WASHINGTON, DC—When he appeared as a witness for the prosecution, Sen. Lindsey Graham was out of the room. So he wasn’t there to see a video clip of himself, taken from the 1998 impeachment of Bill Clinton, explaining that constitutional “high crimes and misdemeanours” don’t require any violations of criminal law to be impeachable.

While the debate about whether new witnesses will be allowed during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump remains a key question, the Democrats presenting the case against Trump have made ample use of video clips to get testimony into the record in a TV-friendly way. Graham wasn’t the only steadfast Trump supporter to have his words broadcast from the witness stand: on Thursday, Attorney General Bill Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray, former Trump Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert, and even lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who is on Trump’s impeachment defence team, saw themselves appear onscreen as part of the prosecution case. And, of course, Trump himself, repeatedly.

It has been part of a polished and persuasive case presented so far over two days by the team sent over by the House of Representatives.

“The way the House managers are using video clips to tell the story of #Ukrainegate despite Trump’s stonewalling is truly brilliant,” Harvard constitutional law professor Lawrence Tribe tweeted about the legal performance on Wednesday. “(Rep. Adam Schiff) is a one-man master class in effective advocacy. He’s spellbinding without showboating, clear as a bell without being boring, educational without being condescending, and piercingly logical without being pedantic,” he added in a separate tweet.

Over two days of extended argument, Schiff and the other members of his team have outlined a clear chronology of events, explained complicated intergovernmental communications and shown how the law applies to “a corrupt scheme to secure foreign help with his re-election — in other words, to cheat,” as Schiff put it.

They outlined how the president’s own words, the public statements of those around him, and the testimony of those who worked on his behalf paint a clear picture. First, they say, he asked the government of Ukraine to announce it was opening two investigations that would have helped him politically. Then he withheld, first, a White House meeting with Ukraine’s president and then approved military aid to the country in order to pressure the country to comply. The Democrats have shown how alarmed Trump’s political and career diplomatic staff were at this, how they viewed it as improper.

“This conduct is not America First,” Rep. Jerry Nadler said Thursday. “It is Donald Trump first.” Citing writings from America’s founders and testimony from expert witnesses, Nadler said this was inviting foreign interference to corrupt an election, “precisely the kind of abuse the framers had in mind when they wrote the impeachment clause.”

Rep. Sylvia Garcia tackled the conspiracy theories Trump was requesting investigations into, demonstrating they had been thoroughly discredited by Trump’s own staff, American intelligence authorities and Ukrainian authorities. Trump and his Republican allies have targeted Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden, for Hunter’s work in Ukraine and China, making baseless claims of corruption. Garcia characterized the theories as Russian propaganda that Trump had bought into or adopted out of convenience.

It has been a theme of the presentations that other than Trump himself, the chief beneficiary of the president’s actions has been Russia, helping both its disinformation campaign in the U.S. and its war against Ukraine.

The Trump defence has yet to respond — they’ll get their own three days to present their case beginning Saturday. But the uncontradicted presentation by the House Democrats has seemed remarkably effective. Anyone watching at home might find it surprisingly compelling.

What about those in the room? As might be expected, Democrats have offered praise, while Republican reactions have been more mixed.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy told a New York Times reporter, “I’ve learned a lot. Everybody has. Senators didn’t know the case. They really didn’t.”

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Many more Republicans have been taking the line that there is nothing new in the presentation — which Democrats respond is all the more reason they should join the calls to allow new witnesses.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, for his part, sent a clear message on Wednesday when he reportedly dozed off in his seat.

The same message, perhaps, as Graham leaving the room during his moment onscreen. On the other hand, Graham congratulated Schiff on doing a good job. “He’s well spoken, did a good job of creating a tapestry, taking bits and pieces of evidence and emails and giving a rhetorical flourish, making the email come alive,” Graham explained to reporters in the hall outside the chamber Thursday.

However, anyone thinking the impressive lawyering might change Graham’s mind would have to first assume his mind is open to changing. Previously, he said of impeachment, “I will do everything I can to make it die quickly.”

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