WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyers charged Democrats with launching a “blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance” as they opened their case on day 4 of the trial Friday, pointing out the double standard the former president is being held to, and highlighting inflammatory rhetoric Democratic lawmakers have used themselves in the past.
Addressing the chamber, attorney Michael van der Veen played a brutal montage of Democratic lawmakers objecting to Trump’s 2016 Electoral College victory and inciting their own brand of political violence.
“This appalling abuse of the Constitution only further divides our nation when we should be trying to come together around shared priorities,” van der Veen said, dubbing the trial “constitutional cancel culture.”
“Like every other politically motivated witch hunt the left has engaged in over the past four years, this impeachment is completely divorced from the facts and the interest of the American people,” he said.
Calling on the Senate to “reject” the “unconstitutional” charge that Trump incited the Jan. 6 Capitol siege, van der Veen said that Trump was the president of law and order as Democrats encouraged Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year, many of which turned violent.
“While the President did not engage in any language of incitement, there are numerous officials in Washington who have indeed used profoundly reckless dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric,” van der Veen said.
“Speaker Pelosi herself said that the 2016 election was hijacked, and that Congress has a duty to protect our democracy. She also called the president an imposter and a traitor and recently referred to her colleagues in the House as ‘the enemy within,'” he added.
“This unprecedented effort is not about Democrats opposing political violence. It is about Democrats trying to disqualify the political opposition,” he said.
It’s expected Trump’s lawyers will only use roughly four of the 16 hours allotted to them to make their case before a vote to convict this weekend.
During their two days of arguments, Democrats presented previously-unseen CCTV footage from the Capitol showing just how close rioters came to lawmakers.
Trump’s lawyers demanded to know why the footage hadn’t been seen earlier by them, the American people or why it wasn’t released by the Department of Justice which is prosecuting hundreds of cases.
Lawyer David Schoen slammed the House impeachment managers for doctoring tweets presented in the trial and selectively editing quotes from Trump’s speech.
They also played damning footage of Democratic lawmakers, including President Joe Biden, joking about punching Trump, getting in the face of members of Congress, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) telling her supporters to “fight” dozens of times during her failed White House bid.
