If Senate does not convict Trump, ’he can do this again,’ Democrats warn

WASHINGTON (Reuters) Feb 12:  Democratic prosecutors making the case that Donald Trump incited a deadly insurrection by encouraging his supporters to march on the U.S. Capitol have warned the Senate that if it fails to convict the former president, “he can do this again.”

The first three days of Trump’s impeachment trial focused on his fiery words to supporters in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, when he falsely claimed that his election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden was the result of fraud and that the crowd needed to “fight” and “stop the steal.”

The Democrats appear highly unlikely to secure a conviction and bar Trump from ever again holding public office given that only six Republicans voted with Democrats in the 100-seat chamber to proceed with the trial.

“If he gets back into office and it happens again, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves,” lead impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin told the Senate on Thursday, wrapping up the prosecution arguments.

Fellow Democratic Representative Ted Lieu told the senators he worries about what would happen if Trump runs in 2024 and loses.

“I’m not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I’m afraid he’s going to run again and lose, because he can do this again,” Lieu said.

The Democratic prosecutors provided example after example of Trump’s actions prior to the rampage to illustrate what he intended when he told supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell” as Congress convened to certify Biden’s election victory.

“Jan. 6 was not some unexpected radical break from his normal law-abiding and peaceful disposition. ... This was his essential M.O.,” Raskin said, using shorthand for modus operandi.

“He knew that egged on by his tweets, his lies and his promise of a ‘wild’ time in Washington to guarantee his grip on power, his most extreme followers would show up bright and early, ready to attack, ready to engage in violence, ready to ‘fight like hell’ for their hero,” he said.