The defense team on Friday, Feb. 12, accused the House impeachment managers of manipulating parts of their presentation in the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
"There is significant reason to doubt the evidence the House managers have put before us," said Trump's lawyer David Schoen. "Let me say this clearly. We have reason to believe the House managers manipulated evidence and selectively edited footage. If they did, and if this were a court of law, they would face sanctions from the judge."
Schoen specifically accused the House impeachment managers of having "created false representation of tweets."
He displayed a photo in a New York Times article of lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin looking at two tweets dated Jan. 3, 2020 on a computer screen.
One was a Trump re-tweet of a supporter writing that she would "PROUDLY stand beside" him on Jan. 6. Another was a follow-up tweet from the same supporter, exclaiming: "We are bringing the Calvary Mr. President."
But the House impeachment managers did not present the doctored tweets at the trial, which Schoen himself noted.
"To be fair, the House managers caught this error before showing it on the Senate floor, so you never saw it when it was presented to you," Schoen said.
Instead, the House impeachment managers presented a screenshot of Trump's re-tweet, correctly dated Jan. 3, 2021. They also showed the follow-up tweet with the same date.
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They were also accused of falsifying a tweet from a woman who came out and said the House impeachment managers included a blue checkmark next to her account name during a video presentation.
Jennifer Lynn Lawrence, the woman whose tweets were included in the video, wrote on Feb. 10: "I've never been verified on Twitter so why did my Tweet used in the fact-free impeachment include a verification badge? I'm assuming Democrats faked it like they are faking the whole case. @RepSwalwell why did you add a verified badge to my tweet in your presentation?"
She was referring to California Rep. Eric Swalwell, who presented her tweet as evidence in the impeachment trial.
The House impeachment managers actually used two of Lawrence's tweets in the trial. One of them said: "We will bring it to DC on Jan. 6." In a later tweet, Lawrence said: "We are bringing the Calvary to DC."
Lawrence's account currently doesn't include the blue checkmarks that appeared in Swalwell's presentation.
Lawrence also noted that she meant "calvary," a religious term, and not "cavalry," which Swalwell claimed she used during his presentation.
"I don't do horses ok (I'm from New York)," Lawrence wrote in a post. "I'm not in the army either so the use of the word cavalry would have been pretty stupid. It's a wonder Congressman Swalwell didn't pick up on it."
A senior aide to House impeachment managers told the Washington Examiner that the blue checkmark was mistakenly added, but denied the manipulation accusation.
"If anything, it is further evidence of President Trump's attention to and knowledge of what was being openly planned on Jan. 6 by his followers, even those without Twitter verifications," the senior aide said.
An NBC News live blog of the impeachment also reported that a senior aide to House impeachment managers explained that since Trump's Twitter account had been suspended, they have been required to recreate some of his tweets graphically.
According to the aide, that led to a blue verified badge to be added erroneously in one of the images.
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