WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s legal team distorted his remarks from the protest that preceded the Capitol storm last month, grabbing in the first place when Trump spoke of peaceful protests in his “fight like hell” tirade of anger and grief.
Trump attorney Michael van der Veen accuses the House of Democratic accusations of showing selectively edited scenes of the violence and Trump’s words on Jan. 6.
WATCH: Trump’s second indictment | Day 4
Yet he ignored the offensive content and thrust of the educational speech, as well as the words of the president’s love for the attackers later, while they were still looking for lawmakers and resigned. He also ignored the fact that all of Trump’s provocations the day and for weeks before had the lie of a stolen election at its core.
Another Trump lawyer, Bruce Castor, denied that the siege was an uprising and said it was an ‘art term’ not earned by the events of that day. Actually, it’s a term of dictionaries and legal texts, and what happened on January 6 was an uprising.
A look at rhetoric from the Senate indictment, where Trump is accused of inciting the Capitol siege before Congress confirmed his defeat of Joe Biden in the presidential election:
Michael van der Veen
‘No thinking person can seriously believe that the President’s speech on the Ellipse on January 6 was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection. … Nothing in the text can ever be considered as the encouragement, condemnation or incitement of illegal activities of any kind. The president’s remark did not promote the uprising against the United States, but those present explicitly encouraged them to exercise their rights peacefully and patriotically. ”
The facts
This characterization does not look like Trump’s speech. For more than an hour, Trump has argued that he and his supporters were “cheated” and “cheated” by a “criminal enterprise” consisting of some of the “illegal” election protesters. ‘weak’ legislators. insurgents were about to confront.
What Trump “explicitly” encourages non-violence, as the lawyer put it, was the president’s only gesture in the speech was this passing remark, lost in the wind of the rage of that day: to the Capitol building to make your voice heard peacefully and patriotically. ”
There were no other estimated appeals to calm, order or respect for the institutions that Trump cited in the speech as a ‘swamp’.
“This was the one time, the only time President Trump used the word ‘peaceful’ or a suggestion of non-violence,” said Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, one of the Democratic indictment executives, during the trial. “Trump has used the word ‘fight’ or ‘fight’ 20 times.”
Her score is correct. In addition, Trump thanked supporters when they chanted: “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! ”
To be sure, not all of Trump’s ‘fighting’ words were about the march to the Capitol. Some have dealt with the political struggle to reverse a fair and certified election he lost, or with his other struggle in Washington.
But he sends his followers to the Capitol with the following words: “If you do not fight like hell, you will no longer have a country.”
This, after his lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the crowd: “Let’s we have a fight.”
That, after Trump summoned his followers to Washington in the first place with the promise: “Be there, will be wild!”
During the rally, Trump aroused his followers with words like these:
- “Let the weak come out. It’s a time for strength. It refers to Republicans in Congress who do not join in its effort to undermine the election.
- “You have to show strength and be strong.” It was specifically for the marchers.
- “If you catch someone cheating, you may follow many other rules.” Despite this remark, Van der Veen argued Friday that the “complete premise” of Trump’s speech was that the democratic process “according to the letter of the law” “must play.”
- ‘You’ll have an illegitimate president. That’s what you’ll have, and we can not let that happen. A reference to Biden’s rise to the presidency if he is not stopped.
- “We are going to the Capitol,” Trump told his followers, “to give them the pride and boldness they need to take back our country. So let’s walk through Pennsylvania Avenue. “Actually, he did not go with them.
For all of this, his attorney on Friday claimed that Trump “devoted almost his entire speech to an extensive discussion” of the voting process.
During the disappointment that followed, Trump made a video telling the attackers that it was time to ‘go home’. Only when the violence was going on did he emphasize the need for ‘law and order’ and ‘peace’. But he added: ‘We love you. You are very special people. ‘Others are’ so bad and evil ‘.
He later followed up with a tweet that expressed no concern about the deadly consequences of the siege. He seems to see justice in what happened.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred victory in the election is so unequivocally and maliciously carried away by great patriots who have been treated badly and unfairly for so long,” he wrote. ‘Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever! ”
Bruce Castor
“It simply came to our notice then. Insurrection is an art concept, defined in the law, and it involves the takeover of a country … a shadow government that takes over the TV stations and has a plan for what you are going to do when you finally get the may take over. ‘
The facts
It was an uprising in the textbook.
As ‘defined in the law’, a ‘rebellion’ is the act or a case of rebellion especially. violent against civil or political authority or against an established government, ”according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law.
Under the U.S. Code, the insurrectionary crime is committed by “Whoever incites, sets foot, assists, or commits, or assists or comforts any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or its laws.”
Apart from the law and legal texts, rebellion by Webster’s New World College Dictionary, used by The Associated Press, is defined as’ a rebellion against established authority; rebellion; uprising. ”
On January 6, assailants physically and violently revolted against the established authorities – the Congress, while performing its constitutional duties, surrounded and protected by US government personnel and police. Much of the siege was intended to stop Congress from confirming Trump’s defeat.
An uprising is generally understood as a short-lived uprising that fails, as this one did. Castor may have combined an uprising with a coup, indicating a more organized and advanced attempt to seize power, perhaps involving a shadow government ready to take over. January 6 it was not.