In Typo-Filled Brief, Trump Lawyers Deny He Incited Capitol Riots

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team representing him in his second Senate impeachment trial have formally submitted their brief calling the former president innocent of “inciting insurrection” when he addressed a crowd before the Capitol riots.

In their 14-page statement, misspelled the “United States” the “Unites States” at the top, Trump lawyers assert, “It is denied that President Trump incited the crowd to engage in destructive behavior.”

House prosecutors, however, argued the former president’s “responsibility for the events of January 6 is unmistakable.”

The prosecutors’ 80-page statement declared that, “After losing the 2020 election, President Trump refused to accept the will of the American people. He spent months asserting, without evidence, that he won in a ‘landslide’ and that the election was ‘stolen.’ He amplified these lies at every turn, seeking to convince supporters that they were victims of a massive electoral conspiracy that threatened the Nation’s continued existence. But every single court to consider the President’s attacks on the outcome of the election rejected them. And state and federal officials from both parties refused President Trump’s increasingly desperate demands that they break the law to keep him in power. With his options running out, President Trump announced a ‘Save America Rally’ on January 6. He promised it would be ‘wild.’ ”

While Trump initially wanted his legal defense to focus on election fraud as their central focus, his lawyers now argue that since Trump “believes” that he won the 2020 election, he is within his legal right to “express his belief that the election results were suspect,” citing “insufficient evidence” against widespread voter fraud. Independent, state and federal review, however, have shown that there was no widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

The Trump legal team argues that the former president’s First Amendment right to free speech bars him from punishment, but House prosecutors argue that Trump’s speech before the Capitol riots still incited violence. Since that violence was targeted against the government and the Constitution as a whole, Trump has effectively waived his ability to appeal to the Constitution.