What did he know, and when did he know it?

In the trial's question-and-answer session Friday, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, asked whether Trump knew that Pence was being evacuated from the Capitol as the former president composed a tweet condemning Pence for not having the "courage" to stop then-President-elect Joe Biden's election victory.

"When President Trump sent the disparaging tweet at 2:24 p.m., was he aware that the vice president had been removed from the Senate by the Secret Service for his safety?" Romney asked.

[...]

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the lead impeachment manager, was first to respond to Romney's question. He noted the events of Jan. 6 were broadcast on live television and on the radio, saying Trump had to know that the rioters had already breached the building and were armed with weapons, and that the police were outnumbered.

[...]

Raskin also noted remarks by Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who has told reporters that he spoke to Trump over the phone as the mob began ransacking the Capitol. During their brief conversation, Tuberville said he told the former president that Pence had been evacuated from the chamber moments earlier.

"Sen. Tuberville specifically said that he told the president, 'Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I've got to go,' " Raskin said.

That conversation took place shortly after 2 p.m., Raskin noted.

Trump's lawyers on Friday pushed back on the impeachment managers' account.

"At no point was the president informed the vice president was in any danger," Michael van der Veen argued, adding that there is "nothing at all in record on this point." Van der Veen also accused the House impeachment managers of failing to do their due diligence on this issue.

"What the president did know is that there was a violent riot happening at the Capitol," van der Veen said. "That's why he repeatedly called via tweet and via video for the riots to stop, to be peaceful, to respect Capitol police and law enforcement and to commit no violence and go home."

  NPR

There are two lies there, and Van der Veen knows he's lying. One, Senator Tuberville has said numerous times that he told Trump Pence had been hustled out. Time to call him as a witness. Van der Veen denies it only because he understands the House managers will not call witnesses.

And, two, Trump "repeatedly" called for the riots to stop, only if you count twice as "repeatedly". But the greater point is that he only did so after four hours of violent insurgency, which he was watching religiously on TV, and with encouragement and praise for the insurgents.*

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who says he is undecided on whether he'll vote to convict Trump, asked for more details regarding Tuberville's account of the call with Trump and his tweet railing against Pence.

"Does this show that President Trump was tolerant of the intimidation of Vice President Pence?" Cassidy asked.

But again, van der Veen disputed the sequence of events, calling discussion of Tuberville's call "hearsay."

"I have a problem with the facts in the question because I have no idea," van der Veen responded.

Cassidy told reporters later that he didn't think his question got a good answer.

Van der Veen has no idea only if he's had his eyes closed and ears plugged throughout the trial, and indeed since January 6.

Cassidy and Romney weren't the only ones trying to pry an answer out of Van der Veen. Collins and Murkowski went there first.

Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska asked Trump’s lawyers to lay out what Trump knew and when he knew it, adding that they should be as “detailed as possible.”

Trump attorney Michael van der Veen had no answer to that question other than to point a 2:38 p.m. tweet that day by Trump — and immediately pivoted to blame Democratic House impeachment managers for the lack of clarity on the question, suggesting that they had failed to uncover those details in their investigation.

  KRDO

Which was also in his response to the later question from Cassidy.

UPDATE:

UPDATE:

UPDATE: *Correction.  Around 2:30, at the urging of a group of people who were with him, Trump sent out a tweet that said:

“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement  [...] They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

"Stay" peaceful. He already knew they weren't peaceful.  

So...three insincere and half-hearted attempts to stop the insurrection after intense pressure from those around him and Congressmen and women to stop the rioters.  And why would they think he could?  Because they knew he was controlling them.

Trump's lawyers

There was lots of video on the day of the greatest Trump lawyering of all. Mostly the same video, played over and over again, sometimes two or three times in quick succession like a Max Headroom compilation of politicians saying the word “fight”.

[...]

The strike force featured a new striker. Not the bumbling, rambling Bruce Castor, or the endlessly pedantic David Schoen. No, this time Trump bestowed upon his historic impeachment trial a personal injury lawyer from – yes, you guessed it – Philadelphia. An ambulance chaser, best known in Philly for his radio ads, asking if you’ve tripped while walking down the street.

“If the walkway isn’t clear, and you fall and get hurt due to snow and ice, call 215-546-1000 for Van der Veen, O’Neill, Hartshorn and Levin,” the ads say, according to the Washington Post. “The V is for Victory.”

Last year Mr V was actually suing Trump for his unfounded claims about mail-in voter fraud.

[...]

To his great, sighing chagrin, Mr V lamented the state of political discourse. “Inflammatory rhetoric from our elected officials – from both sides of the aisle – has been alarming, frankly,” he said, in sorrow, as if his client were just a hapless symptom of a bigger sickness: a pandemic of mean words from Democrats.

“This is not whataboutism,” he declared, after rolling his whataboutist video for the second or third or fourth time. “I’m showing you this to show that all political speech must be protected.”

[...]

“Mr Trump did the opposite of advocating for lawless action,” said Mr V. “The opposite!”

This is only true if it’s opposite day, when opposite means the opposite of opposite.

[...]

Bruce Castor, concluded the defense case. Castor explained that because he was the lead attorney in this legal shenanigan, he was going to take “the most substantive part” of the case for himself. That wasn’t to say, he added hastily, that his learned friends had done a bad job, oh no. The good news, he said, was that the case was almost over. The bad news was that it would take another hour for it to be over.

[...]

“Did the 45th president engage in incitement – they say insurrection,” began Castor. “Clearly there was no insurrection,” he continued, defining the word as “taking the TV stations over and having some idea of what you’re going to do when you take power”.

[...]

Now all we have left is the hypocrisy and false indignation of Republican senators who value their own careers above their own lives or the democracy that elected them. The V is for venal.

  Guardian

To be sure, Trump's lawyers have a losing case, but they don't have to put on a good defense, because half of the jury are accomplices.

UPDATE:

Everyone else knows.

Also, he said "Philly-delphia".  That could have been a factor in their laughter as well.

UPDATE:  LOL

Count on it.

Trump's lawyer issues go beyond incompetence

One of the attorneys on former President Trump's impeachment defense team sued him late last year for making “repeated claims” that mail voting was plagued with fraud despite having “no evidence in support of these claims.”

The Washington Post reports that Michael T. van der Veen, a Philadelphia lawyer with a background in personal injury law, is now a part of Trump’s defense team after having sued him just a few months ago.

[...]

As the Post reports, van der Veen was part of a lawsuit filed by independent congressional candidate Melvin Johnakin against Trump, the U.S. Postal Service and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. The suit alleged that operational changes made in the Postal Service made it harder for voters to cast their ballots amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

[...]

The suit was settled in November, the Post reports, as part of an effort to stop the Postal Service from making changes that could delay mail, and thus delay votes from being counted.

  The Hill

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.