House impeachment managers began presenting their prosecution of former President Trump on Wednesday, laying out their evidence — including previously unseen Capitol security footage from the Jan. 6 insurrection — before a divided Senate.
The latest: House managers are now airing new security tapes of the invasion, showing chilling footage of rioters confronting U.S. Capitol Police, bashing through windows and storming the halls. It showed the immediate danger members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence were in.
The big picture: One by one, managers detailed how Trump laid the groundwork for his supporters to believe "the big lie" — that the election would be stolen — for months leading up to the attack. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) called Trump's false claims "the drumbeat being used to inspire, instigate, and ignite them," stressing that the incitement didn't just begin with the president's speech on Jan. 6.
Highlights:...
- Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) opened by stating that the evidence his team will present demonstrates that Trump was "no innocent bystander"— and that he "assembled, inflamed and incited his followers" on his way to the "greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in the history of the United States."
- Raskin warned that because the video clips in the presentation will show "shocking violence, bloodshed and pain in the nation's Capitol ... we do urge parents and teachers to exercise close review of what young people are watching here."
- Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) presented a figurative “roadmap” for senators to follow over the next two days, laying out the managers' intention to prove Trump is guilty of inciting insurrection in three distinct parts: "the provocation," "the attack" and "the harm."
- Neguse asked senators to remember three phrases