Trump impeachment trial starts with graphic video montage of Capitol riot

The historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump commenced in the Senate on Tuesday with graphic footage from the day of the Capitol riot.

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md) at the start of Trump's impeachment trial presented a more than 10 minute video montage showing Trump supporters storming the Capitol building on Jan. 6 in a riot that the former president is accused of inciting, with text on screen laying out the sequence of events from the day.

The montage started with Trump's comments at a rally telling supporters "we're going to walk down" to the Capitol, and it included disturbing video of Ashli Babbitt being shot and killed during the subsequent riot. The montage ended with Trump's Jan. 6 tweet saying, "Remember this day forever!"

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"Senators, the president was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 13 for doing that," Raskin said after the montage concluded. "You ask what a high crime and misdemeanor is under our Constitution? That's a high crime and misdemeanor. If that's not an impeachable offense, then there is no such thing."

Raskin went on to push back against the argument from Trump's defense that the trial is unconstitutional because the president is now out of office, saying, "There can be no doubt that this is a valid and legitimate impeachment." Brendan Morrow