A man breaks a window while a crowd of supporters of US President Donald Trump storms the US Capitol building in Washington on January 6, 2021.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Prosecutors in the indictment hearing of former President Donald Trump will present new evidence and show that he laid the groundwork for the riots at the Capitol on January 6 and that he also incited it further once the violence began, senior assistants said on Tuesday said.
“The evidence of Trump’s guilt in this case is overwhelming,” House of Representatives officials told reporters, hours before the indictment began in the Senate.
Aides said it is possible that after hearing what they called a devastating case, Republican senators will decide to vote to condemn Trump and withhold him from the presidency again.
“Once they see that this president has indeed incited a violent uprising to seize power, I think it may very well be that reluctant senators change their minds and vote to convict,” assistants said.
But the assistants give no details about the new evidence against Trump.
“Stay tuned,” they said.
In order to convict Trump, at least 17 Republican senators will have to join the Senate’s 48 Democrats and two independents to convict Trump.
That seems unlikely, at least for now, because 45 Republicans have previously voted in favor of arguing an indictment against a former president like Trump under the law.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) arrives to meet fellow indictment executives before walking through the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to the Senate Chamber on Monday, February 8, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Sarah Silbiger | Getty Images
Some of the senators said that did not necessarily mean they would vote to release Trump during the trial.
The assistants of the indictment managers said they were confident in the strength of the case.
“The House will determine during the trial that President Trump deserves conviction and incompetence to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit among the United States,” the assistants said.
They also said that the presentation by the House prosecutors would be like a ‘prosecution of violent crime’, because
Trump is accused of helping incite the violent invasion of the halls of Congress shortly after a rally after which he spoke near the White House, where he encouraged supporters to help him in the ‘fight’ for the blocking confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory as president.
Thousands of Trump supporters rioted on the heels of the protests around and in the Capitol complex, which disrupted a joint session of Congress formally signed off on Biden’s victory.
Five people were killed in the chaos, including a Capitol police officer and a female Trump supporter who were shot by a police officer as she tried to climb through a window near the living room.
The riot sent senators and members of the House of Representatives to flee to safety and hide for hours in safe places.
Aid workers who spoke to reporters on Tuesday morning said it was ‘personal’ for members of the House in the prosecution team because they were among those targeted by the riot.
“They do not take it lightly,” the assistants said.