Impeachment trial: Stunning phone call Trump held with McCarthy during Capitol riot revealed
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Your support makes all the difference.The Senate adjourned after Donald Trump's legal team closed its arguments in their defence against impeachment, with a key GOP senator that had indicated a willingness to cross the aisle saying it was "much stronger" than its opening statements.
Alaska's Lisa Murkowski reportedly said the revamped line-up was "very organized in what they've presented and how they've done it.”
During day four of the impeachment trial, Trump's team presented multiple videos that supercut instances of Democrats using the same language they have charged the ex-president of using to incite the riots at the US Capitol.
The videos were the main thrust of Trump's free speech defence, with lawyers arguing the First Amendment must apply to all political speech or it applies to no political speech - including that of Democrats.
They also submitted that the House impeachment managers had manipulated evidence and selectively edited Trump's key speech from 6 January to remove explicit calls for supporters to make their voices heard "peacefully and patriotically".
Day four began amid reports of growing tensions between Trump and his team, with the former president said to want Bruce Castor to have minimal involvement following his disastrous appearance on Tuesday during opening arguments.
Mr Castor kicked off the second session more than two hours into the defence.
It comes as Joe Biden says he is "anxious" to see what his Republicans friends to and whether they will "stand up", despite previously saying he wasn't going to watch proceedings or get involved in deliberations.
The trial will continue on Saturday, 13 February at 10am EST.
Almost half of Americans think Trump was worst president ever, with Obama named best, poll finds
Former president Donald Trump has been named as the worst president in US history in a new YouGov poll, while his predecessor Barack Obama was voted the best.
The results of the survey, produced with The Economist, show the polarisation of US political opinions at the end of the Trump presidency and as he is facing an impeachment trial in the Senate over the Capitol insurrection.
Asked who they felt was the worst president in history, 46 per cent of respondents named Mr Trump. The survey was conducted between 6 and 9 February with almost 1,500 participants.
Read more here:
Almost half of Americans think Trump was worst president ever, with Obama named best, poll finds
Results show a polarised nation, with Obama also ranking highly for ‘worst presidents’ in poll
Republican senators giving Trump defence ‘additional ideas’ despite being jurors in case
Jason Miller, an adviser to Donald Trump, has suggested Republican senators have been meeting with the former president’s impeachment defence team in order to give them “additional ideas” about how to proceed today.
“It was a real honour to have those senators come in,” Mr Miller said, apparently in reference to senators Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham.
It comes despite the fact the GOP lawmakers are meant to be impartial jurors in the trial. They will cast their vote as soon as Saturday morning on whether to convict or acquit Mr Trump.
Trump defence lawyers expected to accuse Democrats of hypocrisy
David Schoen and Bruce Castor are expected to accuse the House impeachment managers of double standards today in arguing that the 45th president incited the Capitol riot, according to Fox.
The defence attorneys are “likely to point out past instances when Democrats have used combative rhetoric, playing videos similar to how the House impeachment managers used video of Trump speaking to make their case against him”, the right-wing network reports.
“I think you'll at least be moved by what you see and get a much better picture of exactly what's going on here and the hypocrisy in some of the positions taken by the House managers in this case,” Schoen said on America Reports on Thursday.
“They built a sort of a false dichotomy here. Either you condemn what he said and... find him guilty or there's no middle ground. There's no possibility of thinking what he said maybe was inappropriate,” Schoen added later on Thursday evening after meeting with a handful of Republican senators including Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee.
“But when you use the word 'fight,' most of the times during the case, it’s clear he's talking about legislators fighting for our rights, people fighting to advocate. And, you know, everyone likes to overlook the word peacefully in there.”
Oath Keeper extremist who stormed US Capitol kept ‘death list’ and fantasised about mutilating corpses
A member of the US far-right group the Oath Keepers arrested for his part in the Capitol riot kept a “death list” and fantasised about mutilating the corpses of his enemies to use as shields, according to federal prosecutors.
A memorandum objecting to Thomas Caldwell’s release from custody and signed by Michael Sherwin, acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, describes in graphic detail the defendant’s efforts to organise the attempted insurrection on 6 January in protest at the certification of November’s election results in Congress on behalf of Donald Trump, who baselessly insisted the presidency was “stolen” from him.
Mr Caldwell, a 66-year-old US Navy veteran, is facing multiple criminal charges relating to the incident, including conspiracy to injure or impede an officer, violent entry or disorderly conduct and obstruction of an official government proceeding.
Read more here:
Extremist who stormed US Capitol fantasised about mutilating corpses of enemies
Federal prosecutors object to release of Thomas Caldwell, 66, from custody over organising role in riot that left five dead and led to historic second impeachment of Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s impeachment defence team will today launch a “distraction campaign” on the Senate floor. aides for the House impeachment team have reportedly said, amid a process that appears all but certain to end in acquittal for the former president.
“I have no doubt that there will be very little substantive defence presented today ... because there is no defence,” an aide told reporters, according to NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett.
Despite House impeachment managers presenting damning evidence of Mr Trump’s false election claims leading to anger among his base, and ultimately to a mob storming the US Capitol last month, GOP senators appear overwhelmingly likely to vote en masse to vote to acquit - based substantially on an argument denied by many experts that holding an impeachment trial for an official no longer in office is unconstitutional.
FBI arrests two members of Boogaloo Bois
The Justice Department has arrested two members of the far-right anti-government “Boogaloo Bois” movement, with one charged in connection with an attempted riot in Louisville to coincide with the insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January.
Adam Turner, 35, and John Subleski, 32, both from the Kentucky city, were arrested on Thursday by the FBI.
Subleski has been charged with inciting a riot and committing an act of violence to encourage a riot in the city, “through the use of social media and other electronic communications.”
Read more:
Two militia members associated with Boogaloo Bois arrested
Majority of movement's members are supporters of former President Donald Trump
'You don’t make a decision as a juror until you hear both sides’
Bill Cassidy, one of the six Republican senators who voted to proceed with the impeachment trial this week, says that as a juror you must wait until you have heard both sides of a case before making a decision to convict.
The Louisiana Republican, usually a reliable conservative vote, said he was “embarrassed” by the arguments Donald Trump’s “disorganised” lawyers made in their opening statement.
He said that the compelling case made by the Democratic House impeachment managers had swayed him to break from the party.
Melania staying out of the fray
Melania Trump is reportedly ignoring her husband’s second impeachment trial, spending a lot of time at the spa and sometimes seethes over the recognition her successor Jill Biden is receiving for her work.
“She goes to the spa, has lunch, goes to the spa (again), and has dinner with Donald on the patio. Rinse and repeat. Every day,” a source close to Ms Trump told CNN.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Melania is ignoring impeachment and jealous over attention Jill Biden is getting, sources say
Having left DC with low approval ratings, Ms Trump has sometimes been ‘bitter and chilly’ towards her husband, troubled that his attempts to overturn election may have tarnished her public image
‘Witch hunt' Day four begins
The trial starts with Donald Trump’s defence team.
Follow live with The Independent.
Breaking: Trump’s impeachment an ‘unjust and blatantly’ unconstitutional ‘witch-hunt’, ex-president’s lawyers say
Donald Trump’s impeachment is an “unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance” that amounts to a witch hunt, the former president’s lawyers have argued.
The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe reports.
Trump’s impeachment an ‘unjust and blatantly’ unconstitutional ‘witch-hunt’, ex-president’s lawyers say
Donald Trump’s impeachment is an “unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance” that amounts to a witch hunt, the former president’s lawyers have argued.
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