House charges Trump is 'singularly responsible' for inciting insurrection as ex-president's team claims he's protected by 1st Amendment

The House impeachment managers charged Tuesday that former President Donald Trump is "singularly responsible" for inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol last month, while Trump's legal team argued his speech was protected by the First Amendment and a Senate conviction would be unconstitutional.

The dueling pretrial legal briefs from the House managers and Trump's lawyers detailed the major points that will be argued at next week's trial, in the first real glimpse at how Trump's new legal team plans to defend him after the House voted to impeach him last month.

In a 14-page response to the House's impeachment effort on Tuesday, Trump's lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, argued that the Senate cannot vote to impeach Trump when he no longer holds office as well as that Trump's speech about the election and before the January 6 riots did not cause the riots and was protected by the First Amendment.

"The constitutional provision requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached. Since the 45th President is no longer 'President,' the clause 'shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for ...' is impossible for the Senate to accomplish," Trump's team wrote.

The House impeachment managers, in their brief filed Tuesday, pushed back directly on that point, which Senate Republicans have coalesced around as a reason to acquit Trump, arguing there is ample history and precedent to hold a trial and convict Trump, who was impeached by the House while still in office.

"There is no 'January Exception' to impeachment or any other provision of the Constitution," the managers wrote. "A president must answer comprehensively for his conduct in office from his first day in office through his last."