Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Latest: Trump impeachment trial shifts to his defense

Now it’s the Trump team’s time

Via AP news wire
Friday 12 February 2021 13:39 GMT
Trump Impeachment
Trump Impeachment

The Latest on former President Donald Trump s second Senate impeachment trial (all times local):

8:35 a.m.

Now it's the Trump team s time.

House prosecutors at former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial relied on emotion and violent images on video to make their case in arguments over the past two days.

The Senate trial is shifting to Trump's defense lawyers on Friday, and they're prepared to acknowledge that the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was every bit as traumatic, unacceptable and illegal as Democrats say.

But Trump's lawyers plan to say Trump had nothing to do with it. They want to pivot to what they see as the core and more winnable issue of the trial: whether Trump can be held responsible for inciting the deadly riot

The argument is likely to appeal to Republican senators who themselves want to be seen as condemning the violence without convicting the former president.

___

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP'S SECOND SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL:

The strategy from Donald Trump's lawyers is to concede that violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was every bit as traumatic, unacceptable and illegal as Democrats say. But his team disputes that Trump had anything to do with it. The goal is to blunt the impact of the House Democrats’ visceral case and quickly pivot to what the defense lawyers see as the more winnable issue of the trial: whether Trump incited the deadly riot.

Read more:

— Lawyer defending Trump accustomed to political disaster

— Trump team's objective is to not lose any Republican votes

___

HERE'S WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON:

7:45 a.m.

Donald Trump’s lawyers have a simple objective as they open their defense at the former president’s impeachment trial: Don’t lose any Republican votes.

Most Republican senators have indicated they'll vote to acquit Trump on the House charge of incitement of insurrection. They say the trial is unconstitutional and that Trump didn’t incite supporters to lay siege on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 when he told them to “fight like hell” against the certification of Joe Biden’s White House victory.

If Republicans hold the line, Democrats will fall well short of the two-thirds of the Senate needed for conviction.

Trump’s two top lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, risked losing one Republican vote on Tuesday after Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said they did a “terrible” job arguing that the trial is unconstitutional.

Cassidy, who had voted with his party two weeks earlier to stop the trial, switched his vote to side with Democrats.

___

7:30 a.m.

Bruce Castor, is a onetime rising-star prosecutor from suburban Philadelphia, had burned bridges with much of the Republican establishment after a series of election losses. And he'd pretty much stayed out of sight.

But he's made a comeback as one of Donald Trump's lawyers at the former president's impeachment trial.

Castor’s moment in the national glare on Tuesday was seen as a rambling and at times aimless hourlong presentation in search of a point.

He's getting a chance to make a different impression when he begins to present Trump’s defense on Friday.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in