House Impeachment Managers Filed Their Trump Senate Trial Brief — Here’s Everything You Need to Know

After much anticipation, “The Trial Memorandum of the United States House of Representatives In the Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump ” was released on Tuesday. The 80-page document lays out the facts underlying the impeachment, the primary arguments in favor of conviction, and includes detailed rebuttals to defenses likely to be raised by former President Trump. Here is what you need to know about the brief authored by House impeachment managers Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Eric Swalwell (D-Cal.), Ted Lieu (D-Cal.), Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), and Joe Neguse (D-Col.). The facts of January 6, 2021 The trial memo brief began with a dramatic retelling of the facts surrounding the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021—focusing both on the casualties and historical scale and impact: On January 6, 2021, with Vice President Michael Pence presiding, Congress assembled to perform one of its most solemn constitutional responsibilities: the counting of electoral votes for President of the United States. This ritual has marked the peaceful transfer of power in the United States for centuries. Since the dawn of the Republic, no enemy—foreign or domestic—had ever obstructed Congress’s counting of the votes. No President had ever refused to accept an election result or defied the lawful processes for resolving electoral disputes. Until President Trump. In a grievous betrayal of his Oath of Office, President Trump incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol during the Joint Session, thus impeding Congress’s confirmation of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. as the winner of the presidential election. As it stormed the Capitol, the mob yelled out “President Trump Sent Us,” “Hang Mike Pence,” and “Traitor Traitor Traitor.” The insurrectionists assaulted police officers with weapons and chemical agents. They seized control of the Senate chamber floor, the Office of the Speaker of the House, and major sections of the Capitol complex. Members and their staffs were trapped and terrorized. Many officials (including the Vice President himself) barely escaped the rioters. The line of succession to the Presidency was endangered. Our seat of government was violated, vandalized, and desecrated. Congress’s counting of electoral votes was delayed until nightfall and not completed until 4 AM. Hundreds of people were injured in the assault. Five people—including a Capitol Police officer—died. The brief then detailed Trump’s statements to the crowd, his refusal to immediately use his authority in an effort to quell the violence that ensued, and the terrible and fatal fallout of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Roadmap to Conviction The impeachment managers presented three pillars of Trump’s wrongdoing, each of which could support a conviction independently. Taken together, the brief argues, conviction is the only appropriate outcome. 1. Trump’s attempts to interfere with the election results was an unprecedented violation of his oath of office “If provoking an insurrectionary riot against a Joint Session of Congress after losing an election is not an impeachable offense, it is hard to imagine what would be,” argued the impeachment managers. The brief set Trump’s actions against the dramatic backdrop of the past several months, detailing how Trump’s incessant efforts to remain in office offended the very core of the Framers’s intent. Those who founded our republic were no strangers to mob violence or self-interested political warfare. Rather, “They drafted the Constitution to avoid such thuggery,” the brief said. Not only was the current House justified in impeaching Trump, but the House of centuries past would have agreed: “They would have immediately recognized President Trump’s conduct on January 6 as an impeachable offense.” A core value of American government has always been the peaceful transfer of power between presidential administrations. Though other presidents have been impeached for other kinds of misconduct, none has corrupted this particular jewel in the crown of democracy, impeachment managers stated: Since President George Washington willingly relinquished his office after serving two terms, our Nation has seen an unbroken chain of peaceful transitions from one presidential administration to the next—that is, until January 6, 2021. 2. Trump’s actions caused personal, physical danger to members of Congress, the Vice President, and police officers The wreckage caused by Trump went beyond the destruction of democracy; it put individual members of government in personal and immediate peril. The brief refers generally to the many accounts we have heard from those inside the Capitol on January 6. “Members of Congress and their staffs were forced to improvise barricades and hiding places while they awaited rescue by law enforcement,” it reads. “Others were trapped in the House Chamber, where they seized gas masks and ducked behind furniture to avoid insurrectionists. Many feared for their lives as armed attackers battered doors and Capitol Police drew weapons.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez  (D-N.Y.) said Monday in a lengthy and widely watched Instagram Live video that she thought she was “going to die.” Since the attack on the Capitol, security has changed dramatically. Now, the complex “more closely resemble[s] a fortress, ringed by fences with barbed wire and heavily guarded by the Capitol Police and the National Guard.” “That is a sorry state of affairs for our Nation,” lamented the brief, “one that no President should have played a role in bringing about.” 3. Trump’s conduct put the security of our entire nation at risk In addition to the immediate human toll, the incitement of insurrection posed even broader risks to national security, impeachment managers argued. “Most immediately, the insurrectionist mob had access to, and stole, sensitive materials and electronics—including a laptop from the office of the Speaker of the House,’ the brief said, apparently referring to the criminal case against Riley June Williams . The national security risks alleged are threefold: 1) the devices might be used to infiltrate federal networks; 2) the insurrection could serve as an inspirational “rallying point” for other violent extremists who would carry out further insurrection; and 3) the entire event tarnished the international reputation of our country. Others might be encouraged to act after seeing Trump successfully unite “distinct extremest groups  into ad hoc coalition with one another,” the brief said. Further, managers contended, “President Trump only made matters worse when he tweeted, in the evening, ‘Remember this day forever!’—a statement that armed extremists will indeed remember. (Sadly, it will be remembered too by the Members of Congress, their staffs, and the law enforcement officials who were attacked by the insurrectionist mob.) In all of these respects, President Trump made Americans less safe, particularly Americans who belong to communities targeted by right-wing extremist groups.” “The Capitol riot has also hurt the United States in a less immediate, but no less significant way: it allows our adversaries to doubt the strength of our democracy,” Democrats asserted. “[S]tirred to action by a President who said ‘we love you’ during the assault,” Americas adversaries have used footage of the riot as “a propaganda bonanza.” “[T]he sight of the U.S. Capitol shrouded in smoke and besieged by a mob whipped up by their unwillingly outgoing president” the argument continued, “‘is proof of the fallibility of Western democracy.'” Anticipating Trump’s defenses After laying out the primary arguments against Trump, the brief goes on to short-circuit the defenses the former president is likely to raise. 1. The impeachment process did not happen “too quickly” As we have discussed before , some Trump defenders have pointed to the swiftness of this impeachment as a basis for its illegitimacy. As the brief points out, though, the underlying facts for this impeachment differ dramatically from those relevant to either Trump’s first impeachment, or those of other presidents. That is, Trump’s wrongful actions occurred in public. “The events that form the basis for President Trump’s impeachment occurred in plain view,” stated the brief, “They are well known to the American people. Many Members of Congress were themselves witnesses to his conduct and its consequences.” Wielding Trump’s preferred expression against him, the brief charged, “There is n
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