Video shows crowd responding to Trump speech by chanting ‘Take the Capitol’

'He had assembled thousands of violent people'

Supporters of Donald Trump have been shown responding to his fiery January 6 speech with chants of "take the Capitol".

As Democrats presented evidence during day two of Mr Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate, and sought to show a link between the former president’s words and the actions that followed, when hundreds of his supporters stormed the Capitol, they played a video showing the crowd listening to Mr Trump address a “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall.

Congresswoman Madeleine Dean said that Mr Trump told the crowd at the Capitol to "fight" 20 times, as opposed to mentioning "peaceful," or any suggestion of non-violence only once.

She then played a clip of a video taken from the rear of the rally, as Mr Trump began to speak.

“Yeah,” one person could be heard to say. “Take the Capitol. Take the Capitol”.

“He had assembled thousands of violent people, people he knew were capable of violence, people he had seen be violent,” said Ms Dean, one of the Democrats’ "prosecutors", and who represents Pennsylvania’s 4th congressional district. 

“They were standing now in front of him,” she added. 

She added: “And then he pointed to us, lit the fuse, and sent an angry mob to fight the perceived enemy — his own vice president and members of Congress — as we certified an election.”