House Democrats prosecuting Donald Trump's impeachment trial for inciting the deadly siege of the Capitol played chilling security video on Wednesday showing members of the pro-Trump mob searching the building for his vice president, chanting: "Hang Mike Pence!" This report produced by Chris Dignam.
REP.
ERIC SWALWELL: "Most of the public does not know how close these rioters came to you." Never-before-seen security footage from the deadly Jan.
6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was presented to the 100 senators acting as jurors in Donald Trump's impeachment trial on Wednesday, showing themselves fleeing from rioters, as House impeachment manager Eric Swalwell set the scene.
SWALWELL: "As you were moving through that hallway - I paced it off - you were just 58 steps away from where the mob was amassing and where police were rushing to stop them." The new security video showed Senator Mitt Romney running to safety after the mob breached the Capitol, thanks to a last-minute warning from a Capitol police officer.
Another new clip showed former Vice President Mike Pence being quickly ushered to safety, which was presented by impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett.
PLASKETT: "The vice president never left the Capitol.
He remained locked down with his family.
With his family inside the building.
Remember as you think about these images and the sounds of the attack." The Democratic House managers had the floor on Day 2 of Trump's second impeachment trial, presenting more graphic video of the siege they warned would be disturbing to children watching the trial, and chilling audio of Capitol police overwhelmed by a mob of Trump supporters.
MPD AUDIO: "We lost the line.
We've lost the line.
All MPD, pull back.
All MPD, pull back to the upper deck!
All MPD pull back to the upper deck ASAP!" Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin argued that Trump not only planted the seeds for the Capitol riot with false claims of widespread voter fraud, but that he also abdicated his duty to keep Americans safe.
RASKIN: "Donald Trump surrendered his role as commander in chief and became the inciter in chief." House manager Ted Lieu said after Trump's legal efforts to overturn the election in the courts failed, insurrection was the only other option.
LIEU: "President Donald J.
Trump ran out of non-violent options to maintain power." Democrats also tried to tie Trump to the planning of the events on Jan.
6, claiming that the "Save America" rally did not have a permit to march to the Capitol until Trump got involved stepped in.
PLASKETT: "It was not until after President Trump and his team became involved in the planning that the march from the Ellipse to the Capitol came about - in direct contravention of the original permit." And in an emotional plea to the senators, impeachment manager Madeleine Dean said they had an obligation to hold Trump accountable.
DEAN: "This attack never would've happened but for Donald Trump... For the first time in more than 200 years, the seat of our government was ransacked on our watch." Trump's lawyers, who will have 16 hours to deliver their side of the argument after the House managers are finished, are expected to argue that the former president's rhetoric is protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, and that the individuals who breached the Capitol were responsible for their own criminal behavior.
