11 February 2021
House impeachment managers Wednesday used previously unseen security video, unheard police radio calls and undisclosed facts to try to shock Senate jurors into a conviction in Donald Trump's second impeachment trial.
Why it matters: We were on the ground with senators throughout the Jan. 6 insurrection. Everyone was was isolated from the activity on that day. On Wednesday, the senators sat in their own chamber, audio booming like a movie theater, seeing the danger that nearly engulfed them. A nation of constituents watched along at home.
- "Multiple law enforcement injuries," one officer screamed into his radio.
- "They're throwing poles at us," said another radio call.
- "The crowd is using munitions against us," said yet one more.
While the odds are still against Democrats convincing at least 17 Republican senators in joining them to find Trump guilty of inciting the Capitol attack, the impeachment managers forged ahead with a case that will make the final vote as difficult as possible for them.
The presentation left Republicans and Democrats alike visibly shaken. They watched harrowing scenes of rioters tearing apart the very desks where they sat.
- During short breaks in the halls outside the chamber, GOP lawmakers had difficulty defending their stubborn stance on acquittal.
- It was clearly more of a challenge for them to justify than it was during Trump's first impeachment trial, when so many were eager to share their disdain for the proceedings with reporters.
- “Every time I watch it, it is as riveting as the day that it occurred," Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) told Axios. "It was just as tragic then as it is now.”
The managers made their case with a succession of presentations that methodically laid out a case showing the transformation of former President Trump as he tried to halt certification of the 2020 election results.
- First, he and his backers tried through more than 60 lawsuits.
- They then shifted to direct appeals to election officials and lawmakers in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
- Finally, when those peaceful tactics failed, the managers alleged that Trump resorted to violence by inciting a crowd to head to the Capitol as the House and Senate began to certify the election on Jan. 6.
In one previously undisclosed moment, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) was seen heading toward the Capitol Rotunda when Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman turned him around and pointed him toward a safer exit.
- Romney was the only Senate Republican to vote to impeach Trump during his first trial. He has been supportive of trying him the second time, as well.
- Asked during a recess whether he thinks some of his colleagues will vote to convict, Romney replied: "I can't predict how other people will react."
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.