WASHINGTON (US) – As the Senate is hurrying towards a final vote regarding the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the former president’s defense lawyers will make their case on Friday as to why he is not guilty of inciting the deadly riot at the US Capitol last month.
His lawyer David Schoen said the defense team would take “three to four hours” on Friday to present its arguments against convicting Trump for inciting the riot on January 6, which resulted in five people losing their lives and lawmakers scrambling for safety.
Although Schoen has not discussed the defense strategy, the lawyers of Trump have argued his rhetoric had the protection of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and that prosecutors had not directly connected mayhem to Trump.
On Thursday, Democratic prosecutors concluded two days of arguments for convicting the former president, saying Trump knew what would happen when he encouraged supporters to march on the Capitol as the Congress gathered to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s election win.
“If he gets back into office and it happens again, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves,” said lead impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin.
The House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Democrats, accused trump of inciting the riots. But Democrats are unlikely to gain a Senate conviction and prevent Trump from running for office again.
Conviction mandates a two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate. This means at least 17 Republicans would have to defy Trump.