Newsweek. (Nit a very right leaning magazine)
n January 13, President Donald Trump was impeached in the House of Representatives for the second time. He was charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors" and "engaging in insurrection or rebellion against the United States" after claims that his Save America Rally speech on January 6, as well as his rhetoric about election fraud earlier, incited the violence that broke out when his supporters stormed the Capitol building the same day during the election certification.
The Claim
Trump and his supporters have dismissed this accusation, noting that he called for peaceful protests during his speech.
They point to a section in his speech in which he said to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."
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Video proves President Trump called on people to “PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY march to the Capital”
Case closed. Pass it on #TrumpInsurrection #60Minutes pic.twitter.com/LEUdjguOJc
— Melissa Tate text MAGA to 31996 (@TheRightMelissa) January 11, 2021
The Facts
Toward the beginning of his speech on January 6, Trump mentioned to the crowd that they have to demand that Congress "do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated."
Since the election in November, Trump and many of his allies have touted the unproven claims of mass election fraud. Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced in December that the Department of Justice uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election. All of the evidence Trump's team presented to try to prove voter fraud has been dismissed and he lost 61 of the 62 lawsuits filed challenging the presidential election results.
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Still, up until the official certification of election results, Trump continued to push this false narrative to his most ardent supporters.
"
I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard," Trump said in his speech. "Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for [the] integrity of our elections, but whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time, far longer than this four-year period."
The president did mention walking to the Capitol in a peaceful manner.
Those who defend the president also point to a call to vote out members of Congress who do not agree with Trump.
"
If they don't fight, we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don't fight," Trump said.
"You primary them. We're going to let you know who they are."
He also said he and the crowd would "walk down to the Capitol" to "cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."
"We're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness," he said. "You have to show strength, and you have to be strong."
However, Trump's call to display strength shows a possible contradiction in Trump's message to his crowd before the certification vote.
The official impeachment resolution points to the moments before the joint session of Congress to certify the election results, Trump reiterated "false claims that 'we won this election and we won it in a landslide'" and "willfully made statements that, in context, encourages and foreseeably resulted in lawless action at the Capitol." These statements include: "if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore."
The resolution continues to assert that the crowd was incited by the president to unlawfully breach and vandalize the Capitol, injure and kill law enforcement personnel, menaced members of Congress, Vice President Mike Pence and congressional personnel, "and engage in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts," in an attempt to "among other objectives" to interfere with the certification of the 2020 Presidential election results.
While the president's supporters believe that his mention of marching peacefully exonerates him from blame, others believe the context and intention of this and other speeches are enough to prove his guilt and justify impeachment.
After the crowd had infiltrated the Capitol building, Trump took to his now-deleted personal Twitter account to address his supporters.
"I know your pain," Trump said. "I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now."
He also urged his supporters to be peaceful and maintain "law and order."
"Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement," he tweeted. "They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!"
Video proves President Trump called on people to “PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY march to the Capital”
