“What will the January exception mean to future generations if you grant it,” asked Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) before showing the chilling video submitted during former President Donald Trump‘s impeachment trial on Tuesday.
The video opens with the speech then-President Donald Trump made in front of the White House overlaid with footage of his supporters going to the U.S. Capitol building. Text reads, “As President Trump continues his speech, a wave of supporters begins marching to the Capitol.”
With Trump’s election fraud rhetoric echoing behind them, rioters are seen violently pushing on Capitol Police barricades. The angle then switches to the Senate Floor, showing Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and then-Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) entering. Text then reads, “President Trump continues his speech as Members take their seats.”
“And we fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, we won’t have a country anymore,” said the former president in his speech overlaid with footage of rioters violently clashing with Capitol Police. “So we’re going to walk down to Pennsylvania Avenue, we are going to the Capitol and we are going to try to give our Republicans the kind of pride and boldness they need to take back our country.” The video then shifts, again, to violent footage of rioters smashing a police fence.
In stark contrast, the video swaps to the speech from then-Senate Majority Leader McConnell. “We are debating a step that has never been taken in American history,” said McConnell. “President Trump claims the election was stolen. The assertions rage from specific local allegations to sweeping conspiracy theories. Nothing before us proves illegality to the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election.”
The video shows Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman diverting a crowd of violent rioters away from the Senate chambers. The video leads into the chaos that rocked the inside of the Capitol building. The video captions one rioters who confronts Officer Goodman saying, “are you gonna beat us all?” The video then cuts to the Senate’s sudden recess after Capitol Police barricades to the building have been breached.
Raskin made the prosecution’s message stunningly clear. While Trump’s lawyers hope to assert that the former president had no role in inciting the riots, the prosecution’s video details a timeline which will require a strong response from defense attorneys.
