2/10/21: On the second day of the impeachment trial, Stacey Plaskett, the delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, explains that she was a staffer on Capitol Hill on 9/11.
Almost every day, I remember that 44 Americans gave their
lives to stop the plane that was headed to this Capitol building. I thank them
every day for saving my life and the life of so many others. Those Americans
sacrificed their lives for love of country, honor, duty, all the things that
America means. The Capitol stands because of people like that.
 |
Trump lawyers put up lame defense. |
A film clip is shown of Sen. Romney running down a hall after Officer Eugene Goodman warns him the mob is coming from the other direction. A second shows VP Pence, his wife, and daughter, being led down a back stairway. Plaskett reminds senators that the vice president was never ushered out of the building entirely.
Ms. Plaskett also plays audio of terrified staff members from Ms. Pelosi’s office, who were barricaded in a room during the rampage. “We need the Capitol Police to come into the hallway,” said one, whispering into a phone in hopes that the rioters outside would not hear. Plaskett’s presentation includes sounds of rioters pounding on the door of the room where aides have taken refuge.
“Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!” the crowd can be heard chanting. Outside the Capitol, Plaskett notes, a gallows has been set up, with rioters howling, “Bring out Pence!”
One rioter tapes a video saying, “He’s a total treasonous
pig.”
The attackers, she tells Senate jurors, were searching for Ms. Pelosi. Plaskett points out that one intruder photographed sitting at a desk in her office was carrying a 950,000-volt stun gun walking stick. “Where are you, Nancy?” some of the rioters called out. “We’re looking for you!”
“Again, that
is a mob that was sent by the president of the United States to stop the
certification of an election,” Ms. Plaskett tells the jurors.
The vice president, the speaker of the
House — the first and second in line to the presidency — were performing
their constitutional duties presiding over the election certification and they
were put in danger because President Trump put his own desires, his own need
for power, over his duty to the Constitution and our democratic process.
“President
Trump,” she added, “put a target on their backs and his mob broke into the
Capitol to hunt them down.”
It’s a
shocking presentation.
“Today’s presentation was powerful and
emotional reliving a terrorist attack on our nation’s capital,” Sen. Ted
Cruz, Republican of Texas, admits. “But there was very little said about how
specific conduct of the president’s satisfies the legal standard” of convicting
him of high crimes and misdemeanors.
We already know. Cruz is going to be a
coward. His mind is made up. He’s going to vote to acquit, because he has a
career in politics that he cares more about than democracy or the U.S.
Constitution.
____________________
“Everyone I spoke with understood that storming the maternity wing was not part of the plan.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar
____________________
Trump’s lawyers insist that he never intended to stir up violence, even if it sounded exactly like he did. When he told supporters on January 6 to “fight like hell,” and used the word “fight” twenty times in his final big speech as president, that was NOT inciting a mob. They put together an 11-minute montage of Democratic politicians and left-leaning celebrities like Madonna, telling people to “fight” for various reasons. (This blogger is not aware of any time that Madonna told fans to fight for anything and they then went out and rioted and injured 140 police officers.)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, having been included in the montage, responds on Twitter: “My first political fight was to guarantee new moms and their babies a 48-hour hospital stay. Everyone I spoke with understood that storming the maternity wing was not part of the plan. Context matters, huh?”
One of Trump’s defense lawyers actually insists, “no thinking
person would take his words seriously.”
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