Defense lawyer falsely claims Trump’s first two tweets during the Capitol attack urged calm

Trump’s defense lawyer Michael van der Veen claimed during today’s presentation that “the first two messages the President sent via Twitter once the incursion of the Capitol began” on Jan. 6 urged people to “stay peaceful” and called for “no violence.”

Trump’s “stay peaceful” tweet at 2:38 p.m. ET and “no violence” tweet at 3:13 p.m. ET were his second and third tweeted messages after the Capitol was breached, not his first.

Trump’s first tweet was at 2:24 p.m. ET: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certifiy. The USA demands the truth!”  

Rioters had already entered the US Capitol building by the time of the Trump tweet about Pence. 

Also,his attorneys are trying to make the case that Trump’s language on Jan. 6 telling his supporters to “fight like hell” was merely “ordinary political rhetoric,” and that the House of Impeachment Managers ignored Trump’s comments in his speech for protesters to remain peaceful. 

While it’s common for lawmakers to use fiery language, the charge against the former President is that he “incited” violence and not just violence in general, but “against the Government of the United States.”