Opinion: Democrats
have one big weapon left against Trump. Will they use it?
Opinion by
Columnist
Feb. 12, 2021 at 9:54 a.m. CST
Evidence is mounting
that Donald Trump knew Mike Pence was in grave danger from the mob rampaging
into the Capitol when the then-president sent out a tweet blasting his vice
president.
During the Jan. 6
assault, Trump tweet-slammed Pence for lacking the “courage” to overturn the
election, which further infuriated the insurrectionists. Trump essentially
pointed the mob like a loaded gun at Pence — and newly unearthed facts suggest
Trump may have understood what he was doing in exactly these terms.
These new
circumstances hand Democrats one last big weapon to wield against Trump at his
impeachment trial. They also impose on them an obligation.
Specifically, the
impeachment managers can still call witnesses. And the case for this has gotten
stronger, now that we are so close to showing that Trump may have knowingly
endangered Pence’s life.
A new Post report fills in crucial details on the chronology, and they look
increasingly damning:
Trump’s tweet came at
2:24 p.m. that day — only 11 minutes after live television coverage showed
Pence being hustled from the Senate floor because rioters were streaming into
the building one floor below. The Senate then abruptly went into recess.
Trump was watching
news coverage of the session after he returned from his rally at the Ellipse,
according to a person familiar with the events of the day who, like others
interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe
what was happening behind the scenes.
Trump may have seen
live TV footage showing that Pence had been pulled from the chamber (at 2:13
p.m.) and was in danger more than 10 minutes before he attacked Pence.
Trump then tweeted
that Pence “didn’t have the courage” to “protect our Country and our
Constitution.” To the rioters, this meant Pence didn’t subvert the results (he
couldn’t) to keep Trump in power, to the benefit of MAGA Nation. As the impeachment
managers demonstrated, an insurrectionist read aloud the tweet from a bullhorn,
and it galvanized rioters to go after Pence.
We’re also learning that just after Pence was taken
away, Trump called Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) for more help in subverting the results
(showing what was foremost on Trump’s mind). Tuberville told him what had
happened to Pence. It’s unclear whether this happened before Trump’s tweet, but
it’s certainly possible.
What Democrats can do
now
Democrats can try to
call witnesses to nail down exactly what Trump knew when he again directed the
rampaging mob toward Pence. The trial
rules stipulate
that after senators question the impeachment managers and Trump’s lawyers,
there can be debate over whether to subpoena witnesses. That means the managers
can subpoena witnesses if they want to.
Such witnesses could
include people inside the White House, who could potentially detail that Trump
was perfectly aware that Pence had been hurriedly removed from the path of the
mob — to save his life — when Trump again whipped it up against him.
The Post also reports that Pence’s Secret Service detail typically informs
the White House about any significant movements involving him.
Jonathan Wackrow, a
former Secret Service agent, tells me there are several pathways by which Trump
might have been informed of the level of danger Pence faced. Pence’s Secret
Service detail might have communicated with Trump’s, or the military aides to
both men might have been in touch. White House aides might know what Trump
learned from this.
Wackrow notes that
the managers might at least try to subpoena people who could
reconstruct these communications, and Trump’s understanding of Pence’s plight,
though the Secret Service would challenge this.
“Knowing that these
pathways are out there, a reasonable person might make the deduction that the
White House wasn’t doing all they could to understand the situation and in turn
provide the support that was necessary,” Wackrow told me. “We need to know more
about that.”
Given that Trump’s
lawyers will argue that he sprang into action to do something about the
rioters, Wackrow noted, such a line of inquiry could confirm how true that is,
which (you’d think) is something his lawyers would want.
Witnesses could also
shed more light on what Trump was told by the lawmakers under siege inside the
Capitol who
were pleading with him by phone to call off the mob, and what
Trump said as he refused. Heck, as Andy Kroll suggests, what about calling Pence himself?
Remember, many of
these damning facts about the chronology are new — they’ve
been shaken loose by the investigative process. It would be entirely
appropriate to call witnesses now that these facts have raised urgent new
questions.
We need a full
accounting
You might think there
are risks. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has threatened to call witnesses in retaliation. But this is empty
bluster. It might send out imperceptible high-pitched frequencies that thrill
Fox News and QAnon audiences, but that would be white noise to ordinary voters.
It’s also possible
trying to pin down more details might fail to produce a silver bullet. But
that’s okay: The known facts are already comprehensively
damning to Trump. And the mere fact that there are risks isn’t a reason to
refrain from developing a full picture of something this important.
We all know the vast
majority of Republican senators won’t vote based on the evidence. This is all
about creating a full reckoning into the most comprehensive effort to overturn
U.S. democracy in modern times — including through deliberately cultivated mob
intimidation and violence — not for Republicans, who are beyond reach, but for
the American people, and for history.
How can such a
reckoning not include a full accounting into Trump’s true intentions,
given that we now know that he may have directed his mob at Pence while knowing it
could put his life in greater danger?
