Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

My live-tweet thread for impeachment trial coverage will start here.
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https://twitter.com/BBuchman_CNS/status/1359903966419640324

Senators are arriving, President Donald Trump's impeachment trial for incitement of insurrection reconvenes and we are now hearing a prayer from the Senate chaplain retired Rear Admiral Barry Black before the pledge & then off we shall go.
courthousenews.com/impeachment-sh…
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This is the final day of arguments for House impeachment managers.
You can catch a live stream here: c-span.org/video/?508743-…

There will be a short break every 2-3 hours and a 30-minute break for dinner if needed today, Majority Leader Schumer says.

.@RepRaskin begins by saying impeachment manager @RepDianaDeGette will show how rioters believed they were following Trump's marching orders and quickly takes his seat.

.@RepDianaDeGette was in the chamber during the attack. She saw guns pointed, she heard gunshots, she removed her member pin along with other lawmakers. They heard pounding on the flimsy gallery doors above them.
They were told to run. Here's what she saw:

When she saw that, she says, it prompts the question: who sent them here?
Donald Trump sent them here. Retweeted them. Invited them. Tagged by them online.
"This was not a hidden crime. The president told them to be there so they actually believed they would face no punishment"

Insurrectionists said they were coming to D.C. for Trump before the attack. He invited them with clear orders and gave a time and place to fight the certification in congress by any means necessary.
*The crowd echoed and cheered his words: Stop the steal.* @RepDianaDeGette says.

As Trump said "Show strength" this is what was being disseminated online through Parler:

It wasn't just that they were chanting "stop the steal," they were also chanting "fight for Trump," @RepDianaDeGette says in her presentation outlining evidence of how Trump incited the insurrectionists. "They were not hiding," she adds.
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In a video snippet posted on Twitter, a man is heard saying "He'll be happy, what do you mean?" when someone asks if Trump would approve of them ransacking the Capitol.

Insurrectionists were following Trump's orders. They didn't shy away from crimes because they didn't think they'd be punished, DeGette says. When Trump posted a message asking supporters to leave, this is how one reacted, calling on crowd to look at his Twitter for confirmation:

After playing other video of insurrectionists saying they only came to Washington because they were following orders, DeGette presents a tweet from the leader of the Proud Boys. She notes his avatar is Trump - that's the level of loyalty to the commander in chief

Chansley wrote a note for Pence saying he was coming for him.

But since being charged, the confession and regret simply cascades, @RepDianaDeGette says.

Driving the point home on incitement, DeGette runs through a list of statements similar to this one: "Trump just needs to fire the bat signal... deputize the patriots... and then the pain comes."
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We know who lit the fuse, DeGette says. "He told them to come to the Capitol and 'stop the steal.' They came because he told them to."
DeGette notes people said during the riot, and then as we've seen afterwards, in confession, "We are listening to Trump."
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"Hey, we were invited here" is what jurors hear on video of the rioters battling outside of the Capitol in the last clip that ends her presentation. She ends her remarks on that.

Raskin: "This pro-Trump insurrection did not spring into life from thin air. We saw how he riled them up with corrosive lies and rhetoric, so much so that they were ready and eager to... go on their mission for Trump"

"Jan. 6 was a culmination of the president's actions, not an aberration from them. The insurrection was the most violent episode - so far - in his continuing pattern and practice of emphasizing violence.
But I emphasize so far, Raskin says.
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Trump's own DHS called homegrown terrorism the #1 threat facing Americans, but no matter how many begged him to condemn extreme violence, race wars, he wouldn't do it. And that's because he wanted to provoke their violence for his own political gain, Raskin says.
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Raskin shows clips reaching all the way back to 2015 showing a history of Trump's violent tendencies and his brutal tactics - clip after clip of him telling supporters to "knock the crap out of" protesters at his rallies or to "get them the hell out.

In a clip from '16 where Trump is in Palm Beach, FL talking about a man he saw hit in a crowd at his rally and he condones it openly at a press conference, saying it was the right thing. He says of Gianforte who assaulted a reporter, any guy that can do a body slam, he's my guy.

We see clips of Charlottesville, Va where white supremacists and their ilk and organizations marched with torches chanting "Jews will not replace us " before Heather Heyer was murdered in the aftermath. Raskin reminds us of Trump's "There were very fine people on both sides"

Impeachment managers are establishing pattern and practice. They've reached all the way back to 2015 at this point and are now reviewing the calls to attack Guv. Whitmer in Michigan.
He tweeted "Liberate Michigan" and then his supporters stormed there

Raskin says this inciting of the attack on the capitol in Michigan, was a test run for Jan. 6.
He notes Trump thinks its clear armed protesters at the MI Capitol as a means to negotiate is perfectly reasonable:

The plot to kidnap Whitmer was well organized, Raskin notes, putting up this excerpt from court records.

Background:
courthousenews.com/six-men-accuse…

The plot to kidnap Guv. Whitmer and the insurrection at the Capitol share many similarities and Raskin notes the strong-arming from Trump, like how he harassed Whitmer in public on the same day six men were accused of trying to kidnap her.

Raskin: "The President of the United States could not bring himself to publicly oppose a kidnapping against a sitting governor of one of our 50 states. Trump knew exactly what he was doing in inciting the Jan. 6 mob. Exactly."
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What makes you think this is over? @RepRaskin begs of senators.
Listen to Thomas Paine, he says. Use your Common Sense.
He ordered his most hardcore supporters would direct violence at elected officials to attack and lay siege. He knew they would heed his call by using violence

Is there anyone in this room that believes he wouldn't do it again? Raskin asks.
The lawmaker who had his family threatened on 1/6 in sum asks: Would you bet the safety of your family on that? The lives of police officers? The future of the democracy?

President Trump declared his actions totally appropriate, @RepRaskin says, then:
"If he gets back into office and he does it again, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves to blame."

Floor now to impeachment manager @tedlieu on Trump's lack of remorse.
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.@tedlieu: "Trump must be held accountable because we must send a message that it is never patriotic to incite an attack against our nation's capital and that future generations will know they cannot follow in Trump's footsteps and get away with it."
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Ted Lieu notes that the National Guard did not arrive until after 5 PM and he notes how the Pentagon released a list of those who were consulted before deploying NG. It included VP Pence.

Trump was not on that list.

"As a veteran, I find it deeply dishonorable that our commander in chief did not protect us, and then later he tries to take credit for something he did not do. Shameful."-@tedlieu

Lieu says there was no remorse from Trump. It took Trump 3 days before he lowered the flag to pay respects to Officer Sicknick who died defending the Capitol.
"Some argue Trump made a mistake and gets a mulligan.
But we know he didn't make a mistake."

'If we make a mistake, we know, we would show remorse.
Trump didn't do any of that.
Why not?
Because he intended what happened on Jan. 6.
And how do we know that?
He told us."

Lieu notes Trump showed defiance in the days after, by being aloof, not equivocal with condemnation. He's tweeted hundreds of times a day when he wants to defend himself or prove a point.
Not this.

By refusing to condemn, by not saying everything he said in the months prior went too far, Lieu says essentially: Trump proclaims "he would do this again, he could do this again."

Lieu: Trump showed with his lack of remorse that "he and future presidents can run for a national election, lose, and inflame supporters, and incite insurrection and that would be totally appropriate."

Live stream available here: c-span.org/video/?508743-…

Breaking from live-tweeting as I prepare to update my report.

"In other words, Trump's spreading of disinformation... incited the insurrection on Jan. 6 and may lead to other violence," DeGette says against this joint intelligence bulletin:

I'll have an updated story with @JackRodgersCNS for you soon for @CourthouseNews

I have to sign off for the night but @JackRodgersCNS will have updates in our story as it develops. Stay tuned.

NOW: Going back years before armed rioters overran the Capitol, Democrats wrapped the 2nd impeachment trial of former President Trump with a stream of evidence they say shows his undeniable and shameful lack of remorse when it comes to inciting his base.
courthousenews.com/impeachment-sh…

"Trump must be held accountable because we must send a message that it is never patriotic to incite an attack against our nation’s capital.”

via myself & @JackRodgersCNS for @CourthouseNews
courthousenews.com/impeachment-sh…

I'll be back at it tomorrow, folks. Meet you here at noon ET.
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