Live updates: Trump's defense team to focus on process arguments
12 February 2021
Donald Trump's lawyers plan to argue four key points during their defense of the former president today — all focused on process.
The big picture: Trump's team will spend just a few hours presenting their case and plans to do just enough to sustain the votes needed for acquittal, knowing that most Republican senators are dug in on their position that impeaching a former president is unconstitutional.
Details: Trump's team, led by Bruce Castor and David Schoen, will argue ...
- The trial is unconstitutional
- There was no due process
- Convicting Trump violates his First Amendment rights
- Impeachment doesn't unify the country
What to watch: Trump's lawyers will rely on video, albeit far less graphic than the images and audio shown by the House impeachment managers.
- They'll air footage of the certification process surrounding the 2016 election, when a handful of Democrats — including Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead impeachment manager — objected to the Electoral College results making Trump president.
- They will also home in on Trump telling his supporters at the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally to "peacefully and patriotically" make their way to the Capitol.
The defense will also point to a series of facts showing the post-rally riot had been planned, something House managers did for different reasons.
- They'll point out that pipe bombs were placed before the speech and that Trump administration officials had offered federal law enforcement to help secure the city prior to the rally.
- This evidence, the defense will say, shows Trump's words at the rally didn't directly incite the attack.
The bottom line: Republicans lawmakers — as well as Trump’s defense team — agree that they want to get the trial over as quickly as possible, given the beating they’re taking from the media and the strength of the Democrats' presentation.
This story will be updated throughout the day with highlights from the trial.
Go deeper:
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.