The House impeachment managers plan to play never-before-seen video footage of the Capitol attack Wednesday, according to a senior aide to the team. The video, the aide said, would provide “new insight into both the extreme violence” and “the threat that it could have led to further violence and death.”
The new video has been taken from Capitol security footage.
“We will be using footage never seen before that shows a view of the Capitol that is quite extraordinary, and a view of the attack that’s never been public before,” an aide added.
The footage comes on the heels of the impeachment managers’ opening argument Tuesday, during which they shared a 13-minute montage of videos from the insurrection to bolster head manager Rep. Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) emotional presentation.
While it may not move the needle in terms of Senate Republicans moving to convict former President Donald Trump, there was bipartisan agreement that the House Democrats’ presentation on the constitutionality of the trial far surpassed the meandering performance turned in by Trump’s lawyers.
It was enough to get Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to vote in favor of the constitutionality of the trial after voting against it just weeks ago.
“If anyone disagrees with my vote and would like an explanation, I ask them to listen to the arguments presented by the House Managers and former President Trump’s lawyers,” Cassidy said in a statement. “The House managers had much stronger constitutional arguments. The president’s team did not.”
Cassidy has already been rebuked by the Louisiana Republican party for his change of heart.
Trump was reportedly furious at his lawyers’ presentation, at one point barking “what the hell is going on?” as his lawyers Bruce Castor and David Schoen gave their opening arguments. Castor in particular bounced from anecdotes about getting lost in the Capitol to the mechanics of record players before finding his way to some comments loosely related to the constitutionality of the trial.
Senate Republicans echoed Trump’s sentiments about his defense.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who voted to affirm the trial’s constitutionality, said she was “perplexed by the first attorney, who did not seem to make any arguments at all, which was an unusual approach to take,” according to a pool report. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), voting against its constitutionality, added that “I don’t think the lawyers did the most effective job” while dishing out some praise for Raskin, calling him a “serious lawyer.”
Still, with the exception of Cassidy, no Senate Republican changed their mind on the constitutionality of the trial, suggesting that even another strong performance from the impeachment managers may not move the dial toward acquittal.
The impeachment team, nevertheless, is projecting optimism.
“We see other indications of movement from the Republicans,” a senior aide to the managers said. “The managers are going to go in and they are going to move the hearts and minds and consciousness of 100 jurors, none of whom have voted yet, and we fully expect to prevail in the end.”
