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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GOP senators meet with Trump defense team

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee -- under oath as impartial jurors in the Senate impeachment trial -- met with Trump's defense team after House managers wrapped their arguments on Thursday.

Cruz, asked about the purpose of the meeting with Trump's lawyers, pointed to the team preparing their arguments for Friday.

"We were discussing their legal strategy and sharing our thoughts," Cruz said.

He was then asked if he was comfortable with the strategy they were presenting.

"I think the end result of this impeachment trial is crystal clear to everybody," Cruz said. "And every person in the Senate chamber understands that there are not the votes to convict, nor should there be."

Democrats, too, flocked to House impeachment managers after the Senate recessed for the night "presumably to praise their performance," according to a reporter in the chamber at the time.

During the last impeachment trial, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear he was in "lockstep" with the White House. The Biden White House has also reportedly been working through back channels with Democrats.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Katherine Faulders


Trump's defense to take the floor Friday following House managers

House impeachment managers finished presenting the opening arguments in their case charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection" on Thursday.

House managers worked to directly link Trump's rhetoric at a rally shortly before -- and in the months leading up -- to the attack on the Capitol, saying that in his speech he "lit the fuse" and directed the enraged crowd toward the Capitol. Managers pointed to past violence, like in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the attack on the Michigan state capitol, to assert that Trump knew the violence his supporters were capable of and the result of sending them to the U.S. Capitol.

They also honed in on Trump's actions during and after the riot, insisting that he showed no remorse for his role in the attack and refused to take action as the violence worsened. They argued that his lack of remorse and refusal to take accountability show that Trump would incite violence again.

As in the past two days, the managers relied on photos, videos and audio clips to lay out their case, forcing the senators to relive the day of the attack. Managers also were on an early defense, addressing attacks they expected would come from Trump's lawyers. For example, they said that the First Amendment did not protect the kind of speech Trump gave at the rally on Jan. 6 and his continued false claims of election fraud. Lead manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that the former president was not someone who yelled fire in a crowded theater, but rather as the "proverbial municipal fire chief who incites a mob to go set the theater on fire."

In the conclusion of their opening argument, they made a plea to the Senate to hold Trump "accountable" and insisted that it would do a great deal of damage if he's given another chance at power. Raskin ended by asking senators to exercise their "common sense," a nod to Thomas Paine, in deliberations about whether Trump incited insurrection.

On Friday at noon, Trump's legal defense team will lay out their case. They are expected to argue that Trump's speech is protected by the First Amendment and that there's no evidence that Trump incited the mob.


Cassidy hopes defense answers for Trump's apparent inaction

Sen. Bill Cassidy, D-La., was the lone Republican to switch positions this week, after previously voting Trump's Senate trial was not constitutional -- joining five other Republicans who voted with Democrats to affirm the Senate's authority to put a former president on trial.

Cassidy was asked on Thursday evening what he hopes to hear from the president's defense team when they take the Senate floor at noon on Friday and he pointed to the timeline managers crafted which showed Trump waited to take action to stop the Capitol violence.

"What I hope the defense does is explain that. If one of the charges was that you should have called out people you didn't, even though it was clear that the police officers were under assault, please explain that," Cassidy said.

He said he also wanted Trump's attorneys to answer for his continued false claims of election fraud.

"The point was made people felt as if they had no recourse because their vote was being stolen. The president built that story. So how do you defend that, how you describe that," Cassidy said.

He said he would listen to the defense before signaling whether he's leaning toward conviction. In Trump's last Senate impeachment trial, only one Republican, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, joined Democrats in voting to remove the president from office.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin


What does it take to convict?: VIDEO

As Trump continues to face an unprecedented second impeachment trial, here's how the impeachment process works.


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."