Trump trial: ex-president portrayed as chief instigator of assault on Capitol Hill

After the validation of the procedure, place to the accusation.

Democratic prosecutors in Donald Trump's trial accused the former president on Wednesday of fueling the anger of his supporters for months, until it exploded on Capitol Hill on January 6.

They were careful to describe the incredible violence unleashed by the "chief instigator".

The assault on the seat of Congress, which is worth the billionaire to be tried in the Senate for "incitement to insurrection", according to them did not occur "in a vacuum": "The anger of the crowd has been stoked for months by Donald Trump, ”said Joaquin Castro, one of the elected officials responsible for bringing the accusation.

On the second day of this historic trial, these prosecutors set out to place the attack on the Capitol in the context of the post-election crusade led by Donald Trump to contest the victory of his rival Joe Biden in the presidential election in early November.

Joaquin Castro quotes numerous tweets and videos dating back to six months before the poll to support his claims.

pic.twitter.com/5zSZ1IxoX1

- anne corpet (@annecorpet) February 10, 2021

The former real estate mogul, who is now retiring in Florida, refused to testify before senators.

But his voice has continued to resound in the hemicycle of the upper house of Congress, where the prosecution has projected many extracts from his fiery speeches, reproduced his inflammatory tweets, cited his most controversial words.

"The big lie"

The facts show that "President Trump was not an innocent witness to an accident," as his lawyers suggest, but that he "gave up his role as commander-in-chief to become the instigator. - leader of a dangerous insurgency, ”summarizes Jamie Raskin, who heads this team of prosecutors.

"Donald Trump has perpetrated a huge crime against our Constitution and our people", the latter still pleads, "he must be condemned by the US Senate".

A conviction that would make him ineligible.

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Even if they are unlikely to succeed in convincing two-thirds of senators to find him guilty - a high threshold set by the Constitution - Democratic prosecutors at least intend to make their mark during these hearings broadcast live in all the courts. United States.

"The big lie": this is how they described the long campaign of disinformation on the presidential election maintained by the 45th American president who repeated, without proof, that he had been the victim of massive electoral fraud.

Jamie Raskin, Democratic Chief Prosecutor: Donald Trump is "the chief instigator of a dangerous insurgency" and has committed "the greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in US history" #TrumpImpeachmentTrial pic.twitter.com / 1g41ZSWYKp

- Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) February 10, 2021

After the failure of his legal complaints and his multiple pressures on electoral agents in key states, "President Trump found himself short of non-violent options to stay in power," said elected Ted Location.

He then turned to "groups that he cultivated for months", such as the extreme right-wing group Proud Boys, several members of which were among the attackers of the capitol, adds his colleague Stacey Plaskett, recalling that the President had called them, in October, to "be ready".

"Absurd"

At the opening of the proceedings, prosecutors focused on the fateful day of January 6, broadcasting a shock video to recall the violence of the attack on the Capitol, in which five people died.

Their montage juxtaposed the president's speech to the demonstrators gathered in Washington ("fight like devils") and the images of the demonstrators breaking into Capitol Hill, pacing the halls in search of parliamentarians.

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Impeachment of Donald Trump: the performance of one of his lawyers mocked

To say that the former president could be responsible for the violence of a "small group of criminals" who "absolutely misunderstood" is "simply absurd", had insisted his lawyers in writing Monday.

By stressing that he had "urged them to remain peaceful".

"We checked the 11,000 words of his speech, the president only used the term" peaceful "once, against more than 20 for" to fight "," retorted Wednesday the elected Madeleine Dean.

Tuesday, the debates focused on a point of law: can we try a former president in the context of the impeachment procedure?

This issue was ultimately decided by a simple majority vote: in addition to the 50 Democrats, six Republican senators felt the trial could continue.

If this balance of power is confirmed in the final vote, Donald Trump will be acquitted, as in his first impeachment trial a year ago, because it would take 67 votes to condemn him. But his judicial horizon will remain charged: in addition to the investigations into his cases carried out in New York, a prosecutor in Georgia announced on Wednesday the opening of an investigation into the pressure he exerted on electoral officials in this key state .