House Managers To Use New Capitol Security Footage In Their Case Against Trump On Wednesday

The managers will show never-before-seen Capitol security footage in their presentation to demonstrate the extent of the violence that occurred and the threat the rioters posed to everyone in the Capitol, according to senior aides on the House impeachment team. The aides told reporters that the footage would be used as part of a compelling presentation that shows a view of the “extreme violence” on January 6, as the managers argue that the rioters were incited by Trump.

They declined to say specifically what the new footage was, or whether it came from Capitol Police or Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police.

House Democrats’ previewed their case against Trump on the trial’s opening day Tuesday, playing a dramatic and visceral 13-minute video that interspersed disturbing video of the rioters breaching the Capitol, attacking police officers and invoking Trump’s name with the President’s January 6 speech and tweets.

The managers plan to argue Wednesday that the riot was the not just the result of Trump’s speech, but was the culmination of Trump’s conduct over several months about the election being stolen that built toward the speech that day, according to the aides.

The video showed how managers are seeking to force senators to grapple with the damage and destruction the rioters caused as they tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election win and endangered the lives of lawmakers and former Vice President Mike Pence.

“Senators, this cannot be our future. This cannot be the future of America,” the House’s lead impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said Tuesday. “We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people under the Constitution of the United States.”

The House managers will have 16 hours over the next two days to present their case to the Senate, in which House Democrats plan to argue that Trump is responsible for the insurrection by whipping up his supporters in the months before the election with fraudulent claims about the election, and then failing to respond to stop the attack as it was unfolding.

House team does not think it will need the full 16 hours, the aides say. They expect to use most of their eight hours on Wednesday, but may have a slightly shorter day on Thursday as they finish making their case.

While the managers’ case is likely to hit home for senators who were forced to flee from the rioters on January 6, there nevertheless appears to be no path for Democrats to reach the two-thirds vote necessary to convict Trump and bar him from running for future office.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted 56 to 44 that the trial was constitutional, meaning 44 Senate Republicans voted that the trial itself was unconstitutional. While one Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, changed his vote as a result of the strong Democratic arguments on the constitutionality of the trial, other Republicans stayed firmly opposed even as they panned the meandering presentation made by Trump’s legal team on Tuesday.

Trump’s lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, will have up to 16 hours over two days to make a more detailed case against the impeachment charge beginning Friday, though they aren’t expected to use all of that time.

After Trump’s team wraps up, the Senate will have up to four hours to ask written questions to the legal teams, and then the House managers could seek a vote on hearing from witnesses. But it’s not clear yet they plan to do so, which could lead to a final vote on conviction occurring this weekend or possibly on Monday.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments Wednesday.