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The architect of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial accused the “explosive and deranged” tactics of the former president’s lawyers of obscuring the strength of the case presented by House Democrats.
But top impeachment official Jamie Raskin said the Democrats’ case nonetheless seemed to convince even Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell of Trump’s guilt for inciting the Capitol riot.
Two days after Trump escaped conviction, and as his supporters reveled in the prospect of his return to frontline politics, Raskin also told the Washington Post that he was “both good and terrible to watch. McConnell’s post-verdict speech in which he excoriated Trump – but said he voted for acquittal because the trial was unconstitutional.
It was telling, Raskin said, that many of the 43 Republicans who voted for acquittal “felt the need to hang their hats” on this argument, which has been rejected by constitutional scholars and twice by the Senate itself. even.
Even Trump’s lawyers have not attempted to defend what Democrats have called Trump’s “big lie”: that he won an election that he actually lost by over 7 million popular votes and 74 electoral votes.
Trump’s legal team, led by a personal injury attorney and a former county prosecutor who refused to press charges against Bill Cosby, also failed to free Trump from responsibility for the attack on the Capitol, judging by the speeches of Republican senators.
Instead, Trump’s lawyers have denied a copious and unambiguous record of what the former president said and did, while drawing false parallels between routine political rhetoric and the attempted coup. Trump.
In the final impeachment trial vote, seven Republicans voted with Democrats to condemn Trump – a total of 53 votes, 10 less than the required total.
To show how the Republican Party has diverged from popular will, nearly six in 10 Americans – 58% – believe Trump should have been convicted, according to a new ABC News-Ipsos poll.
Raskin and his fellow House directors have been widely praised for their work. Their case featured heavy use of video of the events on Capitol Hill on January 6, when supporters told Trump to “fight like hell” to reverse his electoral defeat burst in, with some chasing lawmakers to kidnap or kill. Five people died as a direct result of the riot.
Raskin took on the lead role despite his son taking his own life in December. He told the Post he “told officials we were going to do a case with a lawyer but would not censor the emotion.”
There has been criticism among Democrats, after the leaders persuaded the Senate to vote to call witnesses, but then agreed to avoid this step, which could have lengthened the trial. On Sunday, Raskin said witnesses would not have changed their minds.
“These Republicans voted for acquittal in the face of this mountain of unrefuted evidence,” he told NBC. “There is no reasoning with people who basically act like members of a religious sect.”
Virgin Islands delegate Stacey Plaskett, also widely praised for her role in the trial, told CNN: “We didn’t need more witnesses, we needed more senators with thorns.”
More evidence of Trump’s alleged wrongdoing may yet be uncovered. Members of Congress from both parties called for a bipartisan 9/11 commission to investigate why government officials and law enforcement officials failed to stop the attack on Capitol Hill.
Trump’s attorneys Michael van der Veen, Bruce Castor and David Schoen celebrated their client’s acquittal, but were widely ridiculed for a case based on shaky free speech arguments and dispersed democratic attitudes in the face of demonstrations against racism and police brutality.
“They couldn’t get a summer internship with my cousin Vinny,” Raskin told the Post, possibly a deliberate reference to a weird and famous sweaty press conference given in November by another Trump lawyer , Rudy Giuliani, amid the former president’s failed attempts to prove mass fraud in his electoral defeat by Joe Biden.
My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 Oscar-winning comedy about an hapless lawyer played by Joe Pesci. Giuliani said it was his “one of my favorite legal movies because it’s from Brooklyn”.
Trump, who is from Queens, declined to testify in his own defense. Raskin called him “a profile of absolute cowardice” and said: “He betrayed the constitution, the country and its people.
“Trump supporters need to understand that he has no loyalty to them… Donald Trump is the past. We have to face the future. “
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