Trial of Donald Trump: he must be condemned to avoid a recurrence, conclude the Democrats
On the third day of Donald Trump's impeachment trial, the Democratic prosecution finished making its arguments Thursday evening. Prosecutors tried to show senators that it was crucial to convict the former US president for "inciting insurgency" to prevent him from reoffending. It is now the turn of the defense lawyers to begin their pleadings on Friday.
After two days of a relentless briefing, peppered with shocking images, Democratic prosecutors on Thursday urged senators to condemn Donald Trump for "inciting insurgency" during the deadly assault on Capitol Hill, saying they were convinced that 'he would do it again if he returned to the White House.
The 45th President of the United States "knew how explosive the situation was," said one of the Democratic prosecutors, Joe Neguse. "He lit the fuse and threw it directly towards this chamber, towards us," he continued in the direction of the 100 senators, judges, jurors, and witnesses of this historic trial.
"We humbly ask you to condemn President Trump for the offense of which he is unmistakably guilty. Because if you don't, if we claim it didn't happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who can say that will not happen again? "
Probable acquittal
Videos of the January 6 violence and selected quotes to support it, the prosecution spent two days reviewing the attack on the seat of Congress. But the former real estate mogul remains very popular on the right, and 17 Republican senators are unlikely to agree to vote with the 50 Democratic senators to form the majority necessary for his conviction. He could be acquitted in the next few days. On Friday, it will be the defense's turn to speak at noon, for a maximum of two days.
The bloody attack was "the pinnacle of the president's actions, not an anomaly," said Jamie Raskin, who heads the team of elected House of Representatives charged with bringing the charge against the Republican billionaire. "Who, in this room, can believe that he will stop inciting violence to achieve his ends, if he is allowed to return to the Oval Office?", He insisted.
Until then, Joe Biden wanted to believe Thursday that the trial could be a game changer. "I think some may have changed their minds," he told reporters. His spokesperson Jen Psaki was quick to clarify that this was not a certainty, but a reflection of his emotions. According to her, the new president was "touched" by the videos, which recalled the incredible violence of the assault, and his comments reflected "how shocked and sad he [was].
"The big lie"
Police officers screaming in pain, terrified elected officials, threatening assailants: mixing snippets of surveillance cameras, sometimes unseen, with videos posted by the rioters, the prosecution reminded senators that they themselves had escaped from little "at worst".
They also placed the assault in the context of the 45th US President's post-election crusade. "The big lie": this is how they described the long campaign of disinformation on the election maintained by the Republican who repeated for weeks, without evidence, that he had been the victim of massive electoral fraud.
Based in Florida, he refused to testify. But his voice has continued to resound in the hemicycle of the upper house of Congress, where his accusers have projected numerous extracts from his speeches, and reproduced his inflammatory tweets.
After the failure of his legal complaints and his multiple pressures on election officials in key states, "President Trump found himself short of non-violent options to stay in power," said elected Ted Location. And on January 6, he called on his supporters to demonstrate in Washington as Congress certified the victory of his rival Biden. “Fight like devils,” he told them.
"Trauma"
When they launched an assault on the Capitol, "they thought they were following the orders of their commander-in-chief," said the elected and prosecutor Diana DeGette, citing the remarks made in court by dozens of people indicted.
Three agents died in the attack or its consequences: one was hit with a fire extinguisher, the other two committed suicide in the following days, argued the Democrats, also insisting on the lasting "trauma" inflicted on all employees attending Congress.
"One of the employees of the cleaning team told me how badly he felt, humiliated, when he had to clean the turds on the walls, the blood of a killed rioter, the broken windows, the thrown objects on the ground… ", recalled the elected David Cicilline.
The statement of facts was hailed Wednesday by Republican Senator John Thune: "a good job". But he did not move several allies of Donald Trump, such as Lindsey Graham, convinced that "the 'not guilty' vote would come out stronger". "They are making a film," criticized ex-president's lawyer David Schoen on Thursday, denouncing "insulting" videos.
