Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial: Live Updates

Democrats are now closing their case with a review of their evidence.

“Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,” Jamie Raskin says, quoting Voltaire.

But it seems most Republicans aren’t having it.

And here’s Andy McCarthy challenging the House impeachment team to “explain how Officer Sicknick died” — in light of conflicting media reports showing the cause of death is not clear-cut.

“It has been a bedrock principle of American due process for over half a century that if prosecutors are aware of evidence that would tend to show an allegation they made is false, inaccurate, or at least incapable of being proved, they have an obligation to disclose that fact to the accused.”

NR's John McCormack on the GOP reactions to Day Two of the House impeachment managers:

House impeachment manager Ted Lieu begin Thursday by quoting criticism of the president's actions leading up to January 6 from former allies like former chief of staffs John Kelly and Mick Mulvaney and former national security advisor John Bolton, and pointing to the 16 administration officials who resigned in protest in the aftermath of the attack.

Rebukes of Trump from cabinet members like Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao are stinging, but the senators listening already knew all of this. The retience of Republican senators is either based upon a belief that as bad as Trump's comments were, they don't represent “incitement to insurrection” as the impeachment article states, or it is simple old-fashioned fear of losing their seats in a future primary or general election because they voted to convict the president.

The great irony is that the strongest argument for impeachment yesterday came not from the impeachment managers but from Alabama GOP senator Tommy Tuberville, who told Politico late Wednesday that he spoke to Trump as the mob was closing in on the Senate, and informed the president that Vice President Mike Pence had just been evacuated from the chamber. Trump still tweeted angrily about Pence after that conversation, “Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”

In other words, upon being notified that his vice president was in danger, Trump still egged on the crowd further. That's the sort of revelation that might change a wavering GOP senator's mind, not reminders of cabinet members who grew fed up with Trump.

. . . And there is confirmation from Trump confidant Jason Miller:

CNN is reporting that the Trump defense team — which will argue tomorrow after the House impeachment managers wrap up their 16 hours today — expects to wrap up in less than a day and finish by Friday night.

Many Republicans who opposed the trial's constitutionality have argued that the impeachment is wasting their time. It appears the Trump team is happy to oblige.

Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) told Fox News Thursday that the trial is a ''kangaroo court,” and cited an awkward Wednesday night exchange in which Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) demanded the record be corrected after House impeachment managers cast a phone call he received from President Trump, which was intended for Senator Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.) as another piece of evidence that Trump tried to undermine the election amid the chaos.

While the impeachment managers claimed that Lee told reporters he overheard Trump asking Tuberville to object and delay the certification of the Electoral College, Lee denied that account.

Salt Lake Tribune columnist Bryan Schott, who first broke the news of the call, posted what Lee told him in full on January 6.

“In my reporting, Lee did not say he overheard the former president’s conversation with Sen. Tuberville, although he did tell me the call lasted for several minutes,” Schott notes.

The prosecution’s opening salvo will conclude Thursday in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, as the House impeachment managers continue to make their case that the former president is guilty of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6.

Much of Wednesday was spent reliving the horrific details of that day, which the jurors lived through. Several Republicans were visibly moved by security footage, though it appears few will change their mind after 44 voted Tuesday that the trial was unconstitutional in the first place.

“It made me angry,” Dan Sullivan (R., Alaska) said of the montage. “For me, at least, it brings back a lot of anger.”

“The images are — first of all, they’re real, it’s not manufactured, but they are put together in a way that adds, on purpose, to the drama of it,” Kevin Cramer (R., N.D.) remarked. “I don’t begrudge them that.”

“The result of this trial is preordained,” Ted Cruz (R., Texas) — who apparently now believes the trail is constitutional, even though he voted that it was not — stated. “President Trump will be acquitted. I think the trial is a waste of time and is the result of seething partisan anger on the part of congressional Democrats.”

In today’s “Morning Jolt,” Jim Geraghty raises the question that “perhaps the better option for accountability is for the feds or the District of Columbia to pursue criminal charges against him for inciting a riot.”

House impeachment managers are now going through a play-by-play of the Capitol insurrection, featuring footage from security cameras positioned around the complex.

The footage shows lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah), fleeing from rioters that have entered the Capitol

Representative Ted Lieu (D., Calif.), up next, praises Mike Pence for resisting Trump's attempts to overturn the certification of the Electoral College.

“Vice President Pence stood strong and certified the election,” Lieu said. “Vice President Pence showed us what it means to be an American, what it means to show courage.”