![]() ![]() ![]() VAL DEMINGS: Jamie really believes in this country. She and Raskin have worked closely together on the Judiciary Committee, and she is confident that nobody can make a constitutional argument like Raskin. SNELL: Florida Democrat Val Demings was on the impeachment team for Democrats last year. WERMIEL: But I think he has the capacity to make the arguments principled arguments rather than political arguments. Raskin is obviously a Democrat, and his progressive politics influence his worldview. He taught constitutional law with Raskin at American University in Washington. STEPHEN WERMIEL: It is taking the tragedy of the loss of his son and the tragedy of the attack on the Capitol and putting them together in a way that says, we have work to do we have to carry on. SNELL: It's a decision that his colleagues and those who know him well say is unsurprising. RASKIN: I think that we all knew it was something that I needed to see us through. SNELL: Raskin says he took all of that into consideration and talked it through with his wife and daughters. RASKIN: I mean, it's a solemn and awesome responsibility, and I feel the weight of it all of the time. Raskin was grieving that loss when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on him to lead this impeachment. Days before the mob reached the Capitol, Raskin's 25-year-old son took his own life after struggling for years with depression. For Raskin, that day's events were an added layer of trauma. They'll argue that Trump's speech before the riot and his efforts to overturn election results directly led to what Raskin says was a traumatic attack. SNELL: Raskin says it will be Democrats' job to clearly connect the evidence. RASKIN: The Constitution applies on your first day of office, it applies on your last day in office and everything in between. Raskin says if the violation happened when someone was in office, impeachment is still the remedy. Their greatest challenge will be to sway the votes of some Republicans who say it is unconstitutional to impeach a president after they've left office. SNELL: Raskin will lead a team of nine Democrats tasked with arguing the single article of impeachment that Trump incited the violent mob insurrection on the Capitol. JAMIE RASKIN: There's nothing abstract or conceptual or academic about this high crime and misdemeanor for any member of Congress. The evidence played out on live television and was a direct attack on the same senators who will serve as jurors in the trial. KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE: Impeachment is rare in American history, but Jamie Raskin says this impeachment is rarer still. NPR congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell has this report. The former constitutional law professor is preparing to argue before the Senate that the rioting crowd that overtook the Capitol on January 6 did so at the direction and instigation of the former president. When House Democrats begin their arguments in the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin will be leading the way. ![]()
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