Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks on June 24, 2020.
On the third day of his impeachment trial (Feb. 11), senior U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) criticized the House impeachment manager for failing to produce evidence that former President Trump “instigated” the Jan. 6 destruction of the U.S. Capitol. Cruz believes the unconvincing trial should end quickly this Friday or Saturday in the state.
Cruz said he had a roughly hour-long conversation with Trump’s lawyers, joined by U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Mike Lee (R-Ariz.). Several lawmakers offered Trump’s lawyers some advice on the case.
Cruz said that while the video presented by the House impeachment manager was “designed to be very sensational and powerful,” it only proved that a “terrorist attack” occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6. “And the prosecution has made virtually no argument as to how Trump’s actions meet the legal standard of inciting that riot.”
Cruz told reporters, “The (impeachment) managers in the House used the words the president used liberally, ‘fight, or fight like hell.’ Oh, if that constitutes sedition, then every political candidate in America is guilty on the crime of sedition. Because I guarantee you that all 100 senators in that chamber, stood at the podium and said we need to ‘fight, or to fight like hell’.”
Commenting on the lawyers’ possible strategy, Cruz said their job now is to make it clear that the impeachment managers’ rhetoric has not met the burden of proof and has not proven that Trump’s actions meet the “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard of conviction required by the U.S. Constitution.
He said Trump’s lawyers should question the Democrats’ double standard. They can hold the Democrats to “all the standards that they have put forward, and certainly all the standards that the House managers are ostensibly trying to put forward, and ask them to censure multiple Democrats with equal force for various statements.
Cruz mentioned that both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who called police officers “commando units” and “Nazis,” and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who threatened to “censure” the Supreme Court justices. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer threatened to “unleash the whirlwind” on the Supreme Court justices, and so on. In contrast to this rhetoric, Trump said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching to the Capitol to make your voices heard in a peaceful and patriotic manner.”
House Democrats spent two days during the trial offering evidence to support their claim that Trump fomented the rebellion on Jan. 6. But they only tried to rely on several different footage clips and audio clips from Jan. 6, as well as parts of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech, to prove their point. Thus their statements do not actually include any new findings or corroborating evidence to substantiate their accusations against Trump.
While the House Impeachment Experience statement was praised for being “strong,” it also drew criticism from Democratic commentators. Critics noted that their arguments were “too repetitive” and should be streamlined.
In his closing remarks on Thursday (Feb. 11), House impeachment manager Joe Neguse (R-Calif.) said, “We humbly ask you to convict President Trump because he is overwhelmingly proven guilty. ……” Although he said there was “overwhelming evidence,” he did not provide any specific evidence of relevance.
Senator Graham said, “The whole storyline was initially said to have been created by Trump’s over-the-top speech. Then the Democrats changed their tune and said, ‘Now we know people thought of this (resorting to violence) before he spoke.'” He added, “Democrats are playing this weird game of trying to snare Trump before Jan. 6 ……”
Graham also spoke in an earlier interview with Fox News that “the Democrats have failed to cite their arguments, and the Democrats’ approval ratings are even lower than they were earlier this week.”
Trump’s impeachment defense attorney David Schoen told reporters Thursday that he believes Democrats are unable to link Trump to the Jan. 6 incident and said it would be “offensive” to open old wounds.
I think they’re making a movie,” Shawn said. You know, they couldn’t tie that event to Trump in any way.” “And I think that’s offensive. Frankly, it’s not conducive to (America’s) healing. (Democrats) are constantly displaying that tragedy that Trump also condemned and that happened here. And frankly, I think it’s going to break the hearts of the American people.”
He added, “They (Democrats) are showing the same repetitive video, and their (fabricated) arguments don’t exist.”
Sean and another of Trump’s lawyers, Bruce Castor, will present their concluding arguments to the Senate on Friday (Feb. 12). And the Senate then votes on whether to convict the former president. To convict, two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 votes, are needed. But Democrats are unlikely to get the votes they need, as 44 Republicans already said Tuesday (Feb. 9) that they believe the trial is unconstitutional.
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