Takeaways From Day 3 of Trump’s Impeachment Trial

The House impeachment managers wrapped up their case against former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday, warning senators that if they did not vote to convict, it would set a dangerous standard for the country in the future. The trial will resume on Friday when Mr. Trump’s defense team begins presenting its case that the president did not incite the attack on the Capitol.

Here are some takeaways from the third day of the trial.

The angry, violent mob came to Washington at Trump’s invitation, the prosecution concludes.

The impeachment managers used their final day of arguments to try to convince senators that Mr. Trump invited the rioters to Washington on Jan. 6. They argued that the “insurrectionists” who attacked the Capitol were not acting on their own, as his defense lawyers have said and will most likely assert when they present their case.

The managers again used video footage of Mr. Trump and his supporters to make their points, interspersed with clips of the chaos to remind the senators of how they felt as the Capitol was under assault. They asserted that such violence would not have occurred without Mr. Trump.

One impeachment manager, Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado, talked about her experience during the attack and how as she and others ran to safety, she saw a SWAT team with guns pointed at rioters on the floor. Ms. DeGette said she wondered: “Who sent them there?”

She shared comments from rioters, including from a Texas real estate agent named Jennifer L. Ryan. “I thought I was following my president,” Ms. Ryan said. “I thought I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there, he asked us to be there, so I was doing what he asked us to do.”

The Trump Impeachment ›

What You Need to Know

• • A trial is being held to decide whether former President Donald J. Trump is guilty of inciting a deadly mob of his supporters when they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, violently breaching security measures and sending lawmakers into hiding as they met to certify President Biden’s victory.
  • The House voted 232 to 197 to approve a single article of impeachment, accusing Mr. Trump of “inciting violence against the government of the United States” in his quest to overturn the election results. Ten Republicans joined the Democrats in voting to impeach him.
  • To convict Mr. Trump, the Senate would need a two-thirds majority to be in agreement. This means at least 17 Republican senators would have to vote with Senate Democrats to convict.
  • A conviction seems unlikely. Last month, only five Republicans in the Senate sided with Democrats in beating back a Republican attempt to dismiss the charges because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. Only 27 senators say they are undecided about whether to convict Mr. Trump.
  • If the Senate convicts Mr. Trump, finding him guilty of “inciting violence against the government of the United States,” senators could then vote on whether to bar him from holding future office. That vote would only require a simple majority, and if it came down to party lines, Democrats would prevail with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote.
  • If the Senate does not convict Mr. Trump, the former president could be eligible to run for public office once again. Public opinion surveys show that he remains by far the most popular national figure in the Republican Party.

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