Live impeachment updates: Second day of Trump’s impeachment trial wraps up

House managers wrapped up their first day of arguments during the second day in former President Donald Trump’s historic impeachment trial.

The managers highlighted several videos of previously unseen security camera footage from the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection, detailing how close lawmakers and their staff were to potential violence.

Several GOP senators were emotional after the videos, calling them “disturbing.”

House managers attempted to paint a picture that not only did Trump avoid calling off the rioters that day — which Rep. Joaquin Castro described as Trump leaving “everyone in the Capitol for dead" — but also through his tweets, campaign speeches, and rhetoric in the months leading up, he was directly responsible for fueling the crowd.

The House prosecutors also relied on previous protests and acts of violence from Trump supporters, such as when Trump supporters attempted to run a Biden campaign bus off the road and protests at election centers, as examples of incidents where his supporters acted upon his words.

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Trump’s legal wasn’t swayed by the footage played Wednesday, with lawyer Bruce Castor saying there was nothing new that the public and Senate didn’t already know.

“Yesterday, we said we didn't dispute that the breach of the Capitol is a terrible thing, and that mob violence is something that President Trump abhors, so we didn't learn anything today we didn't already know,” Castor said as he left the Capitol. “As a matter of fact, I wonder why we sat through eight hours of videos that aren’t under dispute.”

He added that no changes were planned on their legal team or in their presentation, even after criticism over his performance.

The trial will resume at noon Thursday.

— Savannah Behrmann

Sen. Mike Lee calls House managers' description of his call 'inaccurate'

Impeachment prosecutor Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., told senators a story from the final weeks of President Donald Trump's administration during his last presentation Wednesday evening.

In a last-ditch attempt to force more objections to the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, Cicilline recounted that Trump had reportedly attempted to call Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., but reached Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, instead.

As Cicilline spoke about Trump telling Lee to do more to object to electoral votes, Lee shook his head furiously and scribbled on a sheet of paper "this is not what happened." He then handed it to Trump's attorney David Schoen.

As proceedings concluded, Lee stood up to tell senators the account was incorrect, and he demanded the remarks be struck from the record. There was confusion in the chamber for several minutes as the senators worked to figure out what exactly was happening.

"I'm the only witness," Lee said. And as the only witness on the call, he said he "never made those statements."

Eventually, Rep. Jamie Raskin spoke from the dais that the comments would be removed and that they were not pivotal to the Democrats' case. The Senate gaveled out shortly after.

— Nicholas Wu 

‘Overwhelmingly distressing and emotional’: Republican senators moved by presentations 

After the House managers’ presentation, senators expressed how moved they were, particularly by the unseen security camera footage that displayed how close the senators were to the mob on Jan. 6. 

Several key Republican players expressed how upsetting the footage was.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said, “It was obviously very troubling to see the great violence that our Capitol Police and others were subjected to. It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. That was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional.”

When asked if he knew how close to danger he was that day, Romney said he did not know until the footage shown at the trial, and was looking forward to thanking Officer Eugene Goodman “when I next see him.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, stated: “I’m angry, I'm disturbed, I'm sad. We lived it once, and that was awful. And we're now reliving it with a more comprehensive timeline. ... The evidence that has been presented thus far has been pretty damning.” 

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the manager’s case was “riveting” and it “reinforces my belief that it was a terrible day for our country.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., the one surprise GOP vote yesterday to continue the trial, said the managers’ presentation was “very powerful.”

A few staunch GOP senators who voted against continuing the trial yesterday had emotional and strong reactions to the managers case Wednesday.

Sen. Lankford, R-Okla., got emotional at one point during the footage, and said seeing all those videos again brought back the memories of that day. 

“There's a lot of emotion,” he said. “It's tough to be able to walk through that. That was a horrible day for the entire country.”

Trump impeachment:Senators whisper, take deep breaths as violent footage of Capitol riot plays

Lankford said he talked with his seatmate, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, about the footage rekindling one person’s escape, someone Lankford said he’s close with but wouldn’t name. 

“I was recounting the story to Steve of their particular escape. And it just came over me again, thinking that through for them,” he said.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he went to talk to staff and aides after watching the footage, explaining “it was reliving a horrible day.”

“I talked to some of the staff afterwards and, you know, for them they were in a worse position than we were,” he said. “I talked to some leadership staff and they were, you know, in their offices and people were banging on the doors. And that was a lot more frightening.”

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the Republican whip, said the presentations “were very effective. They had a strong, strong presentation put together in a way that I think makes it pretty compelling."

However, despite the graphic footage, several GOP senators say they cannot convict because of concerns about the constitutionality of convicting a former president. 

"We want justice. But that doesn't mean that we can go against what we believe to be constitutionally limited authority," Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told Capitol Hill reporters.

— Savannah Behrmann, Christal Hayes and Nicholas Wu

Senators whisper, take deep breaths as violent footage plays

The Senate chamber went quiet as House impeachment managers offered the first pieces of never-before-seen footage.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, held her head between her hands several times as clips played. She jotted down notes sporadically between videos.

All turned their heads, almost in one motion, as the first radio transmissions and footage played loudly on a pair of TVs in the chamber. Nearly every senator sat attentive for the footage. Some, like Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., readjusted their chairs to get a better view. Several senators in the back row of the chamber, including Mark Warner, D-Va., stood for several minutes to see the screens. 

Senators mostly remained motionless. Some jotted down notes, others leaned in toward the screens, and quite a few whispered to one another as more and more videos were shown to them.

Sen. Kysten Sinema, D-Ariz., shook her head several times during several clips. During one that showed rioters banging on the doors of the Capitol, she held her hands on her stomach and to her chest for several moments, appearing to take a deep breath. 

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. who was sworn in after the attack, continued staring at the screen even when it turned black after several clips played. He bowed his head for several moments and had his hands clasped. 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., crossed her arms and shook her head several times after Democrats played footage of a man who stormed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. 

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., pointed to the screen as impeachment managers played a clip showing Vice President Mike Pence being evacuated from the Capitol. He whispered to several senators seated nearby.

As the Senate went into recess for dinner after Swalwell finished his presentation, Sen. James Lankford appeared to get emotional at his desk, bending his head down. Sen. Steve Daines, who sits next to him, put his hand on Lankford’s arm as if to comfort him.

— Christal Hayes 

'58 steps away': Swalwell details how close senators came to the mob

New security footage showed senators being ushered out of the Senate chamber in a single-file line to safety.

Swalwell says he “paced it off” and they were just “58 steps” away from the mob.

Additional footage showed police officers blocking the rioters in at one end of the hallway, stopping them from reaching the senators and their staff as they ran toward safety.

This footage was played twice during the trial by Swalwell.

Trump impeachment:Harrowing new footage shows how close mob got to Pence, Congress

Other security footage showed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hurrying up a ramp in the Capitol building basement near the Senate subway with his security detail.

Seconds later, he and his security detail are seen turning and running back, with the officers closing the glass doors and use their bodies to keep them closed.

Swalwell said they had been close to “encountering the mob.”

— Savannah Behrmann

Man who ransacked Pelosi's office had a stun gun

Richard Barnett, the Arkansas man who was photographed with his feet propped on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6, had a 950,000-volt stun gun tucked into his waistband, Rep. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, revealed.

House impeachment managers showed security footage of staffers rushing to safety, locking themselves in rooms just minutes before rioters into Pelosi's offices.

Plaskett played audio from one of Pelosi's aides pleading for help in a phone call after staff members barricaded themselves in a conference room.

"They're pounding on the doors trying to find her," the staffer whispered into the phone.

A Pelosi aide later said they could hear the mob rummaging through her offices and yelling, "Where are you, Nancy?"

Plaskett argued the mob of rioters intended to harm Vice President Mike Pence and Pelosi, threatening violence against both as they ransacked the Capitol.

"President Trump put a target on their backs and sent his mob to hunt them down," she said.

— Courtney Subramanian

New security footage of Pence evacuating the Senate, officer telling Romney to run to safety

Rep. Stacey Plaksett, D-V.I., one of the Democratic House prosecutors, showed new security footage detailing some close calls from the Capitol breach.

One video showed Vice President Mike Pence as he was spirited out of the Senate chamber on Jan. 6. Pence was seen turning his head around as he was taken out of the chamber at the same time rioters smashed their way into the Capitol.

"The mob was looking for Vice President Pence because of his patriotism, because the vice president refused to do what the president demanded and overturn the election results," Plaskett said.

Pence, in his role as the president of the Senate, had been presiding over the chamber on Jan. 6 as it counted electoral votes.

Plaskett also showed videos of rioters calling for Pence's death that day, and a video from another rioter calling Pence a "treasonous pig."

"They were talking about assassinating the vice president of the United States," Plaskett said.

Another video showed Officer Eugene Goodman, who has gone viral for video of him redirecting rioters from the doors of the Senate chamber, running and passing Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, in the hallway and directing him to turn around.

Romney turns and starts running to safety.

— Nicholas Wu and Savannah Behrmann

Plaskett: Trump, for many months, cultivated violence

Del. Stacey Plaskett. who represents the U.S. territory of the Virgin Islands, laid out evidence to argue former President Donald Trump "welcomed and amplified" his supporters plans for Jan. 6 by whipping them up and praising them for violent behavior in the weeks leading up to the attack.

Plaskett pointed to one incident in Texas in which a caravan of Trump supporters deliberately tried to run a bus carrying Biden-Harris campaign workers off a highway. One truck adorned in Trump flags eventually crashed into a Biden-Harris campaign volunteer's car. Trump "made light" of the event, Plaskett said, by retweeting the video with a fight song and exclaiming "I LOVE TEXAS!" After the FBI announced an investigation into the incident, Trump tweeted: "In my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong."

"Engaging in violence for him made them patriots to Donald Trump," Plaskett said.

She argued Trump encouraged members of the Proud Boys, an extremist group with ties to white nationalism, who were present for the Jan. 6 Capitol siege as well as a pro-Trump protest in Washington, D.C., in December, which escalated into violence between rallygoers and counterprotesters.

When asked during a September debate whether he was willing to condemn white supremacy and militia groups, including the Proud Boys, Trump said, "Stand back and stand by." The words were later used as a Proud Boys slogan, and Trump supporters were spotted wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase at Trump rallies.

Trump did not attend the Dec. 12 march but tweeted throughout the day, including one morning tweet that read: "We have just begun the fight."

"This was not a coincidence," Plaskett said. "Donald Trump, over many months, cultivated violence, praised it. And then when he saw the violence his supporters were capable of, he channeled it to his big wild historic event."

Following the December march, Trump became actively involved in the planning for the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol attack, Plaskett said.

"The exact thing that happened on January 6 – that was their goal," Plaskett said. "And they said out loud on sites that the Trump administration was actively monitoring."

— Courtney Subramanian

Dean: Trump’s Jan. 6 speech was meant to incite supporters to attack Capitol 

At the crux of Democratic prosecutors’ argument to convict Donald Trump is the notion that the then-president knew exactly what would happen when he encouraged his followers at a rally near the White House to head to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“This was not just one speech,” Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., told the senators referring to the “weeks and weeks” of deliberate attempts by Trump to overturn the election. “The only thing different about his speech on January 6 from all these other times was that he was no longer telling his base just to stop the steal. He was finally telling them now is the time to do it.”

Dean forensically picked apart his speech (nearly 11,000 words, she noted) lasting nearly 40 minutes.

She noted that while he mentioned that his supporters should march “peacefully” to the Capitol, he only used that word once. In contrast, she said, he uttered the word “fight” or “fighting” 20 times, including one line where he said they needed to “fight like hell to save our democracy.”

“We know how the crowd responded to Donald Trump’s words,” she told the senators. “And he knew how they responded to his words.”

— Ledyard King

Lieu: Trump turned to the mob after exhausting non-violent options to stay in power

Rep. Ted Lieu told senators former President Donald Trump was "a man so desperate to cling to power that he did everything he could to keep it, and when he ran out of non-violent measures, he turned to the violent mob that attacked your Senate chamber on Jan. 6."

The California Democrat said that in his quest to stay in office, Trump determined anyone who stood in his way was an enemy, even his Republican allies.

"Let me be very clear," Lieu said. "The president wasn't just coming for one to two people, or Democrats like me. He was coming for you, for Democratic and Republican senators. He was coming for all of us. Just as the mob did at his direction."

Lieu pointed to Trump's failed efforts to pressure former Attorney General William Barr to find evidence of voter fraud. He said that when Trump continued to make that demand, even after federal investigators found no evidence of widespread fraud, it "was a bridge too far" for Barr, prompting his resignation. 

"Trump's actions time and time again make clear that he would do anything, and pressure anyone, if it meant overturning the election results," Lieu said.

His final desperate attempt to stay in power centered on the false belief that Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to refuse to certify the election results in the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. Trump mounted a campaign on social media and at rallies aimed at pressuring Pence to use this imagined power to overturn the election.

"Behind closed doors President Trump applied significant pressure to his second in command," Lieu said, citing news reports that Trump would tell anyone he could to call on Pence to refuse to certify the Electoral College result. Lieu said it was those efforts that fueled the mob's calls for Pence's hanging. But Pence "refused the president and fulfilled his duty," Lieu said.

"Even after the Capitol was attacked; even after he was personally targeted; even after his family was targeted; Vice President Pence stood strong and certified the election. Vice President Pence showed us what it means to be an American."

– William Cummings 

Rep. Dean highlights ways Trump pressured state officials

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Penn., highlighted several ways President Donald Trump pressured state officials after the election to overturn the results.

She noted that Trump pressured Republicans in Wayne County, Michigan, in November to change their votes on certification of the election results, and how he then contacted the GOP leaders of the Michigan legislature to overturn their states results, and invited them to the White House to personally lobby them.

"Let me be clear, Donald Trump was calling officials, hosting them at the White House, urging them to defy the voters in their state and instead award votes to Trump," Dean said.

Dean turned to Georgia where Trump waged "a relentless attack" against election officials, most notably Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, with tweets that were followed by death threats from Trump supporters.

"Donald Trump was savagely attacking a secretary of state because the official did his job and certified the state according to how the people in that state voted," she said.

– Savannah Behrmann and Ledyard King

Dean: Court rulings show it was Trump trying to steal the election

The claims made in lawsuits filed by Donald Trump’s campaign contesting the outcome of the election in key states were trying to steal the very election the president alleged was stolen from him, Democratic prosecutor Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., told senators Wednesday.

Of the 62 lawsuits filed in state and federal courts seeking to overturn election results in states Trump lost, 61 failed. (One Pennsylvania judge ruled in his favor on a technical issue that voters had three days after the election and cure their ballots.)

Dean said Trump and his lawyers’ claims of widespread fraud were false.

By the numbers:President Donald Trump's failed efforts to overturn the election

“Donald Trump told his supporters they are stealing the election: ‘They took away your vote. It’s rigged’,” Dean said. “That was not true.”

In fact, she said, “according to judge after judge, the truth was exactly the opposite. Trump was not suing to ensure election integrity. He was pursuing lawsuits that were in effect stripping away Americans’ votes. In other words, Donald Trump was asking the judiciary to take away votes from America so that he could steal the election himself.”

– Ledyard King

Laughter, stares and shaking heads: What you can't see on TV

Senators might not be able to talk as they watch hours of presentations during former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, but some haven’t been able to hide reactions to some of the arguments Wednesday.

As House managers played footage of Trump claiming dead people voted in the election, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., could be heard laughing in the chamber. She raised her hands in an exasperated manner after another clip played where Trump repeated the claim, this time targeting her home state and the city of Detroit. She looked over at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who also appeared to be smiling. Warren later shook her head as House prosecutors displayed various tweets from Trump over the weeks before the Jan. 6 attack.

Senate Minority Leader McConnell, R-Ky., sat motionless the first time Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic impeachment manager, mentioned him. The second time, when Swalwell quoted a tweet from Trump claiming McConnell and the Republicans were doing nothing to help him, McConnell shifted in his chair, hands still clasped in his lap.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., looked over to his right, directly at McConnell. He stared for several moments then turned his glare at all Republicans.

Most senators have been taking notes, jotting down their thoughts on legal pads and bound notebooks.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., was the only senator who elected to sit in the gallery above the chamber instead of at his desk on the floor. He told reporters he could “space out a little bit more” and had a better view. Hawley, who was the first senator to say he would challenge Electoral College results the day of the Jan. 6 attack, flipped through papers in a manila folder as House managers outlined Trump’s remarks about stealing the election. He looked up occasionally and jotted down notes in a legal pad.

– Christal Hayes

Swalwell reads Trump messages naming GOP Senators, calling them a ‘RINO’s’

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., tried to appeal to some Republican senators by reading aloud belittling messages from President Donald Trump.

One tweet from Trump the day before the insurrection read “I hope the Democrats, and even more importantly, the weak and ineffective RINO section of the Republican Party, are looking at the thousands of people pouring into D.C.”

"RINO” is a derisive term that stands for “Republican in name only.”

The tweet tagged Sens. Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn and John Thune. Swalwell read their names aloud while looking at each of them. By tagging the senators in his tweet, Swalwell said, Trump “pressured you to stop this.”

House Democrats showed another tweet from Trump’s now-banned account that called out McConnell, reading, “If a Democrat Presidential Candidate had an Election Rigged & Stolen, with proof of such acts at a level never seen before, the Democrat Senators would consider it an act of war and fight to the death.”

“Mitch & the Republicans do NOTHING, just want to let it pass. NO FIGHT!” the tweet concluded.

McConnell did not react the first time Swalwell named him. The second time, the Republican leader shifted in his chair, hands still clasped in his lap and remained stone-faced.

– Savannah Behrmann and Christal Hayes

Swalwell: After election. Trump exhorted supporters to act on Jan. 6

After the election was called, Democratic prosecutor Eric Swalwell said President Donald Trump began to galvanize his supporters to show up in Washington on Jan. 6 – the day when Congress would ceremoniously tabulate the Electoral College results in favor of Joe Biden.

It would also be the last opportunity for Trump and his supporters to register their opposition to an election he had convinced them was rigged, they said.

Swalwell, D-Calif., said the by the middle of December, the Trump campaign began spending $50 million in ads to drum home the message that they had to “stop the steal.”

Trump amplified that message with his own appeals in numerous tweets that mentioned Jan. 6. In a Dec. 26 tweet he showed on a video screen, Swalwell said Trump implored his followers to act: “History will remember Never give up. See everyone in D.C. on January 6.”

– Ledyard King

Swalwell recites Trump’s own words against him

Rep. Eric Swalwell quoted several of hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s tweets and statements groundlessly claiming the election was stolen, as part of the House Democratic strategy to convict Trump with his own words in the Senate impeachment trial.

Swalwell, D-Calif., cited a Nov. 15 tweet from Trump that said, “I concede nothing.” On Nov. 17, Trump tweeted: “DEAD PEOPLE VOTED” without elaboration. On Nov. 28, Trump tweeted: “We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!”

Among Trump’s speeches, Swalwell played a recording of Trump saying that “dead people were requesting ballots and they were dead for years.” Trump said Biden’s margins of victory in some states were the result of “extraordinarily large midnight vote dumps.”

But Trump never documented the claims. State election officials certified President Joe Biden’s victory. And then-Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department found no widespread election fraud.

House prosecutors, who are called managers, charge that Trump incited the riot Jan. 6 at the Capitol by questioning the legitimacy of the election for months.

“Donald Trump for months and months assembled the tinder, the kindling, threw on fuel to have his supporters believe that the only way their victory would be lose was if it was stolen,” Swalwell said. “Instead of accepting the results, he told his base more lies. He doused the flames with kerosene.”

– Bart Jansen

Castro: ‘Big Lie’ started in spring when he started to see he could lose election

Democratic prosecutors said the seeds of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob were planted in the comments and tweets from the then-president months before the election when he saw his poll numbers sagging.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, one of the nine Democratic impeachment managers, told senators that around the late spring in 2020, Trump began spinning "his big lie" after he began to believe he might not win reelection.

“And so, he did something entirely unpresented in the history of our nation,” Castro said. “He refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power.”

Castro played a series of video clips showing Trump raising doubts about the integrity of the election.

Trump impeachment:Impeachment trial puts Trump back in the spotlight. That might not be a good thing for him.

“The only way we're gonna lose this election is that the election is rigged. Remember that,” Trump said in one clip Castro played for senators.

Then the impeachment manager played several other clips quoting supporters as saying they could not imagine any way Trump could be defeated unless the other side cheated.

“There’s no way in hell our president’s going to lose,” one man said in a video clip.

“This is clearly a man who refused to accept the possibility – or the reality – of losing an election,” Castro said. “His supporters got the point as well.”

– Ledyard King

‘Stop the count’: Castro highlights protests at election centers following election

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, highlighted that beyond former President Donald Trump’s “stop the steal” rhetoric was his repeated demand to “stop the count.”

Castro argued that Trump was being literal by tweeting “STOP THE COUNT” and subsequently, pro-Trump rioters “showed up at election centers across the country to do just that" under his direction.

Election workers counted ballots in several states for days after the Nov. 3 election, as an unprecedented amount of Americans voted by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic. The mail-in ballots were one of the key targets of Trump’s erroneous claims of fraudulent voting.

After Trump's crusade against mail voting, his supporters largely voted in person, while Biden supporters embraced mail voting. Biden supporters dominated mail voting by a 2-to-1 margin nationally. So Trump appeared ahead in several battleground states where in-person voting was counted first on election night. But the race shifted to Biden as mail-in ballots were counted.

In the days following Nov. 3, supporters of Trump gathered outside of election centers in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona and other states as votes were being counted inside.

“They bought into his big lie,” Castro said.

– Savannah Behrmann

Managers show videos and affidavits of rioters saying Trump invited them to breach Capitol

House managers showed videos of several people saying they were "following" President Donald Trump’s orders by breaching the Capitol Jan. 6.

A montage played by House Democrats during the second day of the former president's impeachment trial showed several Trump supporters, during and after the insurrection, saying Trump had “invited” them there.

One woman in the video, Jennifer Ryan, who'd taken a private jet to DC for the riot, said afterwards she was "following my president."

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., also displayed a few criminal complaints from those arrested after the breach, where some of those in the mob said “‘they would have killed (vice president) Mike Pence if given the chance.’”

Another affidavit read: “ ‘We broke into the Capitol ... We got inside, we did our part.’”

“‘We were looking for (Speaker of the House) Nancy (Pelosi) to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her,’” the statement continued.

The rioters “wouldn't have listened to you, to me, to the vice president of the United States…” Neguse said. “They were following the president. He alone, the Commander in Chief, had the power to stop them, and he didn't.”

– Savannah Behrmann

Neguse quotes former Trump chief of staff: ‘No surprise’ Trump spurred mob

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., quoted former President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, four-star Marine Gen. John Kelly, as evidence that Trump knew he could enflame a crowd to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“No surprise what happened yesterday,” Kelly said in a recording Neguse played.

Kelly said the day after the riot that “the president knows who he’s talking to when he tweets or he makes statements.” Trump had been raising baseless claims about the election being stolen for months before the attack.

“He knows who he is talking to and knows what he wants them to do,” Kelly said.

– Bart Jansen

Neguse: Capitol mob thought Trump wanted them to act

Rep. Joe Neguse, one of the prosecutors in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump, said the former president provoked the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

Neguse, D-Colo., cited how Trump for months told followers he couldn’t lose the election unless there was massive fraud. Neguse argued that Trump threatened Georgia state election officials, who warned that his unfounded claims could lead to violence.

Democrats on Wednesday showed a collage of videos of Trump refusing to back down. “We’re in a fight for the survival of our nation,” Trump said in one. “We’re going to fight like hell,” he said in another.

For the attack on the Capitol, Neguse argued the mob thought Trump wanted them to take action.

“Their conduct was intentional,” Neguse said.

Neguse said Trump used his Jan. 6 speech before the riot as a call to arms, reminding senators that rioters scaled the Capitol’s walls, broke windows and killed a Capitol police officer.

“This was not just a speech,” Neguse said. “It didn’t just happen.”

Neguse said Trump must be convicted to prevent future attacks on the country’s peaceful transfer of power.

– Bart Jansen

Raskin: Trump 'reveled' in assault on Capitol

Democratic prosecutors at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial are hoping to prove the former president’s guilt by showing how little remorse he showed after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Not only did he incite the assault, he enjoyed the moment as he watched it unfold, lead House Democratic prosecutor Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told senators.

"He watched it on TV like a reality show,” Raskin said, citing news reports quoting senior aides to Trump. “He reveled in it."

Raskin pointed out that Trump tweeted after the assault, continuing to spread “the big lie” about Joe Biden’s win that incited rioters in the first place.

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so ceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long.” Trump said in the tweet Raskin highlighted.

"If anyone ever had a doubt as to this focus that day, it was not to defend us, it was not to console us, it was to praise and sympathize and commiserate with the rampaging mob,” Raskin said. “It was to continue to act as inciter in chief, not commander in chief, by telling the mob that their election had been stolen from them. Even then, after that vicious attack, he continued to spread the big lie."

– Ledyard King and Will Cummings

Raskin: Trump no ‘innocent bystander’

Rep. Jamie Raskin opened Democrats' arguments Wednesday in the Senate impeachment trial by saying former President Donald Trump was “no innocent bystander” to the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but someone who enflamed his supporters to riot and was warned they could become violent.

Raskin said Trump, who baselessly claimed the election was stolen by President Joe Biden, said evidence Democrats present will show Trump was warned by media reports, law enforcement reports and arrests that his supporters could become violent.

“In short, we will prove that the impeached president was no innocent bystander, whose conduct was ‘totally appropriate,’” said Raskin, D-Md. “He incited this attack and he saw it coming.”

Trump’s defense team, including Bruce Castor Jr., compared the riot to a bad accident or natural disaster for which society sought someone to blame. Trump gave a speech to the crowd that later laid siege to the Capitol, but his defenders contend he sought a peaceful protest.

The House impeached Trump by charging him with inciting the insurrection. Raskin said the violence was planned to disrupt the counting of Electoral College votes that certified Biden’s victory and aimed even at Vice President Mike Pence, who oversaw the count.

“To us, it may have felt like chaos and madness,” Raskin said. “But there was method in the madness that day.”

– Bart Jansen

Second day of Trump’s impeachment trial begins

The second day of former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial has begun, with the House Democratic prosecutors beginning their total of 16 hours of arguments.

The House prosecutors, known as managers, will present up to eight of these hours Wednesday. Lead manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, told senators Tuesday that he wouldn’t lecture them, and would present them with “cold, hard facts” to prove Trump incited the deadly insurrection at the Capitol last month.

The managers are also expected to show security camera footage from the Capitol on Jan. 6 that has never been seen before.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., told reporters on Capitol Hill he “expects” the managers to “spend a lot of their time” examining the intent behind Trump’s words leading up to the riot.

“There's no question that there was an insurrection. There's no question that the president's words motivated the crowd. Question is the president, did he really intend for something like this to happen?”

– Savannah Behrmann

Trump attorney Castor says ex-president happy with opening arguments

Bruce Castor, a member of Donald Trump's legal team whose opening argument in the former president's second impeachment trial Tuesday was widely derided, told reporters that despite reports to the contrary, his client was happy with his performance.

Pundits and politicians from across the political spectrum criticized Castor's arguments as unpersuasive and unclear, and his sometimes meandering language drew social media scorn. Citing unnamed sources, multiple news organizations described Trump as "furious" with Castor as he watched the proceedings from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

But when asked Wednesday if Trump had expressed displeasure with his argument before the Senate, Castor said, "Far from it."

And when asked what he thought of the onslaught of criticism that followed his performance, Castor said, "Only one person's opinion matters."

– William Cummings

Democrats to show previously unseen security video of riots

WASHINGTON – House Democrats will show security footage from the Capitol that has never been seen before as they prosecute the Senate impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump, according to senior aides.

A 13-minute highlight reel of the riot Jan. 6, which weaved scenes of violence at the Capitol with Trump’s statements, was the centerpiece of arguments Tuesday over whether the trial is constitutional. The Senate voted 56-44, with six Republicans joining 50 Democrats, to declare it constitutional.

House prosecutors, who are called managers, contend they have a chance to persuade more Republicans because the evidence is compelling.

Five Republicans – Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania – had joined Democrats in an earlier vote upholding the constitutionality of the trial. They were joined Tuesday by GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who praised the managers’ arguments.

In a Senate split 50-50, at least 17 Republicans would have to join Democrats for the required two-thirds majority to convict Trump.

House managers will present up to eight hours of arguments Wednesday that seek to illustrate how Jan. 6 was the culmination of Trump’s attacks on the election rather than the beginning, according to aides.

The managers will also have eight hours Thursday to chronicle months of statements they contend enflamed his supporters with lies about the election being stolen, creating a mob that rampaged through the Capitol. The evidence will show that Trump attracted violent supporters so that the result was foreseeable, according to aides.

Trump’s defense team has argued that his speech near the White House on Jan. 6 before the riots was protected by the First Amendment and that he can’t be blamed for what his supporters did. Trump’s defense lawyers will have up to 16 hours to make their arguments after the House managers complete two days of presentations.

'I'll have to do better next time':Trump's attorneys take Republican criticism on first day of trial

The vast majority of the nine managers led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., are expected to speak Wednesday, according to aides.

The aides described how the trial would unfold under condition of anonymity.

– Bart Jansen

Senators await Democratic evidence after emotional first day 

Senators on Wednesday expect Democratic prosecutors to dig into the violent Capitol riots of Jan. 6 as they outline their case on the second day of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, a presentation that may rekindle the trauma of last month’s attack.

The House Democratic lawmakers prosecuting the case, known as managers, are expected to present emotional testimony and videos from the riot when the trial resumes at noon. On Tuesday, lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin played a graphic 13-minute video showing the violent mob attacking police officers and ransacking the Capitol. 

The footage left some senators rattled, forcing them to relive the attack that sent them running for safety.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said she felt “a little bit on edge watching all of that again” and small noises in the chamber left her a bit startled.

“It was more impactful than I thought it was going to be,” she said. “I found myself at points nervously looking up in the gallery.”

Takeaways from Day 1:Top takeaways from Day 1 of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said while senators were witnesses, they "were pretty clustered witnesses" and the video allowed him to fully take in the events. 

“That's probably the longest time I've spent actually watching video on that topic,” he said. "It was a horrible day."

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said while it's difficult, senators and the public should be forced to listen and face details of the attack.

“It’s powerful,” he said. “This is what the trial is about – the trial is about an insurrection against the federal government so not sure how you can have a trial without showing what happened that day.”

He acknowledged it’s going to be hard for many to relive that day, noting more footage and details are going to be presented.

“It's gonna be a tough couple days,” Murphy said. “You're gonna see more of that more pretty disturbing video, but I think it's important for the Senate and for the public to see it."

– Christal Hayes and Nicholas Wu

'Dad, I don't want to come back':Rep. Jamie Raskin, in tears at trial, recounts daughter's fear during Capitol riot

Democratic managers, led by Raskin, promise new evidence and 'cold, hard facts'

House Democratic impeachment managers promise new evidence and "cold, hard facts" as they resume their prosecution of former President Donald Trump at his impeachment trial Wednesday.

House prosecutors, who are called managers, will have up to eight hours Wednesday and eight hours Thursday to elaborate on the wrenching, 13-minute video of the violence at the Capitol Jan. 6 that was played at the opening of the trial on Tuesday. 

The lead manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, a former constitutional law professor at American University, assured senators that he wouldn’t lecture them.

“You will not be hearing extended lectures from me because our case is based on cold, hard facts,” Raskin said.

Democrats also promised to present new evidence.

'They could have killed us all':House Democrats open Trump impeachment trial with chilling video of Capitol riot

Impeachment managers hope to convince Senate Republicans to convict Trump on a charge of inciting the insurrection at the Capitol last month. Democrats allege Trump's words and actions directly caused the violence that left multiple people dead. 

The video played Tuesday summarized the violence by showing rioters smashing their way into the building while police were crushed and bludgeoned. The footage was spliced with Trump's statements praising members of the crowd while baselessly saying he won the election.

Wednesday's proceedings begin at noon after the trial withstood a challenge from Trump's legal team Tuesday. The Senate voted 56-44 to uphold the constitutionality of the trial after Trump's lawyers said it should be dismissed because Trump no longer holds office. Six Republicans joined the 50 Democrats in voting to move the case forward.

But the vote suggested Trump will likely be acquitted because at least 67 senators is required for conviction and more than a third of the chamber – all Republicans – objected to moving forward with the trial Tuesday.

Trump’s defense team led by Bruce Castor Jr. and David Schoen had argued that Trump couldn’t be tried as a private citizen after leaving office. They also said Trump’s speech to the mob before it stormed the Capitol was protected by the First Amendment.

Trump's defense team will have up to 16 hours for arguments over two days after the House managers finish.

– Bart Jansen