Cruz says there ‘no chance’ Trump is convicted after meeting with his legal team about strategy

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Cruz: 'No chance whatsoever' Trump will be convicted by Senate

Senate Judiciary Committee member tells 'Fox News @ Night' House managers 'have not proven their case'

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News "@ Night" on Thursday that there is no chance that former President Trump will be convicted for inciting last month’s riot at the Capitol, but laid out how he believes Trump's legal team should present their argument.

The House impeachment managers closed their case on Thursday and tried to tie the former president to the deadly assault in Washington, D.C. Cruz, who insisted that those who broke into the building should face the fullest extent of the law, said Democrats somehow tried to invent "a new standard" for an incitement charge. He said he held about an hour-long huddle with Trump’s lawyers and was joined by Sens. Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee.

He said they talked about the case. He said he recommended that they point to the rhetoric used by the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and compare it to Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, when Trump said, "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."

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The prosecutors argued that Trump’s words were part of "the big lie" — his relentless efforts to sow doubts about the election results, revving up his followers to "stop the steal" even though there was no evidence of substantial fraud.

 Graham, R-S.C., told "Hannity" on Wednesday that the Democrat argument fell short and he believes Democrats had even less support than they did earlier in the week.

"The whole storyline, originally, was Trump created this with his speech," Graham said. "Now we know that people had this on their mind before he spoke. So now they’re playing this bizarre game of trying to get Trump in on it before Jan. 6…This is why you don’t want to have snap impeachments."

The Associated Press contributed to this report