Trump accused as 'inciter in chief' of Capitol insurrection

As the House impeachment managers described police officers maimed in the chaos and rioters parading in the very chamber where the trial was being held, Trump's team countered that the Constitution doesn't allow impeachment at this late date. Even though the Senate rejected that argument in Tuesday's vote to proceed to the trial, the legal issue could resonate with Senate Republicans eager to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.

Defense lawyer Bruce Castor said Tuesday he shifted his planned approach after hearing the prosecutors' emotional opening and instead spoke conversationally to the senators, saying Trump's team would denounce the "repugnant" attack and "in the strongest possible way denounce the rioters." He encouraged the senators to be "cool headed" as they assessed the arguments.

Trump attorney Schoen turned the trial toward starkly partisan tones, arguing the Democrats were fueled by a "base hatred" of the former president.

A frustrated Trump on Tuesday revived his demands to focus on his unsupported claims of voter fraud, repeatedly telephoning former White House aide Peter Navarro, who told The Associated Press in an interview he agrees. He is calling on Trump to fire his legal team.

"If he doesn't make a mid-course correction here, he's going to lose this Super Bowl," Navarro said, a reference to public opinion, not the unlikely possibility of conviction.

Republicans made it clear that they were unhappy with Trump's defense, many of them saying they didn't understand where it was going — particularly Castor's opening.

While six Republicans joined with Democrats to vote to proceed with the trial, the 56-44 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes that would be needed for conviction.

As the country numbs to the Trump era's shattering of civic norms, the prosecutors sought to remind senators and the nation how extraordinary it was to have a sitting US president working to discredit the election. In hundreds of tweets, remarks and interviews as far back as spring and summer, Trump was spreading false claims about the election and refusing to commit to the peaceful transfer of power once it was over, they said.

As violence mounted in the states in the weeks and months before Trump supporters marched to the Capitol, he could have told loyalists to stand down. But he didn't.

The mob "didn't come out of thin air," said Rep . Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.

The public scenes of attack were distilled in highly personal terms, first when Raskin broke down in tears Tuesday describing his family hiding in the Capitol that day. On Wednesday, Neguse, the son of immigrants, recalled telling his father how proud he was to return to Congress that night to finish the work of certifying the election. Castro said as a Democrat from Texas, he knew how hard it is to lose elections. They also shared comments of the Capitol Police, including a Black officer who described racial epithets being hurled at him by the rioters.

"That's the question before all of you in this trial, is this America?" Raskin told the senators.

It appears unlikely that the House prosecutors will call witnesses, and Trump has declined a request to testify. The trial is expected to continue into the weekend. Trump's second impeachment trial is expected to diverge from the lengthy, complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was charged with having privately pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency. It could be over in half the time.

The Democratic-led House impeached the president swiftly, one week after the attack. A Capitol police officer was among those who died.

Agencies via Xinhua