Former President Trump bears “unmistakable” blame for sending a violent mob of his supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the House impeachment managers said Tuesday in a legal brief for Mr. Trump’s upcoming Senate trial.
Mr. Trump endangered the lives of all lawmakers when he aimed his supporters “like a loaded cannon” at the Capitol, the Democrats argued in their brief as they seek to bar the former president from ever holding office again.
“His conduct endangered the life of every single member of Congress, jeopardized the peaceful transition of power and line of succession, and compromised our national security,” the Democratic managers wrote. “This is precisely the sort of constitutional offense that warrants disqualification from federal office.”
Their legal brief details for the first time the arguments that Democrats will present at the impeachment trial that begins next week.
“If provoking an insurrectionary riot against a Joint Session of Congress after losing an election is not an impeachable offense, it is hard to imagine what would be,” the brief stated.
Lawyers for Mr. Trump are due to file their own brief on Tuesday. One of those attorneys, David Schoen, said on Fox News that will argue the impeachment trial of a private citizen is unconstitutional and that Mr. Trump’s address to a massive crowd in Washington on Jan. 6 before the riot was protected by the First Amendment.
Democrats said Mr. Trump must be held accountable for inciting the mob by telling lies that the election was “stolen” from him.
“The only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the Democrats wrote in their 77-page brief.
