Trump impeachment trial: opening arguments recap

Here is a recap of the opening arguments in the Donald Trump impeachment trial. The House impeachment managers, who are U.S. representatives acting as prosecutors, had the floor for two days: yesterday and today.

The managers showed many different video clips and tweets made by Trump in which he made many claims that the election would be rigged or full of fraud or stolen in the months prior to the election. The prosecutors said Trump was pushing out “the big lie.” I will show you some clips and they will be sped up.

The managers showed a series of video clips of the attack on the Capitol, and many of the clips were never seen before because it included the Capitol’s security footage. The video showed former Vice President Pence, members of Congress including Sen. Mitt Romeny and Sen. Schumer and various congressional and Capitol staff aides running to safety just moments before the mob breached the building.

Managers said there was no indication that Trump ever made a call to deploy the National Guard. VP Mike Pence was the one who made the approval for the D.C. National Guard to be deployed.

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Managers said the attack on the Capitol was done by supporters of Trump at the direction of Trump. The managers showed video clips and online chatter among extremists who believed that Trump wanted them to invade the Capitol. They also showed a video clip of Trump telling the people at the Capitol to “go home” and that he “loves them.”

The managers said Trump showed a lack of remorse for the Capitol attack.

Tomorrow — Friday — it will be Trump’s defense team’s turn to present their arguments for Trump’s acquittal.

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https://www.axios.com/impeachment-trial-day-3-trump-role-capitol-5576bb86-1f20-4983-8c89-62b8f29f4ce9.html