“If you use the word ‘fight’ mostly during the case, it’s clear he’s talking about legislators fighting for our rights, people fighting to plead, and you know that everyone wants to consider the word ‘peaceful’ out there, “Trump’s lawyer David Schoen told reporters on Thursday.
After the Trump team finishes, the Senate can move on to the senators’ written questions to the legal teams as soon as Friday. Senators predict that the trial could end as early as Saturday if they proceed without final witnesses to final arguments, although senior assistants from the House’s indictment team on Friday morning still do not want to say whether they intend to call witnesses.
The assistants said the executives are willing to move on to the question-and-answer session as early as Friday, though that depends on how long Trump’s lawyers take.
In another sign that things are going fast – and that senators can get the chance to be questioned on either side on Friday night – the GOP and Democratic senators have been asked to submit their proposed questions to their respective leaders. The idea among the leaders is to avoid duplication. Some senators are working together on questions.
The expectation is that the question period will not take the four hours allotted.
While leadership coordinates before the Q&A session, senators can also ask questions across the floor without prior leadership approval and can do so immediately.
The team plans to use videos, just as the Democrats did, including showing Democratic leaders using similar language as Trump, according to a source close to the former president’s legal team. These include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who said outside the U.S. Supreme Court last year: ‘I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you’re releasing the whirlwind, and you will not know what you have done if you continue with these horrible decisions, “referring to Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.
Of course, Schumer’s remarks did not lead to violence or attempts to overthrow the outcome of an election. But the Trump team plans to argue that Trump never intended the protesters to take over the Capitol during his rally.
Trump’s lawyers are also expected to focus on his comments during the January 6 speech to support protests ‘peaceful and patriotic’, in addition to having to ‘fight like hell’.
“We discussed their legal strategy and shared our thoughts,” Cruz said after the meeting. “I think the end result of this indictment is crystal clear to everyone. … Every person in the Senate understands that there are no votes to condemn, and neither.”
This story and headline was updated Friday with further developments.