Trump impeachment trial live updates: Biden says charge 'not in dispute' in 1st comments on acquittal

Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said the defense was close to wrapping its arguments as, he argued, they have already established "with overwhelming evidence" that Trump should be convicted and barred from office for "incitement of insurrection."

"If we have proven to you the conduct that we've alleged in this article, then President Trump has indeed committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution," Raskin said. "Indeed, it is hard to think of a greater or more dangerous offense against the republic than this one."

Raskin said he hoped senators would agree with him that if a president does incite a violent insurrection against the government, he or she can be impeached for it -- in fact, Raskin argued, it would be a constitutional crime and impeachment is the correct course of action.

"What is impeachable conduct if not this? I challenge you all to think about it," he asked the Senate chamber. "If you don't find this a high crime and misdemeanor today, you have set a new terrible standard for presidential misconduct in the United States of America."

He said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., would take the chamber through the evidence once more because "we don't want it to be said, 'They never proved this,' or, 'They never proved that."

"Because my magnificent team of managers has stayed up night after night after night through weeks to compile all of the factual evidence, and we have put it before you. And we have put it before all of you in this public trial," Raskin said. "Because we love our country that much."

House manager Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., pushed back on arguments put forward by Trump's legal team that the House acted too quickly and denied Trump due process. Lieu explained that the House had sufficient evidence and good reason to pass the article of impeachment quickly.

"When you see a crime committed in plain view, prosecutors don't have to spend months investigating before they bring charges. I note that in this case, in fact, hundreds of people have been arrested and charged by prosecutors for the violence on January 6th," Lieu said. "There was no reason for the House to wait to impeach the man at the very top that incited the violence."

Lieu also called the defense's argument that Trump was denied due process "meritless," saying that due process was playing out in the Senate chamber during the trial.

"Let me just conclude that you all are going to see and have seen a full presentation of evidence by the House and you're going to hear a full presentation by the president's attorneys. You're going to be able to ask questions. The Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments," Lieu said. "President Trump is receiving any and all process that he is due right here in this chamber.

Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., continued the argument that Trump's rhetoric is not under blanket protection from the First Amendment and further, that this trial is "not a free speech question."

"The First Amendment does not create some superpower immunity from impeachment for a president who attacks the Constitution in word and deed, while rejecting the outcome of an election he happened to lose," Raskin said. "If anything, President Trump's conduct was an assault on the First Amendment and equal protection rights that millions of Americans exercised when they voted last year, often under extraordinarily difficult and arduous circumstances."

Raskin went on to argue the United States "wouldn't have free speech or any other rights if we didn't have the rule of law, peaceful transfer of power, and a democracy where the outcome of the election is accepted by the candidate who lost."

"We had it all the way up until 2020," Raskin added, hitting the point that Trump is the first president to not acknowledge the power of his successor.

Preemptively striking against arguments of free speech Raskin -- as he did on Wednesday -- said Trump's behavior "is not even close to the proverbial citizen who falsely shouts 'fire' in a crowded theater."

"He is like the now proverbial municipal fire chief who incites a mob to go set the theater on fire, and not only refuses to put out the fire, but encourages the mob to keep going as the blaze spreads," Raskin said. "We would hold that fire chief accountable. We would forbid him from that job ever again. And that's exactly what must happen here."

House manager Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., refuted arguments proposed by Trump's legal defense that Trump's speech was free political speech protected by the First Amendment. Neguse argued that Trump's free speech defense does not align with the facts of the events.

"To hear his lawyers tell it, he was just some guy at a rally expressing unpopular opinions," Neguse said. "They would have you believe that this whole impeachment is because he said things that one may disagree with."

Neguse also argued that free speech does not protect against insurrection, and that not holding Trump accountable would be a dangerous precedent for Congress to set.

"No president, no matter their politics or the politics of their followers, conservative, liberal, or anything else, no president can do what President Trump did. Because this isn't about politics. It's about his refusal to accept the outcome of the election and his decision to incite an insurrection. And there's no serious argument that the First Amendment protects that," Neguse said. "And it would be extraordinarily dangerous for the United States Senate to conclude otherwise."