One of former President Donald Trump's major legal defenses to the impeachment charge of "incitement of insurrection" is, in effect, that any false statements of widespread fraud he may have made were protected by the First Amendment. As asserted by his Senate brief: "[l]ike all Americans, the 45th President is protected by the First Amendment"; "[t]he Article of Impeachment violates the 45th President's right to free speech[.]"