Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment defense team delivered a speedy rebuttal to two days of arguments from Democratic House impeachment managers on the “incitement of insurrection” charge.
Trump’s defense, signaling confidence that far fewer than 17 Republicans will join with Democrats to meet the two-thirds requirement for conviction, used only a few of the 16 hours it was allowed to present its arguments.
Here are highlights from Day Four of Trump’s impeachment trial.
Video montage-a-rama
Much of Trump’s impeachment defense revolved around playing multiple super-clipped video montages. One video spliced together clips of Democratic politicians saying that they need to “fight” for various political causes, a rebuttal to impeachment manager focus on Trump telling supporters that they needed to “fight like hell” to “stop the steal.”
Other supercuts included statements from Democrats telling supporters that they need to make members of Congress uncomfortable in the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests and footage of Democrats objecting to Electoral College results in previous years and criticizing the partisan impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. Some videos included dramatic theme music added by the Trump defense team.
“This is not whataboutism,” asserted Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen. “I am showing you this to make the point that all political speech must be protected.”
The defense also accused impeachment managers of “doctoring” the videos that they presented, a charge that managers denied, and poked holes in what the defense called poorly researched arguments from the impeachment managers. The defense again argued that the Senate does not have jurisdiction to convict Trump since he is no longer in office.
“The reality is Mr. Trump was not in any way, shape, or form instructing these people to fight using physical violence,” van der Veen said. “What he was instructing them to do was challenge their opponents in primary elections, to push for sweeping election reforms, to hold big tech responsible — all customary and legal ways to petition your government for redress of grievances.”
Q&A grandstanding
As senators started a question-and-answer session with the impeachment managers and Trump defense, a huge portion of the questions were friendly, either for the defense or the managers. Republican North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer asked Trump’s defense team: “Given the allegations of the House manager that Trump has tolerated anti-Semitic rhetoric, has there been a more pro-Israel president than President Trump?”
Unanswered question: What did Trump know, and when did he know it?
One sticking point in the questioning is what Trump knew about the Capitol breach on Jan. 6 when he sent a 2:24 p.m. tweet that former Vice President Mike Pence lacked “the courage” to halt the certification of Electoral College results codifying President Biden’s win. Pence had been evacuated from the Senate floor at 2:14 p.m.
Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville told reporters this week that he briefly spoke to Trump on the phone around that time and told Trump that Pence had just been evacuated from the Senate floor, suggesting to some senators, like Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, that Trump must have known about the severity of the breach and did not immediately act to counter it.
Trump lawyer van der Veen said that “at no point” did Trump know that Pence was in any danger, and he said that the Tuberville call with Trump is “hearsay” evidence.
Republicans give Trump team gold stars
“The president’s lawyers blew the House manager case out of the water. They legally eviscerated them,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, a staunch ally of Trump.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, thought to be one of the six likeliest Republicans to vote to convict Trump, told reporters that Trump’s lawyers put up a “good defense” and were “more on their game today” than they were earlier in the week, on Tuesday.
Flag on the play
At one point, Trump lawyer Bruce Castor, who was criticized by Republicans for delivering a long, meandering speech on Tuesday, mistakenly referred to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as Ben Roethlisberger, who is the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Some of the same video clips from the defense were played multiple times, prompting complaints from Democrats that the presentation was repetitive and irrelevant to the crux of the issue.
