now on bbc news... donald trump was the first president to be impeached twice by the lower chamber of congress, and the first to be put on trial after leaving office. in a special programme christian fraser takes a look at an unprecedented moment in us history. it was an unprecedented moment in us history. donald trump, the first president to be impeached twice by the lower chamber of congress, was also the first to be put on trial after leaving office. they were the gravest charges everfaced by a us president — incitement of insurrection. the former president was alleged to have made false allegations of election fraud, and onjanuary 6 to have encouraged his supporters to storm the capitol. we fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country any more. conviction would require a two thirds majority in the upper chamber of congress, the senate. 17 of the 50 republican senators would need to break with donald trump. new evidence brought the actions of his supporters that day into sharp focus, and his trial came down to this crucial question — did donald trump, in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, inspire and incite a capitol riot? was violence foreseeable ? did he encourage violence? and did he act wilfully? the senate will be in order... the trial began on february 9, with democratic senator patrick lea hy presiding. all 100 us senators were sworn in as jurors. all persons are commanded to keep silence on pain of imprisonment while the senate of the united states is sitting for the trial of the article of impeachment exhibited by the house of representatives against donald john trump. the nine house democrats making the case, known as impeachment managers, were all lawyers, many former litigators. both prosecutors and defence would have 16 hours each to make their arguments. mr trump's defence team was led by lawyers bruce castor and david schoen, who signed on to defend him only nine days before the trial began. in his opening remarks, mr schoen argued the proceedings were unconstitutional because mr trump was no longer a sitting president. he claimed the trial was a partisan play. they say you need this trial before the nation can heal, that the nation cannot heal without it. i say, our nation cannot possibly heal with it. with this trial you will open up new and bigger wounds across the nation, for a great many americans see this process for exactly what it is — a chance by a group of partisan politicians seeking to eliminate donald trump from the american political scene and seeking to disenfranchise 7a million plus american voters. but the democrats used their opening arguments to remind senators of what happened that day of the riot — the confusion, the fear, and the brute force that was in play as lawmakers fled from trump supporters. second floor! stand in recess until the call of the chair. j mr speaker, can i have order in the chamber? senators watched in stunned silence. the president was impeached by the us house of representatives on january 13 for doing that. the prosecution argued that president trump had been the inciter—in—chief, that in the run—up to his speech onjanuary 6, he had over many months praised, encouraged and cultivated violence. presidents can't inflame insurrection in their final weeks and then walk away like nothing happened. on day two of the trial, joe neguse outlined the case for impeachment, splitting it into three separate parts — the provocation, the attack itself, and the ensuing harm. in his unique role as commander in chief of our country and as the one person that the mob was listening to and following orders from, he had the power to stop it — and he didn't. we will never give in. we will never give up. we will never back down. we will never, ever surrender. you will see that in the months as the president made these statements, people listened. armed supporters surrounded election officials�* homes. the secretary of state for georgia got death threats. officials warned the president that his rhetoric was dangerous and it was going to result in deadly violence. that's what makes this so different. because when he saw first—hand the violence that his conduct was creating, he didn't stop it, he didn't condemn the violence. he incited it further, and he got more specific. he didn'tjust tell them to "fight like hell." he told them how, where and when. most of the senators watching would be familiar with the footage of the violence that unfolded that day, but what they had not seen was just how close some of them had come to the rioters inside the building. house impeachment managers stacey plaskett and eric swalwell played previously unseen video from the capitol�*s closed circuit television, together with the audio recordings of the police dispatches. you got a group of about 50 charging up the hill on the west front just north of here. they're approaching the wall now, reviewing the reviewing stand. note as the video begins, we are seeing the inside view as the mob approaches from outside and beats the windows and doors. you can see that the rider first breaks the window with the wooden beam that you saw previously, and a lone police officer inside responds and begins to spray the first man who enters, but is quickly overwhelmed. i want you to pay attention to the first group of assailants as they break into the building. the second man through the window is wearing full tactical body armor and is carrying a baseball bat. others are carrying riot shields. in this new security video, - you can see the mob attacking officers with a crutch, - a hockey stick, a bullhorn and a trump flag. i want to show you that same attack from the officer's - perspective, from his| body camera footage. and it was what president trump failed to do once the riot got under way onjanuary 6 that formed another key plank of the prosecution's case. at 13115, the capitol police declared a riot as they were unable to hold back the rampaging crowd. at 1413, vice president mike pence, who was overseeing the election certification, was evacuated from the senate floor by the secret service. at 111211, a tweet from the president criticized mike pence for lacking the courage to stop the certification. during the assault on the capitol, extremists reportedly coordinated online and discussed how they could hunt down the vice president. journalists in the capitol reported they heard rioters say they were looking for pence in order to execute him. trump's supporters had erected a gallows on the lawn in front of the capitol building. donald trump had made vice president pence a target. he attacked the vice president at the rallies, in speeches and on twitter. and during president trump's speech that morning of the attack, he ramped it up again, after privately pressuring mike pence. in front of thousands in the crowd, he called mike pence out 11 times, including saying, "mike pence, i hope you're going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the good of your country. and if you're not, i'm going to be disappointed in you. i will tell you right now." and this was the crowd's response to donald trump's days of relentless attacks on his own vice president. day three — and the prosecution returned again to that link between the president's rhetoric and the motivation of the individuals who stormed the capitol onjanuary 6. impeachment manager diana degette presented testimony of those who've since been charged, who had told investigators they were there at the invitation of the president. now, remember, president trump told them to stand back and stand by at the debate. they took it as a call to arms. and when he called them to arms. they were all ready to act. they were waiting for their orders, which they got onjanuary 6. this man, who ran through our house, who ran into this chamber, who sat right there on the dais, and who wrote a note for vice president pence that he was coming for him, he and those with him declared they would remove us from office if we went against donald trump. now he's saying he would not have done any of that if mr trump had told him not to. all of these people who have been arrested and charged, they're being held accountable for their actions. their leader, the man who incited them, must be held accountable as well. according to the prosecution, the january 6 riot was not some isolated incident. jamie raskin reminded senators of past events in michigan, which he linked to the president's speeches. michigan was a pivotal state in the 2020 campaign, and in april armed protesters opposed to governor whitman's covid rules had stormed the state capital. this trump—inspired mob may indeed look familiar to you. confederate battle flags, maga hats, weapons, camo army gear, just like the insurrectionists who showed up and invaded this chamber on january 6. the siege of the michigan state house was effectively a state level dress rehearsal for the siege of the us capitol that trump incited onjanuary 6. it was a preview of the coming insurrection. president trump's response to these two events was strikingly similar. following the armed siege in lansing, president trump refused to condemn the attacks on the michigan capital or denounce the viola nt lawbreake rs. instead, he didjust the opposite. he upheld the righteousness of his violent followers' cause, and he put pressure on the victim of the attack to listen to his supporters. in conclusion, the house managers said the former president's responsibility for what unfolded january 6 was undeniable. the statements, the videos, the affidavits proved beyond doubt, said joe neguse, that president trump incited an insurrection that he alone had the power to stop. we humbly, humbly ask you to convict president trump for the crime for which he is overwhelmingly guilty of. because if you don't, if we pretend this didn't happen, or worse, if we let it go unanswered, who's to say it won't happen again? on day four, donald trump's legal team took over, and it took them just three hours to present their case. again, arguing it was unconstitutional to impeach a president no longer in office. in his opening remarks, michael van der veen called the proceedings a politically motivated witch hunt. how could the president's speech have incited the riots, he asked, when they were apparently preplanned? onjanuary 6th, a small group who came to engage in violent and menacing behavior hijacked the event for their own purposes. according to publicly available reporting, it is apparent that extremists of various different stripes and political persuasions pre—planned and premeditated an attack on the capitol. one of the first people arrested was a leader of antifa. sadly, he was also among the first to be released. from the beginning, the president has been clear — the criminals who infiltrated the capitol must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, they should be imprisoned for as long as the law allows. the fact that the attacks were apparently premeditated, as alleged by the house managers, demonstrates the ludicrousness of the incitement allegation against the president. again and again, they focused on one particular section of mr trump's speech onjanuary 6. we fight like hell, i and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have - a country any more. there was nothing untoward in mr trump's rhetoric, said the defense, and to prove the point, they produced their own edited highlights of democrats using similar language. we need to show you some of their own words. i am going to be fighting like hell. keep fighting, fighting, fighting, orwe kept. fighting and we did. so we're going . to keep fighting. we have to be fighting every every single day. we have to fight back. that's ok. you didn't do anything wrong. it's a word people use, but please stop the hypocrisy. defense lawyer bruce castor argued the impeachment managers had failed to connect the violence at the capitol with donald trump, and he asked the senate to acquit. this impeachment is completely divorced from the facts, the evidence and the interests of the american people. the senate should promptly and decisively vote to reject it. no thinking person could seriously believe that the president's january 6 speech on the ellipse was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection. the suggestion is patently absurd on its face, nothing in the text could ever be construed as encouraging, condoning or enticing unlawful activity of any kind. in the four hours that senators were given to question the lawyers, the focus returned to what donald trump had done that day to try and stop the riot. the defense provided no real answers. exactly when did president trump learn of the breach of the capitol and what specific actions did he take to bring the rioting to an end? and when did he take them? please be as detailed as possible. with the rush to bring this impeachment, there's been absolutely no investigation into that. and that's the problem with this entire proceeding. the house managers did zero investigation. and the american people deserve a lot better than coming in here with no evidence. hearsay on top of hearsay, on top of reports that are of hearsay. due process is required here, and that was denied. why did president trump not tell the protesters to stop i as soon as he learned about it? why did president trump do nothing to stop the attack . for two hours after the attack began? — why did president trump do nothing to help protect- the capitol and law enforcement battling the insurgents? - why did he not condemn the violent insurrection i onjanuary 6? those are the questions that we have as well. i and the reason this question keeps coming up is becausel the answer is nothing. two republican senators, mitt romney and susan collins, returned with a more specific query. when president trump sent a disparaging tweet at 2.2lipm regarding vice president pence, was he aware that the vice president had been removed from the senate by the secret service for his safety? senator tuberville specifically said that he told the president, "mr president, theyjust took the vice president out. "i've got to go." the answer is no. at no point was the president informed the vice president l was in any danger. because the house rushed through this impeachmentj in seven days with no evidence, there is nothing at all— in the record on this point. as saturday's session came to order a surprise development, a republican congresswoman, jamie herrera beutler, released new details of a phone call between donald trump and the lead republican in the house, kevin mccarthy, a call that had taken place as the january 6 riots were unfolding. in the middle of the insurrection, when house minority leader kevin mccarthy called the president to beg for help, president trump responded, and i quote, "well, kevin, iguess these people are more upset about the election than you are." the prosecution and trump's legal team weighed whether to subpoena witnesses like miss herrera beutler. but in the end, the two sides reached an agreement. her statement would be admitted to the record and the closing arguments were made. senators, we proved he betrayed his country. we proved he betrayed his constitution. his oath of office. the startling thing to recognizse now is that he is even betraying the mob. he told them he would march with them, and he didn't. they believed the president was right there with them somewhere in the crowd, fighting the fantasy conspiracy to steal the election and steal their country away from them. they thought they were one big team working together. he told them their great journey together wasjust beginning. and now there are hundreds of criminal prosecutions getting going. this has been perhaps the most unfair and flagrantly unconstitutional proceeding in the history of the united states senate. for the first time in history, congress has asserted the right to try and punish a former president who is a private citizen. nowhere in the constitution is the power enumerated or implied. congress has no authority, no right and no business holding a trial of citizen trump, let alone a trial to deprive him of fundamental civil rights. the verdict when it came was, as expected. donald john trump, former- president of the united states, is not guilty as charged - in the articles of impeachment. 57 to 43, they were ten votes short of the two thirds necessary for conviction, but the vote was more bipartisan than the vote in the house. seven republican senators thought him guilty, which reflected the widespread outrage among those who'd experienced the violence first—hand. and while mitch mcconnell, the most senior republican in the senate, voted to acquit — in his closing speech, he left the country in no doubt as to what he really thought. there's no question, none, that president trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. no question about it. the people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. and having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole, which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet earth. the acquittal means mr trump is free to hold federal office in the future, but history will judge him harshly. he was twice impeached, and still he faces a criminal investigation for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. democrats, and perhaps a good many republicans, will hope this senate trial has made it implausible, if not impossible, that donald trump can ever run for president again. hello. having another week as very cold as it was last week would be quite an achievement. so is swinging the weather pendulum to the mild category which is exactly what were doing this week. temperature so very different by day and by night. but the change is coming with a fair bit of rain rather than snow. it is a blustery way for the high pressure pumping the cold air at us from the east, it's not retreating. it's a low pressure in control this week. and it's the flow of air pressure system drawing the air in from eight mile direction from the southwest. as long as it stays that way we will have temperatures above the average for that time a year. it looks to be staying that way for quite a while. as we start off monday morning, look at that no frost out there. some temperatures will live headed up a few degrees overnight. plenty of cloud to start the day. misty and murky in places. a bit of rain still to clear away from parts of east anglia and southeast england. elsewhere, showers into northern ireland are going to run across carl and a few into northern england and especially west of the pennines. one or two for wales reaching towards the midlands. away from the showers that will gradually brighten up in the afternoon. many of us will end the day drive. it will be breezy, not as windy as it was over the ten to 1a degrees. talking above freezing. largely guide to end the day, here comes the next set of weather fronts. the wet weather pushing across us overnight into tuesday morning. another mild night and mild start to the day. still with a bit of rain to clear away from east anglia and southeast england on tuesday morning for that brighter skies following, some showers quickly moving in towards the west. some of these can be heavy and possibly thundery foot up a few will push further ease during the day. a by strengthening wind across northwest it will stay quite into wednesday for the most part temperatures in into wednesday looking at the area of shari rain pushing its way eastward. still with us quite strong winds in northwest scotland. a few sunny spells and then to end the day the next area of wet weather showing its hand out towards the south. that's going to push in wednesday night and into thursday with further rain could be heavy in places. temperatures take a step backwards on thursday but then into next weekend if you avoid the rain you get to see a bit of sunshine it could turn out to be exceptionally mild for you. this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughanjones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. overnight curfew and internet shut down, as tanks roll into cities in myanmar. valentine's day in russia sees more protests in support of the jailed opposition leader, alexei navalny. anchored and idle — a year on from the shut down of an industry, we ask when cruise ships might travel the world again. and — the duke and duchess of sussex announce they're expecting a second child — harry and meghan are said to be overjoyed. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world.

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