Trump Spent $50 Million to Promote January 6th Rally
Day two of the impeachment hearing is continuing, and once again the Democratic team charged with making the case is rockin’ it. They’re organized, detail oriented, and building a solid case from the ground up.
Here are some of my notes and quotes from the first part of the day. (I’ll come back later and add more)
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin started out the day by reminding those present that this was now a trial on the facts. The question of jurisdiction is over, he reminded them, citing the majority vote allowing the Senate to hear the case.
He went on to call out arguments from Donald Trump’s lawyers about the former president’s baseless claims of widespread election fraud being protected by the First Amendment.
“This case is much worse than someone who falsely shouts fire in a crowded theater,” Raskin said. “It’s more like a case where the town fire chief, who’s paid to put out fires, sends a mob not to yell fire in a crowded theater, but to actually set the theater on fire.”
The Maryland Congressman noted that one black officer said he was called the n-word 15 times by the insurrectionists. The officer asked after the attack, “Is this America?”
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Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse explained that his team’s argument would be broken down into three parts: “the provocation,” “the attack” and “the harm”.
Specifically addressing the provocation piece of the argument, the Democratic congressman divided that section into “The Big Lie: The Election was Stolen,” “Stop the Steal” and “Fight like Hell to Stop the Steal.”
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https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359563762496401417?s=20
Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro detailed the ways Donald Trump spent many months, when he was behind in the polls, stoking the notion that the election was going to be rigged.
“He wanted his supporters to be angry,” he said.
Castro pointed out that for at least six months before the November election, Trump was tweeting and saying on television he wouldn’t agree to a peaceful transfer of power and could only lose if the election was fraudulent.
“He wanted his supporters to believe the election would be stolen from him, from them” if Biden was declared the winner, Castro said.
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https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359570476109078535?s=20
California Congressman Eric Swalwell made the case that the ex-president, after failing to overturn election results in court cases, adopted a deliberate strategy aimed at getting his most fervent supporters to come to Washington on January 6 to “stop the steal.”
He claimed Trump spent $50 million on promotions selling the idea that the election was “stolen.” The ads stopped running on January 5th.
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https://twitter.com/CAPAction/status/1359584272361787392?s=20
Pennsylvania Congresswoman Madeleine Dean commented on the steps Trump took to try and change the election’s outcome.
https://twitter.com/USATODAY/status/1359584872151592960?s=20
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https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1359587633203142656?s=20
California Congressman Ted Lieu continued to catalogue Trump’s relentless efforts to change the election outcome - right up to when he turned on Mike Pence.
"Attorney General Barr had loyally served President Trump. He had never publicly come out against the president. But for Bill Barr, making up election fraud claims and saying the election was stolen was a bridge too far."
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https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1359593281533980675?s=20
U.S. Virgin Islands Congresswoman Stacy Plaskett minced no words right out of the box, saying "The violence was not just foreseeable to President Trump. The violence was what he deliberately encouraged."
She pointed out the ex-president’s praise of Trump supporters who assaulted a Biden campaign bus during the election quoting hm saying,"These patriots did nothing wrong." And she adds, "Engaging in violence for him made them patriots."
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https://twitter.com/skrmhlz/status/1359513048281714695?s=20
Via Joan McCarter:
This is what Donald Trump tweeted in the moments VP Pence was being evacuated, just feet away from the mob that was out for his blood. “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country….”
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