Thread by @kyledcheney

TRUMP team starting with pure partisan angle, calling impeachment part of a liberal witch hunt of "venageance" against Trump.

"No thinking person could seriously believe that the president’s January 6 speech was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection.”

Trump's attorney, Mark van der Veen, suggests that Trump simply encouraged the crowd to respect the processes in the Electoral Count Act and the Constitution.

This is divorced from Trump's entire course of conduct post-Nov. 3, including Jan. 6.

Van der Veen begins with a falsehood, suggesting one fo the first arrestees was a "leader of antifa." This not only perpetuates a conspiracy theory that the rioters were perpetrated by left wing extremists, it's just simply not supported by any evidence.

He is clearly referring to John Sullivan: justice.gov/opa/page/file/…

Sullivan has previously aligned himself with Black Lives Matter, but his actually leanings are the subject of debate and there's ZERO evidence that he's a "leader of antifa."

The initial phase of Trump's defense was absolutely loaded with falsehoods. The baseball field shooter didn't claim to be "inspired" by Bernie Sanders. He had clear left-leaning views, but there's no evidence Sanders "inspired" the shooting spree.

SCHOEN's attacks on the Democrats' evidence does not reflect the reality of the trial procedures adopted by the Senate. The evidence isn't formally admitted until after the "opening arguments." The Senate then has discretion about what to admit and what to exclude.

By the same token, the process requires sharing evidence with the Trump defense team 48 hours before admitting it.