Warning: Some video shown during the trial contains graphic images of violence and profanity.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on Tuesday opened the second Senate impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump, refuting Republicans’ claims that senators do not have the constitutional authority to convict Trump because he is no longer in office.
“Their argument is that if you committed an impeachable offense in your last few weeks in office, you do it with constitutional impunity. You get away with it,” Raskin, the lead House impeachment manager, said on the Senate floor. “If we buy this radical argument that President Trump’s lawyers advance, we risk allowing January 6 to become our future.”
The Senate is holding an impeachment trial to examine Trump’s culpability in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters.
During his argument, Raskin presented a graphic video timeline of the events of that day before analyzing the Senate’s right to impeach, as designated by the Constitution.
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