U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado on Wednesday described a series of events and incendiary rhetoric leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump in an opening argument outlining the case House Democrats intend to make in Trump’s second impeachment trial.

The mob that stormed the Capitol was “summoned, assembled and incited by the former president of the United States, Donald Trump. And he did that because he wanted to stop the transfer of power so that he could retain power, even though he had lost the election,” the Lafayette Democrat told senators, who will decide whether to convict Trump on a single charge of inciting an insurrection.

Neguse spoke second on the second day of the impeachment trial, as he and his fellow prosecutors began to lay out allegations that Trump provoked the attack by stoking supporters’ anger over what he claimed was a stolen election. 

Since senators voted 56-44 on Tuesday that Trump’s impeachment trail is constitutional, the nine House managers – including U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver – have 16 hours to present their case on Wednesday and Thursday to convict Trump. The former president’s lawyers then have 16 hours to defend their client, followed by a Senate vote to acquit or convict as early as Saturday.

Neguse pushed back Wednesday against arguments made by Trump’s lawyers that the president’s speech at a rally preceding the deadly attack was just a political speech.

“When in our history has a speech led thousands of people to storm our nation’s Capitol with weapons?” Neguse said.

“This clearly was not just one speech. It didn’t just happen. It was part of a carefully planned months long effort with a very specific instruction: Show up on Jan. 6 and get your people to fight the certification.”

During his roughly half-hour presentation, Neguse alleged that the Trump supporters’ actions were “predictable” and “foreseeable” after Trump spent months promoting what Neguse termed “the big lie” that the election had been stolen, followed by incessant urging to “stop the steal” and an exhortation to “fight like hell” on Jan. 6.

Neguse played a video featuring Trump supporters saying they’d been responding to the former president.

“You heard it from them. They were doing what he wanted them to do,” Neguse said.

Once the attack was under way, Trump fomented his followers rather than try to stop the attack, Neguse noted, arguing that the former president’s response displayed his intent.

“Ask yourself, if as soon as this had started, President Trump had simply gone on the TV, just logged onto Twitter and said ‘Stop the attack!’ If he had done so with even half as much force as he said ‘Stop the steal!’ how many lives would we have saved?”

Added Neguse: Trump alone “had the power to stop it. And he didn’t.”