By LIBBY CATHEY and MICHELLE STODDART, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s historic second impeachment trial is taking place in the Senate. He faces 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 09, 11:26 am
House Dems to present never-before-seen evidence at trial
House impeachment managers will use evidence that hasn’t been seen before during the imminent trial, according to senior aides on the team.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reaffirmed the development in a press conference Tuesday morning.
“I believe the managers will present a very strong case the evidence will be powerful the evidence some of it will be new,” Schumer said.
Feb 09, 11:26 am
Ga. election officials formally launch investigation into Trump phone calls
The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has formally launched an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s phone calls to state election officials in which he sought help to overturn the results of the election after President Joe Biden’s narrow victory was certified twice.
The investigation, which follows a series of formal complaints filed by a law professor alleging that Trump violated the law during those calls, marks the first formal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election in the state.
Investigations by the secretary of state’s office can take months to complete, but it marked a major development on the eve of Trump’s second impeachment trial. The single article of impeachment against the president, which accuses him of inciting the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, briefly mentions the phone call with the secretary.
Trump’s impeachment lawyers defended Trump’s actions on the call in a brief submitted to the House the last week and “denied that President Trump acted improperly in that telephone call in any way.”
In a statement sent to ABC News on Monday, Jason Miller, Trump’s senior adviser, said, “There was nothing improper or untoward about a scheduled call between President Trump, Secretary Raffensperger and lawyers on both sides. If Mr. Raffensperger didn’t want to receive calls about the election, he shouldn’t have run for Secretary of State. And the only reason the call became public was because Mr. Raffensperger leaked it in an attempt to score political points.”
Trump also defended his call while speaking at a rally in D.C. on Jan. 6.
“I thought it was a great conversation,” he said. “People loved that the conversation.”
Feb 09, 11:23 am
‘Because President Trump said to’: Over a dozen Capitol rioters say they were following Trump’s guidance
Senate Democrats are focused on trying to tie a direct line between Trump’s rhetoric and the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.
An ABC News investigation into the nearly 200 accused rioters facing federal charges for their alleged involvement at the Capitol — based on court filings, military records, interviews and available news reports — found that at least 15 individuals who stormed the building have since said that they acted based on Trump’s encouragement, including some of those accused of the most violent and serious crimes.
Trump’s lawyers have defended his comments at the Jan. 6 rally as ones that “fall squarely within the protections of the First Amendment.”
“Mr. Trump, having been elected nationally, was elected to be the voice for his national constituency,” his lawyers wrote in a brief last week.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.