Impeachment manager Jamie Raskin is now highlighting Trump's tweets targeting MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and urging supporters to "liberate Michigan." His supporters stormed the MI Capitol two weeks later, and a kidnapping plot against Whitmer was later foiled.
Raskin says that the assault on the MI state capitoll was "effectively a state-level dress rehearsal for the siege on the U.S. Capitol...it was a preview of the coming insurrection."
Raskin is now outlining the horrifying plot to kidnap Whitmer and seek to begin a civil war. Trump did not defend Whitmer or criticize the extremists who wanted to kidnap her, Raskin said.

"Governor Whitmer has done a terrible job," Trump tweeted, demanding Whitmer thank him.
Raskin plays a video of Trump at a rally in MI criticizing Whitmer while supporters chanted "lock her up." He also said about the kidnapping plot that "maybe it was a problem," then complained Whitmer didn't thank him for federal law enforcement foiling the plan.
Raskin says that if Trump is allowed to return to elected office, he will incite violence again.

"President Trump declared his conduct totally appropriate. So, if he gets back into office and it happens again, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves."

• • •

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More from @Grace_Segers

12 Feb
VIBE CHECK for the first 40 minutes of arguments from the president's attorneys on day four of the trial.

Republicans seem very receptive to the president's lawyers, unsurprisingly. Democrats? Not so much. Details below:
Only six Republicans were in the chamber during the prayer and pledge, and only roughly a dozen Democrats, meaning that they missed Chaplain Barry Black pray in his sonorous voice for "non-partisan patriotism" to infuse the Senate.
Hawley is back in the chamber. Warner and Markey had a brief chat when van der Veen first started talking, with Markey gesticulating in the gesturing to the dais. Tillis sat in Cassidy's seat for a while at the beginning and showed Sasse a paper. Sasse nodded and took notes.
Read 10 tweets
11 Feb
Vibe check for the final 30 minutes of today's proceedings:
The mood was pretty restless as senators waited for Neguse and Raskin to wrap up, particularly on the GOP side.
Cramer and Johnson continued to be incredibly chatty during the end of Neguse's remarks, with Cramer laughing frequently. At one point they were joined in their conversation by Sullivan. Ernst also looked over at the three of them at one point and nodded.
Barasso brought what looked like an article printout to Romney, who stored it under his legal pad on his desk. Paul was doing a more avant garde doodle over the Capitol watermark on his legal pad, using pen instead of pencil and drawing lines like a firework above the building.
Read 5 tweets
11 Feb
Final vibe check of the evening:

Senators seemed worn out in the 7pm hour, drained from reliving 1/6 through dramatic videos. Their reactions were very muted, even to more disturbing videos.
Several senators stood, including many of the usual standing suspects from the last trial. Romney stood with his hands on his chair. Braun and Young also stood for a while. On the Democratic side, Gillibrand, Schatz, Warner, Bennet and Kaine stood up at one point or another.
There was no reaction on the Republican side when Castro said Trump left everyone in the Capitol for dead. Sasse squinted, meme-like, at the video of Trump's apology next to the riot video.

(This is the meme) Image
Read 9 tweets
10 Feb
2 TRUMP 2 IMPEACHMENT
DAY 2 AT 2:00
VIBE CHECK

I was in the chamber from 2pm-3pm. First of all, extremely important to note that we got our first milk sighting - Sen. Richard Burr brought in a glass of milk and drank it while Rep. Ted Lieu was talking, about 15 minutes.
Before the trial reconvened, there were several senators in the chamber chatting. One notable convo was between Cornyn, Shelby and Tuberville, later joined by Manchin. On the Democratic side, Sanders put his arm around Kaine at one point, and they appeared to have a big laugh.
I'd say the Senate was about 2/3 full when the Senate reconvened. Hawley is in the visitors gallery again, in the third row. He pulled out several manila folders while I was in. He spent around 70% of his time paying attention to those documents.
Read 9 tweets
10 Feb
"The evidence will show you that ex-president Trump was no innocent bystander," Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin says, adding that Trump "surrendered his role as commander in chief and became the inciter in chief."
"He incited this attack and he saw it coming. To us, it may have felt like chaos and madness, but there was method in the madness that day," Raskin says about Trump.

He says the attack was an organized attempt to overturn the Electoral College results.
Raskin: "This case is not about blaming an innocent bystander...this is about holding accountable the person singularly responsible for inciting the attack."
Read 37 tweets
9 Feb
The Senate voted to uphold the constitutionality of the trial by a vote of 56 to 44. GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy joined the 5 Republicans who previously supported holding the trial. This vote that there will not be enough votes to convict former President Trump.
Republican ayes:

Cassidy
Collins
Murkowski
Romney
Sasse
Toomey
Earlier today, Cassidy told reporters that the impeachment managers had a "good opening" and made "very good arguments."
Read 4 tweets

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