Trump lawyers rail against impeachment trial as ‘political theater’ on eve of proceedings

Lawyers for former President Trump on Monday submitted a brief saying the Democrats' effort to convict the president in an impeachment trial after he's left office is "political theater," and that the trial is outside of the Senate's constitutional authority. 

"Instead of acting to heal the nation, or at the very least focusing on prosecuting the lawbreakers who stormed the Capitol, the Speaker of the House and her allies have tried to callously harness the chaos of the moment for their own political gain," the brief says.

The brief also echoes arguments made in the Trump team's initial answer to the impeachment article that Trump's false claims that the election was stolen were within his First Amendment rights. And the brief says that Trump's comments at the Jan. 6 rally he held ahead of Congress' meeting to certify the result of the presidential election do not comport with Democrats' narrative that he incited the crowd to storm the Capitol. 

"Mr. Trump spoke for approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. Of the over 10,000 words spoken, Mr. Trump used the word 'fight' a little more than a handful of times and each time in the figurative sense that has long been accepted in public discourse when urging people to stand and use their voices to be heard on matters important to them; it was not and could not be construed to encourage acts of violence," the brief says. 

It continues: "Notably absent from his speech was any reference to or encouragement of an insurrection, a riot, criminal action, or any acts of physical violence whatsoever... Mr. Trump never made any express or implied mention of weapons, the need for weapons, or anything of the sort. Instead, he simply called on those gathered to peacefully and patriotically use their voices."

The brief comes the day before the trial is set to begin in earnest, with arguments over its constitutionality likely, and Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., set to preside.