WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday exploded the indictment against him as an act of ‘political theater’ by Democrats, who accused them of taking the chaos and trauma of the riot last month at the US Capitol for their own party used. .
In a letter filed on the eve of the Senate indictment, lawyers for the former president attacked the case on several grounds, which preceded legal and constitutional arguments they intend to deliver when the trial Tuesday seriously open.
They suggest that Trump merely exercised his First Amendment rights when he disputed the election results, arguing that he explicitly encouraged his supporters to protest peacefully and therefore cannot be held responsible for the actions of the rioters. They suggest that the Senate is not entitled to try Trump now that he has left office, an argument that is even disputed by some conservative lawyers, and they deny that the purpose of the case is to pursue justice.
“Instead, it was merely a selfish attempt by the Democratic leadership in the House to prey on the feelings of horror and confusion that pervaded the Americans across the entire political spectrum when they witnessed the destruction at the Capitol on January 6.” seen a few hundred. people, ”the lawyers wrote in an assignment obtained by The Associated Press.
“Instead of taking action to heal the nation, or at least concentrate on prosecuting the offenders who stormed the Capitol, the speaker of the House and her allies tried to use the chaos of the moment for their own. political gain, “they said. added.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous story follows below.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Donald Trump’s historic second indictment begins this week with a debate and a vote on whether it is even constitutional to prosecute the former president over the deadly siege of the Capitol, now that he is no longer in office .
The details come together in a draft agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, according to a person who granted anonymity to discuss the ongoing talks.
No witnesses are likely to be called during the trial, and the former president turned down a request to testify. The proceedings will break on Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath, at the request of Trump’s defense team.
The trial is set to begin on Sunday.
Trump’s second indictment opens this week with a sense of urgency – by Democrats who want to hold the former president accountable for the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol and Republicans who want to hand it over as quickly as possible.
The plan is to start on Tuesday, just over a month since the deadly riot., the proceedings are expected to deviate from the long, complicated trial that led to Trump being acquitted a year ago on charges of privately putting Ukraine under pressure to oust a Democratic rival, Joe Biden, now the president. dig. This time, Trump’s call on January 6 to “fight like hell” cries and the Capitol storm has seen the world. Although Trump may very well be acquitted again, the trial could be over in half the time.
Under the terms of the trial being negotiated, it first begins with a debate on its constitutionality, an important argument in defense of the former president.
Sen. Rand Rand, R-Ky., Forced a vote on the issue last month, and senators will again be faced with a debate and vote.
Opening arguments would start on Wednesday at 12 noon, with up to 16 hours per side for presentations.
Details of the proceedings is still being negotiated by Senate leaders, and whether or not the witnesses are called is up to the House Administrators
Trump is the first president to be charged twice, and the only one to stand trial after leaving the White House. The Democratic-led House approved a single charge, “incitement to insurrection,” which acted quickly one week after the riot, the most violent attack on Congress in more than 200 years. Five people were killed, including a woman who was shot dead by police in the building and a police officer who died the next day from injuries.
There will be no trial on Friday night or until Saturday, at the request of the defense team due to the Jewish Sabbath. The trial is set to resume on Sunday afternoon, Valentine’s Day.
So far it seems there will be few witnesses as prosecutors and lawyers speak directly to senators who were sworn to render “impartial justice” as judges. Most are also witnesses to the siege, as they fled to safety that day when the rioters broke into the Capitol and temporarily halted the election count, confirming Biden’s victory.
Defense attorneys for Trump declined a request to testify. The former president has been swept up in his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, without commenting on social media since leaving the White House.
Instead, housekeepers who are prosecuting the case are expected to rely on the videos of the siege, along with Trump’s offensive rhetoric that refuses to concede the election, to voice their case. His new defense team said they plan to work against their own memory of videos of democratic politicians.
“We have the unusual circumstances that on the first day of the trial, when the drivers walk on the floor of the Senate, there will already be more than 100 witnesses,” said Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Trump’s first accusation. “Whether you need additional witnesses will be a strategic call.”
Democrats argue that it is not just a matter of gaining conviction, but of holding the former president accountable for his actions, even if he’s out of office. For Republicans, the trial will test their political loyalty to Trump and his lasting grip on the IDP.
Republican senators, including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, were initially repulsed by the graphic images of the siege and denounced the violence and blamed Trump. But over the past few weeks, GOP senators have rallied around Trump, arguing that his comments do not make him responsible for the violence. They question the legitimacy of even prosecuting someone who is no longer in office.
On Sunday, Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker described Trump’s indictment as a “senseless biased exercise for messages.” Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called the proceedings a “zero-chance conviction” and described Trump’s language and words as a “figurative” speech.
Senators were sworn in as jurors late last month, shortly after Biden was inaugurated, but the trial was delayed because Democrats focused on confirming the new president’s initial cabinet election and Republicans tried to distance themselves from the bloody riot as much as possible.
Paul at the time forced a vote to set aside the trial as unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office, and attracted 44 other Republicans to his argument.
A leading Conservative lawyer, Charles Cooper, rejected the view and wrote in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the Constitution allows the Senate to try a former official, a major counterpoint to that of Republican senators seeking acquittal. watched by making constitutional progress. claims.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s ardent defenders, said he believed Trump’s actions were wrong and that he would have a place in history for all of these things, but insisted that is not the job of the Senate to judge.
“It’s not a question of how the trial will end, but a question of when it will end,” Graham said. ‘Republicans are going to consider it an unconstitutional exercise, and the only question is whether they will call witnesses, how long will the trial last? But the result is really not in doubt. ”
But 45 votes in favor of Paul’s measure suggested that the impossibility of reaching a conviction in a Senate where Democrats have 50 seats but a two-thirds vote – or 67 senators – is needed to convict Trump. Only five Republican senators have joined Democrats to reject Paul’s motion: Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Schiff was on NBC’s Meet the Press, Wicker was on ABC’s “This Week”, Paul was on “Fox News Sunday” and Graham was on CBS ‘”Face the Nation”.
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Associated Press authors Eric Tucker and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.