Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead House impeachment manager, eviscerated ex-President Donald Trump s defense that First Amendment free speech rights protect him from punishment for inciting a mob to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6.

They present President Trump as merely like a guy at a rally expressing a political opinion we disagree with, and now were trying to put him in jail for it, Raskin said of Trumps legal team. That has nothing to do with the reality of these charges or his constitutional offense.

The factual premise and legal underpinnings of that argument are all wrong, he added.

The president of the United States, Raskin emphasized, is not merely like a guy at a rally. Instead, he is a public official who occupies the most powerful elected federal office in the country. In accepting this office, he is required under the Constitution to take the oath of office to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Undoubtedly, a private person can run around on the street expressing his or her support for the enemies of the United States and advocating the overthrow of the United States government, Raskin argued. Youve got a right to do that under the First Amendment.

He continued: But if the president of the United States [is] doing that uttering the exact same words, expressing support for the enemies of the United States and for overthrowing the government is there anyone here who doubts that this would be a violation of his oath of office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution?

If youre president of the United States, youve chosen a side with your oath of office, Raskin added. And if you break it, we can impeach, convict, remove and disqualify you permanently from holding any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.

In closing his argument, Raskin quoted the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who, in a dissent in Rankin v. McPherson, said, you cant ride with the cops and root for the robbers.