hello i'm adrian for the good it is 1700 hours g.m.t. midday in washington d.c. and we're taking you straight to the u.s. senate for the 4th day of donald trump's impeachment trial of former president's defense lawyers are about to present opening arguments house democrats have spent the last 2 days giving evidence to support their view that trump should be found guilty of inciting the insurrection at the u.s.

capitol on january 6th they say that trungpa should never be allowed to hold office again al-jazeera is alan fischer as live for us at washington d.c. so what can we expect today. while the defense lawyers are going to go with 3 things 1st of all that it's not constitutional that's already been argued the hearings taking place there was a vote on the 2nd of all donald trump didn't get due process this isn't a criminal trial this is a senate hearing all those boxes have been ticked and the 3rd thing they'll say is that this interview with donald trump's 1st amendment right they're going to show clips of democrats talking about people fighting they will see that what happened here on capitol hill on the 6th of january was a terrible thing but nothing to do with donald trump you're going to hear a lot of case law a lot of historical references that's because they want to make this boring over the next 4 hours they want to take the emotion out of the room and of course they also want to give the republican senators an excuse to vote no so if he can say look listen to the evidence i thought it was a constitutional hearing that's why i voted no that will play much better for all

of these republicans have got to leave here and still have to face the beast a base which is still largely loyal to them from. will. allen will come back to you again in a little while let's bring in very briefly and to gallagher who's in west palm beach in florida. and it's it's been almost equired from team trump doesn't that. you know i don't think we've ever seen a period of time where donald trump has been so silent for so long of course he's not on twitter anymore and your. his 1st trial he tweeted out $140.00 times in just one day now what we are hearing is that he did watch the opening arguments of his defense attorneys on the 1st day of this impeachment trial and was said to be not particularly happy but according to some other reports he's pretty thursday he took to the golf course all day as the democratic house managers wraps up their

arguments but trump's legal woes even after all this is over and it's expected that he won't be and he are not over because there is a criminal investigation opening in the u.s. state of georgia into that hour long phone call the inmates have brought ratzenberger the republican secretary of state in there in which she specifically asked him to find the votes he needed in a state that he lost now some of the charges that could go before a grand jury they could rocket's hearing and interfering with an electoral process so even when all this is over and it's going to be over pretty fast because we know that's what donald trump wants from his defense team his legal woes are far from over and alan fischer in capitol hill. is the the trump team defense going to be any more polished than your performance song on the 1st day of the trial when they were making the constitutional arguments. will remember we were watching the constitutional arguments thinking that this guy make it all up

and apparently he did because that wasn't the plan that he would speak 1st the change the order the change what we were going to see because they were so impressed by the case made by the democrats it's going to be a lot more polished this time what is interesting is that 3 republican senators ted cruz mike lee lindsey graham all supporters of the president he spent some time with the defense team thursday night to try and horn argument even though they're meant to be impartial jurors impartial jurors in a hearing which is just getting under way on the senate floor let's go and listen in for president. good afternoon senators mr president the article of impeachment now before the senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance this appalling abuse of the

constitution only further divides our nation when we should be trying to come together around shared priorities like ever like every other politically motivated which on the left hasn't gaijin over the past 4 years this impeachment is completely divorced from the facts the evidence and the interests of the american people the senate should promptly and decisively vote to reject it no thinking person could seriously believe that the president's january 6th speech on the ellipse wasn't anyway an incitement to violence or insurrection the suggestion is patently absurd on its face nothing in the text could ever be construed as encouraging condoning or

enticing unlawful activity of any kind far from promoting insurrection against the united states the president's remarks explicitly encourage those in attendance to exercise their rights peacefully and patriotically peaceful and patriotic protest is the very antithesis of a violent assault on the nation's capitol. the house impeachment article slanderously alleges that the president intended for the crowd at the ellipse to quote enter fear with the joint sessions solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election this is manifestly disproven by the plain text of the remarks the president devoted nearly his entire speech to

an extended discussion of how legislators should vote on the question it and instead of expressing a desire that the joint session be prevented from conducting its business the entire premise of his remarks was that the democratic process would and should play out according to the letter of the law including both the constitution and the electoral count act in the conclusion of his remarks he then laid out a series of legislative steps that should be taken to improve democratic accountability going forward such as passing universal voter id legislation banning ballot are bestowing requiring proof of sedition citizenship to vote and turning out strong in the next primaries not only president these are not the words of someone inciting

a violent insurrection. not only president trump's speech on january 6th but indeed his entire challenge to the election results were squarely focused on how the proper civic process could address any concerns through the established legal and constitutional system the president brought his case before state and federal courts the u.s. supreme court the state legislatures the electoral college and ultimately the u.s. congress in the past numerous other candidates for president have used many of the same processes to pursue their own election challenges as recently as 2016 the clinton campaign brought multiple post-election court cases demanded recounts and ridiculously declared the election stolen by russia

many democrats even attempted to persuade the electro ll college delegates to overturn the 2016 results house manager raskin objected to the certification of president trump's victory 4 years ago along with many of his colleagues you'll remember it was joe biden who had to gavel them down . i have an objection because 10 or $29.00 electoral votes cast by florida were cast by electors not lawfully certified i object to the votes from the state of wisconsin which would not should not be legally so i say no to that reg mr president i object to the certificate from the state of georgia on the grounds that the electoral votes were not right no debate as i object to a certificate from the state of north carolina but i did to the 15 votes in the state of north carolina i object i object to the certificate from the state of

alabama the electors were not lawfully sort of fide is it signed by senator not as of yet and in that case the objection cannot be entertained the objection cannot be entertained not an order ballot even with the merriest it is going over it is signed by an american and i know that is noted by the joint session there is no debate but it is no debate 16 there is no debate and the man's claims come to my she actually it's not going to sit in it but the right she can ask she actually in the title of the united states coatbridge debate in the joint session i do not wish to debate i wish to ask is there one united states senator who until i may have this letter there is no debate. no days gentlewoman most banned in 2000 the dispute over the outcome was taken all the way to the supreme court

which ultimately rendered a decision. to litigate questions of an election integrity within the system is not incitement to resurrection it is the democratic system working as the founders and law makers have designed to claim that the president in any way wished desired or encouraged lawless or violent behavior as a proposed tourist and monstrous lie. in fact the 1st 2 messages the president sent via twitter once the incursion of the capital began were stay peaceful and no violence because we are the party of law and order the gathering on january 6th was supposed to be a peaceful event make no mistake about that and the overwhelming majority of those in attendance remained peaceful as everyone knows the president had spoken

at hundreds of large rallies across the country over the past 5 years there had never been any mob alike or riotous behaviors and in fact a significant portion of each event was devoted to celebrating the rule of law protecting our constitution and honoring the men and women of law enforcement contrast the president's repeated combinations of violence where the rhetoric from his opponents. i am you're president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters vast majority of the protests you see. republicans stand for law and order and we stand for justice i just don't know why there aren't uprisings all over the country where people will be quiet frustration for we stand against violence they have an

disorder they need to be on the rest of the streets for as long as there's unrest in our lives i stay here long. we will never defund our police together we will ensure that america is a nation of law and order high school i'd take you behind him and beat the hell up but i think you need to go back and implant you in the face feel like punching him but just what color everybody wants that i wanted calico guy i want to know if you kept all you have to eat go far away and you will apply what law and order we have to outlaw daughter show me where it says the protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful we believe it saves secure community and we believe in law and order

tragically as we know now the january january sit 6th a small group who came to engage in violent and menacing behavior hijacked the event for their own purposes according to publicly available reporting it is apparent that extremists of various different stripes and political persuasions preplanned and premeditated an attack on the capitol. one of the 1st people arrested was the leader of n t 5 sadly he was also among the 1st to be released from the beginning the president has been clear the criminals who infiltrated the capital must be punished to the fullest extent of the law they should be in prison for as long as the law allows the fact that the attacks were apparently

premeditated as alleged by the house managers demonstrates the ludicrousness of the incitement allegation against the president you can't incite what was already going to happen law enforcement officers at the scene conducted themselves heroically and courageously and our country owes them an eternal debt but there must be a discussion of the decision by political leadership regarding force posture and security in advance of the event as many will recall last summer the white house was faced with violent violent rioters night after night they repeatedly attacked secret service officers and at one point pierced a security wall common aiding in the clearing of lafayette square since that

time there has been a sustained negative narrative in the media regarding the necessity of those security measures on that night even though they certainly prevented many calamities from occurring in the wake of the capital attack it must be investigated whether the proper force posture was not initiated due to to the political pressure stemming from the events at lafayette square consider this. on january 5th the mayor of the district of columbia explicitly discouraged the national guard and federal authorities from doing more to protect the capital saying and i quote the district of columbia is not requesting other federal law enforcement personnel and discourages any additional deployment

this sham impeachment also poses a serious threat to freedom of speech for political leaders of both parties at every level of government the senate should be extremely careful about the president the president this case will set consider the language that the house impeachment article alleges to constitute incitement if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore this is ordinary political rhetoric that is virtually indistinguishable from the language that has been used by people across the political spectrum for hundreds of years countless politicians have spoken of fighting for our principles joe biden's campaign slogan was

battle for the soul of america no human being seriously believes that the use of such metaphorical terminology is incitement to political violence while the president did not engage in any language of incitement there are numerous officials in washington who have indeed used profoundly reckless dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric in recent years the entire democratic party and national news media spent the last 4 years repeating without any evidence that the 2016 election had been hacked. and falsely and absurdly claimed the president of the united states was a russian spy speaker pelosi herself said that the 2016 election

was hijacked and that congress has a duty to protect our democracy she also called the president in a posture and a traitor and recently referred to her colleagues in the house as the enemy with then moreover many democrat politicians indorsed and encourage the riots that destroyed vast swaths of american cities last summer when violent left wing anarchistic conducted a sustained assault on a federal courthouse in portland oregon speaker pelosi did not call it in insurrection instead she called the federal law enforcement officers protecting the building stormtroopers. when violent mobs destroyed public property she said people will do what they do

the attorney general of the state of massachusetts stated yes america is burning but that's how forests grow representative anchia presley declared there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there are is on rest in our lives the current vice president of the united states kemal a harris urged supporters to donate to a fund that bailed out violent rioters and arsonists out of jail one of those was released and went out and committed another crime assault he beat the bejesus out of somebody she said of the violent demonstrations. everyone be aware they're not

going to stop before election day in november and they're not going to stop after election day they're not going to let up. and they should not such rhetoric continued even as hundreds of police officers across the nation were subjected to violent assaults at the hands of angry mobs a man claiming to be inspired by the junior senator from vermont came down here to washington d.c. to watch a softball game and kill as many senators and congressmen as he could it cannot be forgotten that president trump did not blame the junior senator the senior senator from maine has had her house surrounded by angry mobs of protesters when that happened in unnerved her one of the house managers i forget which one tweeted

cry me a river. under the standards of the house and pietschmann article each of these individuals should be retroactively censored expelled punished or impeached for inciting violence by their supporters unlike the left president trump has been entirely consistent in his opposition to mob violence he opposes it in all forms in all places just says he's been consistent that the national guard should be deployed to protect american communities wherever protection is needed for democrats they have clearly demonstrated that their opposition to mobs and their view of using the national guard depends upon

the mob's political views. not only is this impeachment case preposterously wrong on the facts no matter how much she and a motion is injected by the political opposition it is also plainly unconstitutional in effect congress would be claiming that the right to disqualify a private citizen no longer a government official from running for public office this would transform the solemn impeachment process into a mechanism for asserting congressional control over which private citizens are and are not allowed to run for president ensured this unprecedented effort is not about democrats opposing political violence

is about democrats trying to disqualify their political opposition it is constitutional cancel culture history will will will record this shameful effort as a deliberate attempt by the democrat party to smear censor and cancel not just president trump but the 75000000 americans who voted for him. now is not the time for such a campaign of retribution it is the time for unity and healing and focusing on the interests of the nation as a whole we should all be seeking to cool temperatures calm passions rise above partisan lines

the senate should reject this divisive and unconscious to tional effort and allow the nation to move forward over the next. over the course of the next 3 hours or so you will hear next from mr schoen who's going to talk about due process and a couple other point you'll be interested to hear. return with the now with an analysis of why the 1st amendment must be properly applied here and then mr castro will discuss the law as it applies to the speech of january 6th and then we'll be pleased to answer your questions thank you.

mr schoen leaders senators throughout the course of today my colleagues and i will explain in some detail the simple fact that president trump did not incite the horrific terrible riots of january 6th will demonstrate that to the contrary the violence and looting goes against the law and order

message he conveyed to every citizen of the united states throughout his presidency including on january 6th 1st though we would like to discuss the hatred the vitriol the political opportunism that has brought us here today. the hatred that the house managers and others on the left have for president trump has driven them to skip the basic elements of due process and fairness and to russian impeachment through the house claiming quote urgency clothes coats but the house waited to deliver the articles to the senate from us 2 weeks only after democrats at secured control over the senate in fact contrary to their claim that the only reason they held it was because senator mcconnell wouldn't accept the article representative cliburn made clear that they had considered holding the articles for over 100 days to provide president biden with

a clear pathway to implement his agenda. our constitution and any basic sense of fairness require that every legal process with significant consequences for a person's life including impeachment requires due process under the law which includes a fact finding and the establishment of a legitimate evidentiary record with an appropriate foundation even last year's impeachment followed committee hearings and months of examination and investigation by the house here president trump and his counsel were given no opportunity to review evidence or question its propriety the rush to judgment for a snap in peach meant in this case was just one example of the denial of due process another perhaps even more vitally significant example with the

denial of any opportunity ever to test the integrity of the evidence offered against donald trump in a proceeding seeking to bar him from ever holding public office again and that seeks to disenfranchise some 75000000 voters american voters on wednesday this week countless news outlets repeated the democrat talking point about the power of never be see it never before seen footage and i ask you this why was this footage never seen before shouldn't the subject of an impeachment trial this impeachment trial president trump have the right to see the so-called new evidence against him more importantly the riot in the attack on this very building was a major event that shocked and impacted all americans shouldn't the american people have seen this footage as soon as it was available for what possible reason to the

house managers withhold it from the american people and president trump's lawyers for political game how did they get it. how are they the ones releasing it it is evidence in hundreds of pending criminal cases against the rioters why was it not released through law enforcement or the department of justice is it the result of a rushed snap impeachment for political gain without due process house manager raskin told us all yesterday that your job as jurors in this case is a fact intensive job but of course as several of the house managers have told you we still don't have the facts speaker pelosi yourself on february 2nd called for a 911 style commission to investigate the events of january 6th speaker pelosi says that the.