By Professor Chris Imafidon – As the second impeachment of Ex-President Donald Trump opened, senators and the world were treated to fresh details of the evil events of the infamous or notorious 6th January 2021 when the United States’ legislature was violently attacked by a mob.
The mob almost assassinated Mr Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence while certifying the Electoral College votes. Rep Joe Neguse, an African American gave the most compelling and clinical presentation on why Donald Trump should be “impeached” for the ignoble role in the violent attack on democracy. Hon Joe Neguse’s oratory skills were not just on display in the senate but watched by millions around the world via live TV.
Hon Neguse, of Eritrean heritage proved his considerable talent of debate and persuasion when he stated that “Presidents can’t inflame insurrection in their final weeks and then walk away like nothing happened. If Congress were to just stand aside in the face of such an extraordinary crime against the republic, it would invite future presidents to use their power without any fear of accountability.”
Hon Joe Neguse, the youngest legislator who made the case for an impeachment trial, explained that the American Constitution gives the Senate the power to remove a person from office and the power to disqualify that person from future office. One, he insists, is not contingent on the other, citing two previous cases where the Senate tried former office holders.
“The text of the Constitution makes clear there is no January exception to the impeachment power.” Neguse gave previous examples where federal officials faced impeachment and Senate trials after they left office, detailing a corruption case made against William Belknap, a secretary of war in the Grant administration who was subjected to impeachment hearings after stepping down.
But very much “Unlike Belknap, as we know,” Neguse said, “President Trump was not impeached for a trivial issue or misconduct. He was impeached for inciting a violent insurrection — an insurrection where people died, in this building. An insurrection that desecrated our seat of government.” An insurrection that was indeed directed at his fellow republican and closest aid, Vice President Mike Pence.
Most senators, including his fiercest republican opponents were privately moved by the sheer force of Neguse’s argument but were reluctant to express their views in public due to their endemic, deep-rooted partisan bias for Trump.
The lawyer, who is now a lawmaker, convinced his audience even more by saying The evidence is clear, and it is overwhelming. “He assembled the mob, summoned the mob, and incited the mob. He must be held accountable” and “We can no longer take it for granted. Our constitution must be vindicated, so that what occurred on January 6th never happens again.”
Fired by the initial success of fellow lawyer, Hon Stacey Plaskett, a black girl who was raised in poor inner-city New York, showed new graphical images and sounds on exactly how President Donald Trump’s words led to the evil works of violence and near assassination of VP, Mike Pence.
Hon Plaskett, who represents the US Virgin Islands, stated that “I want to show you why this violence was foreseeable and why Mr Trump was different than any other politician just telling their fighters – their supporters to fight for something. The violence that occurred on Jan 6th this year, like the attack itself, did not just appear. You’ll see Donald Trump knew the people he was inciting, he saw the violence that they were capable of, and he had a pattern and practice of praising and encouraging that violence, never ever condemning it.
Hon Plaskett, a mother of five children, painted a horrifying picture of how the tweets of President Trump acted as a drum beat for the atrocities, which took place in the heart of the world’s largest democracy. The emotive evidence showed that Jan. 6, witnessed, “armed and organized insurrectionists trained their sights on Speaker Pelosi,” she said. “They sought out the speaker on the floor and in her office, publicly declared their intent to harm or kill her, ransacked her office, and terrorized her staff. And they did it because Donald Trump sent them on this mission.”
She presented clear and compelling evidence of Trump’s multiple tweets confirming the undeniably huge role-played in planning and executing the Jan 6th violence and his intent to stop Congress from fulfilling its Constitutional duty to peacefully transfer power.
She presented fresh security footage showing Vice President Mike Pence and his family being hurriedly evacuated from the building by the security officials; Senator Mitt Romney being told by Mr Eugene Goodman, a Capitol policeman to run in the opposite direction, away from danger, because he was heading towards and the incoming mob; with rioters chanting “Nancy? Oh, Nancy? Nancy, where are you, Nancy?” The Mob searched the halls of Congress for her office. More importantly, it was most chilling as congressional staff running to barricade themselves in a conference room, a few minutes before the rioters arrived and started thrusting their bodies against the door, trying to break it down”.
Plaskett, said “You can hear the mob calling for the death of the vice president of the United States,” adding that she was certain that, if the rioters had found the vice president and the speaker of the House, they would have killed them both. Concluding that “They did it because Donald Trump sent them on this mission . President Trump put a target on their backs and his mob broke into the Capitol to hunt them down.”
Rep Stacey Plaskett’s presentation was fierce, powerful, elegant, methodical, and completely persuasive that Vice President Pence and Speaker Pelosi are fortunate to have survived the day. Although most of her republican opponents agree with her sentiments, they reached a totally different conclusion on who are the culprits. They say the slides “show the mob, the faces of the mob, so let’s face the mob who came to Capitol Hill to cause violence instead of president Trump who was miles away in the White House. Quoting the biblical story of miscarriage of justice, is this not another case of asking to crucify innocent Jesus instead of Barabbas, the real criminal?” Trump can’t be guilty “because of tweets and the real criminals walking our streets like Barabbas.
Professor Chris Imafidon, Consultant to Governments, Monarchs, Presidents & Corporate Leaders; Multiple Guinness record holder & Mentor to New York Times best selling authors.
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