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

Biden remembered those who were killed and called for unity going forward.

Former President Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial ended with a 57-43 vote to acquit in the Senate. He faced a single charge of incitement of insurrection over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.


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House managers will try to give warnings ahead of graphic videos

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., used various exhibits, including snippets from Trump's speech at a rally on Jan. 6, tweets from the former president's now-banned account, and clips from a video released by the president after rioters breached the Capitol.

Raskin said it demonstrates that Trump acted as an "inciter-in-chief."

"Trump incited the Jan. 6th attack, and when his mob overran and occupied the Senate and attacked the House and assaulted law enforcement, he watched it on TV like a reality show. He reveled in it and he did nothing to help us as commander-in-chief," Raskin said. "Instead, he served as the inciter-in-chief, sending tweets that only further incited the rampaging mob."

Raskin also warned viewers, including teachers and parents, about the graphic nature some of the exhibits that will be used throughout the trial. He added that they will try to give warnings for violent and other graphic content.

"Because the insurrection brought shocking violence, bloodshed, and pain in the nation's capital, and we will be showing relevant clips of the mob’s attack on police officers and other innocent people. We do urge parents and teachers to exercise close review of what young people are watching here, and please watch along with them if you are allowing them to watch. The impeachment managers will try to give warnings before the most graphic and disturbing violence that took place is shown," Raskin said. "We believe that the managers’ comprehensive and meticulous presentation will lead to one powerful and irresistible conclusion."


Biden to continue focus on administration priorities

President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on the "coup in Burma" at 1 p.m. and then heads to the Pentagon with Vice President Kamala Harris at 2 p.m.

At a White House briefing earlier Wednesday, Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega pushed press secretary Jen Psaki on Biden's lack of engagement on impeachment.

"How should the American public interpret the President's silence on this? Is he not invested in the outcome of this trial, or is he?" Vega asked.

"The American public should -- should read it as his commitment to delivering on exactly what they elected him to do, which is not to be a commentator on the daily developments of an impeachment trial, but to push forward an American rescue plan that will put people back to -- that will ensure people are back to work, get the assistance they need, get shots in arms, reopen schools," Psaki said. "That's what they asked him to do, and that's what he's focused on doing every day."

When Vega pressed further on whether Biden would address impeachment once the trial was complete, Psaki didn't rule it out.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky


Raskin opens arguments for impeachment managers

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., preparing to lay out the impeachment managers' arguments to the Senate, said their case is one "based in facts" and the trial "is about holding accountable the person singularly responsible for inciting the attack."

"The evidence will show you that ex-President Trump was no innocent bystander," Raskin said. "The evidence will show he clearly incited the insurrection. It will show Donald Trump surrendered his role as commander-in-chief and became the incited-in-chief, of a dangerous insurrection."

Raskin said Trump "reveled" in the moment, sending tweets to further incite the mob, and sympathized with them while the attack was underway.

"To us it may have felt like chaos and madness, that there was method in the madness that day," Raskin said, before laying out how Trump primed his supporters for a "stolen election" in the weeks ahead of it and continued "the big lie" after the attack.


Photos of the Capitol attack

Senators are back at the Capitol for the continuation of Trump's second impeachment trial, the first trial of a former a president, and one in which the lawmakers are themselves witnesses to the alleged crime of "incitement of insurrection."

Here are photos of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.


House manager Raskin begins to lay out closing arguments

After the Senate decided it will not call any witnesses, lead House manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was the first to speak during closing arguments. He reiterated the prosecution's case, calling for the conviction of Trump.

"It was suggested by defense counsel that Donald Trump's conduct during the attack, as described in Congresswoman Beutler's statement, is somehow not part of the Constitutional offense for which former President Trump has been charged," Raskin began. "I want to reject that falsehood and that fallacy immediately. After he knew that violence was underway at the Capitol, President Trump took actions that further incited the insurgents to be more inflamed and to take even more extreme, selective, and focused action against Vice President Mike Pence."

Raskin went on to use his time to describe Trump's months-long campaign to discredit the 2020 election results by spreading misinformation, which he argued laid the groundwork for deadly events of Jan. 6. He went on to claim that the former president assembled the mob, incited it and then sent it off to the Capitol during his speech. At every point, Trump sided with the insurrectionists rather than the Congress, Raskin said.

Once when the violence began, Raskin declared that Trump ignored the violence and further incited it by aiming the attacks on his own vice president.

"There has never been a greater betrayal by the president of the United States of his office, and of his oath to the Constitution."

Raskin then took a moment to suggest the GOP used "cancel culture" against one of its leaders, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who voted to impeach Trump in the House.

"Liz Cheney is a hero for standing up for the truth, and resisting this retaliatory cancel culture that she was subjected to."

Raskin emphasized his gratitude toward the Capitol Police, and finished his argument by saying convicting Trump is a vote for the "security of our democracy."

"They attacked this building, they disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, they injured and killed people, convinced that they were acting on his instructions, and with his approval, and protection," Raskin finished. "And while that happened, he further incited them, while failing to defend us. If that's not ground for conviction, if that's not a high crime and misdemeanor against the republic in the United States of America then nothing is. President Trump must be convicted for the safety and security of our democracy and our people."