Rioters acted on Trump’s ‘orders,’ Democrats say in trial

WASHINGTON (AP):

House Democrat prosecuting Donald Trump’s impeachment said on Thursday the Capitol invaders believed they were acting on “the president’s orders” and reflected his violent rhetoric when they stormed the building, aiming to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election.

The prosecutors described in stark, personal terms the horror they faced that day and showed the many public and explicit instructions Trump gave his supporters – both in the weeks before the January 6 attack and at his midday rally that unleashed the mob on the Capitol. Rioters in videos, some posted to social media by themselves, talked about how they were doing it all for Trump.

“We were invited here,” said one. “Trump sent us,” said another. “He’ll be happy. We’re fighting for Trump.” Five people died.

“They truly believed that the whole intrusion was at the president’s orders,” said Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado. “The president told them to be there.”

Prosecutors were wrapping up their two days of opening arguments on Thursday, with Trump’s defence taking the floor on Friday. The entire process could wind up with a vote by this weekend. The Democrats, with little hope of conviction by two-thirds of the Senate, are making their most graphic case to the American public, while Trump’s lawyers are focused on legal rather than emotional or historic questions, hoping to get it all behind him as quickly as possible.

At the White House, President Joe Biden said he believed “some minds may be changed” after senators saw chilling security video on Wednesday of the deadly insurrection at the Capitol, including of rioters searching menacingly for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then Vice-President Mike Pence.

Biden said he didn’t watch any of the previous day’s proceedings live, but later saw news coverage.

This second impeachment trial, on the charge of incitement of insurrection, has echoes of last year’s impeachment over the Ukraine matter, as prosecutors warn senators that, left unchecked, Trump poses a danger to the civic order. Even out of office, the former president holds influence over large swathes of voters.