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

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz -- one a handful of Republican senators seen meeting with Trump's defense team on Thursday and Friday outside of the Senate chamber -- asked both sides a lengthy question which equated Vice President Kamala Harris, president of the Senate, having said she would raise bail money for protesters in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd while in police custody, with the insurrection charge the House has made against Trump.

Lead House impeachment managers Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he was not familiar with the statement and would let the vice president speak for herself but that it's "completely irrelevant" to the proceeding.

"The president's lawyers are pointing out that we have never had any situation like this before in the history of the United States, and its true," Raskin said. "There has never been a president that has encouraged a violent insurrection against our own government. ... So what we do in this trial will establish a standard going forward for all time."

Raskin also noted how the permit for Trump supporters to march from the Ellipse to the Capitol was not authorized until Trump got involved in planning.

"He synchronized with exactly the time that we would be in joint session and as Rep. Cheney said, he summoned that mob," Raskin said.

Trump attorney Michael van deer Veer blasted Raskin for being unfamiliar with the clip of Harris.

"I don't know why he said he never heard Kamala Harris say about the riots and the people rioting and ruining our businesses and our streets that, 'they are not going to let up and they should not' because we played it three times today," he said. "That's what she said, but it's protected speech. Her speech is protected, also, senator."

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 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."

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."

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."

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.