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 act
next phase of the impeachment trial. and this is a live picture now. after a recess in the completion of the fence, the trial is now continuing with questions from the senators to be house managers. and the defence lawyers. let s listen in. remember, you have just remember, you havejust told remember, you have just told these people these thousand the people that somebody has sold your election, you will not get the president that you love, senators, that it president that you love, senators, thatitis president that you love, senators, that it is a an incredibly combustible situation, or people are armed and they have been saying they are mad as hell, and they would not take it any more. he looked up to a sea of thousands, some wearing body armour some helmets, holding sticks and flagpoles, some of which they would later used to be capital police, and told them that they could play by different rules. play by different rules. he even at one point quite literally pointed at
nothing. counsel for the former president. the nothing. counsel for the former president. the answer - nothing. counsel for the former president. the answer is - nothing. counsel for the former president. the answer is no. i nothing. counsel for the former president. the answer is no. atj nothing. counsel for the former i president. the answer is no. at no oint was president. the answer is no. at no point was the president. the answer is no. at no point was the president president. the answer is no. at no point was the president informed i president. the answer is no. at no i point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger because vice president was in any danger because the house rushed through this impeachment in seven days with no evidence, there is nothing at all in the no evidence, there is nothing at all in the record no evidence, there is nothing at all in the record on this point. because the house in the record on this point. becau
that s what trials are designed to do. to arrive at the truth of the matter and render a verdict. and following the despicable attack on january the 6th, there must, there must be truth and accountability if we are going to move forward, heal, and bring our country together once again. proceedings are slated to begin tomorrow afternoon. cnn will bring that to you live. earlier today both sides presented their final pretrial papers. house managers writing a five-place reply to the defense and i m quoting from the bottom line, the evidence of the president s conduct is overwhelming and he has no valid excuse or defense for his actions and he betrayed the american people. that s plain to see to a number of republicans including the third ranking member of the house, liz cheney, who was asked whether she d convict if she were a senator. i obviously, believe and did then that what we already know is enough for his impeachment, what we already know does constitute the gravest v
prosecuted him and convicted him in the court of public opinion, and in the court of history. he s obviously a major political problem for the republican party and as long as he s out there attempting to wage war on american constitutional denl kra democracy, it s a problem for all of us. at the end of the day it wasn t more witnesses we needed, it was more senators with spines. that s what we saw. they lacked the fortitude. they were more concerned with their seat in power, afraid of donald trump s base, to be more concerned for our democracy, our constitution, the american government, and even the body of the senate. we were never going to reach 67 votes in the senate without mitch mcconnell voting guilty. so he went a bit on the floor afterwards. he basically gave the speech that jamie raskin would have given to the senate, and then tried to justify his vote for acquittal. i think senator mcconnell s speech, he got a load off his chest obviously. unfortunately, he pu