Democratic prosecutors making the case that Donald Trump incited a deadly insurrection by encouraging his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol warned the Senate on Thursday that if it fails to convict the former president, “he can do this again,” Reuters informed.
The first three days of Trump’s impeachment trial focused on his fiery words to supporters in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, when he falsely claimed that his election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden was the result of fraud and that the crowd needed to “fight” and “stop the steal.”
The Democrats appear highly unlikely to secure a conviction and bar Trump from ever again holding public office given that only six Republicans voted with Democrats in the 100-seat chamber to proceed with the trial.
“If he gets back into office and it happens again, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves,” lead impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin told the Senate on Thursday, wrapping up the prosecution arguments.
Fellow Democratic Representative Ted Lieu told the senators he worries about what would happen if Trump runs in 2024 and loses.
“I’m not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I’m afraid he’s going to run again and lose, because he can do this again,” Lieu said.
The Democratic prosecutors provided example after example of Trump’s actions prior to the rampage to illustrate what he intended when he told supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” as Congress convened to certify Biden’s election victory.
“Jan. 6 was not some unexpected radical break from his normal law-abiding and peaceful disposition. … This was his essential M.O.,” Raskin said, using shorthand for modus operandi.
“He knew that egged on by his tweets, his lies and his promise of a ‘wild’ time in Washington to guarantee his grip on power, his most extreme followers would show up bright and early, ready to attack, ready to engage in violence, ready to ‘fight like hell’ for their hero,” he said.
The Democratic-led House on Jan. 13 charged Trump with inciting an insurrection. His term ended on Jan. 20.
A two-thirds majority in the Senate would be needed to convict, which means at least 17 Republican senators would have to defy Trump, who remains popular with most Republican voters and has shown interest in running for president again in 2024.
Dozens of former Republican officials who said they are frustrated with their party’s unwillingness to stand up to Trump are in talks to form a center-right breakaway party, four people involved in the discussions told Reuters.
Be the first to comment