RUTHFULLY YOURS

Former President Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Michael van der Veen started his defense at Friday’s Senate impeachment trial arguing Democrats objected to Trump’s 2016 election win and engaged in their own behavior aimed at incitement.

“The article of impeachment now before the Senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance,” van der Veen told Republicans and Democrats gathered for the fourth day of Trump’s impeachment trial.

After days of dramatic video footage Democratic impeachment managers presented to show the severity of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by pro-Trump protesters, the defense team played their own montage that showed prominent Democrats making incendiary comments.

President Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sens. John Tester and Cory Booker, and Rep. Maxine Waters, were among the Democrats the defense team portrayed on video making arguably inflammatory statements about Trump and in support of the violent and deadly social justice protests last summer.

“There are numerous officials in Washington who have indeed used profoundly reckless, dangerous, and inflammatory rhetoric,” van der Veen said. “Moreover, many Democrat politicians endorsed and encouraged the riots that destroyed vast swaths of American cities.”

Van der Veen called the impeachment trial a “campaign of retribution” against Trump and the millions who voted for him and called on the Senate to reject the impeachment article “and allow the nation to move forward.”

Trump defense lawyer David Schoen said the impeachment trial’s aim is to eliminate their political opposition by blocking Trump, now a private citizen, from running for office again.

“It’s constitutional cancel culture.”