Donald Trump’s legal team just wiped the Senate floor with the Democratic members of Congress seeking to impeach the former president after forcing them, on the fourth day of Trump’s trial, to view a slew of videos of their past violent rhetoric calling for their supporters to “fight” and encouraging the summer 2020 rioters.
The legal team opened with a video of all the times politicians and journalists suggested they wanted to impeach Trump, long before his first trial at the beginning of 2020, and transitioned into another series of clips depicting some of the same politicians such as Rep. Maxine Waters, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, failed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and others calling for violence against Trump and his supporters over the last four years.
Many of the lawmakers attempting to convict the former president were featured in the video telling their political supporters to “fight like hell” and “fight back,” using much of the same rhetoric that the House’s article of impeachment took issue with when Trump said it.
Among those highlighted in the visual evidence was Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who was featured multiple times throughout the montage telling crowds of people nearly 50 times that they should “fight” for what they believe in. Now-Vice President Kamala Harris also made an appearance not only with her infamous suggestion that she would murder Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence if she were stuck in an elevator with them but also with her speeches rallying people and promising to “fight” nearly 70 times. In addition to Warren and Harris, the video also showed at least 10 times when President Joe Biden used the word “fight” in a political speech or to address a crowd.
But wait, “there’s more”:
Using a simple word or phrase to communicate urgency or importance to a crowd, Trump attorney David Schoen said, is not the mistake in these videos. The Democrats’ mistake, he said, was capitalizing on something they are guilty of doing to accomplish a political goal.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s a word people use,” the attorney continued. “But please stop the hypocrisy.”
Trump’s defense team continued their argument against the Democrats’ impeachment case by showing multiple clips of left-wing journalists and legislators encouraging the rioting, looting, and violence that plagued American cities for months last summer following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, as well as clips of Democrats objecting to previous election results.
