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The senators have been sitting in their seats for almost eight hours when the first substantive impeachment negotiation day ends on Wednesday evening.
Only the prosecution, the so-called impeachment managers of the Democrats, had the floor.
The defense of former President Donald Trump was like all one hundred senators: they just listened.
Heckling, applause, expressions of approval and displeasure are taboo in the second Chamber of Congress, which is serving as a court these days.
Only once was there a slight, benevolent laugh.
More on that later.
The Democrats accuse Trump of having encouraged and called on the partly violent mob to storm the Capitol on January 6th.
In various speeches, the prosecutors document video recordings, audio files, tweets and other sources to support their allegation.
"Donald Trump has given up his role as commander in chief and has become the chief instigator of a dangerous riot," said Jamie Raskin, the lead prosecutor.
Trump did nothing "to stop the violence and protect the government".
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The central concern of the Democrats: In contrast to the defense of the ex-president, they want to prove that the storming of the Capitol on January 6th was by no means a random event, and that Trump had a lot to do with it.
"He wasn't an innocent observer," says Raskin.
Trump broke his oath of office and to an extent like no other president in US history.
Trump, according to the Democrats, systematically prepared the march to the Capitol over many weeks.
As early as mid-December 2020, he had invited to a "large demonstration" on January 6th.
“It's going to be wild!” Tweeted the then president.
“That turned out to be true,” said Raskin on Wednesday lunchtime.
Trump did not stop the violence on and in the Capitol, in which five people were killed and 140 people were injured.
On the contrary, Trump watched the storm "like a reality show" on television.
One of the policemen guarding the Capitol later lay crying on the floor of the rotunda.
The Afro-American officer was insulted with the N-word 15 times.
“Is that America?” Asked the policeman.
At least a part of America, upset and instigated by the then President.
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While then Vice-President Mike Pence duly chaired the election results certification session on January 6th from 13:03, Trump's stimulating speech continued a few miles on the National Mall.
Trump incited his supporters, claiming untruthfully, as usual, that his election victory had been stolen.
He appealed to his followers: "If you don't fight like the devil, you will have no more land."
In his almost 11,000-word speech, Trump only uttered the word “peaceful” once - “fight” or “fight” 20 times.
Trump only finished his speech at 1:11 p.m.
The pack had long since moved to the Capitol, as required.
The "mob" was "called, gathered and instigated" by Trump to prevent a peaceful transfer of power to his successor Joe Biden, says prosecutor Joe Neguse.
Shortly thereafter, Pence and his family had to be brought to safety.
Pence was called a "traitor".
Chants said, "Hang up pence." A gallows had been erected at the Capitol, complete with a rope.
Memories of dark times in America's history.
"Mike Pence is not a traitor," says prosecutor Joaquím Castor, "he is a patriot who upholds the constitution." These words of a Democrat have not been heard from Trump in recent months.
"We love you!" Said Trump about the mob
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The then president made no move to condemn the escalation.
It was only three and a half hours after the violence began that he called on the mob to go home, adding: "We love you!" Again Trump complained about the alleged election fraud.
The Democrat Neguse expressly thanks the then Vice-President Pence.
He is proud that Congress was able to continue the interrupted certification of the election results late in the evening of January 6 and the early next morning.
The prehistory of January 6th began much, much earlier.
Last summer, Trump announced that he could not lose the presidential election on November 3, 2020, but only through "fraud".
Months before the election, Trump spoke of a major fraud.
While his polls fell, he built arguments.
He spread these slogans several times and his devoted followers prayed them afterwards.
With the inability to recognize an election defeat, Trump is violating fundamental democratic norms, says prosecutor Joaquím Castor.
Nobody likes to lose an election.
“I'm a Democrat from Texas.
We have already lost a few elections, ”says Castor.
Light laughter in the hall.
Texas is strictly a republican state.
The laughter reveals a rarely liberating moment on that day.
More than 100 days before the election, Trump refused to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power - a first in American history.
But it wasn't just Republicans who belittled Trump's words.
According to the motto: none of this is meant.
It shouldn't be taken seriously.
From today's point of view that was a blatant misjudgment!
The would-be autocrat Trump tried by all means to prevent a peaceful transfer of power.
The Democrats describe precisely and with various documents how Trump tried more and more desperately to reverse the election result after his defeat.
First with lawsuits in court (he lost 61 of 62 lawsuits), then with pressure and threats against election officers and other officials.
Unsuccessful.
This was followed by pressure on its own Ministry of Justice.
Unsuccessful.
Attacks on Senators.
Unsuccessful.
Attacks on his own Vice President Pence.
Again: Unsuccessful.
Trump, who likes to mock "losers", that is, losers, has in a sense lost the presidential election several times, more often than any president before him.
Chief Prosecutor shows footage of Capitol storming
The second impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump are entering the first round.
The renewed impeachment process against the former US president begins with shocking footage of the storming of the Capitol.
Source: WORLD
Prosecutor Eric Swalwell was in plenary on January 6, fearing for his life, and sent a message to his wife: “I love you and the babies.” The pastor prayed for peace, Swalwell reports.
There are disturbing, harrowing, partly unknown videos that Swalwell presents to the Senate.
These film sequences, including from surveillance cameras in the Capitol, document the violence of the pro-Trump mobs, including against police officers.
They show Pence, Senator Mitt Romney and members of the Congress fleeing the plenum, some of them running.
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This saved Romney from clashing with the intruders at the last minute.
The previously unknown footage shows police officer Eugene Goodmann walking through the Capitol and warning the senator approaching him in a hallway.
Romney turned back immediately.
What would have happened if the mob had encountered - the Trump-critical Republican - Romney?
Another video shows the Secret Service escaping Pence and his family to safety at 2:26 p.m.
That was exactly two minutes after Trump attacked Pence as discouraged on Twitter.
A Trump supporter read the corresponding tweet over the loudspeaker in front of the Capitol, thus furthering the crowd against Pence.
Like Pence, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was taken to a secret location for safety.
If the rioters had found Pelosi, they would have killed her, says Prosecutor Stacey Plaskett.
Some Trump fans had publicly declared that they wanted to injure or kill Democrat Pelosi.
"You did it because Donald Trump sent you on this mission." Trump has attacked Pelosi for years, calling her "crazy" and "sick".
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Republican senators were appalled by the new, shocking video footage on Wednesday evening.
A significant change of opinion on the question of whether Trump should be convicted, however, is not discernible.
A two-thirds majority in the Senate is required for a conviction - and thus the approval of at least 17 Republican senators.
But the defense of the ex-president faces a difficult task after the grave indictment.
Trump's lawyers are expected to have the floor on Friday.
Like the prosecutors, they are given 16 hours of speaking time.
Trump is said to have been following the trial since Tuesday at home in Florida.
Trump is said to have been angry about the largely confused, sometimes bizarre appearance of his lawyer Bruce Castor.
On an anger scale from zero to ten, Trump's confidante rated the ex-president at eight.