Trump impeachment trial live updates: Biden makes 1st comments on acquittal

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., briefly rebutted Trump attorney Michael van der Veen's closing remarks, pointing out that he referred to the Jan. 6 riot as an "insurrection" after Trump attorney Bruce Castor told the Senate "there was no insurrection."

"I would certainly love to see President Trump also call it a violent insurrection and denounce it too," Raskin said. 

The last argument, he said, was "pathetically weak."

"It is, was about the First Amendment ... tell me, when has his speech ever been stifled?" Raskin asked. 

Raskin also couldn't resist taking several sarcastic jabs at the closing argument from van der Veen.

"The First Amendment is on our side," Raskin said, as he accused Trump of acting "no better" than a rioter on Jan. 6. 

 "We are defending the Bill of Rights. We are defending the constitutional structure. We are defending the separation of powers. We're defending the U.S. Senate," he declared. 

 "In many ways, he was worse," Raskin said of Trump. "He named the date, he named the time, and he brought them here, and now he must pay the price."

The Senate is voting on whether to find Trump guilty of "incitement of insurrection."

The clerk has read the article of impeachment in full ahead of the vote.

Leading closing arguments for the Trump defense team, attorney Michael van der Veen continued to equate Trump's speech ahead of the deadly riot at the Capitol to comments Democrats have made to supporters to "fight."

Van der Veen said protests over the summer in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in police custody celebrated "radicalism" and added that those protests allowed "marginalized people" "to blow off steam."

He condemned all rioting and said law enforcement deserves respect and support -- a view Trump has always held, van der Veen pushed.

Van der Veen then pivoted to the argument that the trial in itself is unconstitutional and unfair. However, the Senate voted on Tuesday 55-45 to affirm its power that Trump trial is Constitutional.

"For the first time in history, Congress has asserted the right to try and punish a former president who is a private citizen," van der Veen said. "Nowhere in the Constitution is the power enumerated or implied. Congress has no authority, no right, and no business holding a trial of citizen Trump, let alone a trial to deprive him of some fundamental civil rights."

The House impeachment mangers have finished closing arguments in Trump's impeachment trial.

In lead manager Rep. Jamie Raskin's, D-Md., closing statement, he invoked emotion in raising his family, reminding senators that families are what is at the heart of the country and that history is watching.

"Our reputations and our legacy will be inextricably intertwined with what we do here," Raskin said. "And with how you exercise your oath to do impartial justice, impartial justice. I know and I trust you will do impartial justice, driven by your meticulous attention to the overwhelming facts of the case and your love for our Constitution, which I know dwells in your heart. 'The times have found us,' said Tom Payne, the namesake of my son. 'The times have found us. Is this America? What kind of America will we be?' It's now literally in your hands. Godspeed to the senate of the United States."

Raskin was referring to his late-son Tommy. His youngest daughter, Tabitha, and son-in-law, Hank, were with him at the Capitol on Jan. 6 as a show of support because it was one day after their family laid Tommy to rest.

He also recalled a recent conversation he shared with his other daughter, Hannah.

"Hannah told me last night she felt really sorry for the kid of a man who said goodbye to his children before he left home to come and join trump's actions," Raskin said. "Their father had told them that their dad might not becoming home again and they might never see him again. In other words, he was expecting violence -- he might die -- as insurrectionists did. And that shook me. Hannah said, 'how can the President put children and people's families in that situation and then, just run away from the whole thing?' That shook me."

"The children of the insurrectionists, even the violent and dangerous ones, they're our children too," Raskin said earlier. "They are Americans, and we must take care of them and their future. We must recognize and exercise these crimes against our nation and then, we must take care of our people and our children, their hearts and their minds. As Tommy Raskin used to say, 'it's hard to be human.'"