Former President Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial ended with a 57-43 vote to acquit in the Senate. He faced a single charge of incitement of insurrection over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Here is how events are unfolding. All times Eastern.
Feb 12, 2021, 5:41 PM EST
'He knew what was going to happen:' Plaskett on Trump before riot
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., asked why, if the Jan. 6 event was predictable and foreseeable, was law enforcement at the Capitol caught off guard and "unable to prevent the breach"?
Trump's defense attorney Michael van der Veen answered, "Holy cow, that is a really good question," then claimed the House managers did not do an investigation.
However, party leaders agreed before the trial due process was reached, according to multiple statements from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
House impeachment manager and Delegate from the Virgin Islands Stacey Plaskett answers a question submitted by Senators to the impeachment managers during the fourth day of the impeachment trial of the former president on charges of inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol, on Capitol Hill, Feb. 12, 2021.
Senate TV via Reuters
House managers went on to say Trump had all the information available to foresee how dangerous Jan. 6 could be, yet he took no action.
"He knew what was going to happen," Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, said. "He cultivated these individuals. These are undisputed facts. The National Guard was not deployed until over two hours after the attack."
Feb 12, 2021, 5:37 PM EST
Question about 2020 election results brings clamor to Senate floor
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked both the House managers and Trump's lawyers whether, in their judgement, Trump lost the 2020 presidential election or if he "was perpetrating a big lie when he repeatedly claimed that the election was stolen from him and that he actually won the election by a landslide."
"As we all know, President Trump did lose the election by 7 million votes, 306 electoral votes. By the time of the January 6th attack, the courts, the Justice Department, all 50 states across the country had done -- agreed that the votes were counted," Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, said. "The people had spoken and it was time for the peaceful transfer of power, as our Constitution and the rule of the law of demands."
In this image from video, Michael van der Veen, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, answers a question from Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the Capitol, Feb. 12, 2021.
Senate Television via AP
Trump's defense lawyer, Michael van der Veen, first asked that the question be re-read and then side-stepped it by saying his judgement of whether or not Trump lost the election is "irrelevant in this proceeding."
His initial response prompted a clamor on the Senate floor. He then asked for the question to be read again.
"In my judgment it's irrelevant to the question before this body. What is relevant in this impeachment article is, were Mr. Trump's words insightful to the point of violence and riot?" Van der Veen said. "That is the charge and that is the question and the answer is no, he did not have speech that was insightful to violence or riot."
Feb 12, 2021, 5:35 PM EST
Trump telling protesters to be peaceful is not a defense, Raskin says
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., asked House managers in a somewhat hypothetical question whether the former president is innocent of inciting insurrection because he told protesters to "be peaceful."
Lead House manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., responded with an allegory.
"If you rob a bank and, on the way out the door, you yell 'respect private property,' that's not a defense to robbing the bank," Raskin said.
Feb 12, 2021, 5:24 PM EST
Raskin defends his past challenge to Trump's electoral victory
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked the House impeachment managers, "The defense’s presentation highlighted the fact that Democratic members of Congress raised objections to counting of electoral votes in past joint sessions of Congress. To your knowledge, were any of those Democratic objections raised after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in order to prevent the counting of electoral votes and after the president's personal lawyer asked senators to make these objections specifically to delay the certification?"
Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who was shown in video by Trump's defense attorneys objecting to Trump's electoral victory, took the lectern.
"My counsel on the other side had some fun because I was one of the people who took, I think, about 30 seconds in 2016 to point out that the electors from Florida were not actually conforming to the letter of the law ... but I think the vice president and President Biden properly gaveled me down and said we are going to indicate the will of the people," Raskin said.
In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin answers a question from Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the Capitol, Feb. 12, 2021.
Senate Television via AP
"That's pretty much what happened, and nobody has stormed the Capitol," he went on to say, quoting GOP Rep. Liz Cheney who also blames Trump for the mob.
"Please don't mix up what Republican and Democrats have done in every election, for a long time -- there are improprieties going on in terms of conforming with state election laws -- with the idea of mobilizing a mob insurrection against the government that got five people killed, 140 Capitol officers wounded and threatened the actual peaceful succession of power and transfer of power in America."
Raskin said a lawmaker can talk about reforming the Electoral College but, "You don't do it with violence."
