Senate had earlier voted in favor of witnesses on a wild final day of the trial, before both sides later agreed to proceed with closing arguments of up to 4 hours.
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House impeachment manager tries to present new video evidence in closing argument and gets rejected
Senate had voted in favor of witnesses in Trump's second impeachment trial, but both sides later agreed to proceed with closing arguments for up to 4 hours
Video on website 3:28 min
By
Nicholas Ballasy
Updated: February 13, 2021 - 3:09pm
House managers and Donald Trump's defense team agreed Saturday to move to closing arguments for up to 4 hours in the Senate impeachment trial of the former president.
After closing arguments conclude, senators are expected to take a vote of guilty or not guilty on a single article of impeachment charging Trump with incitement of insurrection.
The agreement came after the timetable for the rest of the trial had been pitched into uncertainty following a morning of surprises — including a Senate vote in favor of calling witnesses and notification by Trump defense counsel Michael van der Veen of his
intent to seek depositions from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris in the event of an extended trial with witness testimony.
In his closing argument, lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney as a "hero" for voting to impeach Trump and "resisting" a "retaliatory cancel culture that she was subjected to" when the Republican caucus voted on whether to keep her in a leadership role. She was ultimately not stripped of her position as conference chair.
Trump's counsel objected to a new video used in Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean's closing argument.
"This is crooked," one of Trump's lawyers said.
Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, who is presiding over the trial as the Senate pro tempore, ruled the evidence would be "stricken" from the record.
"New evidence is not permitted in closing argument. References to such new evidence will be stricken," he said.
"The statement was in evidence, the slide was not, so we will withdraw the slide."
Trump's defense team is not making their closing argument.
"Hopefully we can all leave this chamber in uniform agreement that all rioting, all rioting, is bad and that law enforcement deserves our respect and support," Van der Veen said after mentioning the rioting that occurred after the death of George Floyd. "That has been Mr. Trump's position from the very beginning."
Earlier, the fifth day of the trial began with a surprise as senators voted 55-45 to call witnesses.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina voted with Democrats to subpoena witnesses and documents.
"This is a political theater, and I think the House managers were feeling heat on their left flank," Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said. "At this point, nobody knows what's going to happen."
On Saturday before the vote to call witnesses, Trump defense lawyer van der Veen had called on senators to "close this case out today." He said the House managers included 100 people in their case who were arrested after the riot took place. Before the Senate voted in favor of witnesses, van der Veen said he would need 100 depositions and an ample amount of time to do the "investigation" that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasn't done yet.
"This entire proceeding is based on rumor, report, innuendo," he said. "There's nothing to it."
Rep. Raskin said Trump should testify in the impeachment trial. He also said Washington Republican
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler should testify about the statement she issued on Friday evening regarding House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy's conversation with Trump on the day of the riot. Trump's defense and the impeachment managers eventually agreed to enter
Herrera Beutler's statement into trial evidence.
Trump's defense had up to 16 hours to present their case on Friday but used less than 4 hours. Senators had up to 4 hours to question both sides after Trump's defense presented. The questioning lasted for more than 2 hours on Friday.