Del. Stacy Plaskett presents ‘strong evidence’ against Trump at his trial

Delegate Stacy Plaskett, who spoke at the impeachment trial of former US President Donald Trump, claimed the evidence being presented will be sufficient to prove that Trump incited the violence at the US Capitol on January 6. 

The video played during her speech showed Trump being interviewed where he was asked to condemn the violent right-wing group called “Proud Boys” and white supremacists in the US. In response to the request made by the interviewer, the former President said to the group, “Stand back and standby”. 

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The statement made by Trump was later adopted as the “official slogan” of the group and was printed on election gear like caps and flags used by Pro-Trump supporters. 

Before commencing her statements at the US Senate, Plaskett said, “I am confident today speaking before you, because truth and facts are overwhelming, that our president, the President of the United States incited a mob to storm the capitol, to attempt to stop the certification of a presidential election”.

She further claimed that the attack at the US Capitol was pre-planned and displayed a photo that showed a prominent member of Proud Boys wearing an earpiece that she alleged gave specific instructions to carry out the siege.

To back up her arguments against the former US President, Plaskett cited a pre-election incident where dozens of trucks, filled with Trump supporters, “confronted and surrounded” a bus on Interstate 35 from San Antonio to Austin, Texas, which was occupied by supporters of Biden.

She said, “According to witnesses, this caravan repeatedly tried to force the bus that you saw, and you can see it in the video to slow down in the middle of the highway and then to run it off of the road.”

Also Read: Donald Trump was ‘inciter-in-chief’ of deadly January 6 Capitol riot, says trial prosecutor

The arguments were made after Democratic Representative Ted Lieu, who is also serving as an impeachment manager, made the bold statements about Trump’s motive to be involved in the riots. He said, “He ran out of nonviolent options to maintain power”, which was also stressed by Plaskett.  

Unlike the first day of the impeachment, which was filled with discussions about the constitutional viability of impeachment trial and ended with a 56-44 vote in favour of the impeachment, the following day, so far, has been densely packed with statements filled with facts, videos, evidence and allegations.

The prosecutors have continued with their strategy of presenting audio-visual snippets from Trump’s term which have relevance to the January 6 incident.