Democrats say Trump’s impeachment defense is ‘completely baseless’

House Democrats on Monday categorically rejected the legal argument put forward by the former President TrumpDonald TrumpDominion Spokesman: Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, ‘Asks to Be Prosecuted’, DC officers who defended Capitol, Sicknick’s family honored in the US Super Bowl will join the Human Rights Council of UN: report READ MOREThe defense team, dismissing claims he was not responsible for last month’s deadly attack on the Capitol.

In a legal brief filed by the nine Democratic impeachment officials, lawmakers say Trump incited the mob of his supporters who carried out the Jan.6 attack and said Congress had every right to condemn the former president to prevent him from again occupying high office. .

“The Chamber declares that every allegation in the indictment article is true, and that all affirmative defenses and legal defenses set out in the response are completely unfounded,” the leaders wrote.

The filing is just the latest in an exchange of legal documents between the two sides ahead of the Senate impeachment trial, which begins on Tuesday.

House Democrats, joined by 10 Republicans, impeached Trump on January 13, exactly one week after the Capitol siege. In the weeks leading up to the attack, Trump had made false claims that widespread electoral fraud had “robbed” him of the election. Hours before the siege, he amplified these empty claims and urged thousands of his supporters to march on Capitol Hill, where Congress was certifying victory for its opponent, the president. Joe bidenJoe Biden How Biden’s student loan policies are rigged in favor of government and nonprofit workers Biden is bringing America back to a more civilized government Ready to take off: three simple guidelines for flying after vaccination.

The ensuing attack forced the evacuation of lawmakers in both chambers and resulted in several deaths, including those of a Capitol Hill police officer and a rioter who was gunned down by another policeman while he was trying to barge into the Speaker’s Hall just next to the Chamber.

Trump’s defense team, led by David Schoen and Bruce Castor, released a lengthy legal brief earlier Monday, arguing their client cannot be convicted because the Constitution does not allow the impeachment of former presidents.

Trump’s lawyers also argue that the former president was well within his First Amendment rights both to question the outcome of an electoral process he deemed corrupt and to urge his supporters to protest those results. . If some in the crowd subsequently turned violent, the lawyers added, it was only because they misinterpreted Trump’s message.

“The truth is that the people who violated the Capitol in a criminal way did it of their own accord and for their own reasons, and they are the subject of criminal prosecution,” the defense brief reads.

They demanded that the charges be dismissed “immediately”.

Democrats take a very different view of Trump’s guilt, and their only impeachment article accuses the former president of “inciting insurgency.”

In their brief on Monday, those responsible for the indictment, led by Rep. Jamie raskinJamin (Jamie) Ben RaskinSunday shows preview: Budget resolution sets the stage for 0.9 trillion stimulus; Senate prepares for impeachment trial READ: Trump lawyers reject request for impeachment testimony Senate Republicans don’t want Trump testifying in impeachment trial MORE (D-Md.), Argue that Trump could face an impeachment trial since the behavior in question occurred while he was still in the White House.

“Presidents take a sacred oath that binds them from their first day in office until the last,” they wrote. “There is no ‘January exception’ to the Constitution that allows presidents to abuse power in their last days without accountability.”

Democrats also rejected the defense of the First Amendment, saying Trump’s language – particularly during the Jan.6 pre-siege rally – was inherently violent and could only be interpreted as a call to arms against his political opponents on Capitol Hill. .

“When President Trump demanded that the armed and angry mob at his Save America Rally ‘fight like hell’ or ‘you are not going to have any more countries’, he did not urge them to form committees of political action on “electoral security”. in general, ”the Democrats wrote.

“The House did not impeach President Trump for expressing an unpopular political opinion,” they added. “He removed him from office because he willfully incited a violent insurgency against the government.”