LIVE: Democratic House manager recalls being ‘so grateful’ to Mike Pence for not caving to Trump’s demands to stop the electoral count

Impeachment manager Joe Neguse recalls feeling ‘so grateful’ that Mike Pence didn’t accede to Trump’s demands to stop the electoral count

Impeachment manager Rep. Joe Neguse recalled feeling “grateful” to thank then Vice President Mike Pence after Congress finished formalizing Biden’s victory following the siege.

“As I walked off the floor, I was so grateful, so grateful for the opportunity to thank the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence, for his actions, for standing before us and asking us to follow our oath and our faith and our duty,” Neguse said.

He was referring to Pence’s refusal to accede to Trump’s demand that he stop Congress from counting the electoral votes, which Pence has no legal authority to do.

Neguse went on to say that the following morning, he called his father and told him “that the proudest moment, by far, of serving in Congress for me was going back onto the floor with each of you to finish the work that we had started.”

He said he was “humbled” to be back in Congress Wednesday, adding, “I’m hopeful that at this trial, we can use our resolve and our resilience to again uphold our democracy by faithfully applying the law, vindicating the Constitution, and holding President Trump accountable for his actions.”

Impeachment manager Joe Neguse: ‘They were following the president’s orders’

Rep. Joe Neguse, another impeachment manager on the case against Trump, laid out a series of court documents and media reports showing many of the insurrectionists’ intent to commit violence and assassinate leading lawmakers, as well as their belief that they were acting on Trump’s orders.

“He made them believe over many weeks that the election was stolen and they were following his command to take back their country,” Neguse said.

Raskin: Trump watched the siege on TV ‘like a reality show’ and ‘reveled in it’

“Incited by President Trump, his mob attacked the Capitol,” Rep. Jamies Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, said. “This assault unfolded live on television before a horrified nation.”

He went on to discuss what witnesses and media reports said about Trump’s reaction as the siege was underway.

“As this was unfolding on television, Donald Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building,” Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse told the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt after the siege. Sasse said he learned of Trump’s reaction from “senior White House officials.”

The officials told Sasse that Trump was apparently “borderline enthusiastic” about the insurrection.

“It took him a while to appreciate the gravity of the situation,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham told the Washington Post on January 8. “The president saw these people as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen.”

Raskin lays out a devastating timeline of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election

“You will see during this trial a man who praised and encouraged and cultivated violence” weeks before the insurrection, lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin said.

He pointed a a Trump tweet sent on December 12 in which he wrote, “WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!”

Raskin pointed out that a week later, on December 19, Trump told his followers to show up to a “big protest” in Washington, DC, on January 6. “Be there, will be wild!” Trump tweeted.

In the days that followed, Raskin said, Trump continued to “aggressively promote” the January 6 rally to his followers, which took place as Congress convened to count the electoral votes in the 2020 election.

The Maryland Democrat also emphasized that in addition to social media posts and news stories, there were also “credible reports” from the FBI and US Capitol Police warning of potential violence at the January 6 rally.

“This mob got organized so openly because, as they would later scream in these halls and as they posted on forums before the attack, they were sent here by the president, they were invited here by the president of the United States of America,” Raskin said.

Raskin: Trump ‘surrendered his role as commander-in-chief and became the inciter-in-chief of a dangerous insurrection’

Lead House manager Rep. Jamie Raskin said in his opening that “the evidence will show you that ex-president Trump was no innocent bystander,” adding, “It will show that Donald Trump surrendered his role as commander-in-chief and became the inciter-in-chief of a dangerous insurrection.”

Raskin also referenced GOP Rep. Liz Cheney’s statement announcing her decision to vote to impeach Trump, in which she said his actions represented “the greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in the history of the United States.”

“The evidence will show you that he saw it coming and was not remotely surprised by the violence,” Raskin said, adding that when the siege was underway, Trump “completely abdicated his duty” to stop the violence.

“To us, it may have seemed like chaos and madness, but there was method in the madness that day,” Raskin said. “This was an organized attack on the counting of the Electoral College votes in joint session of the United States Congress … to prevent Vice President Mike Pence and to prevent us from counting sufficient Electoral College votes to certify Joe Biden’s victory of 306 to 232 in the Electoral College.”

Here’s what happened on day one of Trump’s trial

The order of business on Tuesday was to hold a debate on the constitutionality of having an impeachment trial for Trump in the first place, given that he’s no longer in office.

In a previous motion on the matter, five Republican senators — Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, and Ben Sasse — broke ranks and voted with their Democratic colleagues to declare Trump’s trial constitutional, in a vote of 55 to 45.

Following Tuesday’s debate, another Republican senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, defected and joined his five colleagues in determining that Trump’s trial doesn’t run afoul of the Constitution. The final vote was 56 to 44.

Other key takeaways

• The House managers’ argument: The impeachment managers say there is no “January exception” to impeachment because it would mean presidents could act with immunity during their final days in office. Trump’s actions are impeachable, they said, because he undertook them while in office. Additionally, removal from office is not the only objective of impeachment because being barred from holding office in the future is also a possibility.
• The defense’s argument: Trump’s defense lawyers argued that even holding a trial was unconstitutional because Trump was no longer in office and therefore could not be removed via an impeachment trial. They also argued that Trump was deprived of due process and that the Senate was not the appropriate jurisdiction to “try” Trump.
• Rep. Jamie Raskin teared up recounting being trapped in the Capitol: Raskin, the lead impeachment manager, gave an emotional speech on the Senate floor where he recalled what it was like being in the Capitol during the siege with his daughter and his son-in-law. It was one day after Raskin and his family buried his son, Tommy, who died by suicide on New Year’s Eve.
  • He choked up as he described his “kids hiding under the desk, placing what they thought were their final texts and whispered phone calls to say their goodbyes.” He continued: “They thought they were going to die.”
• Trump’s lawyer was brutally mocked for a long and meandering opening statement: Bruce Castor Jr.’s lengthy, rambling statement raised eyebrows across the internet as lawyers, constitutional experts, and members of the public questioned where he was going. Several Republican senators also slammed Trump’s defense team after the proceedings, calling it “disorganized” and “terrible,” and saying they were “stunned” and “perplexed” by the arguments.

How is this trial different from Trump’s first impeachment trial?

Trump is the only president in US history to have been impeached twice.

The first time, Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection to the Ukraine scandal. This time, he faces a single article of impeachment accusing him of “incitement of insurrection” related to the deadly Capitol siege on January 6.

There’s also a looming question of constitutionality this time around, as several Republicans as well as Trump’s defense team have argued that Trump cannot be tried and removed from office now that he’s no longer president.

The mechanics of this trial are also slightly different.

According to the US Constitution, the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over a president’s impeachment trial. But there’s no playbook on who presides over the trial of a former president.

For Trump’s second impeachment trial, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is the president pro tempore of the Senate — the longest-serving Democrat in the chamber — will preside. Leahy was also in the Capitol the day of the siege, meaning he has the unique role of serving as judge, juror, and witness in this impeachment trial — a point Trump’s lawyer, David Schoen, raised during Tuesday’s debate over constitutionality and due process.