Impeachment trial highlights: Raskin’s case, riot video ahead of Trump’s Friday defense

Prosecutors finished arguing the case against former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial on Thursday, but the trial isn’t over yet. On Friday, Trump’s defense lawyers will make their case. Before they do, here’s where the trial now stands.

After drawing on more unsettling video footage (see it here) of the insurrection, House impeachment trial managers also used audio recordings and tweets from Trump and his supporters to connect Trump’s words and actions with the violence of rioters attempting to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.

The insurrection threatened the national security of the US by showing it was relatively easy to break into and ransack the Capitol and also opened the nation to criticism from both adversaries and allies, prosecutors argued Thursday afternoon. Trump “utterly failed in his duty to preserve, protect and defend,” they said.

“The world watched President Trump tell his big lie … the world watched when he asked his supporters to come here to march to the Capitol,” Rep. Joaquin Castro said on the Senate floor. “The world is now watching to see whether the rule of law will prevail over mob rule.”

Watch now: Trump impeachment trial stream: Day 3 arguments

The House argued the violent insurrection was foreseeable and predictable by the president when he once again fanned the flames during his rally speech on Jan. 6, and that he had continually lauded violence by his supporters leading up to the election and the insurrection.

Earlier in the day, House impeachment trial lead manager Rep. Jamie Raskin argued Trump wouldn’t “stop inciting violence to get his way” if he were ever reelected. Another key point in the case this week was security footage showing former Vice President Mike Pence being escorted with his family to safety after rioters had breached the Capitol and chanted threats against Pence. The Jan. 6 Capitol building assault left five dead.

The trial has been adjourned until Friday, 12 p.m. ET, and will continue through the weekend as Trump’s defense team makes its arguments, with a vote as soon as Saturday — here’s how that could happen.

Keep reading for everything you need to know about the most important moments in the trial so far, Trump lawyers’ defense strategy and the new trial schedule. We’ll continue to update this story as the trial develops. 

Big moments from Donald Trump’s impeachment trial so far

House impeachment managers, who serve as prosecutors in the Senate impeachment trial, wrapped up their case on Thursday against Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Here’s the key evidence the House managers presented:

Previously unseen riot footage showing the attack on the Capitol, including security footage as well as mocked-up models showing where rioters were in relation to senators.

Video and audio clips and social media posts showed Trump repeatedly calling on supporters to storm the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6. Video clips of the siege included chants of threatening violence against Pence and members of Congress, as well as false claims about the election. Trump deliberately used false claims about election fraud, the House managers said, to “trigger an angry base to ‘fight like hell‘” to overturn a legitimate election.

Video and social media postings from supporters attending Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 prior to the Capitol riot aim to prove causation between Trump’s remarks at the rally and the rioters’ actions.

Footage from Trump rallies from 2016 and 2017, urging supporters to attack protesters at the events and praising the assaults, which they said shows a pattern of supporting violence, they said. They also pointed to Trump tweeting his support when his supporters tried to run a Biden-Harris campaign bus off the road in Texas in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

Statements made by Trump following the Jan. 6 attack that showed a lack of remorse and refusal to be held accountable, which the managers claim sends a message to future presidents there is no consequence to inciting an insurrection, if the Senate doesn’t vote in favor of the indictment. The presentation noted at least 16 administration officials resigned in the days following the riot.

The costs to state and federal governments to prepare for — and recover from — the actions of what the House managers repeatedly referred to as “President Trump’s mob.” Managers also looked at the emotional cost on Congressional members, staff and workers resulting from the riot and explored the possible consequences of acquitting Trump.

Trump’s defense is up next: Here’s what it hinges on

On Day 1, Trump’s legal team relied on dispassionate analysis of the Constitution to suggest that the impeachment trial is without merit. The defense is widely expected to counter the prosecution’s emotional and visual arguments with this different approach. 

Trump’s team will reportedly present for just three to four hours on Friday after Republican senators — who are acting as jurors in this case — held a private meeting with Trump’s lawyers Thursday evening. The former president’s lawyers are expected to argue that Trump exercised his First Amendment right to free speech, and that the Capitol Hill rioters acted on their own.

The First Amendment doesn’t prevent you from facing consequences for your words, Raskin said Thursday, especially when you hold the highest leadership position in the nation. “There’s nothing in the First Amendment … that can excuse your betrayal of your oath of office,” Raskin said. “It’s not a free speech question. [It’s] the greatest betrayal of a presidential oath in the history of America.”

Raskin asked Trump’s team to answer five questions during their arguments Friday:

1. Why didn’t Trump tell his supporters to stop the attack as soon as he heard about it?

2. Why did Trump do nothing to stop the attack for at least two hours after it started?

3. Why did Trump do nothing to send help to under-siege Capitol Police for at least two hours?

4. Why didn’t Trump at any point that day condemn the insurrection and insurrectionists?

5. If a president did incite a violent insurrection against the government, would that be a high crime or misdemeanor?

Trump impeachment vote on Saturday?

Trump’s impeachment trial was originally going to pause from Friday at 5 p.m. ET until Sunday afternoon, if the trial hadn’t wrapped up by then. But through a series of events, a vote to acquit or convict may come as soon as Saturday or Sunday, if no delays arise. Here’s more information about the current impeachment trial schedule and where to watch on Day 4.

6th Republican senator joined Democrats in test vote

Following the arguments from the two sides, the Senate voted on whether it is constitutional to try a former president. A total of 56 senators voted in favor and 44 against — meaning six Republican senators voted to continue the trial along with the 48 Democrats and two independents. 

“It was disorganized, random,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, said following the proceedings. “[Trump’s lawyers] talked about many things but didn’t talk about the issue at hand … Is it constitutional to impeach a president who’s left office? And the House managers made a compelling, cogent case, and the president’s team did not.”

To convict Trump, 17 Republican senators would need to vote in favor, along with the 48 Democrats and two independents, to reach the two-thirds supermajority.

A previous motion on Jan. 27 to declare the trial unconstitutional saw just five Republicans vote with Senate Democrats. On Monday, Republican Sens. Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Pat Toomey were this time joined by Cassidy in voting in favor.

What happens if the Senate convicts or acquits Trump

If the former president is convicted in the Senate, there will be an additional vote to bar him from running again (per the US Constitution Article 1, Section 3), which would preclude a possible presidential run in 2024. This vote would require only a simple majority, where Vice President Kamala Harris serving as president of the Senate would cast a tie-breaking vote, if required.

Trump could also be disqualified from the benefits given to former presidents by the Post Presidents Act, including a Secret Service security detail, pension and yearly travel allowance.

According to the US Constitution, impeached presidents also can’t be pardoned.

If acquitted, Trump would have access to all the benefits of a former US president, including the option to run for public office.

More background: Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial: Here’s what could happen

Trump’s impeachment in 2019

Trump was impeached in December 2019 by the House, but the Republican-majority Senate acquitted him at the beginning of 2020.

His first impeachment involved articles accusing Trump of abusing power and obstructing Congress. The issue was Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, including a July 2019 phone call in which he appeared to be using US military aid as a bargaining chip to pressure Ukraine into investigating alleged ties between his political opponent Biden, Biden’s son Hunter and a Ukrainian gas company. The articles also charged Trump with interfering with a House inquiry into the Ukraine matter.