Trump Lawyer David Schoen Argument Transcript February 12: Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial

David Schoen: (00:01)
Mr. President.

David Schoen : (00:02)
Mr. [Shawn 00:00:02], leaders, senators. Throughout the course of today, my colleagues and I will explain in some detail, the simple fact that President Trump did not incite the horrific terrible riots of January 6th. We will demonstrate that to the contrary, the violence and looting goes against the law and order message he conveyed to every citizen of the United States throughout his presidency, including on January 6th. First though, we would like to discuss the hatred, the vitriol, the political opportunism that has brought us here today. The hatred that the House Managers and others on the left have for President Trump has driven them to skip the basic elements of due process, and fairness, and to rush an impeachment through the house, claiming, “Urgency.” But the House waited to deliver the articles to the Senate for almost two weeks, only after Democrats had secured control over the Senate. In fact, contrary to their claim, that the only reason they held it was because Senator McConnell wouldn’t accept the article, Representative Clyburn made clear that they had considered holding the articles for over 100 days to provide president Biden with a clear pathway to implement his agenda.

Our constitution, and any basic sense of fairness require that every legal process with significant consequences for a person’s life, including impeachment, requires due process under the law, which includes fact finding, and the establishment of a legitimate evidentiary record with an appropriate foundation. Even last year’s impeachment followed committee hearings and months of examination and investigation by the House. Here, President Trump and his counsel were given no opportunity to review evidence or question its propriety. The rush to judgment for a snap impeachment in this case was just one example of the denial of due process. Another perhaps even more vitally significant example was a denial of any opportunity ever to test the integrity of the evidence offered against Donald J. Trump, in a proceeding seeking to bar him from ever holding public office again, and that seeks to disenfranchise some 75 million voters. American voters.

On Wednesday this week, countless news outlets repeated the Democrat talking point about the power of never before seen footage. Let me ask you this: why was this never seen before? Shouldn’t the subject of an impeachment trial, this impeachment trial, President Trump have the right to see the so-called new evidence against him. More importantly, the riot and the attack on this very building was a major event that shocked and impacted all Americans. Shouldn’t the American people have seen this footage as soon as it was available? For what possible reason to the House Managers withhold it from the American people and president Trump’s lawyers for political gain? How did they get it? How were they the ones releasing it? It is evidence in hundreds of pending criminal cases against the rioters. Why was it not released through law enforcement or the Department of Justice? Is it the result of a rushed snap, impeachment for political gain without due process?

House Manager Raskin told us all yesterday that your job as jurors in this case is a fact-intensive job. But of course, as several of the House Managers have told you, we still don’t have the facts. Speaker Pelosi herself on February 2nd, called for a 9/11 style commission to investigate the events of January 6th. Speaker Pelosi says that the commission is needed to determine the causes of the events. She says it herself. If an inquiry of that magnitude is needed to determine the causes of the riot, and it may very well be, then how can these same Democrats have the certainty needed to bring articles of impeachment and blame the riots on President Trump? They don’t. The House Managers facing a significant lack of evidence turned off into press reports and rumors during these proceedings. Claims that would never meet the evidentiary standards of any court. In fact, they even relied on the words of Andrew Feinberg, a reporter who recently worked for Sputnik, the Russian propaganda outlet. You saw it posted. By the way, the report they cited was completely refuted. The frequency with which House Managers relied on unproven media reports shocked me as I sat in this chamber and listened to this.

And there’s a lot that we don’t know yet about what happened that day.

Speaker 3: (05:28)
According to those around him at the time, reportedly responded-

Speaker 4: (05:32)
Trump reportedly-

Speaker 5: (05:33)
Reports across all major media outlets.

Speaker 6: (05:37)
Major news networks, including Fox News reported-

Speaker 5: (05:40)
Reported-

Speaker 6: (05:41)
Reportedly summon.

Speaker 7: (05:42)
Reportedly.

Reportedly not accidental. According to reports, President Trump was reportedly… Who reportedly spoke to the guard.

Speaker 8: (05:51)
And was widely reported.

Speaker 3: (05:53)
Media reports.

Speaker 9: (05:54)
According to reports.

Speaker 3: (05:55)
Reported.

Speaker 10: (05:56)
Reportedly.

As any trial lawyer will tell you, “Reportedly” is a euphemism for, “I have no real evidence.” “Reportedly,” is not the standard in any American setting in which any semblance of due process is afforded and accused. “Reportedly,” isn’t even, “Here is some circumstantial evidence.” It is exactly as reliable as, “I Googled this for you.” And if you’re worried that you might ever be tried based on this type of evidence, don’t be you get more due process in this when you fight a parking ticket.

One reason due process is so important with respect to evidence offered against an accused is that it requires an opportunity to test the integrity, the credibility, the reliability of the evidence. Here of course, former president Trump was completely denied any such opportunity, and it turns out there is significant reason to doubt the evidence the House Managers have put before us. Let me say this clearly: we have reason to believe the House Managers manipulated evidence and selectively edited footage. If they did, and this were a court of law, they would face sanctions from the judge. I don’t raise this issue lightly. Rather, it is a product of what we have found in just the limited time we have had since we first saw the evidence here with you, this week. We have reason to believe that the House Managers created false representations of tweets, and the lack of due process means there was no opportunity to review or verify the accuracy.

Consider these facts: the House Managers proud of their work on the snap impeachment, stage numerous photo-shoots of their preparations. And one of those, Manager Raskin is seen here at his desk reviewing two tweets side by side. The image on his screen claims to show that President Trump had retweeted. One of those tweets. Now members of the Senate let’s look closely at this screen because obviously Manager Raskin considered it important enough that he invited the New York times to watch him watching it.

Now what’s wrong with this image? Actually, there are three things very wrong with it. Look at the date on the very bottom of Manager Raskin’s computer screen when we zoom into the picture. The date that appears is January 3rd, 2020, not 2021. Why is that date wrong? Because this is not a real screenshot that he’s working with. This is a recreation of a tweet, and you got the date wrong when you manufactured this graphic. You did not disclose it. This is a manufactured graphic, and not a real screenshot of a tweet. Now to be fair, the House Managers caught this error before showing the image on the Senate floor, so you never saw it when it was presented to you.

But that’s not all. They didn’t fix this one. Look at the blue check mark, next to the Twitter username of the account retweeted by the president. It indicates that this is a verified account, given the blue check by Twitter to indicate it is run by a public figure. The problem? The user’s real account is not verified and has no blue check mark, as you can see. Were you trying to make her account seem more significant, or were you just sloppy? If we had due process of law in this case, we would know the truth. But that’s not all that’s wrong with this one tweet. House Manager [Swalwell 00:09:58] showed you this tweet this week, and he emphasized that this tweet reflected a call to arms. He told you repeatedly that this was a promise to call in the cavalry for January 6th. He expressively led you to believe that President Trump’s supporter believed that the president wanted armed supporters at the January 6th speech, paramilitary groups, the cavalry ready for physical combat. The problem is the actual text is exactly the opposite. The tweeter promised to bring the Calvary a public display of Christ’s crucifixion, a central symbol of her Christian faith with her to the president’s speech, a symbol of faith, love and peace. They just never want to seem to read the text, and believe what the text means. And you’ll see this reported in the media last evening also.

Words matter, they told you, but they selectively edited the President’s words over and over again. They manipulated video, time shifting clips, and made it appear.

They manipulated video, time shifting clips, and made it appear the President’s words were playing to a crowd when they weren’t. Let’s take a look.

Donald Trump: (11:10)
After this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol.

Anyone you want, but I think right here, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol.

And we’re going to cheer on our brave Senators and congressmen and women. And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.

“And we are going to walk down to the Capitol.” They showed you that part. Why are we walking to the Capitol? Well, they cut that off. To cheer on some members of Congress, and not others, peacefully and patriotically. The Supreme Court ruled in Brandenburg that there’s a very clear standard for incitement. In short, to paraphrase, whether the speech was intended to provoke imminent lawless action, and was it likely to do so? “Go to the Capitol and cheer on some members of Congress, but not others.” They know it doesn’t meet the standard for incitement, so they edited it down. We heard a lot this week about, “Fight like hell.” But they cut off the video before they showed you the President’s optimistic, patriotic words that followed immediately after.

We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavors have not yet begun. My fellow Americans, for our movement, for our children, and for our beloved country, and I say this, despite all that’s happened, the best is yet to come.

There’s that famous quote like one of the house managers said. “A lie will travel halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its shoes on.” Well, this lie traveled around the world a few times, made its way into the Biden campaign talking points, and ended up on the Senate floor.

The Charlottesville lie. “Very fine people on both sides.” Except that isn’t all he said. And they knew it then, and they know it now. Watch this.

But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group… Excuse me, excuse me, I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.

Speaker 11: (14:24)
George Washington and Robert E. Lee are not the same. [Crosstalk 00:14:26].

Well, no, George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now loses his status? Are we going to take down… Excuse me. Are we going to take down statues to George… How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? Okay, good. Are we going to take down the statue? Because he was a major slave owner. Now are we going to take down his statue? So you know what? It’s fine. You’re changing history. You’re changing culture. And you had people, and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally, but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group, also, you had some fine people, but you also had troublemakers. And you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You get a lot of bad people in the other group, too.

Speaker 12: (15:28)
Who was treated unfairly, sir? I’m sorry. I’m just don’t understand what you were saying. You were saying the press has treated white nationalists unfairly? I just don’t understand what you’re saying.

No. There were people in that rally, and I looked the night before. If you look, they were people protesting, very quietly, the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group that was some bad ones. The following day, it looked like they had some rough, bad people, neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them. But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest, and very legally protest. Because I don’t know if you know, they had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit. So I only tell you this. There are two sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country, a horrible moment, but there are two sides of the country. Does anybody have a final? You have an infrastructure.

This might be, today, the first time the news networks played those full remarks in their context. And how many times have you heard that President Trump has never denounced white supremacists. Now you and America know the truth. Here’s another example. One of the house managers made much of the President’s supposedly ominous words of, “You have to get your people to fight.” But you knew what the president really meant. He meant that the crowd should demand action from members of Congress, and support primary challenges to those who don’t do what he considered to be right. Support primary challenges, not violent action. I know what he meant, because I watched the full video, and so did the house managers. But they manipulated his words. You will see where they stopped it, and to give it a very different meaning from the meaning it has in full context. Let’s watch.

Joe Neguse: (17:25)
You have to get your people to fight. He told them.

You have to get your people to fight. And if they don’t fight, we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don’t fight. You primary them. We’re going to let you know who they are. I can already tell you, frankly.

The people who need to fight are members of Congress. Why do we have to skip the necessary due diligence and due process of law that any legal proceedings should have? It couldn’t have been the urgency to get President Trump out of office. House Democrats held the articles until he was no longer President, mooting their case. Hatred, animosity, division, political gain, and let’s face it, for House Democrats, President Trump is the best enemy to attack.

Speaker 13: (18:17)
I want to say this for Donald Trump, who I may well be voting to impeach.

Keith Ellison: (18:22)
Donald Trump has already done a number of things which legitimately raised the question of impeachment.

Speaker 14: (18:28)
I don’t respect this President. And I will fight every day until he is impeached.

Speaker 15: (18:35)
That is grounds to start impeachment proceedings. Those are grounds to start impeachment proceedings. Yes, I think that’s grounds to start impeachment proceedings.

Al Green: (18:44)
I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to call for the impeachment of the President of the United States of America.

Speaker 16: (18:54)
I continue to say, “Impeach him. Impeach 45. Impeach 45.”

Speaker 17: (19:02)
So we’re calling upon the house to begin impeachment hearings immediately.

Van Jones: (19:05)
On the impeachment of Donald Trump, would you vote yes or no?

Speaker 18: (19:08)
I would vote yes.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: (19:09)
I would vote to impeach.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: (19:11)
Because we’re going to go in there, and we’re going to impeach the mother (beep).

Speaker 19: (19:14)
But the fact is I introduced articles of impeachment in July of 2017.

Al Green: (19:19)
We don’t impeach this President, he will get reelected.

Speaker 20: (19:23)
My oath requires me to be for impeachment, having an impeachment hearing. He needs the scarlet A on his chest.

Speaker 21: (19:28)
Representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against this President.

Elizabeth Warren: (19:32)
It is time for charges against him. Bring impeachment charges.

Speaker 22: (19:37)
My personal view is that he originally deserves impeachment.

Speaker 23: (19:41)
I’m here at an impeachment rally, and we are ready to impeach the…

Nancy Pelosi: (19:48)
Well, we can impeach him every day of the week for anything he does.

That same hatred and anger has led house managers to ignore their own words and actions and set a dangerous double standard. The house managers spoke about rhetoric, about a constant drum beat of heated language. Well, as I’m sure everyone watching expected, we need to show you some of their own words.

I just don’t even know why the uprisings all over the country, maybe there will be.

Speaker 24: (20:19)
There needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there is unrest in our lives.

Now, you got to be ready to throw a punch. We have [inaudible 00:20:26] throw a punch.

Jon Tester: (20:26)
Donald Trump, I think you need to go back and punch him in the face.

Speaker 25: (20:30)
That I thought he should’ve punched him in the face.

Speaker 26: (20:31)
I feel like punching him.

Joe Biden: (20:33)
I’d like to take him behind the gym if I were in high school. If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him. I wish for in high school, I could take him behind the gym.

Maxine Waters: (20:41)
I will go and take Trump out tonight.

Elizabeth Warren: (20:44)
Take him out now.

Speaker 27: (20:45)
When was last time an actor an assassinated a President?

Speaker 28: (20:49)
They’re still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump.

Chris Cuomo: (20:51)
Show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful.

Maxine Waters: (20:57)
[inaudible 00:20:57], and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.

Speaker 29: (21:02)
I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.

Speaker 26: (21:07)
Please, get up in the face of some Congress.

People will do what they do.

Chuck Schumer: (21:13)
I want to tell you, [inaudible 00:21:16]. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. We’re going to go in there. We’re going to (beep).

Cynthia A. Johnson: (21:27)
This is just a warning to you Trumpers. Be careful. Walk lightly. And for those of you who are soldiers, make them pay.

Ellen DeGeneres: (21:38)
If you had to be stuck in an elevator with either President Trump, Mike Pence, or Jeff Sessions, who would it be?

Kamala Harris: (21:43)
Does one of us have to come out alive?

And there’s more.

Speaker 30: (21:53)
I promise to fight every single day. One, I am a fighter and I’m relentless. But I’m a fighter and I’m relentless. A fighter and I’m relentless.

Mr. Denis McDonough: (22:03)
… relentless. But I’m a fighter and I’m relentless. A fighter and I’m relentless. I will fight like hell.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: (22:05)
But the way I see it now is that we pick ourselves up and we fight back. That’s what I think it’s all about. We stand up and we fight back. We do not back down, we do not compromise, not today, not tomorrow, not ever. You can either lie down, you can whimper, you can pull up in a ball, you can decide to move to Canada, or you can stand your ground and fight back. And that’s what it’s about. We do fight back. But we are going to fight back. We are not turning this country over to what Donald Trump has sold. We are just not.

Look, people are upset and they’re right to be upset. Now we can whimper, we can whine, or we can fight back. Me, I’m here to fight back. I’m here to fight back. Because we will not forget, we do not want to forget. We will use that vision to make sure that we fight harder, we fight tougher and we fight more passionately than ever.

We still have a fight on our hands. Fight hard for the changes Americans are demanding. Get in the fight. … to winning the fight. …fight. Fighting… We’ll use fighting. We’ll use every tool possible to fight for this change. We’ll fight. We’ll fight. To fight… Fighting hard. Serious about fighting. … and fight. We got to get our affront front and fight back. Problems? We call them out and we fight back. I’m in this fight. I am fighting. I am fighting. Get in this fight, get in this fight. Get in this fight.

… and fighting… We all need to be in the fight. We all need to stay in the fight. We stay in this fight. We fought back. We fought back. I am not afraid of a fight. I am in this fight all the way. You don’t get what you don’t fight for. Our fight… Our fight… We are in this fight for our lives. This is the fight of our lives.

Sen. Mark Warner: (24:22)
But we are going to make sure that this fight does not end tonight.

Sen. Bob Menendez: (24:27)
This is a fight for our lives, the lives of our friends, and family members, and neighbors. It is a fight. …fight… And it is a fight that we’re going to work to make sure continues. It’s a fight. It is a fight. It is a fight. And that’s what this fight is for.

Jon Tester: (24:52)
Well, I’m wired to fight anyone who isn’t doing their job for us. I’m John Tester, and you’re damn right, I approve this message.

Jacky Rosen: (25:02)
And I’ll have lots of fights ahead of us, and I’m ready to stand up and keep fighting. We have to fight. We’re going to fight. We’re going to fight. We need to fight… fight… fight… And we need to fight. We’re going to fight. We got a few more fights. We’re going to take the privilege of a few more fights. And we have the biggest fight of all. I will never stop fighting. I will fight like hell to fight back against anyone…

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen: (25:25)
We need to say, loud and clear, that we are ready to fight.

Sen. Dick Durbin: (25:29)
… to bare knuckles fight.

Sen. Ron Wyden: (25:30)
Now, they’re going to have to actually fight back against people.

Sen. Brian Schatz: (25:35)
The fight has to be conducted.

Sen. Maria Cantwell: (25:36)
It is so important that we need to fight.

Sen. Patty Murray: (25:39)
Fight that fight.

Sen. Angus King: (25:39)
We have been fighting.

Sen. Chris Coons: (25:41)
I was fighting very hard.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen: (25:42)
Time is of the essence, both in terms of the fight…

Michael Bennet: (25:44)
I think we should be fighting…

Speaker 31: (25:45)
Well, I really believe we need to fight.

Sen. Martin Heinrich: (25:48)
And we’re simply not going to take this lying down. We’re going to keep fighting.

Sen. Tim Kaine: (25:52)
So, I’m telling all my colleagues, this is the fight of our life.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin: (25:55)
Whose side are you on? Who are you fighting for?

Sen. John Hicken looper: (25:58)
They’re fighting… or I’m fighting. We’re both fighting.

Sen. Mazie Hirono: (26:00)
We will fight back. We’re not going to just take this lying down.

Sen. Chris Murphy: (26:03)
I’m just going to keep the fight up.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema: (26:04)
What we have to do right now is fight as hard as we can.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow: (26:07)
We have to rise up, and fight back.

Sen. Bob Casey: (26:10)
And so, we’re going to fight, and we’re going to continue to fight.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal: (26:14)
I am going to be fighting, fighting like hell.

Sen. Chuck Schumer: (26:16)
Keep fighting, fighting, fighting. And we kept fighting, and we did. So, we’re going to keep fighting.

Sen. Gary Peters: (26:21)
And we have to be fighting every single day.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse: (26:23)
We have to fight back, and we have no choice but to do that, I think we’re doing the right thing to do that.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan: (26:28)
… fighting.

Sen. Joe Manchin: (26:29)
And I’m fighting.

Sen. Bernie Sanders: (26:30)
Well, our job right now is to fight.

Sen. Maggie Hassan: (26:31)
It’s really important. I’m going to keep fighting.

Sen. Jon Ossoff: (26:33)
I’m asking for the support of people across the country to fight back.

Sen. Alex Padilla: (26:36)
And you got to be fierce in fighting…

Sen. Raphael Warnock: (26:39)
Keep fighting.

Sen. Tina Smith: (26:39)
… round have been fighting.

Sen. Patrick Leahy: (26:40)
I’ve told President Biden, I will fight like mad.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto: (26:43)
I’ll tell you what, now, more than ever, we have to fight like hell.

Sen. Ed Markey: (26:47)
We have these battles on the floor of the Senate. I’m going to go down and battle. And I’m going to be down there on the floor fighting.

But we Democrats are fighting as hard as we can. Democrats are fighting as hard as we can. … credit it in any way, but we’re fighting back.

Sen. Tim Kaine: (27:00)
What we’ve got to do is fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box.

Sen. Cory Booker: (27:07)
… fighting and pushing. … around the clock fighting. Continue to be brave, and be strong, and keep fighting. We’re getting people engaged in the fight. We’re fighting. We’ve got to keep fighting and keep focused. Continue to fight.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: (27:21)
Fight. This is going to be a fight.

Sen. Joaquin Castro: (27:21)
We’ll also fight him and challenge him in every way that we can, in the Congress, in the courts, and in the streets.

V.P. Kamala Harris: (27:27)
To continue fighting. We each have an important role to play in fighting. In this fight, like so many before it, it has been a fight. The American people are going to have to fight. … and about the importance of fighting. I will always fight. Fighting. But we always must fight. Joe Biden has a deep, deep-seated commitment to fight… and to fight. And about the importance of fighting… We always must fight. To fight… to fight… and to fight. As our willingness to fight… Continue the fight. As Joe Biden says, to fight. It’s about fighting. … of what we’re fighting for. We will tell them about what we did to fight.

It’s really about a fight. But truly I do believe that we’re in a fight. I believe that we are in a fight. I believe we are in a fight. I believe we are in a fight. So, there’s a fight in front of us, a fight for all of these things. And so, we’re prepared to fight for that. We know how to fight. Our ongoing fight… a fight. We know how to fight. We like a good fight. We were born out of a fight. This is what is our fight, right now.

Sen. Jamie Raskin: (28:38)
There’s the fight… There’s the fight… And then, there’s the fight to defend. … back in the fight.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi: (28:44)
Our mission is to fight. That is the guiding purpose of House Democrats, fighting. He has never forgotten who he is fighting for. … marched and fought. And we just have to fight. But this is a fight for our country.

… fighting the health crisis of COVID.

President Joe Biden: (29:00)
I led the fight… and continue to fight. Never, never, never give up this fight. I’m a citizen, fighting for it. It means not only fighting… Leader who fought for progressive change. As a lawyer who fought for people his whole life… As well as other fights he’s in, I’m proud to have Tim in this fight with me. And above all, it’s time for America to get back up, and once again, fight.

Sec. Pete Buttigieg: (29:25)
We will fight when we must fight.

Sen. Joaquin Castro: (29:29)
What kind of America are we fighting for? We’ve been fighting… So, we need to fight… But we also need to fight. Fight for an America…

Hillary Clinton: (29:36)
I am going to wake up every day and fight hard. I have been fighting. We’re going to fight. We are going to fight. We’re going to fight. We’re going to fight. And I will fight…

Sec. Pete Buttigieg: (29:46)
We’re in the fight of our lives, right now.

Beto O’Rourke: (29:48)
And we fight like hell…

Sen. Ron Wyden: (29:50)
… to fight.

Jacky Rosen: (29:50)
To fight…

Rep. David Cicilline: (29:51)
… to fight against the Trump administration. Democrats are standing up to fight. We’re in this fight in a serious way.

Rep. Ted Lieu: (29:57)
It’s your fight.

Rep. Diana DeGette: (29:58)
We’re eager to take on this fight. Get in this fight. … and we’ll fight it out.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: (30:02)
I have taken on the fights.

Rep. Joe Neguse: (30:03)
As representatives for the people, as legislators here in the halls of Congress, our job is to fight.

Rep. Stacey Plalskett: (30:08)
… who has led us in this fight.

Rep. Eric Swalwell: (30:10)
… is to fight for this. This fight…

Sen. Raphael Warnock: (30:12)
And every day I’m in the United States Senate, I will fight.

Sen. Sherrod Brown: (30:17)
And one of the things we do is fight, should fight…

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: (30:20)
… and because my constituents send me here each and every day to fight.

Stacey Abrams: (30:24)
We have been fighting this fight. And we need to be side by side so we can succeed, and so I hope that you will all join us in our fight. And if we fight… And as the next governor of Georgia, I will never stop fighting. We can show the old guard something new, and we can fight.

Rep. Madeleine Dean: (30:40)
In my fight… those fights. We need to fight. To fight an administration…

Requiring us to fight… and fight we will. … their fight… in their fight their fight. … in their fight. The fight is a fight. And so, when we fight the fight that we are in… When we are fighting this fight… We fight this fight. The strength of who we are is we will fight. And we will fight. We will fight. …the fight. We will fight. We are in a fight. The fight… fight… fight… fight. It is a fight. It’s a fight. And it is a fight born out of patriotism. This is a fight. …fighting… I say, fight on, fight on, fight on, fight on.

I’m here to say one more time, publicly. This is not a fight I wanted to take on, but this is the fight in front of us now.

Every single one of you, and every one of you, that’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s a word people use. But please stop the hypocrisy. And did you tone down the rhetoric last summer when all of this was happening? Did you condemn the rioters? Or did you stand with Nancy Pelosi, who said, “People are going to do what they’re going to do.”

This is a movement I’m telling you. They’re not going to stop. And everyone beware, because they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop before election day in November, and they’re not going to stop asking.

Chris Cuomo: (32:09)
And please, show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful.

I just don’t even know why there aren’t uprisings all over the country. Maybe there will be.

Speaker 32: (32:24)
It was a violent night in St. Louis. They shot and killed David in cold blood.

Nikole Hannah-Jones: (32:28)
Destroying property which can be replaced, is not violence.

Speaker 33: (32:33)
This is an apartment complex on fire.

Speaker 34: (32:35)
And it just collapsed, the building just collapsed.

Speaker 35: (32:37)
I have nowhere to go, now. These people did this for no reason.

Speaker 36: (32:43)
This is just a snapshot of some of the damage that people will be waking up to.

Speaker 37: (32:46)
… going on, but police clearly…

I’m proud of New York, and I’m proud of the protests.

Speaker 38: (32:51)
There is damage everywhere you look. Honestly, it looks like a war zone.

… heartwarming to see so many people turn out peacefully.

To see so many people turn out peacefully.

Speaker 40: (33:06)
They keep doing it day after day after day. [inaudible 00:33:11] countries and nations of protests. The patriots were protestors.

Speaker 41: (33:18)
St. John’s Church is on fire.

Speaker 39: (33:20)
[inaudible 00:33:20] Antifa.

Jerry Nadler: (33:20)
That’s a myth.

Speaker 42: (33:20)
I hope someone burns down your precinct will all y’all inside.

Speaker 43: (33:20)
It is not, generally speaking, unruly.

Speaker 44: (33:20)
And we push back on them, and you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.

Speaker 45: (33:42)
They’re not going to let up, and they should not.

Speaker 46: (33:46)
You claim that it’s wrong to object to the certification of election results. You, along with your allies in the media, attempted to cancel and censor members of this chamber who voiced concerns and objected to certification. Manager Raskin, you’d been in Congress only three days when you objected in 2017. It’s one of the first things you did when you got here.

Jamie Raskin: (34:08)
I have an objection because 10 of the 29 electoral votes cast by Florida were cast by electors not lawfully certified.

Speaker 47: (34:16)
Is the objection in writing and signed not only by the member of the House of Representatives, but also by a Senator?

It is in writing, Mr. President.

Speaker 47: (34:24)
Is it signed by Senator?

Not as of yet, Mr. President.

Speaker 47: (34:27)
In that case, the objection can not be entertained.

Speaker 48: (34:30)
Mr. President, I object to the certificate from the state of Georgia on the grounds that the electoral votes were not-

Speaker 47: (34:36)
There’s no debate. There’s no debate.

Speaker 49: (34:36)
I object to the certificate from the state of North Carolina based on violations of the Voting Rights Act and confirmed hacking by the Russian government.

Speaker 47: (34:44)
There is no debate. There’s no debate in the joint session.

Speaker 50: (34:46)
I object because people are horrified by the overwhelming evidence of Russian interference in our election.

Speaker 47: (34:50)
Section 18, Title 3 of United States Code prohibits debate.

Speaker 51: (34:54)
I object.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones: (34:55)
Object to the counting of the electoral votes of the state of Ohio.

Speaker 52: (34:59)
I object to the certificate from the state of Alabama. The electors were not lawfully certified.

Speaker 51: (35:04)
I object to the 15 votes from the state of North Carolina because of the massive voter suppression and the closing of voting polling booths in the early voting from 16 to one, and the massive voting suppression that occurred to African American-

Speaker 47: (35:11)
There is no debate. There is no debate. There is no debate. The gentlewoman will suspend. The gentlewoman will suspend.

Speaker 53: (35:19)
I have an objection to the electoral votes.

Speaker 44: (35:21)
The objection is in writing, and I don’t care that it is not signed by a member of the Senate.

Speaker 44: (35:27)
I do not wish to debate. I wish to ask, is there one United States Senator who will join me in this letter of objection?

Speaker 47: (35:34)
There is no debate.

Speaker 48: (35:36)
The objection is signed by a member of the House, but not yet by a member of the Senate.

Speaker 47: (35:40)
Well, it is over.

Speaker 46: (35:46)
And when the House managers realized that the President’s actual words could not have incited the riot, as you alleged in your article of impeachment, you attempted to pivot. You said that raising the issue of election security and casting doubt on the propriety of our elections was dangerous. One of the House managers, Mr. Cicilline, told you that this is not about the words Mr. Trump used in isolation. Rather, it is about the big lie: the claim that the election was stolen.

Speaker 46: (36:18)
The House managers told you that it’s the big lie that incited the riot and that the big lie was President Trump’s claim that the election was not a fair election or that the election was stolen. Claiming an election was stolen, you were told, are words that are inciteful to a candidate’s followers and caused people to respond violently. Claiming your election was stolen or not legitimate is something that a candidate should never do because he or she knows or should know that such a claim and such words can actually incite violent insurrection, you were told.

Speaker 46: (36:54)
Well, it seems that the House managers’ position must be actually a bit narrower than that. The House managers’ position really is that when Republican candidates for office claim an election is stolen or that the winner is illegitimate, it constitutes inciting an insurrection, and the candidate should know it. But Democratic Party candidates for public elective office are perfectly entitled to claim the election was stolen or that the winner is illegitimate or to make any other outrageous claim they can. It is their absolute right to do so, and it is their absolute right to do so irrespective of whether there’s any evidence to support the claim.

Speaker 46: (37:34)
Democratic candidates can claim that an election was stolen because of Russian collusion or without any explanation at all. And that is perfectly okay, and is in no way incitement to an insurrection. And somehow, when Democratic candidates publicly decry an election as stolen or illegitimate, it’s never a big lie. You have been doing it for years.

Joaquin Castro: (37:58)
But can you imagine telling your supporters that the only way you could possibly lose is if an American election was rigged and stolen from you? And ask yourself whether you’ve ever seen anyone at any level of government make the same claim about their own election.

Sherrod Brown: (38:22)
If Stacey Abrams doesn’t win and Georgia, they stole it. It’s clear. It’s clear. I say that publicly, it’s clear.

Speaker 54: (38:29)
You can run the best campaign, you can even become the nominee, and you can have the election stolen from you.

Speaker 54: (38:36)
He knows he’s an illegitimate president. He knows. He knows that there were a bunch of different reasons why the election turned out the way it did.

Votes remain to be counted. There are voices that are waiting to be heard. And I will not concede.

Speaker 55: (38:54)
Respect, and I respect where you’re coming from, and I respect the issues that you’re raising. You’re not answering the question. Do you think it was-

I am. What I’m not doing-

Speaker 55: (39:01)
You’re not using the word “legitimate.”

There are still legitimate concerns over the integrity of our elections and of ensuring the principle of one person, one vote.

Bernie Sanders: (39:13)
I agree with tens of millions of Americans who are very worried that when they cast the ballot on an electronic voting machine, that there is no paper trail to record that vote.

But constantly shifting vote tallies in Ohio and malfunctioning electronic machines, which may not have paper receipts, have led to additional loss of confidence by the public. This is their only opportunity to have this debate while the country is listening, and it is appropriate to do so.

Speaker 46: (39:50)
House manager Castro no longer has to try to imagine it thanks to the distinguished Senator and others. It didn’t have to be this way. The Democrats promised unity. They promised to deliver the very COVID relief in the form of $2,000 stimulus checks that President Trump called for. They should’ve listened to their own words of the past. I leave you with the wise words of Congressman Jerry Nadler.

Jerrold Nadler: (40:18)
The effect of impeachment is to overturn the popular will of the voters. We must not overturn an election and remove a president from office except to defend our system of government or our constitutional liberties against a dire threat. And we must not do so without an overwhelming consensus of the American people.

There must never be a narrowly-voted impeachment or an impeachment supported by one of our major political parties and opposed by the other. Such an impeachment will produce divisiveness and bitterness in our politics for years to come and will call into question the very legitimacy of our political institutions.

The American people have heard the allegations against the president, and they overwhelmingly oppose impeaching him. They elected President Clinton. They still support him. We have no right to overturn the considered judgment of the American people.

Mr. Speaker, the case against the President has not been made. There is far from sufficient evidence to support the allegations. And the allegations, even if proven true, do not rise to the level of impeachable offenses. Mr. Speaker, this is clearly a partisan railroad job. The same people who today tell us we must to impeach the President for lying under oath, almost to a person voted last year to reelect the Speaker who had just admitted lying to Congress in an official proceeding.

The American people are watching, and they will not forget. You may have the votes, you may have the muscle, but you do not have the legitimacy of a national consensus or of a constitutional imperative. This partisan coup d’état will go down in infamy in the history of this nation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Trump Lawyer David Schoen Argument Transcript February 12: Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial

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