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Rep. Jamie Raskin breaks down in powerful Trump impeachment trial speech

Rep. Jamie Raskin breaks down in powerful Trump impeachment trial speech

Congress is currently conducting the second impeachment trial of disgraced former president Donald Trump, this time over his role in inciting the deadly Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6th. The case is strong but it’s still unclear if a conviction is possible given that several Republican senators would have to shed their partisan instincts and choose instead to do what’s best for the future of American democracy. This man spit on our tradition of a peaceful transfer of power and his attempts to overthrow a free and fair election must be punished.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the lead impeachment manager, delivered his opening impeachment trial statement earlier today and made a clear, decisive argument for why Donald Trump must be convicted. He began by explaining that viewers should not expect boring lectures from him throughout the course of this trial and that he will simply rely on the “cold hard facts” to convince the Senate to convict. Raskin slammed Trump’s lawyers for working to prevent the Senate from hearing these facts by declaring the trial over before the evidence is even presented.

“Their argument is that if you commit an impeachable offense in your last few weeks in office you do it with Constitutional impunity. You get away with it!” said Raskin.

Add your name to demand the Senate CONVICT DONALD TRUMP for inciting an insurrection agains the United States!

“In other words, conduct that would be a high crime and misdemeanor in your first year as president, in your second year as president, in your third year as president, and for the vast majority of your fourth year as president — you can suddenly do in your last few weeks in office without facing any kind of Constitutional accountability at all. This would create a brand new ‘January Exception’ to the Constitution of the United States of America,” Raskin explained.

Soon after the Senate was shown a powerful video encapsulating the violent events of the insurrection. After the clips ended, Raskin forcefully argued that if Trump’s actions don’t constitute high crimes and misdemeanors “then there is no such thing.”

Later in the proceedings, Raskin personalized the events of January 6th in an incredibly moving way.  Raskin’s youngest daughter Tabitha was with him in the Capitol on the day Trump’s mob kicked, and punched, and battered, and killed their way into the Capitol. It was just a day after the family buried Tabitha’s brother Tommy, understandably intensifying the emotions and psychological trauma of that stressful day. Tabitha and Raskin’s son-in-law Hank wanted to be with him to witness the peaceful transfer of power that day and he assured them it would be safe.

When the insurrectionists eventually did breach the building, Raskin recalls hearing “the most haunting sound” he’s ever heard, that of  a pounding on the door “like a battering ram.” Raskin’s family was barricaded inside his office and they believed that they were going to die. When they were eventually rescued, Raskin apologized, a memory that caused him to choke up while recounting it. He told his daughter that the next time she visited the Capitol it would be safe and Tabitha told him that she didn’t want to return to the Capitol again.

Watch the moving speech below and you’ll be even more convinced that Trump must be held accountable for the terror he unleashed on these innocent people.

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