in georgia right now into that hour long phone call that trump made with a broad reference burger the secretary of state a republican in which he asked the secretary of state to find 11700 so votes in the state that he lost there are other cases going on in new york there are other cases going on all over the place so this may be a big victory for the former president but he may face real court real trials which he then cannot depend on republicans to back him up in what will be criminal charges potentially all right thank you very much west palm beach florida andy caddick a thanks andy i get some insight into the proceedings and how we've seen things play out with melanie sloan a 4 federal prosecutor joins us by skype from washington and melanie i'm curious to pick up on a point that andy was just making there about witnesses if we're watching this trial you're looking i suppose for new insight clarity new information about what took place in the congress and then jamie it was just the witness the democrats

were waiting for given what was at stake kid did she need to be cold as a witness and not just have her statement submitted for the record. certainly had she appeared and spoken to her words would have been incredibly impactful and moving to so many people this trial was going to be much more for the american people than it was for the senate where the conclusion was preordained nobody should give the president's legal team any great credit as a pair of chimpanzees would have won it for the president that these 2 lawyers did basically a terrible job it's just that the senate republicans had no plan to convict him from day one. would the use of additional witnesses might have made a difference it would have certainly put kevin mccarthy on the spot it wasn't clear that they were going to be able to call several witnesses it might have just been

the one witness but it still would have been moving but in the end i don't think it would have changed anything and what we're reading now is that republicans threatened to hold up all sorts of other activity on the senate floor if they went through with this including nominations for president biden's cabinet and any legislative efforts so it was a game of chicken which senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is excellent at and it seems that the republicans won and how much of that complicate things i suppose the timing of all of this when president joe biden has cabinet appointments to deal with the coronavirus relief package it's a packed legislative agenda that was a need to expedite the process has that at home full or counterproductive in some way. absolutely there was this need to do other things and president biden has made clear that he wants to move on he didn't stand in the way of this but he also

wasn't enthusiastic a big supporter of it he doesn't want his presidency to be all about donald trump so he would like to move on to talk about things like coronavirus and the economy and there are many of his nominees who are still sitting without their confirmation hearings and that's a important part of moving forward so i think that those are our major issues of course we will hear president trump on tao diddly gloat about this and the fact that the party now belongs to people like trump and marjorie taylor green is scary for many americans one thing that it is leading to is a large number of republicans leaving the party whether they'll go to the democratic party is another question but at the republican party may find itself increasingly have the the party of the conspiracy theorists and the anti semites and the white nationalists and they may find themselves having trouble gaining the majority in elections all right melanie thank you very much money there in

washington that might get back to you for a chat a bit later but we can go back to andy caddick who's following developments in west palm beach florida where there has been some reaction. yeah a statement has just been released from the office of donald j. trump it's a pretty long statement and scuse me while i look down but i'm going to read one section of it from here this is been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country no president has ever gone through anything like it and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75000000 people the highest number ever for a sitting president who voted for us just a few short months ago now this is a pretty long statement i'll go through it a bit longer and i'm sure we'll all see it before too long but that came out pretty fast you have to say the acquittal came within the last few minutes and here we have a long statement from president former president dante trump saying this was just yet another witch hunt so you can imagine this was

a statement that was probably pretty written a few hours ago when they realized the way things would go i think the next question is is trump himself going to appear on camera is he going to start giving interviews is he going to start continue to say that the election was stolen from him it's yet another example of just how powerful of how big a shadow this man casts across this party that he has been exonerated by republicans even though 7 voted that he was guilty and these charges in the 2nd impeachment trial but that is a very fast statement coming out there possibly we may see trump in front of a camera on a radio perhaps on one of the conservative networks in this country but we're all standing by to wait what he says in person now that he has been acquitted in this is 2nd impeachment trial. but he still has a great deal of support in the country and in what perceptions altered after those shocking scenes on january 6th and many of those who that had voted and believed

that he played that he did incite that insurrection that he was basically responsible for the destruction in the violence carried out on that day. i mean that's a great question and it's something that really hasn't been addressed you know if you were some buying and have conservative values and thought that former president trump had good policies but perhaps not such great manners you know seeing what done generally the 6 in the fact that 5 people died that may sway people and that's the point here that a lot of republicans are talking about saying look the future of the g.o.p. cannot be the future with trump is because it suits to inclusive they need to cast a wider net they need to bring all sorts of different demographics into the party if they are to continue with some success because remember the demographics in this country are constantly changing and there are more and more hispanic voters black voters of always had a powerful voice in this country and what trump is and has done is really just grab from a certain demographic mostly white non-college educated people who feel like the

left has gone too far and socialism is a threat but the entire future of the party is now under question senator lindsey graham is said to be wanting to meet now with the former president to discuss the future of the g.o.p. to discuss trump's role in the future but i cannot see a man like this changing his tone changing his rhetoric or trying to cast out his arms wide to bring in more people to the party so this is all over now and he was acquitted as we did expect but the future of the entire party is now in question and i think the real answer those questions we'll find out in 2 years' time when the mid-term elections take place right by. a big. senate democrats the purpose of this entire process was to disqualify a donald trump from pursuing future office at so he could be back in the white house 20242025. well i would

slightly disagree with that statement i think the democrats purpose here was to get this on public record i think they knew they didn't have much of a chance of finding him guilty of these charges of inciting a riot but i think what they want to do is remind people of just how bad the events of january the 6 were and also to get it on public record we live in a time now where shocking events happen and 2 days later something else happens and we all tend to forget just how about it was this was the closest this nation's democracy ever came to failing that that's just objective really a fact and i think what the democrats were really trying to do here is is remind people what happened get this on historical record so that people remember just how bad things were and they achieved that you know their arguments were comprehensive timelines they built the entire picture of what went on so they lost but they got this on to the public record i think then made the american people perhaps more aware of what happened on january the 6th than they may have been before but

ultimately it's the ballot box in this nation that is still a democracy that will decide how all this goes forward how donald trump is treated and perhaps even how those 7 republicans who voted that was guilty of cheated because you know they may get primary design was saying and that's the big picture or they may get more support because they stood up to somebody that a lot of people see as a bully and who someone who they did see did you know get these writers to go in and almost take down the government there are so many questions at this point so many questions left unanswered but the bottom line is as expected donald a trump has been acquitted of all charges in this is 2nd impeachment trial right now actually we're just hearing now friend senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and having the bully. was very poor hirable consequence of the role in question though. of paul slow bug conspiracy theory.

and wreckless harbor bully which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone. on planet earth the issue is not only the president intemperate language on january 6th it is not just his endorsement of remarks in which an associate urged quote trial by combat it was also the n tar manufactured apis fear of the looming catastrophe the increasingly wild miss miss about a reversal landslide election that was somehow being stolen from secret coup. are now president

now i defended the president's right to bring any complaints to our legal system the legal system spoke electoral college vote as i stood up and said clearly at that time the election was settled is over. but that just really opened a new chapter of even wilder wilder and more unfounded claims the leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe them and do reckless lying and sadly many politicians sometimes make overheated comments or use metaphors we saw that it on his

listeners might literally but that was different that's different from what we saw this was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by the outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters' decision or else torch our institutions on the way out. the unconscionable behavior did not end when the violence actually began. whatever our ex-president claims he thought. might happen. whatever right reaction he says he meant to produce by that afternoon we know he was watching the same live television

as the rest of us a mob was assaulting the capitol in his name. these criminals who are carrying his banners hanging in his black. and screaming their loyalty to em it was obvious. that only president trump could damage it was the only one who good former aides publicly begged him to do so loyal allies frantically call the administration up and did not actually he did not do its job he didn't

take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored you know instead according to public reports he watched television happily happily as the chaos unfolded. yep pressing his again overturn the election now even after it was clear to any reasonable observer that vice president pence was in serious danger even as the ma. current crop banner. was beating cops and breaching parameters the president sent a further tweet attacking his own eyes rhonda

now predictably and forcibly under the circumstances members of the mob. seem to interpret this as a further inspiration to lawlessness and violence not surprisingly later even when the president did have hardly begin calling for peace it didn't call right away for the riot and he did not tell the mob could apart until even later and even met with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering capitol floors he kept repeating election laws. and praising the criminals

in recent weeks our ex-president associates of tried to use the 74000000 americans who voted to reelect him as a kind of human shield. against criticism. isn't the 74000000 who voted for him as kind of a human seal shield against criticism anyone who crotch is awful behavior is accused of insulting millions of voters that's an absurd deflection 74000000 americans did not invade the capitol hundreds of rotters did ition and rage that provoked it one person.

the constitution gives us a particular role this body is not invited to act as the nation's overarching moral tribunals were not free to work backward from whether the accused party might personally deserve some kind of punishment just as joseph story our nation's 1st great constitutional scholar. as he explained nearly 200 years ago the process of impeachment and conviction is a narrow to a narrow tool for a narrow purpose story explained this

limited to exists to quote secure the state against gross official misdemeanors and quote that is. to protect the country from government officers a president trump or still in office i would have carefully considered whether the house managers prove their specific charge by district criminal standard the president's speech probably was not invited however however in the context of impeachment the senate might have decided this was acceptable shorthand for the reckless actions that proceeded the riot

but in this case the question is moot because former president trump trump is constitutionally not all verbal or conviction now this is a close question no doubt gone front was the president when the house voted. though not when the house chose to deliver the papers brilliant scholars argue both sides of this jurisdictional question the text is legitimately and big us i respect my colleagues who bridged either conclusion but after intense reflection i believe the best constitutional reading shows that article 2 section 4 exhausts the set of persons who can

legitimately be impeached tried or convicted. it's the president it's the vice president and civil officers we have no power to convict and disqualify a former office holder who is now a private citizen here is article 2 section 4 quote the president the vice president and also officers of the united states shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction ob treason bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors in quote now everyone basically agrees that the 2nd half of that sentence exhaust the legitimate grounds for conviction

the debate around the constitution framing make that abundantly clear congress cannot convict for reasons besides those it therefore follows that the list of persons in that same sentence is also exhausted there's no reason why one would list one of those would be exhaustive of the other would not article 2 section 4 must limit both why impeachment and conviction can occur and to whom and to whom if this revision does not limit impeachment and conviction powers and it has no limits at all the house has sole power of impeachment and the senate's sole

power to trial and peterman's would create an unlimited circular logic and power in congress to ban any private citizen from federal office that's an incredible claim but it's the argument of the house managers seem to be making one manager said the house and senate have quote absolute unqualified jurisdictional power and quote well that was very honest because there is no limiting principle in a constitutional text. it would empower the florida convict former all through their would not also let them convert going to is qualified any private thought of an absurd end result to which no one truth rog article 2 section 4 months for a girl's worth for president writer of them. may be.

so we have been hearing now from senator mitch mcconnell condemning president trump for his conduct ahead of the capitol siege on january 6th saying that the riot is committed acts of violence in the name of president trump he also though of course mitch mcconnell who is the most influential republican in the chamber also just voted to acquit donald trump in the former president's impeachment trial he was just. laying out justification there about the constitution. just some of the just reiterating some of the arguments that we've heard from president trump's defense team but essentially condemning what took place. in the capitol on january 6th alan fisher is following proceedings on capitol hill for us and joins us now allan why is mitch mcconnell saying this now.

i'm sure people are watching this and listening to mitch mcconnell saying that donald trump was responsible they came with his flags they came because he had stepped up essential to what the democrats have been arguing over the last 3 days the big lie about a stolen election and he was responsible for what we saw but then they're probably screaming well why did you vote no and that's why we found out he said that impeachment was a narrow tool for a narrow job and he felt that you couldn't impeach donald trump one because he was no longer in office and 2 because it didn't quite meet the constitutional requirements for the job it's interesting that mitch mcconnell would make such a statement there are other republicans who are much more strident they still don't believe that donald trump was responsible for what happened here on january the 6th it was interesting that 7 republicans actually did vote to convict donald trump

among them ben sasse who has been a sometime critic of donald trump but has largely voted with them susan collins lisa murkowski we know both of them have in the past voted against donald trump for various reasons the 2 big surprises or the richard barr who is the senator from north carolina he is retiring very soon so maybe felt safe to make that sort of vote. but then also. from louisiana we had. the senator's name escapes me for the moment not kennedy the other one from louisiana they'll come to me in a 2nd but he was one of those who had listened to the constitutional argument on tuesday and decided that the senate should go ahead and he was considered very much a surprise vote at that point. and many people thought and he said when

a photographer took a picture of his notes that he had prepared. these are the reasons why i decided to quit donald trump. he said that was just one draft the only other page there was another draft his name is bill cassidy he had said that essentially he was convinced by the argument he was condemned by his own state party on tuesday for his vote so he is facing a very rough ride when he goes back to louisiana i mean he is a surgeon he's a whole respected surgeon and i'm sure bill cassidy could easily walk back into that job but he likes being a senator he likes helping people he's approached many things on a bipartisan basis and basis but he knows he's going to get a great deal of criticism from his own state party which is not something that often happened in the past a real moment of history that no president has ever been impeached twice only 3 presidents have ever been impeached donald trump is one of them and it's happened

to him twice and twice now he has been acquitted i'm seeing on my social media feed some of his supporters absolutely delighted by this idea they're saying great he's going to run in 2024 and he's going to when there's no guarantee that donald trump will do that but certainly this removes any possible obstacle of the senate voting to bar him from office in the future he will be at liberty to organize and run a campaign in 2024 he me find that he enjoys playing golf apparently has played a lot of it since he left washington on january the 20th the weather don't there is much less of them isn't washington today but he no has the opportunity to run for office in 2024 if you want although you can see he may have some problem with what would be described as the establishment wing of the republican party when you have the likes of mitch mcconnell criticizing him and criticizing him quite vociferously on the floor of the u.s. senate after voting for any question i guess the expectation was that mitch

mcconnell's was always going to. vote clear trying to have these charges alan but as someone as such an influential figure within the party and in that chamber if he had voted differently could he have gitting he could have did he does he have enough influence still perhaps persuaded another 10 another 10 republican senators to. you know. i don't think the republican party is anymore the republican party that that mitch mcconnell joined in and mitch mcconnell would recognize it has moved as and he was making the point there are no the likes of green who supports and has spoken in favor of the cuban on conspiracy theories the likes of the particle and shooting the school shooting was faked the fact that sandy hook another school shooting was faked and the victims were child actors she has sent these out into the world

and when she stood for office in georgia she won and won by some considerable distance so i'm not entirely sure that mitch mcconnell who's known in his seventy's understands where the republican party has gone under donald trump who himself re tweeted out on several occasions many of the conspiracy theories and is at the heart of many of the q. and on conspiracy theories on how he is going to be the savior of the united states how he's going to break up child sex ring across the country how he can still there's still a conspiracy theory that comes back and talks about how he will take office on the day where presidents used to take office it used to be much later in the day and they still believe that that could possibly happen there you've heard from a number of people who have been convicted of certainly charged with crimes here on january the 6th who said they believe the big conspiracy theory and no they feel

incredibly let don't buy it but i think that is weird. the part not an insignificant part of the republican party has moved to and so i'm not entirely sure mitch mcconnell still has the influence with the rank and file of the republican party he certainly is influential in the senate he certainly can steer legislation he can certainly threw up roadblocks he knows how to use the leverage of power perhaps better than anyone in the chamber but i'm not entirely sure he speaks for the republican party as a whole anymore perhaps as i see the more established wing thanks so much alan fischer is all the latest from capitol hill thank you alan and joining me now steve clemons host of al-jazeera is the bottom line is also in washington joins us via skype so i just want to pick up on the point that allen was making there about the effect this is that on the republican party how the likes of mitch mcconnell don't have the influence over the rank and file that they once had how deep is the

polarization within the party and could this cause. a splintering inside the republican party in a long lasting way. well thanks for that question i think this splintering is already going on you know we've seen in places like nebraska senator ben sasse was censured by his own state party and he's the u.s. senator from that state liz cheney was censured for her role in all of this already in wyoming city mccain who doesn't have a quote but is married to a former presidential candidate and prominent prominent late u.s. senator john mccain was censored you know for her comments and supporting joe biden in. in arizona so what you do is you see the state party apparatus are very much along the lines of the march retailer greens in part but there's also a kind of quiet crowd out there they still exist in the republican party they are less flamboyant and less on the edge in this moment that i think

a lot of other folks you might call them you know they they seem like independents but none the less they're still republican so the republican party is going to go through some deep division and some kind of civil war where this is thought out and the true character of the party has to decide where it's going to go and i don't think i so i agree with everything alan said earlier with the exception that i think mitch mcconnell liz cheney and it turns out there are a couple of other senators out there like this senator cassidy from louisiana that the big surprise today senator burr from north carolina he was not on anybody's radar screen to necessarily vote for conviction that i think these people are saying we're going to fight to redirect the party away from it it where it is the profile of nikki haley in politico this week where she said donald trump can't come back he's fallen too far and he's made too many bad decisions you know she's throwing her hat in the ring clearly for 2024 but she's not going to be of that

same brand i don't think so it's going to be a nasty fight will be talking less about democrats versus republicans for a while and more about republicans versus republicans. right so it's interesting you've got these different dynamics at play where. there is a fear of the impact. that president trump has had on the party in the way in which he seems to have shaped it but at the same time there are figures within the party that are always trying to compete with him. through i think i think people were caught off guard i mean i think you saw it when he ran for the nomination of the republican party ran against 17 other candidates all of whom were popular in their away own ways in the party and you know he knocked them all out of the rain brutally and in some cases you see donald trump has brought out and unified a. an assembly of americans who are very frustrated who feel many of them feel

demeaned and pushed to the side and looked down on and that it's said a lot of other. disconcerting elements like white nationalism and others but these are these are pug a ship's nationalists who feel as if america doesn't value them and they are angry about it and they wanted to hear washington scream and they elected a wrecking ball and that is what donald trump has delivered to them and they're not done with that yet even if donald trump were to leave the scene immediately i think trump ism in that form would continue it would coalesce around someone else who continue to act out in that same way as just going to ask you that assembly of disenfranchised americans even if trump isn't in the white house even if he is not on the political scene as you say they are those same disenfranchised supporters willing to get behind somebody else of whether it be a nikki haley or

a ted cruz. well i think the really interesting question is what is the d.n.a. of that leader is it someone that served in the united states senate someone who was a governor who may have come you know from very unusual circumstances as nikki haley did not have to dish will kind of white liberal art you know school in the northeast establishment you know she came from a very poor family of immigrants and worked her way up to the top but she's become part of the establishment and what you see from the trump voters is a disinterest in establishing behavior in people who play by the rules they want to have someone who ignores the rules who bashes the rules who changes the way political gravity works and there are very few people it's kind of an interesting thing to look back and say that movement was there it became bigger under trump but it was always there it was kind of fringe it's now become mainstream for the republican party and this character of donald trump who is a reality t.v.

guy you know with a with a you know spotty record in in real estate deals came along at the at the right time with the right rhetoric and it doesn't even his children don't fit that model so i don't think anyone is going to easily fill those shoes where it will be somebody we don't expect but i do believe the burning anger and rage and power of trumpets is going to continue to be a big factor in both the republican party and in american politics but where do they fit exactly on that spectrum do they fit within the republican party and as the republican party as a result of this victory for trying today do they choose to embrace donald trump or we'd like to say that those constituents of support says more likely to go for someone representing a 3rd party is it more like how will the infighting within the republicans continue or are they more likely to break away. well senator lindsey graham is allegedly

trying to convince donald trump to stop going after his enemies in the republican party to allow it to coalesce to come back together in some way where they can unify around a set of principles i don't give that much of a chance of happening you know donald trump is going to go after those individuals who voted against him who did not stand loyal to him and he's going to try and wipe them off the face of the earth or politically. i think that that you asked a really important question will the party split i don't know i think the party once the split but american politics is structured so much it's i don't want to call it corruption but it's it's the cards are stacked against 3rd parties traditionally but we've never been here before the republican party was hijacked in a way by donald trump and now by his followers and they control the mechanisms of that party what i think we're going to see in coming months in the rest of the year

is a struggle by other republicans to take back the helm of that party i don't know whether they will succeed or not but i don't suspect that that kind of dynamic is unifying that they will coalesce and so it's going to be the question of who leads the party will will be what we see right now is a lot of the moderates the deal makers the people that they are the establishment republicans they are the ones right now who tend to be resigning and leaving the party and leaving the party to the trumpets so i think if you notice just think logically it is they that seem to be in the best place to create a new party if donald trump said tomorrow i'm creating a new party we're going to call it the maga party or something of that sort and draw his people and then he will be abandoning the levers that the republican party which are very structurally powerful i don't know which way it will go but what i do know is it's very very hard to create a 3rd party but we've seen it happen before the republican party was actually born

in the 18th. these when. the weed party broke into different parts one of those parties was called believe it or not the know nothing party and the republican party founded by abraham lincoln as its head which sounded out of out of that divide we may be at another moment like that in us politics steve i could keep talking to you through hearing all questions about their through i but it's a really interesting time it's of such an interesting event of historical significance today which we just want to recap i hope we can catch up a bit later thank you for now absolutely my pleasure and so we have just had that vote in the 2nd impeachment trial of former president donald trump he was acquitted as expected both sides also made their closing arguments ultimately leading to that acquittal and impeachment manager joining us in his closing argument made a really impassioned plea saying that event after the riot on january 6th and the

trial itself will go down as defining moments of history this trial is not born from hatred far from it's born from love of country our desire to see america at its best and in those moments that i spoke of civil rights act so much more we remember those moments because they helped define and in shrine in america at its best i firmly believe that our certification of the electoral college votes in the early hours of january 7th our refusal to let our republic be threatened and taken down by a violent mob will go down in history as one of those moments too and i believe that this body can rise to the occasion once again today. the

president's defense lawyer accuse the impatient manages of violating the former president's constitutional rights and of damaging the separation of powers they have carried out a grossly unconstitutional effort to punish mr trump for protected 1st amendment speech it's an egregious violation of his constitutional rights since a 100 not a single word encouraging violence this action can only be seen as an effort to censor disfavored political speech and discriminate against a disapproved viewpoint it is an unprecedented action with the potential to do grave and lasting damage to both the presidency and the separation of powers and the future of democratic self-government well of course it was the storming of the capitol on january 6th that led to this impeachment trial well than

$250.00 people have been charged over that incident one of those is jacob anthony chante also known as the q and on sherman earlier i spoke with his lawyer albert walk ins from st louis missouri and asked if he thought of all the president whether the speech by for donald trump had influenced his quiet buddhist monks were among the many marching in yangon to let prayers outside the u.s. embassy to call for the release of unsung suchi and other civilian leaders. oh apologies for that i will try and bring you that clip from cannes a little bit late to cause he is the lawyer defending jacob chance he was one of those individuals charged in the in the riots in the attack on the capital on january 6th and of course that really his argument in many ways goes to the heart of this impeachment trial the link between president trump speech president trump's

conduct and behavior and the impact it had on those that stormed the capitol of course that resulted in 5 deaths 5 people lost their lives in that violence i think we can hear from can see now. and we have to be candid here there are millions of americans who fell in love with president trump they were on every word my client was at the capitol he came to washington to she after years of product. of trying to talk trump to each rally you mention the millions of americans out of a 17000000 americans voted for president trump in the last election they didn't all descend on the capitol but that they were members of their government in the united states is. the president yesterday for inciting people that means making them do things that but for his words of actions they would not have done

the president's defense team of august in the trial as you well know van or if he didn't but there is no k. link between what the president said and the way in which the protest has behaved there are getting that it wasn't incitement because the attack was premeditated. that that may be true for those that were violent for those that had a nefarious goal and objective my client absolutely not you have to be on crack and absolutely deaf dumb and blind to not understand that the words in the actions of the president over the course of years did not groom millions of americans there was a nefarious element in that crowd my client was not one of them he didn't have a gun it never wore blue didn't know that he had any no he did not he had the flag of the flag was a finial the very same flag that talk on top of every other very same thing was

pictured with us we have every one minute it had that video is on every flag in the capitol building in every federal building in the u.s. that is a decorative sitting regardless of a speech to live by president donald trump regardless of the tweets he might pose. does it justify an attack in which 5 people lost their lives. or no question everybody myself included especially for a show was appalled at what we saw and gave you a shapes but you can't under one monitored every shoot all individual some of them were 30405061 topple over 70 years of age that went into the capitol building on january 6th that that was my client was no more and insurrectionist than my dog and my dog probably could have got more people would follow him and the guy with the horns and the fur. right yes well that was

that was albert walken speaking to me he is a lawyer representing jacob chancellor who is one of the individuals who has been charged had federal criminal charges filed against him in that for the storming of the capitol on january 6th now we can speak to any gallica who's still in west palm beach florida with more reaction we've been hearing from donald trump jr. yeah a couple of tweets the 1st one frankly i can't read because it's full of so much foul language but it's attacking mitch mcconnell the 2nd one says when the establishment hates you and wants to prevent you from ever running again you know you're doing something right and then there is a picture of to go on trump's shirtless in a kind of rocky balboa typo's that says back to back in each moment champion and of a strange image for a son to post of his father but you know that is the kind of crow we're going to

get from trump's children i think and i think another important statement that i didn't get to last time from themselves which answers a lot of people's questions is he's saying basically our journey to make america great again is only just begun in the months ahead i have lots of things to share with you so if there was any doubt that trump is done with politics that statement really puts that to bed because he clearly wants to still be involved he clearly is planning to perhaps run again in 4 more years and i think one of the interesting statements made over this past few days was from the former speaker of the house john boehner a republican who said he's not afraid that donald trump will win in 2024 he's afraid he'll lose in other words we could see the same thing again if he starts to claim the election was rigged and could incite violence once again so you know this is just again just showing you how fractured the republican party is becoming over this one humongous figure who who still is over 70000000 supporters in this country

so close eyes on the former president now that he's been acquitted what his plans might be what his promises to his followers are but clearly he is planning to keep wrong going and to in his words make america great again. so in. this process has been counterproductive or it's backfired in some ways for those that wanted to disqualify donald trump from running future office they wanted to prevent that scenario from happening this result has given the former president a new lease of life perhaps. you know you could argue that i think that's a solid argument to make but i think the argument i was talking about before is the democrats just one of this on public record and they didn't lightly make the decision to impeach a president for the 2nd time and that's the 1st time in history it's ever happened

i think this is a serious thing that there may be some criticism to the democrats the house managers for not calling those witnesses up because imagine what would happen if they called kevin mccarthy to the stand and he was under oath and they talked to him about that phone call between him and trump as that insurrection was happening and some pretty salty language going on between those 2 because that could have changed everything whether it would have swayed another 10 republicans to vote guilty or not it is going to be a question that will be asked for years and years to come but yes this may have strengthened donald trump's standing in the republican party and amongst his supporters but i think if you look at his base they weren't swayed by any of this this is a man that delivered on every promise he gave to them this is a man they adore absolutely despite some of them not liking his personal rhetoric or his his moral compass if you like but but he delivered on on what he said he was going to do so donald trump continues to cast a long and dark shadow over this party and i think you know mitch mcconnell's

speech was as powerful as it was doesn't really put off the statement that this is donald trump's republican party it is no longer the republican party it seems to belong to one man for now but how that will play out over the next few years is going to be really interesting because if you take people like marjorie taylor green who is a q and on supporter and a conspiracy theorist is she the new face of the republican party or is it more kind of conservative moderate people like mitch mcconnell that will be a battle for the ages i think over the next 4 years and really we have to look towards the midterm elections in 2 years' time because the voters out there who watched all this seen the evidence. soon the arguments will ultimately get to decide at the ballot box in 2 years' time of the midterm elections whether trump was right responsible or whether he should have got off scot free is the future of the republican party so a lot a lot of questions going forward not just for this party with this entire nation

thank you for now from west palm beach florida. steve clemons host of challenges there is the bottom line joins us now from washington again and steve i'm curious to ask how you would describe the relationship between mitch mcconnell and donald trump seems as though the rank and file republicans sort of embraced in enable donald trump a few years ago and now it's very different story yes he voted to acquit him in the trial but. the inviting him if that me there. well i think someday they'll be able to sell tickets in a very large stadium when mitch mcconnell and donald trump choose to ever speak to it each other again in front of people i think mitch mcconnell and donald trump don't have a relationship any longer we already know that mitch mcconnell had not spoken to the president. for quite

a period of time and so i think right now as you kind of talk about this interesting challenge of what happens in the republican party there are elements that certainly are donald trump's but the legislators the people who voted remember over 140 people voted to keep liz cheney in her position and only 60 when they voted by secret ballot voted against list cheney i think it's a very important market understand where people's hearts and minds are you know in this so roughly 2 thirds of the republican party may be reasonable maybe balanced even as they face donald trump's base we've seen 7 republican senators out of 50 it's not a huge number but it's still large come out and and and i think you could add mitch mcconnell there i think you could add rob portman there i think there are other portman is retiring in 2 years but there are more people in that different establishment republican lane than people may see today so i think mcconnell and

trump are done and i think now mcconnell has this interesting question is as he tries to define what the republican position is in dealing with joe biden in the white house what is the act going to look like and i don't know the answer to it but i find it an incredibly interesting journey ahead. but does this concern that regardless of how. influential republicans like mitch mcconnell out how hostile antagonistic the relationship might now be with president tom president thomas holden any sense of the of the republican party is is can is can fund. it's confirmed absolutely and yet there is a way in which you ben sass is going to continue to be senator even though the nebraska republican party censured him. you know i think when when you see it's going to be interesting to see and what i think will test the proposition that

you're asking is are these people in that lane around where mitch mcconnell is both in the house and the senate going to be what we call primary challenge for their seat by other republicans who reflect that based and passion of that trump is to base i suspect that that is going to happen we don't know how those votes will come out but it's going to be a struggle and civil war and it's going to be very nasty because we just saw as you mentioned donald trump jr taking mcconnell on very directly and profanely i don't think that's going to go away i think we're going to see people like senator lindsey graham try to play peacemaker between the head of the party and others and i just don't see any way that this becomes a neat picture now we're going to see and tegan ism and name calling and you going to see donald trump who is famous for being vengeful against those who have

questioned him in any way whatsoever and he's going to go after them. well the democrats the the house impeachment managers presented a very compelling case and i suppose that was a the that was what they were trying to accomplish through this trial was for that to be a very detailed account of what took place on january 6th to enlighten the american people to and possibly shape perception of the republican party as well so that they can no longer turn a blind eye to the effects president trump has had on the psyche of some people and on the country's institutions is any of that evidence affected donald trump's reputation i think it's affected his reputation enormously with. well democrats already believed in that reputation i think you know the b.

nk or of american politics doesn't exist within the republican party or the democratic party it's with on affiliated people it's with independents they outnumber either of the parties and they're looking for people who are not demagogues people who are not nasty who just believe may not like washington either and so for many of those independents when he ran against hillary he was he was somebody who look refreshing and different but i think what's happened now when you kind of look at. his reputation in the nation i think you're going to see as we've already seen it is his reputation in his favor ability ratings have already fallen the last measure i saw was 61 percent favored realty rating for biden versus $39.00 or for trump and so i think i think you know he is going to be in the thirty's for a long time but he is you know he's lost it with the with the majority of americans . all right thanks very much steve clemons will catch up a bit later on well our coverage is going to continue of this 2nd impeachment trial

of former president donald trump of course he was just acquitted. he fell 10 votes 10 votes short of convicting donald trump 7 republicans voted in favor of a conviction but tate required 67 senate has plus 17 republicans for that to be a conviction but that played out exactly as expected going to have continuing coverage of that reaction coming in donald trump has been speaking out reiterating his argument that it was a political witch hunt also have been expecting to from house speaker nancy pelosi very shortly as well going to be back at $2200.00 g.m.t. with all the latest on that more coverage of that. unprecedented his story 2nd impeachment trial of the former president donald trump and actually i am going to stay with you. for a couple of minutes more because we are expecting to hear from the prosecution the

house impeachment managers and of course we had a very compelling closing argument from jamie raskin iran really trying to drive home the historical significance of the impeachment trial saying the failure to convict donald trump would have an impact on the country for generations to come i believe that is him just speaking now. so let's listen trump stormed our house with the mob incited and we defended our house and he violated our constitution and we defended the constitution and they tried to trash our democracy and we revived it and we protected it. this was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in the history of the united states.

and we know that impeachment for reasons that we could explore at some other time often becomes partisan but this was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment event in the history of the country it was also the largest senate vote for a presidential impeachment 57 to 43 and of course the vote to impeach was 232 to 197 in the house so we have a clear and convincing majority of members of congress that the president actually incited violent insurrection against the union and against the congress senator mitch mcconnell but just went to the floor essentially to say that we made our case on the facts that he believes that donald trump was practically and morally responsible for inciting the events of january 6 he described it as we did

as a disgraceful dereliction of duty a desertion of his office and he made a series of statements that we didn't even make saying that this was not over yet by a long shot essentially and that there was the path of criminal prosecution for the former president the disc raised and now twice impeached former president so the bottom line is that we convinced a big majority in the senate of our case i'm very proud of the exceptional hard work of these managers who worked through the night many nights over several weeks to make this case to the senate and to the union. as to i just want to say you know one word about the whole thing about witnesses we were able to get. treated as.