Impeachment trial: Trump lawyers claim 'fight
like hell' speech didn't incite riot
Trump’s lawyers issue argument after House of
Representatives’ memo says ‘Trump’s responsibility for the events of 6 January
is unmistakable’
Tom
McCarthy national affairs correspondent
@TeeMcSee
Tue 2 Feb
2021 18.52 GMT
In a
damning summary of the case against Donald Trump to be made at his impeachment
trial next week, prosecutors from the House of Representatives on Tuesday
submitted an 80-page memorandum documenting how the then president called
supporters to Washington and set them loose on the US Capitol.
Describing
scenes of violence inside the Capitol in previously undisclosed detail, the
prosecutors accused Trump of creating a “powder keg” of discontent among
supporters who on 6 January became an “armed, angry, and dangerous” mob.
Lawyers for
Trump issued a thinly argued 14-page document that said his speech did not amount
to a call to storm the Capitol, and argued his trial was unconstitutional
because he has left office.
In their
memo, the House impeachment managers said Trump’s supporters had arrived in
Washington “prepared to do whatever it took to keep him in power. All they
needed to hear was that their president needed them to ‘fight like hell’. All
they needed was for President Trump to strike a match.”
They placed
the blame for the violence that followed – five died, hundreds were injured,
members of Congress and staff were terrorized and the building was left with
“bullet marks in the walls, looted art, smeared feces in hallways” – squarely
at Trump’s door.
“President
Trump’s responsibility for the events of 6 January is unmistakable,” the prosecutors
charged.
The
document cleared the way for a dramatic showdown next week, prosecutors
indicating they will use new footage and witness accounts, thought to include
police officer testimony, to make their case in the eyes of the public – and to
extract the maximum political price from Republicans set to refuse to convict
Trump no matter what the evidence against him.
Trump is
charged with incitement of insurrection. If convicted, Trump could be barred
from political office. But it seems unlikely Democrats will find the 17
Republican votes they need.
Trump’s
lawyers said: “It is denied that President Trump incited the crowd to engage in
destructive behavior.
“It is
denied that the phrase, ‘If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have
a country anymore’ had anything to do with the action at the Capitol, as it was
clearly about the need to fight for election security in general, as evidenced
by the recording of the speech.”
The Trump
strategy was the result of a late personnel shift. After five lawyers resigned
at the weekend, the former president announced two new lawyers, frequent Fox
News contributor David Schoen and former county prosecutor Bruce Castor, as
replacements.
Schoen told
Fox News that “President Trump has condemned violence at all times” and “this
has nothing to do with President Trump”. That assertion appeared to wither next
to dozens of pages of footnoted Trump quotations going back six months that
peppered the document submitted by the House managers. The document culminated
with a description of Trump’s speech to supporters before he sent them to the
Capitol.
“Surveying
the tense crowd before him, President Trump whipped it into a frenzy, exhorting
followers to ‘Fight like hell [or] you’re not going to have a country
anymore’,” the memo said.
“Then he
aimed them straight at the Capitol, declaring: ‘You’ll never take back our
country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.’
“He
summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like
a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the prosecutors charged.
The nature
of Trump’s defense had been in question for weeks, amid reports he was
insisting lawyers build their case around the central lie the election was
stolen. A team, led by South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers, resisted the
strategy but the relationship fell apart over fees, according to multiple
reports. The memo filed on Tuesday said Trump could not be tried because he had
already left office.
“The 45th
president believes and therefore avers that as a private citizen, the Senate
has no jurisdiction over his ability to hold office,” it said.
The
argument was anticipated and forcefully rebutted by the House prosecutors, who
wrote, “That argument is wrong. It is also dangerous … There is no ‘January
Exception’ to impeachment or any other provision of the constitution. A
president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first
day in office through his last.”
The article
of impeachment was approved in a bipartisan House vote. Many constitutional
scholars agree there is debate to be had over whether Trump’s speeches amount to
“incitement” as charged.
“The rights
of speech and political participation mean little if the president can provoke
lawless action if he loses at the polls,” the House managers wrote. “President
Trump’s incitement of deadly violence to interfere with the peaceful transfer
of power, and to overturn the results of the election, was therefore a direct
assault on core first amendment principles.”
The
document underscored how narrowly the lawmakers trapped in the Capitol on 6
January and the country escaped more calamitous violence.
“Rioters
chanted, ‘Hang Mike Pence!’” the memo said, noting that the vice-president had
informed Trump he would fill his ceremonial role of counting the electoral vote
in favor of Joe Biden. “Another shouted, ‘Mike Pence, we’re coming for you …
fucking traitor!’ Others shouted, ‘Tell [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi we’re
coming for that bitch’.
“To protect
our democracy and national security – and to deter any future president who
would consider provoking violence in pursuit of power – the Senate should
convict President Trump and disqualify him from future federal officeholding,”
the memo concluded.
“Only after
President Trump is held to account for his actions can the nation move forward
with unity of purpose and commitment to the constitution.”
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