House Democrats will begin two days of arguments in Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial today, trying to convince skeptical Republicans that the former president alone was responsible for inciting his mob of supporters who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a violent and deadly riot that interrupted the presidential electoral vote count.
With video evidence that they said would reveal previously unseen details of what occurred during the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol, Democrats aim to present what one aide to the impeachment team described as a “devastating” case of Trump’s complicity in the riot. The new evidence will include video from security cameras in the Capitol, Democrats said.
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The arguments today from the nine Democratic impeachment managers for the House, which impeached Trump last month, will come a day after the Senate voted to move ahead with the trial even though Republicans and Trump’s lawyers argued that it was unconstitutional because Trump had already left office. All Democrats and six Republicans disagreed, concluding that there is legal precedent for the trial and that there should be no exceptions for impeachable behavior in a president’s last months in office.
Arguments are set to begin at 9 a.m. PT.
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