Impeachment Manager Warns 'Graphic' Footage Will Be Shown

After Tuesday's 56-44 vote to proceed, Donald Trump's Senate trial resumed Wednesday, with House impeachment managers setting out their case against the former president. Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin warned that "graphic and disturbing" footage of Capitol violence would be shown, the Washington Post reports. "We will be showing relevant clips of the mob's attack on police officers and other innocent people," he said. "We do urge parents and teachers to exercise close review of what young people are watching here." Raskin said the trial wasn't a contest between lawyers or political parties. "It's a moment of truth for America," he said. "We are having a trial on the facts." More:

• The "inciter-in-chief." Raskin said Trump was "no innocent bystander" in the Jan. 6 attack. "There was method in the madness that day," Raskin said, per the BBC. "This was an organized attack." Raskin said Trump "surrendered his role as commander-in-chief" to become the "inciter-in-chief." "This was the greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in the history of the United States," he said.

• First Amendment argument targeted. Raskin targeted arguments made by Trump lawyers Tuesday that Trump's fiery speech before the attack was protected free speech. "This case is much worse than someone who falsely shouts fire in a crowded theater," Raskin said, per the Guardian. "It’s more like 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 provocation." Rep. Joe Neguse, another impeachment manager, said the prosecution's case would be broken down into "the provocation," "the attack," and "the harm." He started the "provocation" segment by playing clips of Trump urging supporters to challenge the results of the November election. "People listened. Armed supporters surrounded election officials' homes. The secretary of state for Georgia got death threats," Neguse said, per Politico. "Officials warned the president that his rhetoric was dangerous and it was going to result in deadly violence," Neguse said. "He didn't stop it. He didn't condemn the violence. He incited it further."
• "Deliberate, planned, and premeditated." Impeachment manager Rep. Eric Swalwell displayed Trump tweets and speeches that he said showed Trump built the "rigged" election claim for months before and after the election, the Post reports. He showed a "save the date" tweet from December, in which Trump said of Jan. 6: "Be there. Will be wild." "The evidence here is overwhelming," Swalwell said. "President Trump’s conduct leading up to Jan. 6 was deliberate, planned, and premeditated."
• "The actions of a desperate president." Rep. Madeline Dean, another impeachment manager, described Trump's attempt to overturn the election result as "the actions of a desperate president" and played recordings of Trump pressuring officials, including a call in which he urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to change the result.
• Trump "ran out of nonviolent options." Impeachment manager Rep. Ted Lieu told senators that Trump turned to the "violent mob" after he "ran out of nonviolent options to maintain power," the Hill reports. Another impeachment manager, Del. Stacey Plaskett, looked at other violent actions by Trump supporters, including an October incident in Texas where Trump supporters tried to force a Biden campaign bus off the road. She noted that Trump tweeted video of the incident with added music and the comment "I LOVE TEXAS!"

(More Trump impeachment stories.)