‘Trump knew’: Stacey Plaskett argues ex-president had ‘pattern and practice’ of encouraging violence

Nationalist groups and supporters on social media courted violence in weeks leading up to insurrection

A Democratic impeachment manager prosecuting Donald Trump for his role in inciting a riot at the US Capitol on 6 January argued that the former president willingly engaged his violent supporters over several months.

The violence did "not just appear" at the Capitol building, said Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett in her remarks to the US Senate on Wednesday.

"Trump knew the people he was inciting, he saw the violence they were capable of, and he had a pattern and practice of praising and encouraging that violence – never, ever condemning it," she said.

By the time his "cavalry" of supporters arrived in Washington DC, "he had reason to know they were armed and willing to fight," she said.

Read more: Follow live updates from Trump's impeachment trial

"The violence was not just foreseeable to President Trump," she said. "The violence was what he deliberately encouraged."

House impeachment managers on Wednesday opened their arguments against the former president by connecting his history of attempts to undermine the results of the 2020 election, and his claims that the election was "stolen" from his supporters, to violence inside the Capitol building, where a joint session of Congress convened to formally certify the results.

Ms Plaskett was not able to vote to impeach Mr Trump in the House of Representatives because she represents the Virgin Islands, a US territory.

But the representative – Jamie Raskin’s former law student and one of few Black women in the room during the the former president's impeachment trial – delivered a fierce rebuke among lawmakers who do not believe the president could have known that a "Stop the Steal" rally on 6 January would lead to a bloody assault.

Just as the former president spun a months-long narrative that the election would be "stolen" from his supporters, he also spent months "cultivating groups of people, following his command, engaging in real dangerous violence," she said.

She pointed to his signalling of support to violent nationalist group the Proud Boys during the first presidential debate in September, when his "stand back and stand by" statement became a rallying cry and slogan for the group.

Ms Plaskett chronicled to senators acting as jurors in the trial how the former president encouraged a caravan on a highway in Texas that attempted to run a Joe Biden campaign bus off the road.

After the FBI announced that it was investigating the incident, then-president Trump said: “These patriots did nothing wrong."

A Million MAGA March in Washington DC in November – organised by Women for America First, a group that also secured the permit for the 6 January rally – attracted nationalist groups calling for violent revolution. That night, members of the Proud Boys engaged in “serious acts of violence” and vandalised churches, Ms Plaskett said.

That morning, Mr Trump said on Twitter: "WE HAVE JUST BEGUN TO FIGHT!!!"

In the weeks leading up to the insurrection, violent posts on pro-Trump message boards and social media platforms "treated it as a war, and they meant it," Ms Plaskett said.

"There were hundreds of posts, monitored by members of Trump administration," she said.

Internal federal law enforcement circulated warnings in days leading up to 6 January, resulting in the arrests of several people, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.

He was arrested upon arrival in Washington DC that week after admitting to destroying a Black Lives Matter flag at a historically Black church following the Million MAGA March. He was also charged with possession of two high-capacity firearm magazines – with Proud Boys logos – that he told police he intended to sell to someone.

"Leading up to the event, there were hundreds, hundreds of posts online showing how supporters saw it as a call to arms," Ms Plaskett said.