this stage is set to immortalize fading memories. in a magical race against time. witness our time machine. on a just. it's 900 g.m.t. this is a live from london and in the u.s. house impeachment managers have begun giving evidence in the 2nd impeachment trial of former president donald trump a team made up of democrats is making the case that the former president incited the deadly insurrection on capitol hill last month lead impeachment manager jamie raskin made his opening argument labeling trump the insider in chief the evidence

will show you that ex-president trump was no innocent bystander the evidence will show that he clearly incited the january 6th insurrection it will show that donald trump surrendered his role as commander in chief and became the insider in chief of a dangerous instruction and this was as one of our colleagues put it so cogently on january 6th itself the greatest betrayal of the presidential oath in the history of the united states let's cross live on fisher's phone in the proceedings for us on capitol hill and and talk us through the highlights of the case they've outlined so far. well what they're doing is go remember the 30 minute video that we saw on tuesday they're no going broader and deeper essentially taking that video and saying look this is what led up to those actions on capitol hill on january the

6th this is the role that donald trump played in all of that and this is why we think he should be phone guilty by the senate they are pointing to the number as numerous speeches the numerous tweets at the articles that were written about donald trump in the run up to the election where he often said that the only way he was going to lose the election was if it was stolen from him that they said was preparing the groan when he lost the election he then started talking about it being stolen from how he never conceded how he constantly said stop this deal and how he put pressure on election officials here remember he called election officials from the republican party in arizona he brought members of the republican party from michigan who satisfied the results there to the white house he made that infamous call to the secretary of state of georgia asking him to find just enough votes so he can win this state they will talk about the speeches he made particularly those after the election where he talked about fighting like hell to

save the country they will talk about how he flagged up january the 6th as a big deal that people should come it will be a day of history because according to the impeachment managers the new this was his last chance because that is when the senate would meet along with the house of representatives to certify the electoral college votes they have pointed to the fact that while there was a more making their way to the hill he was tweeting in opposition to mike pence his own vice president they made the point very clearly that as the room the holes here in the senate they were chanting hang mike pence because they see of tweets that donald trump so it's all about laying the bricks of the case that they've got against donald trump. they've got 16 hours to do it we've had just 2 hours there is a lot more to come they think there's a lot more detail to give and they're also going to show in the next session we're told some of the video that was taken by security cameras here on capitol hill

video that has never been seen before so graphic in fact that it came with a health warning from jamie raskin who is leading the democrats' impeachment efforts he said look if you've got children and you're watching this it's better that you watch it with them and we will try and give you a warning before we actually run it that of course makes people wonder what exactly they're going to show how graphic is this they are clearly intent in taking the senator's back to january the 6th to relive that moment and sure them how close the mob came to actually breaching through the doors of the house and the senate and house close the team as one senator said to killing some of the people here and now and so far the defense seem to be focusing mostly on on whether or not this whole effort was constitutional do you think that some of this new evidence and the fact that they brought back the history of how trunk behaved will actually force them to change how they defend it. so they've got to know because the constitutional argument is gone that was all what tuesday was about the senate has decided that it

is a constitutional right for the senate to hear this case and they will move forward what we do know is that the defense that has been put forward by donald trump really needs to improve quite greatly i mean i was listening to some of the right wing radio stations and watching right wing t.v. over the last few hours and they were very critical of the efforts made by donald trump one quick no they're going to argue that donald trump is protected by freedom of speech jimmy rascon essentially demolished that with an old argument that you can't show fire in a movie theater he said this was like a fire chief setting a fire shouting fire when the calls came to help put out the fire just watching from a distance and doing nothing about it allen said let's just listen in again things are started again thank you with congressional district of pennsylvania i'm a lawyer i'm a former professor of writing i'm a sister i'm a wife and a mother i'm a grandmother to 3 with forth on her way i'm

a person of faith and i'm an american along with manager lou i will present the actions of a desperate president and we will present evidence today of a class of public servants who standing up to enormous pressure from the president of the united states did the right thing and up held their oath my colleagues just presented evidence of a president trump's months long efforts to incite his base leading them to be leave the election was stolen that they needed to fight like hell to stop the steele on january the 6th these weren't president trump's only efforts to overturn the results. manager lou and i will present evidence of president trump's relentless ask a lady in campaigns to fabricate an election victory by ignoring adverse court

rulings pressuring and threatening election officials attacking senators and members of congress. pressuring the justice department and finally bullying his own vice president president trump and his allies filed $62.00 separate lawsuits in federal courts across more than half a dozen states and the district of columbia including pennsylvania my home state as well as arizona georgia michigan minnesota nevada and wisconsin up to 62 post-election legal challenges he lost 61 only one was successful and that case involved ballot curing in pennsylvania and had no impact on president biden's $80555.00 vote victory in our commonwealth

to be clear not a single court not a single judge agreed that the election results were invalid or should be invalidated instead court after court reviewing these challenges said these cases were quote not credible without merit based on nothing but speculation and flat out wrong the judiciary resoundingly rejected trump's fraud allegations and up held the election results. but it was more than that the court said these cases were different they were dangerous to our democracy for example in an opinion by united states district court judge matthew brann from pennsylvania. he said and i quote this court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations in the united states of

america this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter let alone all the voters of its 6 most populated state our people and laws and institutions demand more because this court has no authority to take away the right to vote of even a single person let alone millions of citizens it cannot grant plaintiffs requested relief that decision by judge braun was affirmed on appeal by judge stefanos beavis a trump appointee who agreed and wrote and i quote the campaign's claims have no merit the number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly $81000.00 vote margin of victory and it never claims fraud or that any of the votes were cast by illegal voters plus tossing out millions of mail in ballots would be drastic and unprecedented disenfranchising

a huge swath of the electorate and upsetting all down ballot races and quote similarly as judge linda parker of the eastern district of michigan framed it she said stunning in its scope and breathtaking in its reach if granted the relief would disenfranchise the votes of more than 5500000 michigan citizens who with dignity and hope and a promise of a vote participated in the 2020 general election donald trump told his supporters they are stealing the election they took away your vote it's rigged. that was not true according to judge after judge the truth was exactly the opposite trump was not suing to ensure election integrity he was pursuing lawsuits that

would in effect strip away american votes so that he could win in other words donald trump was asking the judiciary to take away votes from americans so that he could steal the election for himself then after losing in all the courts trump turned to another tactic pressuring and threatening election officials you saw what happened in michigan after trump attacked the state and its election officials his supporters surrounded the secretary of state's home as you saw in the earlier slide chanting calling her a felon on november 17th the board of canvassers for wayne county michigan home to detroit unanimously certified the election results for by. that same night after their vote to certify the results trump called the 2 repair

republican members of that board pressuring them to change their minds the call worked the next day both monica palmer and william hartman the republican board members attempted to rescind their vote to certify michigan's election results but they simply couldn't president trump didn't stop there he then contacted majority leader of the michigan senate mike sharkey and the speaker of the michigan house league chatfield to lobby them to overturn michigan's results. trump invited mr chatfield and mr sharkey to washington to meet with him at the white house where the president lobbied them further. let's be clear donald trump was calling officials hosting them at the white house urging them to defy the voters in their state and instead award votes to trump the officials held strong

and so trump moved on to a different state my home state of pennsylvania i am certain my senators casey and sen to me remember what happened there in early december as he did in michigan he began calling election officials including my former colleagues in the pennsylvania legislature republicans majority leader kim ward and speaker of the house brian cutler majority leader ward said the president called her to quote declare there was a fraud in the voting and quote then on november 25th president trump phoned in to a republican senate state senate policy hearing trying to convince the republican legislators senators and house members there had been a fraud in the vote he even had his lawyer hold a phone up to the microphone in that hearing room so the committee could hear him here is what he said.

we want the media and we wanted. this was a gathering i've attended many i have to tell you as a former state legislator a lot of policy hearings i have to say with some confidence that was likely the 1st time a president of the united states of america called into a state legislative policy hearing and remember here is the president saying he won pennsylvania. and pennsylvania had been certified for that biden had won by more than 80000 votes less than a week after calling into that meeting he invited multiple republican members of the pennsylvania legislature to the white house the same scheme he had used on the michigan legislators it didn't work with those public servants either think

about it the president of the united states was calling public officials calling from the white house inviting them into the oval office telling them to disenfranchise voters of their state telling them to overturn the will of the american people also he could take the election for himself and then in georgia a state trump had counted on for victory his conduct was perhaps the most egregious on november 11th republican secretary of state brad raffensperger confirmed that he believed ballots were act act accurately counted for biden trump went on a relentless attack here are just a few examples in all trump tweeted at raffensperger 17 times in the coming week so you've just a few. calling him a disaster obstinate not having a clue being played for a fool and being

a so-called republican all because raffensperger was doing his job ensuring the integrity of our elections and these attacks had consequences mr raffensperger and his family received death threats quote your husband deserves to face a firing squad you better not botch this recount your life depends upon it the raffensperger should be put on trial for treason and face execution. just some of the threats they received after these death threats on nov 25th mr raffensperger wrote an op ed where he said my family voted for trump donated to him and are now being thrown under the bus by him but he also noted elections are the bedrock of our democracy they need to be run fairly and perhaps

more importantly impartially that's not partisan that's just american it's important to remember that this wasn't just a random attack truck wasn't just criticizing a politician over policy or saying he didn't agree donald trump was savagely attacking a secretary of state because the official did his job and certified the state according to how the people in that state voted. donald trump was trying to undermine our elections by taking votes away from the american people so that he could remain president and he was willing to blame and be trained anyone anyone even his own supporters if they got in the way remember senators those threats were to mr raffensperger family so some may say trump didn't know his attacks against mr raffensperger would result in death threats except that all of this was very public

the secretary published his op ed in usa today and major networks including fox covered the threats against the raffensperger what did trump do did he stop did he say no no supporters that isn't what i meant no he doubled down. let's see the evidence this was a massive fraud we should never take place in this country we're like a 3rd world country look at look at georgia but i understand the secretary of state who is really. he said enemy of the people the secretary of state and whether it's republican or not this bad what he's done like this character in georgia was a disaster. let that sink in a republican public servant doing his job whose family had just received death threats and the president of the united states labeled him an enemy of the people

and that's why this is different because this was not just want to tackle or one comment this was attack after attack in the face of clear threats of violence and on december 1st another official gabriel sterling a republican who voted for trump made this point and appealed directly to our president to stop his dangerous conduct mr president. it looks like you might be lost and you. were investigating there's always a possibility i get in you have the rights to go to the courts what you don't have the ability to do we need to step up and say this is stop inspiring people to commit potential lots of violence someone to get hurt someone's going to get shot some are going to get killed. mr sterling put this perfectly in this country we can appropriately challenge

a close count or go to the courts or disagree with others or make bold statements but what trump was doing was different someone's going to get hurt someone's going to get shot someone's going to get killed. mr sterling saw what trump's conduct was fomenting he warned him on live t.v. that violence was already happening and that more violence was foreseeable and inevitable sterling's pleas were played over and over on every network rather than heed that warning trump escalated again in early december trump called bryan cam the governor of georgia and pressured him to hold a special session of the state legislature to overturn the election results and to appoint electors who would vote for trump a few weeks later on december 23rd trump called the chief investigator for the

floor for the georgia bureau of investigations who was conducting an audit and ordered of the signature matching procedures for absentee ballots trump urged him find the fraud and claimed the official would be a national hero if he did let's call this what it is he was asking the official to say there was evidence of fraud when there wasn't any the official refused and the investigation was completed and on december 29th raffensperger announced that the audit found quote no fraudulent absentee ballots with a 99 percent confidence level. on january 3rd trump tweeted about a call he had with a georgian georgia election official the day before he said and i quote i spoke to secretary of state brad raffensperger yesterday about fulton county and

voter fraud in georgia he was unwilling or unable to answer questions such as the ballots under the table scam ballot destruction out of state voters dead voters and more he has no clue. on january the 5th the washington post released a recording of that call which had occurred on january 2nd remember just 4 days before the attack on the capitol here is what president trump said it more illegal the unit that it is better than because you know what they did and you not reporting it that you know that's criminal. and you know you can't let that happen that that's a big risk to you doing to rock your lawyer and that's a big risk. let's be clear this is the president of the united states telling a secretary of state that if he does not find votes he will face criminal penalties

and not just any number of votes donald trump was asking the secretary of state to somehow find the exact number of votes donald trump lost the state by remember president biden won georgia by 11779 votes in his own words trump said all i want to do is this i just want to find 11780 votes he won of the secretary of state to somehow find the precise number plus one so that he could win here's what he said so what i want to do with it i did want to vote on. 11. 780. which is one more of the way. he says it right there the president of the united states telling a public official to manufacture the exact votes needed so he can win.

senators we must not become numb to this trump did this across state after state so often so loudly so publicly public officials like you and me receive death threats and call us threatening criminal penalties all because trump wanted to remain in power. these public officials exercised great political and personal courage in the face of unprecedented pressure from the president of the united states. senators ours is a dialogue with history a conversation with the past with the hope for the future senators i thank you today for your kind attention.

good afternoon i'm congressman ted lew my colleague congresswoman dean went through president efforts to overturn the election and through the courts and when that story failing he's deeply disturbing attacks on state and local officials i'm going to walk through extraordinary efforts remaining until january 6th when he tried again to overturn the election i 1st want to highlight his question to all of you today is this america like all of you i love this country i am an immigrant my parents came to ohio and we start off living in the basement of a person's home we were poor and they went to flea markets so gifts to make ends meet over many years they built a small business open 6 stores and achieve the american dream that's one reason i

joined united states air force on active duty i believe america is an exceptional country i was trained as a prosecutor at mass where for space in alabama and i remain in the reserves because we're the greatest country in the world but how did our exceptional country get to the point where you violent attacked our capital murdering a police officer assaulting over 140 other officers. how do you get to the point where rioters desecrated defiled in this honored your senate chamber. where the very place in which you sit became a crime scene where national guard troops still patrol outside wearing body armor i'll show you how we got here president download jay trump ran out of non violent options to maintain power after his 1st in the courts

and threatening officials failed he turned to privately and publicly attacking members of his own party in the house and in the senate he would publicly bait senators naming them in social media for example on december 18th president named as senate majority leader and republican senators telling them they have to get tougher or they won't have a republican party anymore we won the election by a lot fight for it don't let them take it away. from we're suggesting to members of this senate that if they don't help and try to overturn the election there would be consequences on december 24th president wrote i save at least 8 republican senators including mitch from losing in the last rig for president you lection now they almost all sit back and watch me fight against

a crooked and vicious full the radical left democrats i will and in all capital letters he wrote never forget that summation point. was telling you that you owe him that if you don't help him fight over the results he will never forget and that there will be consequences these are threats just like the threats you made to state and local officials and it continue. on december 29th president. can you imagine the republican election from the democrats all hell would break out republican leadership only wants a path of least resistance our leaders not me of course are pathetic. they only know how to lose. yes i've got many senators and congressmen and congresswomen elected i do believe they forgot president from targeted senators and

members of congress on social media calling them pathetic for letting you get quote stolen from them. 4th 2 days before the attack president trump tweeted their surrender caucus within the republican party will go down for me as weak and ineffective guardians of our nation who are willing to accept their certification of fraudulent presidential numbers now he's mocking some republican members as a surrender caucus calling them weak and ineffective guardians of our nation because they would pretend that he had won when in fact he had not and then the very day before the attack. threats grew even more heated and specific towards republicans that he considered to be part of that surrender caucus. now we've shown you this before but i want to draw your attention to how the president was not just inciting his base but how he was also calling out specific senate republicans at

the end of this tweet this is a specific warning to anyone who won't help and overturn the results anyone who was against the president became an enemy and let me be very clear the president wasn't just coming for one or 2 people or democrats like me he was coming for you for democratic and republican senators he was coming for all of us just as the mob did at his direction in the going after centers of members of congress present from also pressured our justice department to investigate the false claims that the election was stolen at the president's direction or william barr although member of the present cabinet authorized federal prosecutors to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities bill barr pursuing these allegations sparked an.