Review of the main events of the impeachment trial of Trump 1:35
(CNN) -
Donald Trump's legal team on Monday accused House Democrats of engaging in "political theater" and argued that the upcoming Senate impeachment trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president.
“This was nothing more than a selfish attempt by the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives to take advantage of the feelings of horror and confusion that gripped all Americans across the political spectrum as they watched the destruction on Capitol Hill on January 6 by part of a few hundred people, ”Trump's lawyers wrote in a second pretrial brief filed Monday.
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Rather than act to heal the nation, or at least focus on prosecuting the lawbreakers who stormed the Capitol, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and her allies have tried to cruelly exploit the chaos of the moment for their own political gain, ”the document states.
House prosecutors will have a chance to face this latest round of pretrial arguments from Trump's team.
What have the impeachment prosecutors argued so far?
On Monday, they presented their response to the Trump team's initial pre-trial brief, rebutting claims that both the former president and most Senate Republicans are making that the trial itself is unconstitutional.
The Democrats' legal legal brief was in response to the presentation made last week by the Trump team.
It is a preview of the arguments that will be presented in the Senate when the trial begins on Tuesday.
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They present arguments for impeachment.
This they say 2:11
"The evidence of President Trump's conduct is overwhelming.
You have no valid excuse or defense for your actions.
And their efforts to evade responsibility are totally unsuccessful, "wrote House prosecutors.
“As charged in the impeachment charge, President Trump violated his oath of office and betrayed the American people.
His incitement to insurrection against the United States government - which interrupted the peaceful transfer of power - is the most serious constitutional crime ever committed by a president, "they added.
The five-page brief from the House of Representatives on Monday says Trump can be tried in the Senate for a crime he committed while in office.
"Presidents take a sacred oath binding them from their first day in office to their last," the Democrats wrote.
Trump's lawyers claim his 'fight like hell' was not literal
The 75-page legal brief from Trump's lawyers expands on their initial response to last week's House impeachment.
In that document they argued that the trial is unconstitutional and that Trump did not incite the agitators.
Also, his speech spreading false conspiracies about widespread voter fraud is protected by the First Amendment.
Specifically, the brief filed Monday claims that Trump urged those gathered on January 6 to be peaceful.
And he argues that his call to the crowd to '
fight like hell'
was not to be taken literally.
This is how the second impeachment trial of Trump 2:55 would work
"And if they don't fight like hell, they won't have a country anymore," Trump said at the time.
“Out of the more than 10,000 words spoken, Mr. Trump used the word 'fight' little more than a handful of times and each time in the figurative sense that has long been accepted in public discourse when urging people to stand up and use their voices to be heard on matters important to them;
it was not and could not be construed as incitement to violence, "wrote Trump's lawyers.
Trump lawyers seek to distance him from the agitators
"To characterize this statement by itself as 'incitement to insurrection' is to generally ignore the rest of Mr. Trump's speech that day, including his call on his supporters to 'peacefully' make 'their voices heard'" they added.
Trump's lawyers also sought to distance the former president from those who committed acts of violence on January 6.
In this regard, they alleged that they did so "of their own free will".
Several arrested for attack on Capitol did not vote in 2020 2:57
"The plain truth is that the people who criminally violated the Capitol did so of their own free will and for their own reasons, and are being criminally prosecuted," they wrote.
Impeachment prosecutors say 'all the agitators needed' was 'Trump to strike a match'
Last week, House Democrats filed their own initial pretrial brief, which provided the most detailed arguments yet from prosecutors as to why Trump's actions surrounding the Jan.6 attack on Capitol justify his second impeachment in just over a year, making him the first president in American history to have been indicted twice.
Impeachment prosecutors claimed that Trump's actions in the months leading up to Jan. 6, in which he baselessly claimed that his election was stolen, created the conditions for a violent mob to run "like a cannon loaded down Pennsylvania Avenue »To attack the Capitol.
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“President Trump created a powder keg on January 6.
Hundreds of people were prepared for violence under his leadership.
They were prepared to do whatever it took to keep him in power, ”prosecutors wrote.
"All they needed to hear was that their president needed them to 'fight like hell.'
All they needed was for President Trump to strike a match, "they added.
On Monday, House Democrats rejected Trump's legal team's claim that Trump's false claims that his election was stolen were protected by the First Amendment and could not be proven inaccurate.
"President Trump's repeated claims about a 'rigged' and 'stolen' election were false, no matter how many contortions his attorneys make to avoid saying so," prosecutors wrote.
Impeachment of Donald Trump