Impeachment lawsuit: Trump lawyers denounce "hate-led" process
Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump Bruce Castor and Michael van der Veen on February 12, 2021, during the Senate impeachment trial.
AFP - POOL
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Senators are scheduled to meet this Saturday morning for the continuation of the Trump trial.
A vote on the guilt of the former president could take place during the day.
He is accused of inciting insurgency His lawyers pleaded this Friday.
They denounced an unconstitutional procedure and refuted any involvement of Donald Trump in the riots that took place in Congress on January 6.
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With our correspondent in Washington,
Anne Corpet
"
This indictment which is before the Senate is blatantly an act of unconstitutional political revenge
" thunders Michael Van der Veen.
And Donald Trump's lawyer to denounce a trial guided by the hatred of his client.
“
Unfortunately, this trial is about political hatred.
It has become very clear that Democratic representatives hate Donald Trump.
This kind of political hatred has no place in our political institutions and certainly no place in law.
Hate is at the heart of Democratic prosecutors 'futile attempt to hold Donald Trump accountable for the rioters' criminal acts, based on hearsay from far-right groups, based on no real evidence other than pure speculations.
Hatred is a dangerous thing.
Hatred should have no place in this hemicycle, in this procedure.
"
The lawyer accuses
the Democrats of having manipulated the videos
and truncated the speeches of Donald Trump.
“
This hatred has led the chamber's prosecutors to manipulate and edit Mr. Trump's speeches in such a way as to make it appear falsely that he sought to incite the crowd to violently attack the Capitol.
But he does not hesitate to use the same method.
And in particular broadcasts a montage where we see elected Democrats repeating the word "fight" combat, this word reproached to Donald Trump in his speech on January 6.
Another lawyer concludes the plea.
"
This trial goes well beyond Donald Trump, it aims to criminalize political points of view
," asserts Bruce Castor and adds: "
Let us be clear: this trial goes far beyond President Trump.
This trial aims to silence and prohibit speech with which the majority does not agree.
It is about canceling the 75 million voters of Donald Trump, and criminalizing political points of view.
This is what this trial is really about.
This is the only existential problem that is before us.
This is the takeover of the constitutional culture cancel in the United States Senate.
"
But Donald Trump's defense failed to answer this essential question: at what time was the former US president informed of the intrusion of rioters into Congress?
And what did he do to stop them?
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To read also: Impeachment trial: the Democrats conclude their presentation by calling for the condemnation of Trump
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