As Trump trial begins, impeachment officials promise 'devastating' new evidence

Hours ahead of the start of oral arguments in Donald Trump's historic second Senate impeachment trial, prosecutors on Tuesday said they would introduce new evidence showing the former president spent weeks laying the groundwork for the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and that he "incited it further" after it began.

"The evidence of Trump's guilt in this case is overwhelming."
—House impeachment managers' aides

"The evidence of Trump's guilt in this case is overwhelming," aides to House impeachment managers told journalists, NBC Newsreports.

The aides said the trial will resemble a "violent criminal prosecution" and called the evidence so "devastating" that Republican senators who are not currently inclined to find Trump guilty might change their minds.

"Once they see that this president did in fact incite a violent insurrection in order to hold onto power, I think it very well may be the case that reluctant senators change their mind and vote to convict," the aides said.

Democrats intend to use "all the evidence available in all the forms, including evidence that nobody has seen before," the aides added.

On January 13, Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on a single count of "inciting violence against the government of the United States."

The impeachment managers' aides did not provide any further information regarding the new evidence, but said to "stay tuned."

Watch Trump's Senate impeachment trial—which is set to begin at 1:00 pm Eastern Time—here: