by Democrats.
The executives will try to refute them so much with constitutional arguments as overwhelming evidence. The team of mr. Raskin spent dozens of hours erasing a deep amount of videos captured by the mob, Trump’s own unadorned words and criminal pleas from insurgents who said they had acted on behalf of the former president.
The primary source material can replace live evidence. Trying to call new witnesses is the subject of an extensive debate by the executives, whose evidence record contains several holes that the White House or military officials could conceivably fill. At the last trial, the Democrats made an unsuccessful push for witnesses as a centerpiece of their case, but this time many in the party say they are unnecessary to prove the charge and would Mr. Bid precious time to move his agenda without compromising the outcome.
‘It is not that there should be no witnesses; it’s just the practical reality of where we are with a former president, ‘said Daniel S. Goldman, a former House lawyer, who responded to the first accusation of Mr. Trump worked, he said. “It’s also something we learned from the last trial: it’s a political beast, and these witnesses are not going to move the needle.”
Mr. Raskin and other executives did not want to talk about strategy, but current and former officials familiar with confidential preparations agreed to discuss it anonymously. The prosecutors’ almost complete silence in the run-up to the trial was another departure from Mr. Trump’s first accusation, when the Democrats erected a substantial room for communications war in the Capitol and saturated the cable television airwaves in an all-out fight against Mr. Trump in public opinion court.
They largely passed it on to trusted allies such as Mr. Schiff and Speaker Nancy Pelosi left to discuss their case in public and strike back criticism as to why the House is insisting on his case, even now that Mr. Trump is out of office.
“If we did not follow this up, we might as well remove any punishment from the Constitution from indictment – just take it out,” she said. Pelosi told reporters who questioned why Democrats would spend so much time in Congress with a former president. .
Important questions about the scope and form of the trial remain unanswered. Senators debated over the weekend the exact structure and rules of the process, which will execute a former president for the first time in U.S. history.
Prosecutors and Mr. Trump’s defense attorneys are expected to need at least 12 hours to state their case. Mr. Raskin, a former professor of constitutional law, trained his colleagues in daily meetings to aggressively dismantle their arguments, stick to the story where possible, and integrate them with the visual aids they plan to make on TVs in the Senate. and displayed on the screens. across the country.
Behind the scenes, Democrats rely on many of the same advocates and associates who helped draft the case in 2020, including Susanne Sachsman Grooms of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and Aaron Hiller, Arya Hariharan and Amy Rutkin of the Judiciary Committee. The House also temporarily recalled Barry H. Berke, an experienced New York defense attorney, to serve as chief executive and Joshua Matz, a constitutional expert.
Mr Schiff said his team was trying to produce an ‘HBO mini-series’ with excerpts from testimonies to bring to life the esoteric plot about Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine. Mr. Raskin’s can look more like a movie.
“The more you document all the tragic events before that day and the misconduct of the president on that day and the president’s reaction while people were attacked that day, the harder you make it for any senator to hide behind the false constitutional hiding place. fig leaves, ”said Mr Schiff, who informed the drivers informally.
To put together the presentation, the team of mr. Raskin turned to the same firm from outside that helped Mr. Compile Schiff’s multimedia display. But Mr. Raskin works with much richer material to tell a month-long story of how he and his colleagues believe that Mr. Trump sowed, gathered and provoked a mob to try to overthrow his defeat.
There are cuts and tweets from mr. Trump of last summer, who warned he would only lose if the election were ‘knocked down’ against him; cuts and tweets from him demanding a victory after his loss; and snippets and tweets from government officials coming to the White House while trying to stop the theft. There is sound of a call in which Trump has put Trump’s Secretary of State under pressure to find the necessary votes “to stop Biden’s victory there; as well as presidential tweets and reports by sympathetic lawmakers saying that once the efforts failed, Mr Trump drew his decisive attention at the January 6 meeting of Congress for a final position.
In the middle is footage of Mr. Trump who spoke outside the White House hours before the mob overtook police and stormed the Capitol building. The preliminary instruction of the managers indicates that they intend to produce footage of Mr. Trump, in which he urges his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ and march to the Capitol and confront Congress with videos posted by members of the crowd that can be heard to process his words into reality . time.
“Even during this trial, where senators themselves were witnesses, it is very important to tell the whole story,” Schiff said. ‘It’s not about a single day; it is about an action of a president to use his office to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power. ”
But proximity can also cause complications. Several people familiar with the preparations said the executives are wary of saying anything that could imply Republican lawmakers that reflect or entertain the president’s unfounded allegations of election fraud. The managers believe the chance to make an effective case should make it clear that Mr. Trump is on trial, not his party.