After two days of the prosecution’s oral
arguments, the trial now turns to Trump’s defense team.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/02/12/us/impeachment-trial
The
fast-moving impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump will turn on
Friday to his defense, with his legal team seeking to persuade senators that he
should be acquitted of inciting an insurrection.
Mr. Trump’s
lawyers will make their oral arguments after the House impeachment managers,
who are acting as the prosecution, laid out their case against the former
president over two days. They relied partly on chilling footage of the Capitol
assault that was intended to convey the deadly consequences of the president’s
behavior after his election defeat.
During its
presentation on Friday, the defense team is expected to argue that contrary to
the portrayal offered by the prosecution, Mr. Trump did not encourage the
violence that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress met to certify
the election results.
The former
president’s lawyers are expected to assert that his remarks to supporters that
day are protected under the First Amendment, an argument that the House
managers sought to pre-emptively rebut as they addressed senators on Thursday.
Mr. Trump’s
lawyers may also return to the matter of whether it is constitutional to hold
the trial in the first place, since he is no longer in office. They got off to
a shaky start on Tuesday during a debate over the trial’s constitutionality,
delivering a performance that enraged Mr. Trump. After hearing arguments on
that issue, the Senate voted 56 to 44 for the trial to proceed.
The trial
is moving rapidly, which has advantages for Republicans and Democrats.
Democratic lawmakers want to move forward with President Biden’s proposed
coronavirus relief package, and impeachment will consume much of the oxygen on
the Senate side of the Capitol for as long as the trial lasts. Republicans are
grappling with deep divisions over the party’s future now that Mr. Trump is out
of office, and the proceedings are centering a floodlight on his conduct.
Mr. Trump’s
defense team has up to 16 hours over two days for oral arguments, but one of
his lawyers, David I. Schoen, said they may use only three to four hours. Once
they are finished, senators will have up to four hours to question the two
sides.
A final
vote on whether to convict Mr. Trump could take place on Saturday, a time frame
that would make it the fastest impeachment trial for a president in American
history.
— Thomas Kaplan
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