Impeachment Managers Call Trump Riot Incitement ‘Most Grievous Constitutional Crime Ever Committed by a President’

House impeachment managers released a memo on Monday rebutting the Trump legal team’s claim that an impeachment trial would be unconstitutional.

The House voted to impeach former President Trump on January 13 for “incitement of insurrection,” accusing the former president of encouraging a mob of his supporters to amass at the Capitol on January 6 to prevent lawmakers from certifying President Biden’s electoral college win. The mob breached the building and forced lawmakers to evacuate, and five people died in the ensuing riot and its aftermath.

In preparation for the Senate impeachment trial, set to begin this week, Trump’s legal team submitted a 78-page brief outlining their defense.

Trump’s speech to supporters before the riot “did not direct anyone to commit unlawful actions,” lawyers Bruce Castor and David Schoen asserted. The two also argued that because Trump is now a private citizen, the Senate does not have the jurisdiction to try the former president.

However, the House impeachment managers countered that it is indeed constitutional for the Senate to conduct a trial after Trump left office.

“The House states that each and every allegation in the Article of Impeachment is true, and that any affirmative defenses and legal defenses set forth in the Answer are wholly without merit,” the managers wrote.

“The evidence of President Trump’s conduct is overwhelming. He has no valid excuse or defense for his actions,” the managers added. Trump’s “incitement of insurrection against the United States government…is the most grievous constitutional crime ever committed by a President.”

While the trial will begin this week, most Republicans are expected to back the former president. Democrats need an additional 17 Republican senators in order to convict Trump, a margin that appears highly unlikely.

“It’s not a question of how the trial ends, it’s a question of when it ends,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) commented on Sunday. “Republicans are going to view this as an unconstitutional exercise, and the only question is, will they call witnesses, how long does the trial take? But the outcome is really not in doubt.”