***Live Updates*** Trump Impeachment Trial Day Five

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 11: In this handout provided by congress.gov webcast, lead impea
congress.gov via Getty Images
Tony Lee

Former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial continues on Saturday.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates.

All times Eastern.

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5:15 PM: Pelosi, when asked about censure, says: “We censure people for using stationary for the wrong purpose. We don’t censure people for inciting an insurrection that kills people at the Capitol.”

4:50 PM: Collins, on the Senate floor, says Trump kept up the “drumbeat” of pressure on Pence at the January 6 speech. She says Trump was telling Pence to “ignore the Constitution” and “refuse to count the certified votes” while “further agitating the crowd” and “directing them to march to the Capitol.” She says “context was everything,” and says tossing a lit match into a pile of dry leaves is different than tossing it into a swimming pool.

4:19 PM:

4:08 PM: McConnell calls January 6 a “disgrace” and said the mob did what they did because they had been fed falsehoods by Trump. McConnell says Trump is “morally responsible” for the riot, and there is no question about that and it was “foreseeable.” But McConnell says the Senate is “not invited to act as the nation’s overarching moral tribunal.” He says he believes the Senate has no power to convict and disqualify a former officeholder who is now a private citizens.

3:55 PM: Schumer, now speaking, says the case against Trump was “open and shut.” He says there is nothing more “un-American” than what Trump did on January 6. He says this was the “most egregious violation of the president’s oath of offie” and a “textbook” and “classical example of an impeachable offense.” He calls the former president’s defense “feeble” and sometimes “incomprehensible.” Schumer says January 6 will live as a “day of infamy” and the failure to convict Trump will live as a “vote of infamy.”

3:50 PM: 57 Guilty, 43 Not Guilty. Trump acquitted because two-thirds did not find him guilty.

Sens. Burr, Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, Romney, Sasse, Toomey vote “guilt.”

The former president responds: 

3:35 PM: Senate now ready to vote on the article of impeachment.

3:25 PM: Raskin says Democrats have about 27 minutes left. He says he will resist the urge to rebut every false thing Van der Veen said in the last hour. He says we have made some progress because Trump’s team lectured House Managers that it was not an insurrection. He says van der Veen today called it a “violent insurrection” and denounced it.

2:55 PM: Van der Veen says the rioting had been “pre-planned” and had been “pre-meditated.” He says Democrats demanded National Guard forces be withdrawn after left-wing rioting last summer. He says political leaders could have downplayed the need for security because they played into the “false narrative” of what happened last summer. He says Pelosi never called it an insurrection when left-wing activists took over federal courthouses and vandalized the Treasury building. Van der Veen now talking about how Harris encouraged supporters to donate to a bail fund for rioters so they can do it over and over again. He says Democrats incited rioters more than Trump incited the insurrectionists. He says “it’s a hypocrisy that the House Managers have laid at the feed of this chamber.” Van der Veen blames a “bloodthirsty” media that “glorified civil unrest” for ratings for contributing to the Jan. 6 riots. He says House Democrats have created a new legal theory to protect speech based on the party label next to someone’s name. He says House Democrats have trampled every “tradition and norm of due process.” He says Trump was given opportunity to question the propriety of various pieces of evidence or engage in fact-finding because much of what the House Managers introduced were based on anonymous sources. He accuses the House Managers of taking a “kitchen sink approach” because their case is so weak. He says the impeachment trial has been a “charade” and nothing more than a pursuit of a “political vendetta” against Trump. Van der Veen says there is no jurisdiction, each allegation had to be divisible, and there was a lack of due process that was “shocking” and “way over the top.” He also says there were no “words of incitement” after mumbling about the First Amendment. He says Senators do not have to indulge the “impeachment lust” of Democrats.

2:50 PM: Van der Veen says what took place on January 6 was a “grave tragedy” and the “infiltration of the Capitol” was a “heinous act.” He claims the former president is also “deeply disturbed” by the video. He says the question before the Senators is not whether there was a violent insurrection (He says, on this point, everyone agrees.), but whether Trump willfully incited an insurrection against the United States. He says the act of incitement never happened and Trump did not incite violence with his January 6 speech.

2:47 PM: Van der Veen back up mumbling about the “doctrine of evidence.” He says House Managers sent them the evidence while he was already trying the case in the Senate. Van der Veen says House Managers breached basic rules of procedure by introducing new evidence during the closing.

2:45 PM: Raskin, reserves time, after his closing that cited Exodus (“Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil”) and referenced a Capitol police officer who was called the N-word multiple times by the rioters.

2:39 PM: Raskin says Trump not only betrayed his own country, but he also betrayed his own mob. Trump has “gone quiet and dark,” he says as members of his mob who thought they were “all part of the same team” face charges.

2:32 PM: Neguse  mentioned that one Republican and one Democrat in the Senate today voted to override the veto. He says House Managers are here not because hate the former president but because they love the republic. He says he fears the violence on January 6 may have been “just the beginning.”

2:26 PM: Neguse says none of Trump’s team’s arguments have to deal with whether the former president “incited” the attacks.

2:19 PM: Neguse, after quoting Kentucky’s Henry Clay, says Trump’s team has offered up distractions and excuses so they do not have to address the facts. Neguse wants to explain why Trump’s team’s distractions are precisely that and do not prevent the Senate from convicting Trump. He says the argument that Trump can’t be convicted for conduct while in office because he is no longer in office does not make any sense. He says impeachment is a remedy separate and apart from the criminal justice system because the presidency comes with extraordinary powers not bestowed upon ordinary citizens. He says Trump is charged with a Constitutional offense and not a criminal offense, so the relevant question is would the Framers have considered a president who incited a violent mob to stop the certification of Electoral College votes an impeachable offense.
He asks: “Who among us thinks the answer to that question would be no?”

Neguse says the former president has counsel during the trial and have argued vigorously on his behalf. He says the former president was invited to testify and decline. “You can’t claim there is no due process when you decline to participate in the process,” he says.

2:15 PM: Dean says the insurrectionists are still listening and she didn’t know before she became a House Manager how much Trump incited the rioters. She says she did not to the extent his followers were listening to his every word and how close Members of Congress were to grave danger.

2:01 PM: Dean says Trump was warned by officials that his supporters wanted to commit violence and he ignored them. She plays clips of Trump “inciting” his supporters before the storming of the Capitol. She says the insurrections before, during, and after the attack said they “were doing this” for Trump and following his orders. She says rioters confirmed this after the attack to federal officials. Leahy admonishes Dean that new evidence is not allowed during closing and will be stricken after she plays a a clip from the January 6 rally.

1:53 PM: Closing arguments continue after Lee withdraws his point of order.  She says the defense is wrong that one speech cannot cause an insurrection. She says the defense is wrong that Trump could not have caused an insurrection because it was “pre-planned.” She says the defense’s assertion that the insurrection was “pre-planned” supporters their argument because Trump incited supporters to believe in his “Big Lie.”

1:43 PM: Senate in a quorum call as Sen. Lee raises a point of order.

1:37 PM: Cicilline says Trump’s failure to condemn the attack was a “desertion of duty.”

1:16 PM: Cicilline says Trump incited violence and many people were ready for violence as the House Managers largely repeat arguments they made this week. Cicilline says an innocent person would jump at the chance to testify, but former President Trump declined. He says that the beginning of Trump’s speech “incited an initial wave” of rioters going to the Capitol. He says a much larger wave came after Trump finished his speech. He says it is just not possible that Trump did not know Pence was in danger and was being evacuated from the Senate floor. He says Trump betrayed everyone, including Officer Eugene Goodman, after inciting a riot only he could stop. He says Trump’s further incitement was a “dereliction of duty.”

1:12 PM: Raskin says Trump “delighted” and “reveled” in it when he saw footage of the rioters. He says there was a long period of silence as the mob beat the daylights out of the police officers and hunted own Mike Pence as a traitor. Raskin says Trump must be convicted for the safety of our democracy and people.

1:09 PM: Raskin accuses of Trump of summoning the mob, but says he did not want to be near the action as he scurried back to the White House. He says the mob “unleashed unparalleled” violence against  police officers.

1:00 PM: Raskin says the House Managers have presented irrefutable evidence. Raskin praises Liz Cheney and reads her statement. He says she survived the attempts by Trump supporters to “cancel” her.

12:59 PM: Raskin begins his closing argument and says any reasonable person would concluded that Trump proverbially let the first start and wanted to keep it going.

12:49 PM: Castor says they are agreeable to Herrera Beutler’s statement’s into the record. The House Managers will enter her statement into the record. Raskin is reading Herrera Beutler’s statement.

12:35 PM: Senators gathering back on the floor.

11:43 AM: Senate in recess until 12:30 PM, as they try to figure out what to do about witnesses/depositions.

11:40 AM:

11:35 AM:

11:30 AM:

11:20 AM:

11:15 AM:

11:10 AM:

11:05 AM:

11:00 AM:

10:50 AM:

10:40 AM:

10:35 AM: Motion agreed to by a 55-45 vote.

Schumer calls for an absence of quorum.

10:30 AM: Graham, after it is clear the Senate will vote to call witnesses (Collins, Murkowski, Sasse, Romney), changes his vote to aye.

10:20 AM: Leahy says all parties must refrain from using language that is not conducive to civil discourse. He says the question before the Senate is the motion to subpoena witnesses and documents. The clerk will now call the roll.

10:16 AM: Van der Veen says he wants depositions from Pelosi and Vice President Harris and “not by Zoom.” He wants depositions done in his office in Philadelphia (“Philly-delphia”) as Senators mock him and laugh at him.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” van der Veen says.

10:11 AM: Raskin tells van der Veen that this is the proper time to call for witnesses because this was the time they were allotted to decide if they wanted to call witnesses. Raskin says the information that came out last night apparently backed up by contemporaneous notes will put to rest any lingering doubts that Trump did not want to defend the Capitol. Raskin says the only person the former president’s counsel should interview is their client, Trump. Raskin claims the “dereliction of duty” is built into the incitement charge.

10:07 AM: Van der Veen says there is only one article of impeachment and one charge, and that’s “incitement of violence and insurrection.” He says House Managers did not investigate the case before bringing impeachment. He says if they want to have witnesses, he is going to need over 100 depositions.

10:05 AM: Raskin says House Managers have presented “overwhelming evidence” over the last few days that Trump incited the insurrectionists to storm the Capitol and left no doubt that the Senate should convict. Raskin references Rep. Herrera Beutler’s Friday evening statement about Trump’s comments, and he would like to subpoena Herrera Beutler and her contemporaneous notes.

10:01 AM: Trial resumes.

9:59 AM:

9:50 AM: Senators are expected to make closing arguments unless Democrats decide at the last minute to call witnesses.

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