Trump impeachment trial live updates: Biden says charge 'not in dispute' in 1st comments on acquittal

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., asked House managers about how the former president's false allegations of election fraud led to the "radicalization" of Trump supporters and led to the attack on the Capitol.

House manger Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Calif., argued that the former president's persistent claims about election fraud caused his supporters to buy into the "big lie" that the election was stolen, which incited them.

"That was the purpose behind Donald Trump saying that the election had been rigged and that the election had been stolen, and to be clear, when he says 'the election is stolen,' what he’s saying is that the victory, and he even says one time, the election victory is being stolen from them. Think about how significant that is to Americans, again, you’re right, over 70 million -- I think 74 million -- people voted for Donald Trump, and this wasn't a one-off comment. It wasn't one time," Castro said. "It was over and over and over and over and over again, with a purpose."

Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, and Sherrod Brown of Ohio asked the House managers what message it will send if the Senate does not convict Trump.

"Our actions will reverberate as to what are the future consequences," House manager Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands said. "The extremists who attack the Capitol at the president's provocation will be emboldened, all our intelligence agencies have confirmed this."

Plaskett, using Trump's own words, warned that "this is only the beginning."

"There are long-standing consequences decisions like this that will define who we are as people, who America is," Plaskett continued.

A clerk momentarily took over for presiding officer Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., president pro tempore of the Senate, in reading a wordy question from Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Mike Crappo on the Framers' intentions surrounding whether a former officer can be impeached.

"The Framers were very smart men and they went over draft after draft after draft on that document and they reviewed all the other drafts of all of the state constitutions -- all of them -- and they picked and chose what they wanted and they discarded what they did not. And what they discarded was the option for all of you to impeach a former elected official," Trump attorney Michael van der Veen said.

However, the Senate voted on Tuesday 55-45 to affirm its power that Trump trial's is constitutional and its within their authority to proceed. Impeachment managers have argued it's the correct course, rather than a criminal court.

Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked both Trump's team and the House managers whether the former president knew that former Vice President Mike Pence had been escorted out of the Senate chamber for his safety when Trump sent a "disparaging tweet." Romney was the only Republican to vote to impeach Trump in the last trial.

House manager Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, insisted Trump "had to know." Castro pointed to a call the former president made to Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R.-Ala., saying that during the call, Tuberville told the president.

"And after Wednesday's trial portion concluded, as Sen. Tuberville spoke to reporters and confirmed the call he had with the president and did not dispute Manager Cicilline’s description in any way that there was a call between he and the president around the time that Mike Pence was being ushered out of the chamber, and that was shortly after 2:00 p.m.," Castro said. "And Sen. Tuberville specifically said he told the president, 'Mr. President, they just took the vice president out. I've got to go.'"

However, Michael van der Veen insisted that there is no evidence presented by the House managers that the president knew Pence had been escorted out.

"There's nothing at all on the record at this time," van der Veen said. "Because the House failed to do even minimal amount of due diligence."