WASHINGTON (AP) – Senators are ready to vote on whether Donald Trump will be held accountable for inciting the heinous attack on the Capitol after a swift trial that exposed the violence and danger to their own lives and the fragility of the country’s tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power.
Barely a month since the deadly riot, closing arguments have been put forward for the historic indictment while senators turn up for a rare Saturday session, all under the supervision of armed National Guard troops still guarding the iconic building.
The outcome of the swift, mournful and emotional proceedings is expected to reflect a nation divided over the former president and the future of his trademark politics in America.
“What’s important about this trial is that it is really aimed at Donald Trump to some extent, but that it is more aimed at some president that we do not even know about in 20 years,” Sen. Angus King, the Maine independent, said vote.
The almost week-long trial delivered a grim and graphic account of the January 6 riot and its aftermath for the country in a way that senators, most of whom fled that day for their own safety, acknowledged were still beginning.
Acquittal is expected in the equally divided Senate, a ruling that could affect not only Trump’s political future, but that of senators who swear an oath to impartial justice as jurors.
Home prosecutors have argued that Trump’s rally to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” for his presidency, just as Congress convened on January 6 to confirm the election of Joe Biden, was part of an orchestrated pattern of violent rhetoric and false allegations that the mob. Five people were killed, including a rioter who was shot and a police officer.
Defense attorneys denied in a short three-hour hearing Friday that Trump’s words were not intended to incite violence and the indictment is nothing more than a ‘witch hunt’ intended to prevent him from returning to office. does not serve.
Only by watching the graphic videos – rioters threatening the House of Commons Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence calling for a vote – have senators begun to understand how dangerous the country is in chaos has. Hundreds of rioters stormed the building, taking over the Senate and some fighting bloody battles with the police hand in hand.
While it is unlikely that the Senate will be able to get the two-thirds vote needed to convict, it appears that several senators are still weighing their vote. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell will be widely watched for clues, but he does not press on his GOP side of the aisle and tells senators to vote their conscience.
Many Republicans representing countries where the former president is still popular doubt whether Trump was fully responsible or that accusation is the appropriate response. Democrats seem to be quite convincing.
Trump is the only president to have been charged twice, and the first to face trial charges after leaving office.
In contrast to last year’s indictment of Trump in the Ukraine case, a complex charge of corruption and obstruction over his attempts to get the foreign ally to dig up then-rival Biden, he has brought an emotional blow to the unexpected vulnerability of the country’s tradition. of peaceful elections. The charge is singular, incitement to rebellion.
Trump’s prosecutors on Friday accused Democrats of waging a “hate” campaign against the former president when they shut down their defense, sending the Senate to a final vote in its historic trial.
The defense team vehemently denied that Trump incited the deadly riot and played video clips out of context showing that Democrats, some of their senators now serving as jurors, are also telling supporters to “fight.” aimed at drawing a parallel with Trump’s overheated rhetoric.
“This is usually political rhetoric,” Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen said. “Countless politicians have spoken of the struggle for our principles.”
But the presentation has minimized the difference between general encouragement politicians make to fight for health care or other causes, and Trump’s fight against officially accepted national election results, and Trump’s efforts to undermine the election results. The defeated president told his supporters to continue after each state checked its results, after the Electoral College confirmed it and that almost every election case was rejected by Trump and his allies in court.
Democratic senators have shaken their heads over what many people call a false equality of their own fiery words. “We did not ask them to ‘fight like hell’ to overthrow an election,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Democrats say Trump was the “instigator in charge” whose month-long campaign against the election results was rooted in a “big lie” and laid the groundwork for the riot, a violent domestic attack on the Capitol that was unmatched in the history.
“Become real,” Chief Prosecutor Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Said at one point. “We know that’s what happened.”
The Senate has convened as a court of indictment for former presidents Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and now twice for Trump, but the unprecedented nature of the case because he is no longer in the White House, Republican senators have one of several arguments against conviction provided.
Republicans maintain that the proceedings are unconstitutional, although the Senate voted on this issue at the beginning of the hearing and confirmed that it is jurisdiction.
Six Republican senators who joined the Democrats to address the issue are one of those most watched for their votes.
Early signals came Friday during questions to lawyers. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asked the first question, the two centralists known for independent stripes. They lean into a point the prosecutors have made and ask exactly when did Trump find out about the Capitol violation and what specific steps did he take to end the riot?
Democrats argued that Trump did nothing when the mob was rioting.
Another Republican who voted to launch the trial, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, asked about Trump’s tweet criticizing Pence, after being told by another senator that the vice president had just been evacuated.
Van der Veen replied that the president had not been notified of any danger at any stage. Cassidy later told reporters it was not a very good answer.