Raskin introduces former law student as impeachment manager

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the lead House impeachment manager and a former constitutional law professor, introduced one of his former students as a fellow impeachment manager Wednesday at the Senate trial — Del. Stacey Plaskett.

Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who taught constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law for more than 25 years, said he instructed Plaskett, who earned her degree in 1994 from the school.

“I hope I’m not violating any federal education records laws when I say she was an ‘A’ student then and she is an ‘A+’ student now,” Raskin said before ceding the floor to Plaskett.

Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-Virgin Islands, one of the Democratic House impeachment managers, arrives as opening arguments begin in former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Plaskett, a Democrat who represents the Virgin Islands, went on to continue the managers’ case against former President Donald Trump, who has been charged with inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. During her speech, she accused Trump of knowing that the deadly riot on Jan. 6 was foreseeable, arguing it was part of a months-long campaign to rile up violent supporters and send them “straight at our door.”

“When the violence erupted as a response to his calls to fight against the stolen election, he did not walk it back. He did not tell them no. He did the opposite. The opposite. He praised and encouraged the violence so it would continue. He fanned the flame of violence and it worked,” Plaskett said.

Plaskett pointed to Trump’s call for the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” when asked to condemn white supremacists as evidence that Trump incited the Proud Boys, showing video of Trump’s quote from a presidential debate. Several members of the Proud Boys have been charged in connection with the insurrection.

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