Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial: Live Updates

Update: no witnesses, trial set to resume Saturday morning.

And that's it from the Trump team. Four hours of questioning are next, with a vote expected tomorrow, but a still-fluid timeline.

Bruce Castor, up last for the Trump team, is attacking the House impeachment managers on their charge of “insurrection.”

“The January 6 speech did not cause the riots,” Castor said, after a montage of Black Lives Matter-associated riots is played.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a GOP swing vote on impeachment, says she is impressed with Trump’s defense so far.

Today Donald Trump's lawyers argued that the former president's rhetoric on January 6 was not all that different from the usual “we have to fight” rhetoric that politicians use. And in certain cases, Trump’s rhetoric was standard. A video prepared by the Trump legal team showcased what felt like every time every Democrat in Congress used phrases like “we need to fight” and “we are in a fight” in the past year, including just about every Democratic senator and several of the House Democrats who are serving as impeachment managers.

This is one of the flaws of impeaching Trump for “inciting an insurrection.” It allows lawmakers the wiggle room to question whether what Trump said and did really meets the legal definition of incitement and whether the riot is accurately described as an insurrection. They probably would have been better off for making the president’s slow-footed and half-hearted response to the riot the centerpiece of their argument. Whether or not Trump intended for his supporters to riot — intentions are difficult to prove — it was Trump’s responsibility as president to help restore order. Joaquin Castro spent some time on that point yesterday, pointing out that on the late afternoon of January 6, Acting Secretary Chris Miller mentioned consulting with Vice President Pence, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Senator Schumer and Representative Hoyer about deploying the National Guard. Why was the president not part of those conversations?

Except that Donald Trump isn’t really on trial for standard-issue political rhetoric. He's on trial because his multi-month insistence that he didn't really lose the election set the stage for the events of January 6, and his rally ensured many of his supporters would be nearby and enraged as Congress met that day.

Schoen up next: “you get more due process than this when you fight a parking ticket.”

Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen, who has opened for the defense, calls impeachment “constitutional cancel culture.”

Also suggests the defense will take “three hours or so” before taking questions.

After the Trump team changed its lineup Tuesday ”on account that we thought that the House managers' presentation was well done,” they could be mixing it up today as well.

Background: David Schoen originally requested that the trial proceedings be paused during the Sabbath — after 5 p.m. ET on Friday through Saturday — before reconvening on Sunday afternoon.

But on Monday evening, Schoen withdrew his request, explaining that he would simply not participate during that time, and other members of Trump's legal team (Castor) would continue.

Here is John McCormack's recap of the Senate GOP's reaction to the impeachment managers.

It includes this nugget: “None of the Senate Republicans I spoke to on Thursday evening expressed confidence that Trump would accept the results of a 2024 loss, but enough Senate Republicans still intend to acquit him. They say the Senate can’t convict a president once he has left office.”

Good morning, and welcome back to day four of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.

Here’s where things stand:

• For two days, House impeachment managers have made their case that Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection by urging his January 6 “Stop the Steal” crowd to march to the Capitol — events that precipitated mob violence and chaos.
• Democrats and Republicans were impressed with the prosecution’s performance, which included a detailed montage of the Capitol riot. But it still is very unlikely that Trump is convicted and banned from future office.
• “It was very powerful. It was of course more complete than what I saw, because it had videos from all over,” said Senator Bill Cassidy (R., La.), who broke with the majority of his caucus to vote that the trial is constitutional. “I cannot comment on how it addresses conviction because we have not heard from the other side.”
• The Trump team takes back the stage today, and is expected to use its own video footage. But the lawyers are planning to wrap up in less than half of their allotted 16 hours — aligning with the belief of many GOP lawmakers that the trial is a waste of time and unconstitutional, due to Trump's having left office.
• “This is not a vote on whether what happened that day was horrifying because it most certainly was,” Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) told reporters. “This is not a vote on whether the president bears any responsibility, which I’ve said all along.”