House impeachment officials slam Trump in latest pre-trial brief: ‘Most serious constitutional crime ever’

House impeachment officials accused former President Donald Trump of “the most serious constitutional crime ever committed by a president” in their final brief before Trump’s Senate impeachment trial began for de good Tuesday.

Their brief – technically a response to the Trump team’s response to the impeachment article – follows Trump’s attorneys submission of their full preliminary brief earlier Monday.

In their brief, the House Directors most prominently counter the two main defenses that Trump’s legal team has put forward – that the Senate cannot constitutionally hold a trial for the impeachment of a former president, and that the Trump’s conduct was protected by the First Amendment.

Impeachment officials generally fall back on arguments they made in their comprehensive preliminary brief submitted last week on whether the Senate has jurisdiction to judge the impeachment of a former president.

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“The intent of the authors, the text of the Constitution, and past congressional practice all confirm that President Trump should stand trial for his constitutional crimes in power,” the brief read. “There is no ‘January exception’ to the Constitution that allows presidents to abuse power in their last days without accountability.”

On Trump’s First Amendment defense, impeachment officials said the president’s lawyers’ argument was “totally baseless.”

President Trump’s incitement to insurgency was in itself a frontal assault on the First Amendment. In terms of law and logic – not to mention common sense – his attempt to build on the principles of the freedom of expression is completely unfounded, ”the brief said. “[T]Be clear, this is not about “protected speech”. The House did not impeach President Trump for expressing an unpopular political opinion. He removed him from office because he willfully incited a violent insurgency against the government. “

Impeachment officials are also responding to Trump’s bogus claims that he won the election, which Trump’s lawyers defended in a filing last week as impossible to prove “correct or not.”

“There is not sufficient evidence for a reasonable jurist to conclude that the 45th president’s statements were correct or not, and he therefore denies that they were false,” Trump’s lawyers said.

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House directors fired back on Monday: “To label these responses as implausible would be an act of charity. President Trump’s repeated claims about a ‘rigged’ and ‘stolen’ election were false, no matter how many contortions his lawyers take action to avoid saying it. When President Trump demanded that the armed and angry mob at his Save America Rally “ fight like hell ” or “ you’re not going to have a country anymore, ” he did not urge them to form political action committees on “ electoral security in general. ”

Representative Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Is the principal impeachment manager representing the House in the Senate.

Instead of acting to heal the nation, or at the very least focus on prosecuting the offenders who stormed the Capitol, the Speaker of the House and his allies attempted to bluntly exploit the chaos of the moment for their own political gain.

– Trump Defense Team

Trump’s defense team outlined their strategy in a preliminary brief on Monday, calling the impeachment effort “political theater.”

“Instead of acting to heal the nation, or at the very least focus on prosecuting the offenders who stormed the Capitol, the Speaker of the House and his allies tried to exploit harshly the chaos of the moment for their own political gain, “short said.

The Trump team’s brief also states that Trump’s comments at the Jan. 6 rally he organized ahead of the congressional meeting to certify the presidential election outcome, does not line up with the Democrats’ account that he incited the crowd to storm the Capitol.

“Mr. Trump spoke for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Of the more than 10,000 words spoken, Mr. Trump used the word ‘fight’ a little more than a handful of times and each time in the figuratively accepted sense since. long in public discourse when urging people to stand up and use their voices to be heard on issues of importance to them; he was not and could not be interpreted as encouraging acts of violence, “the brief states. of Trump.

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The Senate trial technically began weeks ago when impeachment officials passed the article of impeachment against Trump to the Senate, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. And Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., have reached a deal to put in-person main audiences so that the Senate can immediately make critical nominations for President Biden’s cabinet.

The deal included two sets of briefs from Trump’s legal team and impeachment officials – one last week and one Monday. Now an agreement on how to conduct in-person hearings is circulating in the Senate. This agreement would allow four hours of debate on whether the trial is constitutional Tuesday before a vote on “constitutionality”.

It would also allow the trial to end at 5 p.m. on Friday at the request of Trump’s lawyer David Schoen, who observes the Jewish Sabbath. The trial would then resume on Sunday.

Traditionally, the Senate hears indictments six days a week and takes Sunday off. This would effectively change the shutdown day from Sunday to Saturday.

The Senate will come into play on Tuesday at 1 p.m. under the chairmanship of Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

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The House impeached Trump on January 13, a week after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol as lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence met in joint session to certify the outcome of the ‘presidential election. Crowds forced the Capitol Lock down about an hour after Trump’s remarks ended, then raped and ransacked the building as hundreds of lawmakers and Pence were forced into hiding.

Those responsible for impeachment are highly unlikely to secure a conviction from the former president, which could bar him from performing his duties in the future. Last month, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Raised a point of order claiming the impeachment trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.

Forty-five Republicans voted yes, which means that at least 12 would have to change their minds on this issue for those responsible for impeachment to even have a chance to reach the 67 vote threshold to condemn Trump.

Fox News’ Kelly Phares and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.