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CNN Live Event/Special
The Second Trump Impeachment Trial; House Impeachment Managers Present Case To Convict Trump; Impeachment Managers Lay Out Timeline Of Capitol Insurrection. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired February 10, 2021 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): "I will approach this moment with a sense of duty and an open mind, setting politics and personal interests aside, and do my part to faithfully discharge duties under the Constitution. I also pray that we will do so with humility and faith."
And the president's response to that statement was to attack Mike Pence while he was with his family under the threat of a violent mob. The vice president was following his faith, his duty and his oath to our nation.
And the vice president and I don't agree on too much in politics, but he's a man who upholds his oath, his faith, his duty and most of all upholds the Constitution. And Mike Pence is not a traitor to this country, he's a patriot. And he and his family, who was with him that day, didn't deserve this, didn't deserve a president unleashing a mob on them, especially because he was just doing his job.
As this was unfolding and the crowd grew more violent, the President, of course, was not alone at the White House. And the people closest to him, his family and advisors who saw this unfolding in real time begged him, implored him to stop the attack.
An aide to Mark Meadows, the president's chief of staff urged his boss to go see the president saying, "They are going to kill people." They're going to kill people, that's what those around President Trump feared and still nothing.
It wasn't until 2:38 pm, nearly two hours after the start of the siege, that Donald Trump even acknowledged the attack. And when he finally did acknowledge the attack, here's what he said, on the right, you'll see what had been happening prior to that tweet and as he sent the tweet. And on the left, you'll see exactly what he tweeted.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to stop you there for just one moment because we do have some breaking news. We want to bring in Congressional Correspondent, Chad Pergram, as this is just all developing right now. Chad, I understand that capital is now on lockdown.
CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're definitely fired up. The chant, by the way, I heard the most today was fight for Trump and that's clearly what many of them feel they're doing. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold the line.
CROWD: For the land of the free ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: That's what our president saw unfolding in real time, broadcast all over television and this is what he tweeted at 2:38 pm, "Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement. They're truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful."
And much has been made of the fact that in this tweet he says stay peaceful. Senators, stay peaceful? Think about that for a second. These folks were not peaceful. They were breaking windows, pushing through law enforcement officers, waving the flag as they invaded this Capitol Building. This was a violent armed attack.
Stay peaceful? How about stop the attack. Stop the violence. Stay peaceful. How about you say immediately leave. Stop. And he said please support our law enforcement. How about he actually support our law enforcement by telling these insurgents to leave the Capitol immediately, which he never did. He didn't.
[19:05:00]
Because the truth is he didn't want it to stop. He wanted them to stay and to stop the certification. And his failure had grave and deadly consequences.
By 2:45 pm, the warnings were tragically proven correct. Ashli Babbitt was shot by an officer. She tried to break through a glass door to reach the speaker's lobby. At this point, the pleas to Donald Trump publicly and privately grew even more desperate.
At 2:54 pm, Alyssa Farah, a former Strategic Communications Director, begged the president, "Condemn this now. You're the only one they will listen to. For our country."
Mick Mulvaney, the president's former chief of staff, his right-hand man at one point tweeted at 3:01, "The President's tweet is not enough. He can stop this now and needs to do exactly that. Tell these folks to go home." He can stop this now. Tell these folks to go home.
At 3:06 pm, Rep. McCarthy appeared on Fox News. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I could not be fatter and more disappointed with the way our country looks at this very moment. People are getting hurt. Anyone involved in this, if you're hearing me, hear me loud and clear, this is not the American way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: He's saying on Fox News which the President watches, this is not the American way. Stop the attack. Rep. Gallagher at 3:11 pm while secured in his own office posted a
video to Twitter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE GALLAGHER (R-WI): Mr. President, you have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off. Call it off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: And then when the President didn't answer his pleas on Twitter, Rep. Gallagher went on live television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: I mean, this is insane. I mean, I have not seen anything like this since I deployed to Iraq in 2007 and 2008. I mean, this is America and this is what's happening right now. The president needs to call it off. Like call it off. Call it off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: Rep. Gallagher, you see there, said he not seen anything like this since he was deployed in Iraq. The message around the president was clear from everyone, you need to call this off. Stop it. But does he? No.
His next tweet was not until about 3:30 pm. Once again, it's important to consider what was happening between Donald Trump's 2:38 pm tweet and his next tweet at 3:13 pm. You'll see footage from the attack during that time on the right and Donald Trump's tweet on the left.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: We've been informed that protesters have penetrated the Capitol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) this is my fucking building (inaudible) ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. Hey, we got a fucking attitude problem over here (inaudible) ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you, the sentiment in the streets is really getting to a different level and this is spinning out of control. This is turning violent. This is getting dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand up for America, goddamn it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On what idea?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk to me, bro.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the fuck out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CASTRO: This isn't 10 minutes into the insurrection, this isn't just
after his speech earlier that day. That's what our commander-in-chief saw happening and that was his response.
You'll notice one of the things he says to his mob, to these insurrectionists, rather than to stop or to leave was to say thank you. Thank you.
[19:10:00]
Thank you for what? Thank you for shattering the windows and destroying property? Thank you for injuring more than 140 police officers? Thank you for putting in danger all of our lives and the lives of our families?
How about instead of thank you, Donald Trump on that day acted like our commander-in-chief and stop this as only he could and told those people to leave. Here's what former governor, Chris Christie, his very good friend said after that tweet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: Pretty simple, the president caused this protest to occur. He's the only one who can make it stop. What the president says not good enough. The President has to come out and tell his supporters to leave the Capitol grounds and to allow the Congress to do their business peacefully and anything short of that is an abrogation of his responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: He's right. Chris Christie is right. We know how Donald Trump acts on Twitter and otherwise when he has a message to convey. In fact, I asked you to remember those tweets earlier this morning when he yelled on Twitter stop the count.
When he wanted to incite his supporters to show up on January 6th, President Trump tweeted 16 times between midnight on January 5th and his noon rally speech the next day, 16 times to get them to do something he wanted. And his message in those 16 times was clear, fight, stay strong, be strong.
But when the violence started, he never once said the one thing everyone around him was begging him to say, stop the attack. He refused to stop it. And as Gov. Christie and Rep. Kinzinger and others made clear, only Donald Trump could have stopped that attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): A guy that knows how to tweet very aggressively on Twitter puts out one of the weakest statements in one of the saddest days in American history, because his ego won't let him admit defeat.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CASTRO: He was not just our commander-in-chief, he had incited the
attack. The insurgents were following his commands and we saw when they read aloud this tweet, as we saw when they read aloud this tweet attacking the vice president and they confirmed this during the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) there's a fucking million of us out there. We are listening to Trump, your boss.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: Senators, ask yourself this, how easy would it have been for the president to give a simple command, a simple instruction, just telling them stop. Leave. This was a dereliction of duty, plain and simple. And it would have been for any president who had done that. And that brings me to my next point.
You heard from my colleagues that when planning this attack, the insurgents predicted that Donald Trump would command the National Guard to help them and there's a lot that we don't know yet about what happened that day.
But here's what we do know, Donald Trump did not send help to these officers who were badly outnumbered, overwhelmed and being beaten down. Two hours into the insurrection, by 3:00 pm. President Trump had not deployed the National Guard or any other law enforcement to help, despite multiple pleas to do so.
President Donald Trump was at the time our commander-in-chief of the United States of America. He took a solemn oath to preserve, protect and defend this country and he failed to uphold that oath.
[19:15:00]
In fact, there is no indication that President Trump ever made a call to have the guard deployed or had anything to do with the guard being deployed when it ultimately was.
And shortly after 3:04 pm, the acting defense secretary announced that the guard had been activated and listed the people he spoke with prior to this activation, including Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Sen. Schumer and Rep. Hoyer, but that list did not include the president.
This omission of his name was reportedly not accidental. According to reports, "Trump initially rebuffed request to mobilize the National Guard and required interference by other officials, including his own White House Counsel."
And later, "As a mob of Trump supporters breach police barricades and seize the Capitol." Trump reportedly was 'disengaged in discussions with Pentagon leaders about deploying the National Guard to aid the overwhelmed U.S. Capitol Police'. President Trump was reportedly and I quote, "Completely, totally out
of it." He made no attempt to reach the National Guard and it was Vice President Pence still under the threat for his life, who reportedly spoke to the guard.
President Trump's conduct confirms this too and at no point on January 6th did Donald Trump even reference the National Guard. The only thing that we heard connecting the president to the guard was from his press secretary who tweeted about the guard being deployed at the President's direction over half an hour later at 3:36 pm.
And we have seen what Donald Trump does when he tries to take credit for something. And yet, even when the National Guard was finally deployed, he didn't even acknowledge it. In fact, he didn't say a word about the National Guard the entire day. Think about that.
The bloodiest attack we've seen on our Capitol since 1812 and our president couldn't be bothered to even mention that help was on its way. These insurgents had been attacking our government for over four hours by that point and we may have been the target, but it was the brave men and women who protect our capital, who are out there combating thousands of armed insurgents in a fight for their lives and that's who Donald Trump left entirely unprotected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold the line. Hold the line. Let's get there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold the line.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold the line.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: This is hard to watch, but I think it's important we understand what the Capitol Police were facing, how severely they were outnumbered while our commander-in-chief whose job it was to protect and defend them was just watching. Doing nothing for hours, refusing to send help.
If he wanted to protect these officers, if he cared about their safety, as he tweeted about, he would have told his supporters to leave. He would have sent help right away.
And one brave officer was killed, others took their lives after the attack. More than 140 police officers were injured, including cracked ribs, smashed spinal discs. One officer will lose an eye, another was stabbed with a metal fence stake. They were completely and violently overwhelmed by a mob and needed help and our commander-in-chief, President Trump refused to send it.
Senators, you've seen all the evidence so far and this is clear. On January 6th, President Trump left everyone in this Capitol for dead. For the next hour after President Trump's 3:00 pm tweet, he still did nothing.
[19:20:03]
Not until 4:17 pm over three and a half hours after the violence started, did our president send a message finally asking the insurgents to go home.
On the right, you'll see what happened that day in the hours leading up to his pre-recorded video. On the left, you'll see his message. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know your pain. 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. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side.
But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt. It's a very tough period of time. There's never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you from our country.
This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home and go home at peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: This is the first time our commander-in-chief spoke publicly at all since the attack began over the three and a half hours after it started. And these are the entirety of the words the President spoke out loud to the American people or to the attackers that entire day.
Nowhere in that video, not once did he say I condemn this insurrection. I condemn what you did today. Nowhere did he say I'm sending help immediately stop this.
Here's what he said instead, "I know your pain. I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen." Even after all of the things we witnessed, even after all of that carnage, he goes out and tells the same big lie. The same big lie that enraged and incited the attack. He repeated this while the attack was ongoing and while we were still under threat.
And here's what else he said, "Go home in peace. We love you. You're very special." Senators, you were here. You saw this with your own eyes. You face that danger.
And when President Trump had an opportunity to confront them as the leader of us all, as our commander-in-chief, what did he tell them? "We love you. You're very special."
This was not a condemnation. This was a message of consolation, of support, of praise. And if there's any doubt that his supporters, these insurgents took this as a message of support and praise, watch for yourselves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump asked everybody to go home. He just said it. He just put out a tweet. IT'S a minute long. He asked everybody go home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why do you think so?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because, dude, we won the fucking day. We fucking won.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But how did we win?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we won by sending a message to the senators and the congressmen. We won by sending a message to Pence. OK. That if they don't do as their oath to do, if they don't uphold the Constitution, then we will remove them from office one way or another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASTRO: I suspect you recognize them that. You'll hear him say that we won the day. Who won the day? We know that at least five people lost their lives that day. The House and the Senate were in life- threatening danger and so was the vice president and think of everyone else here as well.
Who won on January 6th? That's not a win for America, but it is a win for Donald Trump unless we hold him accountable.
Now, a little over an hour after that video, the brave members of law enforcement secured the Capitol and we as a Congress got ready to continue certifying the results of our free and fair election. A half hour after that, President Trump issued another tweet.
[19:25:01]
In case there was any doubt as to whether he was happy with the people who did this, as to whether he had incited this, he commemorated what happened on January 6th.
At 6:01 pm, on January 6th he tweeted, "These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long." Ending with, "Remember this day forever."
My colleague, Manager Cicilline started with this tweet, because this tweet shows exactly how Donald Trump felt about what happened on January 6th. These are the things that happened. He's saying this was foreseeable. He's saying I told you this was going to happen if you certify the election for anyone else and you got what you deserve for trying to take my power away. Great patriots go home with love and in peace, remember this day forever. He's saying to them you did good. He's not regretful, he's not
grieving, he's not sad. He's not angry about the attack. He's celebrating it. He's commemorating it.
This is the entirety of what President Trump said to the public once the attack began. Five tweets and a pre-recorded video on the day of the most bloody insurrection we faced in generations. Our commander- in-chief who's known for sending 108 tweets in a normal day sent five tweets and a pre-recorded video. That is the entirety of President Trump's public statements from when the attack began until he went to bed on January 6th.
That's all he did, despite all of the people we know who begged him to preserve, protect and defend, that was our commander-in-chief's response. He began the day with, "Our country has had enough, we will not take it anymore, and that's what this is all about."
And he ended the attack, letting us know that we got what he forewarned that morning. We will, of course, each of us remember that day forever. But not in the way that President Trump intended, not because of the actions of these violent unpatriotic insurrectionists. I'll remember that day forever, because despite President Trump's vicious attempts throughout the day to encourage the siege and block the certification, he failed.
At 8:06 pm, the Senate gaveled into session and the counting of the Electoral Votes continued. About an hour later, the House followed suit and close at 4:00 am after spending a significant part of the day evacuated or on the floor or hiding, this great body fulfilled the will of the people and certified the Electoral College vote.
And I'm proud to be part of Congress. I'm proud that we ensured that the will of the American people finally prevailed on that day. And I'm proud that I and everyone in this room abided by our oath of office, even if the president didn't abide by his.
President Trump too took an oath as president. He swore on a Bible to preserve, protect and defend. And who among us could honestly say they believe that he upheld that oath? And who among us will let his utter dereliction of duty stand?
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Mr. President, the managers are prepared to recess for the evening and to finish our opening statement tomorrow.
SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): Mr. President. Mr. President.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Majority Leader's ...
LEE: Pursuant to Impeachment Rule 16, I make a motion. Statements were attributed to me moments ago by the House impeachment managers. Statements relating to the content of conversations between a phone call involving President Trump and Sen. Tuberville were not made by me. They're not accurate.
[19:30:03]
And they're contrary to fact. I move, pursuant to Rule 16, that they be stricken from the record.
SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT), PRESIDING OFFICER IN TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: Pursuant to Senate Resolution 47, Section 4, party's presentations are not limited to the record provided for in section one of that resolution.
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't hear what he said.
(INAUDIBLE)
SEN. ROGER WICKER (R-MS): Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I move (ph) for yeas and nays.
WICKER: Mr. President? Mr. President? Right here. We might as well hear clearly what the ruling of the chair was. So, if you would repeat that, sir.
LEAHY: That's what I said. I will. And pursuant to Senate resolution 47, section 4, the party's presentations are not limited --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go. It's on now.
LEAHY: Pursuant to Resolution 47, Section 4, party's presentations are not limited to the record provided for in section one of that resolution.
The senator from Utah has appealed that ruling. Is that correct?
LEE: Yes, I have.
LEAHY: And the yeas and nays have been requested.
WICKER: And what is the question? Is it shall the ruling of the chair be sustained? Is that the question?
LEAHY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, whether the ruling of the chair with respect to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no.
LEE: What, may I ask, is the ruling of the chair? My point was not whether it was appropriate for them to make characterizations. My point was to strike them because they were false.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the ruling of the chair that Senate Resolution 47 applies to this situation is correct?
LEAHY: The question is whether the Senate Resolution 47, Section 4 is correct, that the party's presentations are not limited to the record provided for in section one of that resolution.
LEE: Mr. President, that is not my motion. You've ruled on a motion -- you've ruled on something that was not what I moved. What I asked was, statements were attributed to me repeatedly as to which I have personal knowledge, because I am the source.
They are not true. I never made those statements. I ask that they be stricken.
This has nothing to do with whether or not they're based on depositions, which they're not. It's simply based on the fact that I'm the witness. I'm the only witness. Those statements are not true and I ask that you strike them.
CROWD: Hear, hear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let him rule.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President?
(CROSSTALK)
LEAHY: Ayes and nays were asked for on appeal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Senate will vote on the appeal of the ruling of the chair that this --
(INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hit the mic button.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.
LEAHY: I'm having trouble with the mic, I'm sorry.
The yeas and nays have been asked.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The yeas and nays have been asked for.
LEAHY: The ayes and nays have been requested.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let him explain. Please let him explain, Mr. President. Why is it false? What was not false? What was false about it?
LEE: Mr. President, I ask consent to answer the senator's question.
(CROSSTALK)
LEAHY: -- is now on order under Senate Resolution 47, Section 4, party's presentation not limited to the record provided for in section one of that resolution. And that has been appealed. The yeas and nays have been requested. The clerk will call the role.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can't hear you.
SENATE CLERK: Ms. Baldwin?
Mr. Barrasso?
Mr. Bennett?
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Wait. Point of clarification. What -- what is the question?
(INAUDIBLE)
SCHUMER: We're not allowed to here. Yes?
I suggest the absence of a quorum while we work this out.
LEAHY: Clerk will call the role. Without objection, we're going to call the roll.
[19:35:01]
SENATE CLERK: Ms. Baldwin?
(INAUDIBLE)
SENATE CLERK: Mr. Barrasso?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: So, clearly, a bit of a surprise there right at the end, they were getting ready to wrap things up for the evening when Senator Mike Lee of Utah suggested that he had been misquoted, that what the House impeachment managers had said about words that he uttered, he said, simply were not true and he wanted those words to be removed from the record.
There's a little parliamentary debate going on, whether or not he could do that right now in the course of an impeachment trial.
John King, you and I have been watching this pretty closely. That's a surprise. It's going to delay a bit, but it's going to wrap up fairly soon.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're about to be done for the evening. Now they're in what's called a quorum call is simply to turn off the microphones, to clear up the confusion because they're confused about -- the Republicans now are confused about Senator Lee and the other Republicans about what Senator Leahy ruled from the chair.
The issue is Senator Lee was objecting because in their presentation, the House managers quoted from media reports in that then President Trump was trying to call newly elected Senator Tommy Tuberville, instead called Mike Lee's phone. Mike Lee answered the phone and then gave it to Senator Tuberville. That part is not in dispute that that happened.
What Senator Lee is saying that media reports quoted him essentially he was listening and he could tell that the president was asking Senator Tuberville to gum up the works, to continue objecting, to try to delay the process and continue objecting to stay election results, to tie up the process. Senator Lee is saying that didn't happen. He is saying that is inaccurate.
And so, now, he's trying to have those -- that piece of the presentation, small piece of the presentation, not terribly germane, to the very damning, devastating case that the managers made today. But they're trying to take that little piece out, was trying -- the evidence was to show the president's state of mind even as the violence was playing out, even as the capitol was under attack, he's calling a senator for help.
Senator Lee is objecting, which is coming to the president's defense a bit, if you will. And now, they're going to have a ruling as to whether those words specifically quoting about what Mike Lee is alleged to have said about that conversation stays in the record.
BLITZER: Yeah. So, it's a little bit of a parliamentary maneuver right now. We'll watch it unfold. They'll wrap things up for the evening. We'll see if the House impeachment managers decide to move on from that or want to fight from that.
Jake, in the meantime, they're doing a bit of a role call.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: They're doing a bit of a role call. Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee kinds of gumming up the works a little bit here, saying that the account that House Democrats gave, the impeachment managers gave was not accurate and views that he did not express were attributed to him.
It is a bit confusing for those of us who have been paying attention to the story of the accidental calls to Senator Tuberville from Alabama, though Rudy Giuliani and President Trump at the time, this is January 6th, mistakenly thought that Senator Lee's phone number was actually Senator Tuberville's number. It gets a little confusing.
The bottom line is that Rudy Giuliani left a message suggesting that Tuberville, although it was left on Lee's phone, delay the counting, stop it, and President Trump called Senator Lee, thinking it was Senator Tuberville. Lee answered, handed the phone over to Tuberville as Senator Lee has said on the record.
And then the issue is, what did Trump say to Tuberville and accounts have been relayed in the media, as John just noted, that Trump was asking Tuberville to do what Rudy asked Tuberville to do. But I don't think Mike Lee has ever been on the record saying that, and that's the issue.
Let me bring in Manu Raju.
Manu, this really isn't particularly germane unless you are Mike Lee and you don't want to get on the wrong side of Donald Trump, I suppose. Although there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting to correct a record.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And it's caught people by surprise, as you can tell. Typically when procedural matters come up in the Senate, particularly something like this, they are ready for that, the parliamentarian is ready for that. They gave instructions to the presiding officer.
TAPPER: OK, we're going to listen in, Manu. Hold on one second. We're going to -- we're going to listen to see what the decision is here.
(INAUDIBLE)
LEE: -- renew the request I made.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: Wait. Before he withdraws --
LEAHY: Yeas and nays?
LEE: I withdraw the request for yeas and nays.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without objection.
LEAHY: Without objection.
SCHUMER: OK. And I withdraw the quorum call and call on the manager, Mr. Raskin, for a brief statement.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): The impeachment manager, Mr. Cicilline correctly and accurately quoted a newspaper account which the distinguished senator has taken objection to. So we're happy to withdraw it.
LEE: It's not true.
RASKIN: On the grounds that it is -- on the grounds that it is not true, and we are --
LEE: Constantly repeated it, too.
RASKIN: OK. We're going to withdraw it this evening and without any prejudice to the ability to resubmit it if possible and we can debate if we need it. But it's not -- this is much ado about nothing because it's not critical in any way to our case.
LEE: You're not the one being cited as a witness, sir.
(CROSSTALK) SCHUMER: So, the managers' issue stands. Mr. Lee has withdrawn his request and we may relitigate it tomorrow if we have to.
I now ask unanimous consent, the trial adjourn until 12:00 noon tomorrow Thursday, February 11th. And this also constitute the adjournment of the Senate.
LEAHY: Any objection? Without objection? So ordered. The Senate stands adjourned.
BLITZER: Now adjourned until 12:00 noon tomorrow, this after a full, full day of arguments and evidence. House impeachment managers, they did, in fact, build a very clear and compelling case that Donald Trump deliberately, deliberately incited the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, reveled in the chaos and did nothing, did nothing at all to try to stop it.
Everything we saw and heard today from the House managers, including very disturbing new security videos from inside the capitol on that day may be making some Republican senators a bit uncomfortable tonight as they face a vote in the coming days on whether to convict the 45th president of the United States for incitement of insurrection and then, if convicted, in a second vote, disqualify him from ever again, ever again holding any federal office -- Jake.
TAPPER: Wolf, that's right. And for those of you just joining us, it has been a full day of very compelling testimony with the House impeachment managers, the Democrats establishing that Donald Trump lied for months even before the election, that the election was going to be stolen from him, lied after the election and did everything he could legally and perhaps extracurricularly when it come it comes to trying to reverse the election, that he organized a January 6th rally, which would be the last attempt to overturn the results of the election.
That he told his followers that they needed to fight. That they needed to go down to the capitol, that nothing less than the soul of the nation was at stake with what was going on with the counting and that the followers, his followers, the MAGA mob, did just that, went down to Capitol Hill and violently went in there.
And we saw a direct connection between what the president was saying and what his team was doing. And then, finally, Congressman Castro, Dana, very compellingly made the argument that Donald Trump did nothing, did nothing to stop it, even with Republican after Republican calling him and pleading with him to do so.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Left them all for dead is how he put it, incredibly strong. And, you know, that certainly was the climax of an unbelievably emotional, intentionally emotional day. A vivid, vivid description of what happened that day. And going even back about before the genesis that the managers argued of this all was Donald Trump's -- the way that he primed all of the people who were at that rally. For months, during the campaign season, never mind on Election Day. And the way that they wove in his comments, and there were so many of
them, both in public and on Twitter, with the actions that we saw, was really remarkable. And, look, we're all on television, Abby. It's hard to imagine producing something like that when you're not in our medium. And they're prosecutors and members of Congress and they did it pretty quickly.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's been presented really seamlessly in a lot of ways. I hadn't actually seen this video that they played of a rioter standing on the steps of the capitol with a bullhorn reading out that tweet that Donald Trump sent about Mike Pence just two minutes before Pence was being ushered out of the building. They read it word for word from the steps, which really reinforces a really key idea, which is that they were paying attention --
BASH: Oh, yeah.
PHILLIP: -- to everything that was going on, on Donald Trump's Twitter feed. They were taking their orders from Trump. And Trump's tweet in that moment, instead of calling them off, he was egging them object on at a critical moment when Pence was actually in danger.
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So it really kind of highlights that there is that connection between the words and the actions, and it's not just the incitement that gets you to the beginning of the riot. It's what happened during the riot as well.
TAPPER: And that's an argument that Congressman Castro really underlined. If Republicans do not hold Donald Trump responsible for what the mob waving the Trump flag was doing in the capitol that day, why did so many Republicans call Donald Trump and plead with him to stop them, if they didn't think that the crowd was doing what Donald Trump wanted them to do?
Anderson?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Jake, want to talk to their legal team about their assessment of today.
Ross, what do you think?
ROSS GARBER, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think the House managers could have done a better job. I think they were succinct. They were direct. They were logical. They appealed to emotion. And pulling all of that information together is not an easy task, and weaving it into a coherent narrative. I think they did a terrific job.
And, you know, that's where I think they should be after the first day of a two-day presentation. It's going to be interesting to see if the Trump team has anything to say about this, because as we have all noted, you know, they do put together a pretty compelling timeline showing what the president was doing, what he seemingly wasn't doing. Trump's lawyers have suggested some factual issues. They say no, he
was actually scrambling on January 6th to get stuff done. But we haven't seen evidence of that. But based on what we've seen today, it was a very good day for the House managers.
COOPER: Right. I mean, I mean, there was evidence of that, his lawyers, you think, would be the ones that would be able to present it. We'll see if that actually occur.
LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: We shall see. I doubt they'll be able to. If you're wondering whether the House impeachment managers could have topped that 13-minute visceral video yesterday I was wondering, where do they go from here? Will they fill in gaps, bring us things that we haven't seen before? They absolutely did.
We saw from the perspective of the capitol police. We saw what was happening to vice president Mike Pence and Mitt Romney going through the hallways. We heard from Representative Castro say he left everyone in this capitol for dead. Those words should linger across the globe, that the president of the United States left every member in the capitol for dead.
And I thought when I heard it, even if the president had never had a rally, if he had never said a single word, a president who watches a co-equal branch of government under attack, you would think that he would act and do something. That did not take place.
I have to tell you, I loved what Senator Mike Lee did just now. Do you know why? Because do you know what happens when we're misunderstood or you're misquoted or somebody misconstrues your statement? You go and clarify it.
This was a very obscure point he wanted to raise. The president of the United States had people going to the capitol and committing an insurrection based on their interpretation of what he said. He didn't clarify. He waited hours. He sent no help.
In the words of Castro, he left everyone in that capitol to die. Imagine that. And remember what Mr. Lee said. Let that sink in. Let that sink in, America.
COOPER: It's true. Norm, if you found it abhorrent that your supporters had defiled the capitol in your name, you would think you might come forward and say that immediately instead of saying I love you. You know, you're very special people.
NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Anderson, we all know that Donald Trump was cheering those rioters on.
COOPER: But knowing it and proving it are two different things.
EISEN: That is the challenge for these managers, proving what we all know, what Senator Sasse said he was told, that Donald Trump was delighted at the riot. Couldn't understand why the others in the White House didn't share his feelings. How do they prove that point? I thought they did it so skillfully
today with a tough gap like that to fill, because Donald Trump, the first of the surprises. And we've seen surprise after surprise now, which is part of the art of trial magic.
Donald Trump was called to testify. No, he wouldn't come and testify. We saw the wonderful 13-minute video so powerful to convey their point.
And today, they took the time. They showed Trump's pattern. Not January 6th. Going back months his embrace of violence. The Proud Boys, stand by, the caravan, the violent caravan. And then they showed both his inaction and his embrace.
There's no question. I think Ross raised this earlier today. Could they fill the gap? They filled the gap.
And, one more thing, Anderson. Now it's not just Donald Trump who is on trial.
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It's the Senate, if they don't convict.
COOPER: Let's quickly go back to Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Anderson, thanks very much.
John King is with me.
So, they wrapped things up today. They have another eight hours if they need it tomorrow, House impeachment managers. They can go for eight hours. I suspect they won't need eight hours to wrap things up.
And then Trump legal team, they'll have 16 hours over two days, maybe starting tomorrow, maybe Friday, Saturday. They can make their case. I don't think they'll need 16 hours, either.
KING: It's going to be fascinating to see the tactic the Trump legal team takes.
First, we have to see the final day House presentation. After today which was a damming, devastating methodical build that connected all of the dots, the months of working before the big lie for two months, the weeks of the president ginning up the crowd. And importance of the January 6th rally, the former president's remarks at that rally, he was president then.
And then I thought prosecutors did a fantastic job of noting the context and content, the all caps, urgency of Donald Trump's tweets about things he wants done for him and then his relative silence throughout the day as the violence played out, just a damming, devastating case they made so far.
So, what does the Trump team decide to do? Will they try to rebut those facts or they go back into their process argument that we're not even supposed to be here, he's a former president. Think what you think but this is not appropriate.
That will be a fascinating thing but to the point Norm just made, I made it repeatedly, how can you not come away after today and yesterday but especially today with just not be full of anger, horror, of sadness at what happened in that building and then Lindsey Graham tonight is saying he's mad at the capitol security people, the police people that let that happen. He's not mad at the former president of the United States for the big lie that he told for months that led to this?
So you have this denial in the Republican Party. Again, it's not a surprise. We lived through it for four years about this tweet and that tweet and this horrific racist thing the president said and this off tone thing the then president said. This is different or should be different. This is an attack on the United States after two months of lying.
But it appears that even after today, most Republicans want to talk about anything but the president's conduct and behavior.
BLITZER: Turned out to be a deadly attack, too, an attack on the U.S. government.
Jamie Gangel is getting new information. You're learning more details of January 6th. Is that right, Jamie?
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I want to say the Republicans I've been speaking to late today, one of them is senior Republican on the hill said to me the video of the attack was chilling and enraging. And this member could not believe that Republicans would not vote to convict, although the member said that they understood, the numbers were against it.
What I want to tell you today is a story about actually something that happened on January 6th. I reached out to a number of senators and House members that afternoon to find out how they were doing, what was going on and one of them was Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas who told me that he was armed and that he was prepared to shoot to defend the room.
He told me that his gun, which was legal, which members just for context are allowed to have every place in their office, just not on the House and Senate floor, that he had asked for his gun to be brought to him by his staffer in the undisclosed location where all the senators were being kept.
And I thought about this story today because he thought it was so dangerous that day that he made sure he was armed and he was prepared to use that gun if the rioters came through the door. And to the point that John King made and Jake made, here we are today and the Republicans seem prepared to give Donald Trump a pass. We had five people die that day. We saw this extraordinary video today.
On January 6th, Tom Cotton wanted to have his gun. Today, it doesn't look like we're close to getting 17 Republicans to vote for conviction. BLITZER: That's pretty -- pretty depressing to hear that Senator Tom
Cotton himself is an Iraq war veteran.
GANGEL: Correct.
BLITZER: All of a sudden decides he needs to be armed as a result of this invasion by these terrorists who are moving in on the U.S. Capitol. That's a pretty significant thought right there when you think about what was going on.
Jamie, stand by.
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Kaitlan Collins is getting more information for us, as well.
What are you learning, Kaitlan?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I think one big question as we watch these proceedings happening on Capitol Hill, is where President Biden is on all of this and, of course, he's tried to keep his distance, so is the White House from weighing in on what they believe former President Trump's fate should be ultimately.
But we should note, tomorrow, we just got President Biden's schedule. He's going to be sitting down with a bipartisan group of senators in the Oval Office tomorrow to talk about infrastructure but, of course, Wolf, that's going to happen a few hours before day three of this trial gets kicked off.
So, it's remarkable. He's going to be sitting with these senators there in the room today for those presentations, the ones that are going to be voting whether to convict or acquit Donald Trump and now he's going to be meeting with them at the White House just a few hours before it gets started and, of course, they let reporters in the room. That is going to be one of the questions that they are asked about.
BLITZER: They certainly will be.
All right. Kaitlan, thanks very much.
You know, Jake, yesterday in the debate over the constitutionality of the entire impeachment procedure, I gave the House impeachment managers an A. I thought they did an excellent job.
And you know what? I'm going to give them an A for today, as well. They did another excellent job making the argument why the president of the United States should now be convicted.
TAPPER: All right. Good grades from Professor Blitzer, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
So, just finals thoughts here, Dana and Abby. What Senator Lee just did there, Republican from Utah, I think is important. Not his objection. He objected to the veracity of a news article that the House Democrats had correctly quoted but taking issue with the veracity of the article, not to the editor of the newspaper but on the floor of the House of the Senate during this impeachment trial.
Mike Lee came to Washington, D.C. as a very conservative, constitutional, Tea Party Republican to fight for the values that the Founding Fathers want. Mike Lee expressed more outrage about being misquoted allegedly --
BASH: Allegedly.
TAPPER: -- today than I have heard him express about what happened at the capitol on January 6th.
And in fact, just yesterday I believe it was, Senator Lee when asked by a reporter, I assume Fox because he doesn't do a lot of non-Fox, when he was asked about the president's speech that day that led to the incitement of the crowd and deadly attack on the Capitol, he said that Donald Trump, just like everyone, deserves a mulligan, a mulligan. Like this is some golf game. Not that there are eight people dead, five killed that day. A mulligan.
BASH: Right.
TAPPER: That was his view of Donald Trump's speech but he was very, very upset about allegedly being misquoted and that says everything you need to know where the Republican Party is right now.
BASH: That's exactly right and more broadly wrapping up what we saw and heard all day, the fact that there was so much emotion, so much on vivid display of all of the violence and almost murderous violence and five people did die or I guess we're up to seven now.
TAPPER: Five that day and three suicides subsequently.
BASH: But very specifically, you know, new footage showing what happened at the then Vice President Mike Pence. Footage of the rioters using Donald Trump's terms, crazy Nancy to go after her looking for her, searching, wondering the hallways searching for her.
TAPPER: To kill her.
BASH: To kill her. That is exactly the point -- is that these members of this riot were going there to commit serious crimes beyond what they already did and the fact that these senators aren't moved in a way that goes beyond that emotion right there but ultimately to their vote, I just don't understand, Abby.
PHILLIP: Yeah, I mean, I think the question that we leave here today is the deception that under girds this whole thing worth punishing, worth reprimanding? Is it worth the country saying this can never happen again?
That's the question that's facing these senators because at the end of the day, you know, there are crazy people all over the world, but it's about what motivates them to do something so heinous and what motivated them in this case was a massive, massive lie that was pushed by Trump for months and months after the election, during the election and before the election.
That's the question that they face and I actually think that Senator Cassidy when he was talking to Manu earlier today put it clearly. It should give the senators pause that this was about stopping the peaceful transfer of power. That is different from riots in Portland and in Seattle. It's different.
TAPPER: Indeed, it is. And we're going to have much more ahead on the Trump impeachment trial.
Anderson Cooper continues our coverage right now.
