Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


House Democrats, Trump Lawyers Lay Out Clashing Views Ahead of Impeachment
Trial

Masood Farivar

   WASHINGTON - House Democratic impeachment managers and lawyers for
   Donald Trump on Tuesday laid out their arguments in separate briefs
   ahead of the former president's Senate trial next week on charges of
   inciting a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

   The House Democratic prosecutors charged that Trump's incendiary words
   and actions in the run-up to the attack led his followers to descend on
   the Capitol "like a loaded cannon" to try to prevent the certification
   of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory over Trump. The riots left
   five people, including a Capitol Police officer, dead and dozens of
   others injured.

   "President Trump's conduct must be declared unacceptable in the
   clearest and most unequivocal terms," they wrote.

   Trump's defense lawyers rejected the charges and questioned the
   constitutionality of the trial, saying there is no precedent for trying
   a president after he has left office. They also said the former
   president stands by his claim that the election results were "suspect"
   and in any event his statements about the election were protected under
   the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

   The filings foreshadow the legal arguments both sides will present as
   the Senate meets beginning next Tuesday to decide whether to convict
   the 74-year-old former president for fomenting violence at the Capitol
   and bar him from returning to office. The trial is expected to last
   about one week.

.