Trump impeachment trial: Rep. Joe Neguse says Trump “summoned, assembled and incited” mob
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado laid out prosecutors’ evidentiary roadmap for the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, using the words of Trump and his supporters to argue the former president spent months leading up to Jan. 6 stoking conspiracy theories and consternation.
“Senators, this clearly was not just one speech. It didn’t just happen,” the Lafayette Democrat said of Trump’s Jan. 6 remarks at a rally that preceded a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. “It was part of a carefully planned, months-long effort with a very specific instruction: Show up on January 6th and get your people to fight the certification. He incited it. It was foreseeable.”
The congressman spoke on the second day of Trump’s second impeachment trial, and was the second impeachment manager to present his case Wednesday. The nine House Democrats serving as impeachment managers are arguing that Trump must be convicted of inciting an insurrection oand prohibited from holding office again. No president has been convicted by the U.S. Senate.
On Tuesday, Neguse made the case that a trial of Trump is constitutional, despite the fact that he is no longer in office, and the Senate voted 56-44 to proceed.
Neguse and the other managers, including Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, have 16 hours to make their case Wednesday and Thursday. Trump’s lawyers will then have the same amount of time to defend their client Friday and Saturday.
“Before President Trump took office, Democrats were calling for his impeachment,” Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, tweeted this week. “It is not shocking that they are still trying even after he has left the White House. The only unity I see from Dems is their contempt for the President who was duly elected 4 years ago by the people.”
Neguse spoke for nearly 30 minutes Wednesday, explaining the prosecutors’ case in broad terms. Other impeachment managers followed with a chronological explanation of how, in their minds, Trump’s lies about election fraud and his promotion of the Jan. 6 rally incited the Capitol riot that left five people dead.
“As you’ll see during the course of this trial, that mob was summoned, assembled and incited by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump,” Neguse alleged. “And he did that because he wanted to stop the transfer of power, so that he could retain power.”
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