Senators heard four hours of arguments and then voted to continue the trial.
This is the Impeachment Briefing, The Times’s newsletter about the impeachment investigation. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. The House impeachment managers’ strategy — an effort to force Senate Republicans to engage with the specifics of Mr. Trump’s and his supporters’ actions on Jan.6, rather than allow them to dismiss the trial on procedural grounds — was on full display from almost the moment the proceedings began at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. After a short opening statement, the lead manager, Mr. Raskin, played a video. Running more than 13 minutes, it showed the Capitol riot in searing detail: a police officer crushed against a door, screaming in pain; lawmakers and journalists taking cover in the House chamber; Officer Eugene Goodman of the Capitol Police leading rioters away from the unsecured Senate floor. It also showed Mr. Trump telling his supporters: “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.” Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri told reporters that it was “the longest time I’ve sat down and just watched straight footage of what was truly a horrendous day.” (Mr. Blunt, a Republican, still voted against continuing the trial.) Before ceding the floor to Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Mr. Raskin gave a deeply personal account of what happened to him and his family on Jan.6. Mr. Raskin said his daughter Tabitha and son-in-law, Hank, were at the Capitol that day — just after Mr. Raskin buried his son, Tommy — because they wanted to be together in their grief. He also wanted to show his family “the peaceful transition of power in America.” Instead, Tabitha and Hank ended up trapped in an office off the House floor, hiding from the rioters.
