Impeachment day two: Trump's words in focus - KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NBC News) Opening their impeachment case, House managers on Wednesday turned former President Trump into a powerful witness against himself, using his own words as evidence he incited the attack on the U.S. Capitol and planted the seeds of the deadly insurrection months earlier through a campaign of lies about the election.

“He assembled the mob, summoned the mob, incited the mob,” impeachment manager Rep. Joe Neguse said.

House Democrats methodically laid out allegations that Mr. Trump encouraged an angry group of supporters, some of them armed and ready to turn rhetoric into revolution on the very day when Congress was counting the votes to finalize the 2020 election.

The Trump legal team will begin their defense on Friday by focusing on claims the former president was exercising free speech and never encouraged violence.