WASHINGTON: Donald Trump risked the lives of all members of Congress when he targeted a group of supporters “like a loaded cannon” at the U.S. Capitol, House Democrats said Tuesday in a statement their most detailed issue remains as to why the former president should be convicted and permanently banned from office. Trump denied the allegations through his lawyers and called the lawsuit illegal.
Democrats’ legal summary linked Trump’s strong efforts to turn the results of the presidential election back to Jan’s deadly riots. 6 at the Capitol, claiming that he bears the “unbelievable” blame for actions that threatened the foundation of American democracy. He argued that he must be found guilty when his trial opens before the Senate next week on a charge of inciting the siege. And they used reminiscence language to provoke the uproar of the day, when “frightened members were locked in the room” and called “lovers” in case they did not survive. ”
“His behavior endangered the lives of all members of Congress, threatened the peaceful movement of power and the line of inheritance, and endangered our national security,” the Democratic managers of the impeachment case wrote. “It’s just the kind of constitutional crime that needs to be disqualified from federal office. ”
Trump’s lawyers responded with their own denial that he stirred up the unrest by arguing over the election results or by urging his supporters to “fight like hell.” Anyway, they said, the lawsuit was now non-legislative that Trump has left the White House.
The dueling films offer the first public view of the arguments each side intends to present at an impeachment lawsuit, Trump’s second. They show how the Democrats look to blame Trump for his role in the riots and also make the case that his behavior was so urgent that he had to de- permanent approval from office. On the other hand there will be challenges to the constitution of the trial and he says Trump’s speech was defended by the First Amendment.
“It is denied that President Trump has ever posed a security threat to the United States and its Government institutions,” defense lawyers wrote in a 14-page summary.
The Constitution specifies that disqualification from office may be a penalty for impeachment.
“This is not a case where elections alone are a sufficient safeguard against future abuse; this is the very election process that President Trump attacked and that must be protected from him and from anyone else who would want to imitate his behavior, ”Democrats wrote.
Democrats have drawn heavily on the words of a famous Republican who has criticized the former president. They include Wyoming representative Liz Cheney, who voted for Trump’s impeachment and said there had never been a “greater betrayal” by president, and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who said Trump was “encouraged”. the protesters.
“The only honorable way at that time for President Trump is to accept the results and accept his election. Instead, he called a mob to Washington, called them into a desert, and targeted them like a cannon loaded down Pennsylvania Avenue, ”the Democrats wrote in their 77-page minute.
However, Republicans have expressed the likelihood of freedom, with many saying they believe Congress should move forward and question the basis of the impeachment test – Trump ‘s second – to -now he has left the post. In a test vote in the Senate last week, 45 Republicans, including McConnell, voted for an attempt to postpone the lawsuit over these constitutional concerns.
Although no president has been tried after leaving the White House, Democrats say there is a precedent, signaling the impeachment of a retired 1876 war secretary in a last-ditch attempt to sue -law avoid impeachment. The Senate kept it anyway.
Democrats wrote that the traitors of the Constitution would not have wanted to leave the country unprotected against “the betrayal of a president in his last days, allowing him to abuse power, breaking oaths, and inciting terrorism against Congress and our constituencies ”just because he is leaving office. Setting that desert now would “shock the Framers,” the message said.
“There is no ‘January Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution,” Democrats wrote. “A president needs a broad response to his conduct in office from his first day in office during his last day.”
Trump was inducted into the House while still in office, they noted, citing the Senate lawsuit. And there is a wilderness for trying old officers.
“Trump is personally responsible for a violent attack on the Capitol,” they wrote. “It was given to him while he was still in office. The case for trying him out after leaving office is stronger than any before. ”
The minutes also followed Trump’s efforts to push democracy back to the summer of 2020, when he initially refused to say he would accept the election results, through the election and the efforts that failed to challenge the findings in court. When these attempts failed, the Democrats wrote, “turning to inappropriate and non-verbal means of staying in power,” in particular by launching a pressure campaign aimed at state election officials, the Department of Justice and Transport.
Democrats have hailed his unsuccessful attempts to overthrow Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Attorney General William Barr. Trump was then “settled” on January 6, management wrote. They note that many of his supporters, including the Proud Boys – who Trump called to “stand back and stand by” at a debate in September – had already been raped for violence. .
“Nonetheless, the crowd that gathered on Jan. 6 surprisingly included many who were armed, angry and dangerous – and ready for a hair-raising stimulus for President Trump to prove. that they would have to “fight” to save America from an imaginary plot. , ”The Democrats wrote.