Trump trial camps set out positions

Donald Trump endangered the lives of all members of Congress when he aimed a mob of supporters "like a loaded cannon" at the US Capitol, Democratic members of the House of Representatives said on Tuesday in making their most detailed case yet for why the former president should be convicted in a trial and permanently barred from office. Trump denied the allegations through his lawyers and called the action unconstitutional.

The dueling filings offer the first public glimpse of the arguments that will be presented to the Senate in sessions that begin next week. The impeachment trial represents a remarkable reckoning with the violence in the Capitol last month, which the senators witnessed firsthand, and with Trump's presidency overall.

Held in the very chamber where the insurrectionists stood on Jan 6, it will pit Democratic demands for a final measure of accountability against the desire of many Republicans to turn the page and move on.

The impeachment trial, Trump's second, begins in earnest on Tuesday.

The Democratic legal brief forcefully linked Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election to the deadly riot at the Capitol, saying he bears "unmistakable "blame for actions that threatened the underpinnings of US democracy. It argued that he must be found guilty on a charge of inciting the siege. And it used evocative language to conjure the day's chaos, when "terrified members were trapped in the chamber" and called loved ones "for fear they would not survive".

"His conduct endangered the life of every single member of Congress, jeopardized the peaceful transition of power and line of succession, and compromised our national security," the Democratic managers of the impeachment case wrote.

"The only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue."

The 77-page House brief is more than five times as long as the Trump filing and heavy on footnotes and citations, aiming to construct what Democrats hope will be a detailed roadmap for conviction. Trump's legal team, by contrast, was more sparing in a filing that avoided dwelling on the drama and violence of the day.

Trump's lawyers, David Schoen and Bruce Castor, denied that he had incited the riot by disputing the election results or by exhorting his followers to "fight like hell". They said he was permitted by the First Amendment to challenge his loss to Democrat Joe Biden as "suspect "and that, in any event, the trial was unconstitutional now that Trump has left the White House.

Political resonance

Lawyers for Trump contested the Democratic characterization of Trump's remarks and his role in the riot, denying that he incited it or that he ever endangered national security. When he told his followers to fight like hell, they said, he was talking about "election security in general".

Trump's legal team also laid out a challenge to the constitutionality of the trial now that Trump has left office. Though that claim may not be resolved any time soon in the courts, it may nonetheless resonate politically.

Republicans have signaled that acquittal is likely, with many saying they think Congress should move on and questioning the constitutionality of an impeachment trial now that Trump has left office.

In a test vote in the Senate last week, 45 of the 50 Republican senators voted to support a resolution that sought to declare that the impeachment trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office. The resolution failed in the 100-member Senate. It takes a two-thirds vote－67 senators－to convict.

Agencies and Ai Heping in New York contributed to this story.