A Short History of President Donald Trump and his Plan to Overturn the November 2016 Election: Hearing the Senate Select Committee’s Hearing at 10 AM ET
You can find the full transcript of the House select committee’s hearing here. The transcript was produced by another company.
Good morning and may God bless the United States of America. Four months ago, this committee started to present our findings to you, the American people. Some people viewing the proceedings would wrongly assume that the committee’s investigation was partisan.
What did President Trump know? What was he told? What was his personal and substantial role in the multipart plan to overturn the election? The evidence will look similar for those who have watched our previous hearings. For those of you tuning in for the first time, we’ll summarize some of the most important facts, and we urge you to go online and watch our hearing in full.
At times, the President acknowledged his loss. Although he publicly claimed that he had won the election, privately he admitted that Joe Biden would take over as President. Here’s a few examples of that. Begin videotape.
Donald Trump is the first president in our country to do what he did after the election. Donald Trump betrayed his oath by trying to launch an attack on a pillar of our democracy. It’s still hard to believe, but the facts and testimony are clear, consistent, and undisputed.
How do we know this? How have we shown a clear picture of what happened? Because of the testimony we’ve heard and also the documentary evidence we’ve gathered and made available to the American people, we presented you through these proceedings.
The most striking thing about what this committee has done is that most of the evidence comes from Republicans. There was no evidence coming from Democrats or opponents of Donald Trump. Instead, look at who’s written and testified and produced evidence.
Who has done that? Republican state officials and legislators who have worked for years for Donald Trump, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, political professionals who work at the highest levels of the Trump campaign are just some of the people who have worked for him.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Jan 6 Committee Business Meeting: Summary of the Evidence, President Trump’s State of Mind, and His Preparation for the January 6th Violence Hearing
Evidence strongly suggests that this testimony is not credible, and the committee is reviewing additional material from the Secret Service and other sources. The Secret Service was sharing and receiving the results of their monitoring of this kind of online activity. They shared intelligence about the joint sessions of Congress from social media and other sources.
It’s all about the facts. And it’s about making sure our government functions under the rule of law as our Constitution demands. Today as in previous proceedings, my colleagues and I will present new evidence. Additional Republicans who served in the Trump administration will testify, as well as new material from the Secret Service, which details the ongoing threat, and footage of congressional leaders coordinating the response to violence on January 6th.
Today’s proceeding will also be grounded in the facts, but it won’t look exactly like all our other hearings. We’ll also take a step back and look at the evidence in a broader context, providing a summary of key facts we’ve uncovered, facts relevant to former President Trump’s state of mind, about his motivation, and about his intent.
One more change is happening today. Pursuant to the notice circulated prior to today’s proceedings, we are convened today not as a hearing but as a formal committee business meeting so that, in addition to presenting evidence, we can potentially hold a committee vote on further investigative action based upon that evidence.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Secret Service’s January 6 Hearing: Report on Apparent Election Fraud by the President of the United States, Rudy Giuliani
The Select Committee obtained new evidence from the Secret Service. The Secret Service had to get the president of the United States to back down from something that put people in harm’s way.
The Department of Justice has been very active in pursuing issues that were identified in the previous hearings. Our committee may decide to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, but we don’t want to make decisions about prosecution.
The preamble to our Constitution is intended to establish justice. The US Department of Justice is responsible for that. The committee is supposed to propose reforms so January 6th doesn’t happen again. We’ve already proposed and the House has now passed a bill to amend the Electoral Count Act to help ensure that no other future plots to overturn an election can succeed.
Today we will see new evidence but, as the chairman said, we will also synthesize evidence you’ve seen before. The vast weight of evidence presented so far has shown us that the central cause of January 6th was one man, Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of this would have happened without him.
The President’s knowledge, as well as his direct participation, made this possible. Ronna McDaniel, Chair of the Republican National Committee, testified before this committee that President Trump and his attorney Dr. John Eastman called her and asked her to arrange for the fake electors to meet and rehearse the process of casting their fake votes.
Many of those who stepped forward to help, including Rudy Giuliani, knew they never had real evidence sufficient to change the election results. They admitted they were still trying to find that phantom evidence on January 5th. Of course, as a result of making intentionally false claims of election fraud, Mr. Giuliani’s license to practice law has now been suspended.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Voice of President Donald Trump: A Key Issue in the History of the January 6th Violence, Crime and Propagation of Propaganda
Knowing that some of them were armed, he sent them to the Capitol. As the riots were beginning, he incited his supporters to further violence by publicly condemning his vice president. He refused to order his rioting supporters to leave the Capitol even when he was asked several times. Not anything in this country is acceptable or lawful.
Today, you should consider who had a hand in defeating the efforts of the President to have the election thrown out, from the Department of Justice, to the White House staff, to the State Republican officials.
All of these people had something to do with stopping Donald Trump. This leads us to a key question. Why would Americans think our constitution and our republic are at risk of another attack? Why would we assume those institutions will stay strong next time? A key lesson of this investigation is this.
Our institutions hold when the men and women of good faith believe in them. We do not know if the men and women will be in place next time. Any future president inclined to attempt what Donald Trump did in 2020 has now learned not to install people who could stand in the way.
Our country is a country of laws where every person, including the President, must follow the law and respect the judgment of our courts. President Trump’s closest advisers held a similar view now and then. Begin the tape.
The courts rejected the allegations of fraud and other crimes by President Trump, as did his Department of Justice appointees. President Trump knew the truth. He heard everything his experts and senior staff said to him. He knew he had lost the election, but he made the deliberate choice to ignore the courts, to ignore the Justice Department, to ignore his campaign leadership, to ignore senior advisers, and to pursue a completely unlawful effort to overturn the election.
At the recent sentencing hearing, one judge gave a statement. “High ranking members of Congress and state officials, who know perfectly well the claim of fraud was and is untrue and that the election was legitimate, are so afraid of losing their power, they won’t say so. It’s not patriotic to stand up for America and for the man who lost the war, instead of fighting for the constitution he cared about, it’s more about standing up for him. Mr. Chairman, the violence and lawlessness of January 6th was unjustifiable, but our nation cannot only punish the foot soldiers who stormed our Capitol.
So, as we watch the evidence today, please consider where our nation is in its history. Can we live for another 246 years? Most people in the world have not been free. America is an exception, and only through our loyalty to our constitution can we continue.
We understand that some of the principles should be beyond politics, in violation and of greater importance than any single American has ever lived. Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. I return to my previous position.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Is it too early to call the election? An open letter to the President and his campaign manager, Kevin McCarthy, from the House to the Senate
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We begin this meeting after the election, by returning to election night in November 2020. The chairman noted that we’ve previously presented testimony about how the election results were expected to come. Ballots cast by mail before Election Day are only counted after the polls close.
The election results would not be known for a while. Although President Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, and Jared Kushner had advised Donald Trump to encourage mail in voting by Republicans, President Trump did not do so. [Begin videotape]
I remember people arguing that the mail in ballot could be a good idea if we looked at it correctly, and also that we needed to get out the vote.
I invited Kevin McCarthy to join the meeting because he was one of the people who believed mail in voting was not a bad thing for the president’s campaign. [End videotape]
So it was expected before the election that the initial counts in some states, in other words, those votes cast on Election Day, would be more heavily Republican and this would create the false perception of a lead for President Trump, a so-called red mirage. But as the results of the absentee ballots that were later counted, there could be trends towards Vice President Biden as those mail in ballots were counted.
“Sending along again. Just talked to him about the draft below.” The plan to declare victory was in place prior to the results being announced. Parscale was President Trump’s former campaign manager. He said that President Trump was going to say he won the election even if he lost.
It was far too early to be making any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted. The ballots are going to be counted for a while. It wasn’t too early to make that kind of statement. I believe my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted. It’s too early to call the race.
This is a fraud on the American public. Our country is embarrassed by this. We were prepared to win the election. Frankly, we did win this election. [applause] We want all voting to stop. [End videotape]
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
What Will The Vice President Do Now That He’s a Winner? A Conversation with Steve Bannon, a Former White House Strategist, and Mr. Jacob, on Election Night
We received new documents from the Secret Service that show the threat they knew the Vice President would be facing because of the President’s inciting mob. After Trump’s tweet, one agent in the Secret Services Intelligence Division immediately warned, POTUS just tweeted about Pence; probably not going to be good for Pence.
Marc had indicated to me that there was a possibility that there would be a declaration of victory within the White House that some might push for, and this is prior to the election results being known. And that he was trying to figure out a way of avoiding the Vice President sort of being thrust into a position of needing to opine on that when he might not have sufficient information to do so. This videotape is over.
Now following this conversation, Mr. Jacob drafted a memo to Mr. Short, which the Select Committee got from the National Archives. “It is important that the public does not see the Vice President as having decided questions about disputed electoral votes prior to the development of all relevant facts,” according to the memo. Tom Fitton, one of Mr. Trump’s outside advisers, consulted with him about the strategy for election night.
Everyone was aware that ballot counting would continue after election night and that the counting should stop before millions of votes were counted. After 5 pm on Election Day, Mr. Fitton indicated he had spoken with the President.
A few days before the election, Steve Bannon, a former White House strategist for the Trump campaign and an adviser to the President, spoke to a group of his associates from China. Start the videotape.
And what will Trump be doing now that he’s declared victory? He’s going to say he’s a winner, but he doesn’t mean he’s the winner. Our people vote early that counts. They’re going to have a natural disadvantage and Trump’s going to take advantage of it. That is our strategy.
The Attorney General should shut down all ballot places in all 50 states. It’s going to be no, he’s not going out easier. Trump is going to do some stupid shit if Biden wins. [End videotape]
Mr. Bannon wouldn’t testify in our investigation. He’s been convicted of criminal contempt of Congress and he’s awaiting sentencing. But the evidence indicates that Mr. Bannon had advance knowledge of Mr. Trump’s intent to declare victory falsely on election night, but also that Mr. Bannon knew about Mr. Trump’s planning for January 6th. This is what Bannon said on January 5th. [Begin videotape]
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Challenge to SUSY: Roger Stone and the Proud Boys after the January 6th Attack: Report of his Meeting with Donald Trump on December 27th
Tomorrow is going to be a bad day. It’s all converging and now we’re on, as they say, the point of attack, right, the point of attack tomorrow. I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. Ok, I’m okay. It’s going to be vastly different. And all I can say is strap in. You have made this happen and tomorrow it’s game day.
Make no mistake, President Trump knew that what he was demanding Vice President Pence do was illegal. He was made aware of this repeatedly and specifically on January 4th. This plan would violate the Electoral Count Act because it was admitted by his lawyer in front of President Trump. Begin the videotape.
I suspect it’ll be — I really do suspect it will still be up in the air. The key thing to do when that happens is to claim victory. Possession is 9/10 of the law.
Although we don’t yet have all the relevant records of Roger Stone’s communications, even Stone’s own social media posts acknowledge that he spoke with Donald Trump on December 27th as preparations for January 6th were underway. Roger Stone talked about his discussions with President Trump.
He told the President that a special counsel with subpoena power would be needed in order to ensure that those who are attempting to steal the 2020 elections through voter fraud are charged and convicted. It was not just an idea, but an actual proposal for a special counsel.
It is a conspiracy to use violent force against the United States to undermine its authority. Multiple associates of Roger Stone from both the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys have been charged with this crime. Close associates of Roger Stone, including Joshua James, have pled guilty to this crime.
Mr. Stone was testifying before our committee while he was at the hotel on January 6th. [Begin videotape]
Roger Stone’s connection with Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys is well documented by video evidence, with phone records the Select Committee has obtained. Tarrio, along with other Proud Boys, has been charged with multiple crimes concerning the attack on January 6th, including seditious conspiracy. Tarrio sent a message to other Proud Boys saying that we did it.
It was premeditated. It was not based on election results or any evidence of actual fraud affecting the results or any actual problems with voting machines. It was a plan to get his supporters to believe he won. And the people who seemingly knew about that plan in advance would ultimately play a significant role in the events of January 6. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
The — I know that the President when the networks called it, of course, he was informed about the — the network decision. That afternoon at some point, myself And a handful of other folks went over and sat down with the President and communicated that the odds of us prevailing in legal challenges were very small.
So we’re in the Oval and there’s a discussion going on. And the President says, I think — it could have been Pompeo, but he says words to the effect of, yeah, we lost. We need to let the issue go to the next person, meaning President Biden.
I remember maybe a week after the election was called, I popped into the Oval just to like give the President the headlines and see how he was doing. He is looking at the TV and he said, can you believe that I lost to a effing guy?
On the 18th, Mark raised it with me. I asked if the President really believed he lost after the ride back to the White House. And he said, you know, a lot of times he’ll tell me that he lost, but he wants to keep fighting it. He thinks there might be enough to overturn the election, but that he’s lost.
Knowing that he had lost and that he had only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business. There is an example of the President ordering large-scale US troop withdrawals. He ignored the consequences of the fight against the terrorists on the front lines.
He knew he was leaving office and signed this order on November 11th so that the troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by January 20th, before Biden’s inauguration. The national security adviser to the vice president and chief of staff to the National Security Council for President Donald John Trump was portrayed in these clips.
Do you know about a memo that the President signed in November 2020 ordering the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Somalia?
If you’ve read any of those things, I think you’ve seen a memo from Johnny McEntee to Douglas Macgregor. It says, here’s your task, to get US forces out of out of Somalia, get US forces out of Afghanistan. It’s fair to say you discussed this decision of withdrawing from Afghanistan when you first met Colonel Douglas Macgregor.
The DOD leadership was not going to take any of those steps without an order and he responded to you on that same day.
I explained in language that should be in the order while I was in the meeting with McEntee, and this was my answer to him. If you want this to happen or the President wants it to happen, he needs to write an order.
I sketched out some key statements for him. The President directs. What’s the right word for this type of language?
McEntee duly takes it up, brings it in to the President. The President signs it and boom, it’s over — faxed over e-mail, scanned over. Kash Patel delivers it to me.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Reply to the “Commission on Elections”, “The Case for a Demonstration of the Basic Principles and Policies of the Second Law of the Fourth Amendment,” by John P. Macgregor
I told the PPO and Macgregor that if I ever saw anything like that, I would do something physical. It was a huge disservice to the nation. And by the way, that was a very contested issue. There were people who did not agree with getting out of Afghanistan.
And then — and I said something to the effect of you’re going to have a huge personnel blowout within hours, because you’re going to have all kinds of problems with resignations and other issues. And that’s not going to be in anyone’s interest. End videotape.
Keep in mind the order was for an immediate withdrawal. It would have been catastrophic. And yet, President Trump signed the order. These are actions that are highly consequential because the President knows his term will end soon. At the same time that President Trump was acknowledging privately that he had lost the election, he was hearing that there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities sufficient to change the outcome.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Misleading Evidence that Donald Trump Is pissed about the Results of the 2016 Election: A Judge’s Letter to the Attorney General
I was called by Mr. Meadows where he was asking me what I was finding and if I was finding anything. And I remember sharing with him that we weren’t finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.
It would be our job to track it down and come up dry because the allegation didn’t prove to be true. We would have to relay the news. Nothing came of it, even though someone did tell you about those votes or the fraud. That will be our job as — as, you know, the truth-telling squad and, you know, not a fun job to be — you know, it’s — it’s an easier job to be telling the President about, you know, wild allegations.
The fraud, maladministration, abuse, orIrregularities if aggregated to the campaign would be determinative of outcome. It wasn’t enough to be outcome determinant, as it was stated by everyone in the room, including myself and Greg Jacob. [End videotape]
There was no evidence to back up the claims. Judges repeatedly recognized that they were baseless. There was no case where the president was able to overturn the results of the election. In those hearings, we shared with you the words used by judges around the country in rejecting the Trump campaign’s claims.
It’s strong language criticizing the lack of evidentiary support for the claims of election fraud in those lawsuits. For example, a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania wrote, quote, charges require specific allegations and proof. We have neither here. The former president was allowed the chance to make a case and he lost on the merits according to a federal judge in Wisconsin.
The judge called the claims nothing more than speculation and a hint that the votes for President Trump were either destroyed, discarded or switched to support Vice President Biden. A federal judge in Michigan sanctioned nine attorneys, including Sidney Powell, for making frivolous allegations in an election fraud case, describing the case as a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.
On December 11th, the US Supreme Court denied a lawsuit that Trump believed was his last chance at success in the courts. The new message shows how angry President Trump was about the outcome. Quote, just FYI, POTUS is pissed. The Supreme Court denied his lawsuit.
He is livid now. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to the chief of staff, spoke about the conversation in this way. [Begin videotape]
This is the day that the Supreme Court had rejected that case. Mr. Meadows and I were in the White House residence at a Christmas reception. And as we were walking back from the Christmas reception that evening, the President was walking out of the Oval Office and we crossed paths in the Rose Garden colonnade.
The President was enraged by the Supreme Court decision. I had stepped back, but I was standing next to him. So I was probably two or three feet catty-cornered, diagonal from him. The President just raging about the decision and how it’s wrong, and why didn’t we make more calls, and just this typical anger outburst at this decision.
December 14 was the day when the states certified their votes and sent them to Congress. I believe that was the end of the matter. I did not see how this would lead to a new administration.
I thought that the means for him to pursue litigation was closed when I said that my personal opinion was that the Electoral College had met, which is the system that our country is set under to choose a president and vice president.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
What do you do to vote for Donald Trump and Barack Obama? A videotape of the meeting between the president and the secretary of labor Gene Scalia
Secretary of Labor Gene Scalia, the son of late Justice Scalia, visited President Trump in mid-December and explained the situation clearly. Start the videotape.
I called the president so I could tell him about the call. It’s possible I called on the 13th. I think that I spoke to him on the 14th and told him that it was time for him to acknowledge that he had won the election. When the legal process is over and the electoral votes have been cast, that’s when the final outcome needs to be expected, according to my communication with the president.
I told him that I believed that if fraud was not established that the outcome of the election would have to be conceded. End videotape.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The middle of December was a turning point. President Trump had a choice to ignore the courts and his advisers and push forward to overturn the election. His attempts to overturn the election were part of a coordinated plan to ensure that he remained in power.
I was disturbed by the allegations relating to the voting machines from the Dominion, since I could not see any basis for the claims. I told them that it was — that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that, and it was doing a grave — grave disservice to the country.
We have a company that’s very suspect. Its name is Dominion. If you use a dial or chip you can press a button to vote for Trump or Biden. What kind of a system is this?
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
When did Donald Trump raise the big vote dump in Detroit? What did he tell us about he told me about his first year at the Michigan State Fair Playground?
We talked about the county again. That was sort of done at that point because the hand recount had been done and all that. This is an example of what people are telling you and what are being filed in court that are not supported by the evidence.
In addition, there is the highly troubling matter of Dominion voting systems. In one Michigan county alone, 6,000 votes were switched from Trump to Biden, and the same systems are used in the majority of states in our country.
I went into this and would, you know, tell him how crazy some of these allegations were and how ridiculous some of them were. I’m talking about the things that were easy to blow up like more votes cast by suffragists in Pennsylvania than there are suffragists in other states. There was never — there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.
There were more votes than voters. Think of that. You had more votes than you had voters. That’s an easy one to figure, and it’s by the thousands.
Then he raised the — the big vote dump, as he called it, in Detroit. He said people were seen coming in to the counting station at all hours of the morning. And I said, Mr. President, there are 630 precincts in Detroit. They centralized the counting process so that they aren’t counted in every precinct, like elsewhere in the state.
The tape that we looked at was related to Georgia. We interviewed the witnesses. There is no suitcase. The president kept fixating on this suitcase that supposedly had fraudulent ballots and that the suitcase was rolled out from under the table. I said there was no suitcase. You can watch that video over and over.
There is no suitcase. There is a wheeled bin where they carry the ballots, and that’s just how they move ballots around that facility. There’s nothing suspicious about that.
Election officials pulled boxes, Democrats, and suitcases of ballots out from under a table. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. End video.
Over and over again, we’ve seen lies made in public that are at odds with what Donald Trump knew from his own investigations, and our committee’s report will document it. Donald Trump maliciously repeated this nonsense to a wide audience over and over again.
His intent was to deceive. President Trump tried to change the election outcome in some states that he lost. He personally reached out to numerous state officials and pressured them to take unlawful steps to alter the election results in those states. These actions, taken directly by the president himself, made it clear what his intentions were; to prevent the orderly transfer of power.
We all recall, for example, President Trump’s tape recorded call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. At the time this call occurred, President Trump had already been told repeatedly by the US Justice Department, by his campaign, and by his advisers that his allegations of fraud in Georgia were false.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Jan 6 Committee-Hearing Transcription: The Secretary of State Needs 11000 Votes, So I Can’t Obtain One More Vote
All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. Look, we need only 11,000 votes. We have far more than that as it stands now. We will have more and more. What’s going to happen here, folks? If I only need 11,000 votes.
I want to find 11,780 votes. The president knew that there wasn’t a real basis for the request and that was an extraordinary demand. No one would believe that the secretary of state could simply find the votes the president needed in order to win.
That is the thing. That’s a criminal offense. You can’t let that happen. That risk to you and to Ryan is very high. That is a big risk. The videotape ends.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
When does President Donald Trump and the National Archives intervene in the investigation of a campaign of the fake electors against the United States Department of Justice
I remember looking at him. I told Mark, you can’t think we are going to pull it off. That call was crazy. He shook his head when he looked at me. He wasn’t sure, you know, he knew it was over. We’re going to try, even though he knows he lost. There are some options that are still good.
Here is Jeff Clark who conspired with Donald Trump to corrupt the Department of Justice. President Trump wanted to appoint Jeff Clark as acting attorney general. He did so in the call log we obtained from the National Archives. And here is Mr. Clark testifying before our committee. [Begin videotape]
When Richard Donoghue and Jeff Rosen became aware of Mr. Clark’s proposal, they forcefully rejected it. Start the videotape.
And I recall toward the end saying what you’re proposing is nothing less than the United States Justice Department meddling in the outcome of a presidential election. But more importantly, this was not based on fact. The facts that were developed by the investigators over the last few weeks and months were incorrect.
The President relented because of the threat to resign of the Department of Justice leadership and his White House counsel. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
When I received the call — again, I don’t remember the exact date — it was — it was from the White House switchboard and it was President Trump who had contacted me.
And then essentially, he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors, in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states. The video ends.
The fake electors’ plan was also tied to another plan, the coercive pressure campaign to make Vice President Mike Pence reject or refuse to count certain Biden electoral votes, so that President Donald Trump would, quote, win reelection instead. Here is what Vice President Pence has said about this scheme.
President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election, but President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency is held by the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American President.
And Dr. Eastman confirmed this in writing. In the email that was written on January 6th, the Vice President’s counsel asked if the Vice President could make his own decisions. Dr. Eastman replied, he’s been so advised.
Pat Cipollone, President Trump’s White House counsel, also recognized that the plan was illegal. Mr. Cipollone gave testimony. Start the videotape.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
When the Capitol Shoots: President Pence’s Pressure Campaign on the President and the Capitol Attack on January 6, 2001, Revisited
And the word that she relayed to you that the President called the Vice President, I apologize for being impolite, but do you remember what she said her father called him?
But Vice President Pence didn’t waver even when his own life was endangered by President Trump and the rioters at the Capitol on January 6, as you’ll see in more detail later. A federal judge concluded, based on this and other evidence, that President Trump’s pressure campaign against the Vice President likely violated multiple criminal statutes.
In the end all of these people, including the Department of Justice officials, the state elections’ officials, and his own Vice President, stood up for what they believed in. But as we now know, President Trump had already summoned tens of thousands of his supporters to Washington on January 6 to take back their country.
As my colleague Mr. Schiff just described, the Secret Service reported that thousands in the crowd near the Washington Monument would not enter the rally area because magnetometers used in screening attendees would detect any prohibited items they carried. Mr. Trump knew that. His Secret Service had told him about it that morning.
Since our last hearings, the select committee has received greater cooperation from the Secret Service. Nevertheless, the Secret Service erased text messages from this period following the attack on the Capitol, even though documents and materials from January 6th had already been requested by the Department of Justice.
The intelligence summary the President’s senior advisers at the Department of Justice and FBI received mentioned that certain people were planning to attack the Capitol. This summary noted online calls to occupy federal buildings, rhetoric about invading the Capitol building, and plans to arm themselves and to engage in political violence at the event.
So during these calls, I — I only remember in hindsight because he was almost like clairvoyant. One of the greatest threats to the Capitol during these calls is a direct assault. I’ll never forget it. End videotape.
This email, for example, was an alert that the Secret Service received on December 24th with the heading, Armed and Ready, Mr. President. According to the intelligence, multiple users online were targeting members of Congress, instructing others to march into the chambers on January 6th and make sure they know who to fear.
The source went on to say their plan is to literally kill people. Take this tip seriously and investigate further. The source said that the Proud Boys’ plans had been laid out on several websites. Let’s pause here. The Proud Boys’ planning for January 6th was the topic of information that the Secret Service had ten days before. We know now, of course, that the Proud Boys and others did lead the assault on our Capitol building.
The FBI briefed the Secret Service about right-wing groups setting up armed Quick Reaction Force readying to deploy on January 6th. Groups like the Oath Keepers were standing by at the ready should POTUS request assistance by invoking the Insurrection Act, agents were informed.
One report from the rally site at 7:58 a.m. said, some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks. There were plastic riot shields and pepper spray, and perhaps OC spray, from one of the people who spoke at 9:30 a.m. At 11:23 a.m., agents also reported possible armed individuals, one with a glock, one with a rifle.
Over the next hour, agents reported possible man with a gun reported, confirmed pistol on hip located in a tree; and one detained at 14th and I Street northwest; individual had an assault rifle on his person.
Minutes before President Trump began his speech, members of the Federal Protective Service, an agency tasked with protecting federal buildings, were alerted about an arrest of a protester with a gun on his waistband. And during the speech, the weapons related arrests continued. The man was arrested by the United States Park Police in front of the World War II Memorial. The number of weapons that had been seized that day was remarked on by agents, who speculated that the situation could get worse.
You’ve heard of one of the sites, which was called The Donald.win. The Select Committee has obtained a text message that Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser, sent to Mark Meadows less than a week before January 6th. He wrote, “I got the base fired up,” in all caps. He sent a link to this page on TheDonald.win.
The linked web page had comments about the joint session of Congress on January 6th. Take a look at some of those comments. “Gallows do not require electricity.” “If the filthy commie maggots try to push their fraud through, there will be hell to pay.” One way to leave is by leaving in a body bag, the other is by certifying the winner of the election. Mr. Miller said he had no idea about the many comments that were included in the link that he sent.
The President of the House Committee on Judd Deere’s Response on the December 30th, 2009, Spike in Activity on Parler
If I had seen something like that, I probably would have flipped it to someone at the White — or if I had seen something of that nature, I would have said we gotta flag this for Secret Service or something of that nature.” [End videotape]
On the same day that Miller sent the text, agents got reports of a spike in activity on Parler. This was December 30th. An agent received an email about a lot of rhetoric directed at government people and entities, including the Secret Service.
On the evening of January 5th, President Trump gathered a few of his communications staffers in the Oval Office. The president and others could hear the crowd at Freedom Plaza, which was close to the White House, through the open door. President Trump could tell that his supporters were riled up. Judd Deere is a White House press secretary and he describes the president’s reaction.
Just that they were — they were fired up. They were angry. They feel like the election’s been stolen, that the election was rigged, that — he went on and on about that for a little bit. [End videotape]
The president knew that the crowd was angry since he had done something to infuriate them. He knew that they believed that the election had been rigged and stolen because he had told them falsely that it had been rigged and stolen. And by the time he incited that angry mob to march on the Capitol, he knew they were armed and dangerous, all the better to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The House Committee on Hearing Trascriptor (hearing Committee on Jan 6): Mr. Engle, the Deputy Chief of Staff, and the CP, Ms. Hutchinson
The gentleman is about to give up. At this point our — in our meeting, we’ll take a brief recess. The chair decided to call the committee into recess for 10 minutes because of the order of the committee today. There was a recess. The gentleman in the chair was recognised for his opening statement.
He wanted it full, and he was angry that we weren’t letting people through the mags with weapons, what the Secret Service deemed as weapons and are — are weapons. I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, I don’t f’ing care that they have weapons.
They are not here to hurt me. Don’t give the f’ing mags a home. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take that f’ing mags away. End videotape.
And I’d love to have, if those tens of thousands of people would be allowed, the military, the Secret Service — and we want to thank you, and the police, law enforcement, great. You’re doing a great job. [Applause] But I’d love it if they could be allowed to come up here with us. Is that possible? Can you just allow them to come up?
“They’d expressed to me that the president was irate, you know, on the drive up. Mr. Engle did not deny the fact that the president was irate.” That of course corresponds closely with the testimony you saw this summer from Cassidy Hutchinson, a Metropolitan Police officer who was in the motorcade, and from multiple sources.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Reply to the committee on ‘What happened to the first president of the United States in a Coalition or Insurrection?’
I will note this as well. The committee is reviewing testimony regarding potential obstruction on this issue, including testimony about advice given not to tell the committee about this specific topic. We will address this in our report.
The people who protect the president of the U.S. were not convinced that this was a good idea. The documents reveal how the agents were going to take Trump to the Capitol later in the day. The agents were told to prepare for a movement and wear protective gear.
To be completely honest, we were all in a state of shock. Why? We all knew that if he walked to the Capitol, this was not a rally, and if he walked to something else, it would be a different thing.
I don’t know whether you want to call it a coup or an insurrection. We all knew that this would move from a normal democratic, you know, public event into something else. Why were we are alarmed?
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Secret Service Email from January 6th, 2001, to the White House: President Trump Refused to Tell His Families to Stand Down and Leave the Capitol
We have testimony from several members of the president’s White House staff establishing that President Trump refused entreaties from his closest advisers and family members to tell his supporters to stand down and leave the Capitol. Pat Cipollone is the White House counsel.
The White House press secretary said she had an exchange with the president as he arrived back at the White House. Begin the videotape.
So, to the best of my recollection, I recall him being — wanting to — saying that he wanted to physically walk and be a part of the march, and then saying that he would ride the beast if — if he needed to, ride in the presidential limo. End video.
The Secret Service email from January 6th, the day that President Trump got out of the presidential vehicle to go to the White House, can be found here. As soon as the president left his motorcade, leadership from the Secret Service contacted Bobby Engel, the lead agent for the presidential detail, and warned him that they were “concerned about an OTR,” an off the record movement to the Capitol.
I can only say that there needs to be a public announcement that people need to leave the Capitol as soon as possible.
Approximately when? People were going into the Capitol in a violent way, almost immediately after I was aware of it.
I — I don’t — I can’t think of anybody, you know, on that day who didn’t want people to get out of the — the Capitol once the — you know, particularly once the violence started, no. I mean.
I’m sorry. I — I made a mistake. I thought you said who else on staff. I can’t reveal what’s happening, but I think. The end videotape.
Mr. Cipollone’s testimony is supported by other White House staff members. Ms. Hutchinson said what she heard from Mark Meadows. Begin the videotape.
You heard him say something to the effect, Pat. He would rather not do anything more. He thinks they’re doing nothing wrong. [End videotape]
A former White House employee with national security duties similarly recalled an exchange between Mr. Cipollone and Eric Herschmann about President Trump’s inaction against the mob assault underway at the Capitol. Mr. Herschmann said something to Mr. Cipollone. He seemed to relay that, you know, the president didn’t want anything done.
Throughout this period, some of the president’s most important political allies, family members, and senior staff all begged him to tell his supporters to disperse and go home. Donald Trump Jr, the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Sean Hannity, and others were allies of Fox News.
They all made appeals to Donald Trump, but he did not listen to them. The Select Committee interviewed several people who were in the dining room with Donald Trump that afternoon, and every single one of these witnesses told us that he was watching the violent battles rage on television. He did not call the head of the Capitol Police, the director of the Metropolitan Police Department or the secretary of defense.
And to your knowledge, was the president in that private dining room the whole time that the attack on the Capitol was going on, or did he ever go to — again, only to your knowledge, to the Oval Office, to the White House Situation Room, anywhere else?
Yeah. What did they say, Mr. Meadows or the president, at all during that brief encounter with you in the dining room? What do you remember? Everyone was watching the television, I think. Do you know whether he was watching TV in the dining room when you talked to him on January 6th?
Did you see the violence at the Capitol on television when you were in the dining room?
You will see how everyone worked together to stop the violence, to have federal law enforcement deployed to the scene, to put down the violence and secure the Capitol complex. Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, as well as Republicans like Vice President Pence, Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell and many other appointees are not the only ones.
We are starting to get surrounded. They’re taking the north front scaffolding. We are going to be unable to hold unless we get more weaponry. The door has been breached and people are gaining access into the Capitol.
There has to be some way we can maintain the sense that people have that there is some security or some confidence that government can function and that we can elect the president of United States. Did we go back into session?
We did go back into session, but now apparently everybody on the floor is putting on tear gas masks to prepare for a breach. I’m trying to find more information.
I can’t. We need a area for the House members. They are walking through the tunnel. Bring her here. Hey, boys, we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.
I’m going to call up the f’ing secretary of DOD. Some Senators are still in their hideaways. Huge personnel are needed now. Do you need the Maryland National Guard to come as well?
I have something to say, Mr. Secretary. We’re — I’m going to call the mayor of Washington DC right now and see what other outreach she has to other police departments, as Steny — Leader Hoyer has mentioned.
Governor, I’m here. Nancy is here. Governor, I don’t know if you have been approached about the Virginia National Guard. Mr. Hoyer was connect — speaking to Governor Hogan, but I still think you probably need the Ok of the federal government in order to come in to another jurisdiction. Thank you.
All kinds of — it’s really that — they said somebody was shot. It’s just — it’s just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States. Ok, thank you, Governor. I am very appreciative of what you are doing. I would like to stay in touch if you don’t mind. Thank you. Thank you very much.
You know, I was just talked to Governor Northam, and what he said is they sent 200 state police and a unit of the National Guard. They’re breaking windows and going in, obviously ransacking our offices and all the rest of that. That’s not much. The concern we have about personal harm.
Personal safety is more than just one thing. On any given day, they break the law in many different ways, and quite frankly, most of it at the instigation of the United States president. And now if he could — could — at least somebody.
Yeah, why don’t you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility, a public statement they should all leave.
The Capitol Police and the Secretary of State. The Commission on Interactions with the Pentagon, the White House, the U.S. Capitol, and the Senator’s Office
I will not speak for the leadership who will be responsible for executing the operation, because I do not want to speak for them. Because they are meeting on the ground and they’re the experts Inaudible.
Well, just pretend — just pretend for a moment it was the Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege. Let me say you can logistically get people there as you make the plan. We’re trying to figure out how we can get this job done today. We talked to Mitch about it earlier. He’s not in the room right now, but he was with us earlier and said, you know, we want to expedite this and hopefully they could confine it to just one complaint, Arizona, and then we could vote and that would be — you know, then just move forward with the rest of the state.
The overriding wish is to do it at the Capitol. What we are being told very directly is it’s going to take days for the Capitol to be Ok again. A report has been sent to us about the condition of the House floor and all the other things. I don’t think that that’s hard to clean up, but I do think it is more from a security standpoint of making sure that everybody is out of the building and how long will that take.
It will take time to clean up the mess in the Capitol and it may take days to get back.
Nancy, I am at the Capitol building. The US Capitol Police and I are standing together. He just informed me what you will hear through official channels, Paul Irving, your Sergeant-at-Arms, will inform you that their best information is that they believe that the House and the Senate will be able to reconvene in roughly an hour.
A videotape of President Trump and the rioters: “You’ve got to stop — I’m gonna stop.” Corroborated witness: “Trump never did stop”
The House select committee has revealed testimony from several former White House officials saying Trump repeatedly refused to call off the rioters despite being asked to do so by a number of his closest advisers.
It was obvious that only President Trump could end this. He was the only one who could. Several former aides publicly asked him to do so. Allies called the administration. But the President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored.
Another witness, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s former chief of staff, has also come forward and corroborated her shocking account. Have a videotape.
You know, I asked Kevin McCarthy who’s the Republican leader about this and — and he said he called –he finally got through to Donald Trump He said you have to be on TV. You have to follow people on the popular micro-messaging site. You’ve got to call these people off. What did the President say to him? This is how it’s happening.
He said, well, Kevin, these aren’t my people. These are things that are not normal. Kevin said, no, they’re your people. My staff are running for their lives as they see them coming through my office windows. I mean, they’re running for their lives. You need to call them off. The President’s response to Kevin was very chilling.
He said, well, Kevin, I guess they’re just more upset about the election, you know, theft than you are. And that’s — you know, you’ve seen widespread reports of Kevin McCarthy and the President having a — basically a swearing conversation. That’s when the swearing commenced, because the President was basically saying, no, I’m — I’m Ok with this.
I had — I had a conversation at some point in the day or week after the — the riot with Kevin McCarthy. Yeah, She had told the story about how he called the President, and asked him to stop, and it was very similar to what she had said. The President told him, “Maybe these people are just more angry about this than you are, maybe more upset.”
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Secret Service Heared Mike Pence During the Jan 6 Committee on ‘Cosmic Mock Trump’s Propagation’
The President is responsible for his words and actions, no ifs or buts, as long as he is in office. I asked him personally today, does he hold responsibility for what happened? Does he feel bad about what happened? He said that he needs to acknowledge his responsibility for the incident.
It caused the mob to chant, hang Mike Pence, and bring on even more violence. This deliberate decision to further enrage the mob against Vice President Pence cannot be justified by anything that President Trump might have thought about the election. The Secret Service was worried about the safety of the Vice President at that time.
As the afternoon progressed, the company detected a surge in violent hashtags on the platform, including lines of lethal incitement like, execute Mike Pence. Listen to this former Twitter employee, Anika Navaroli, who first came to the committee anonymously, but has now bravely agreed to be named because she wants to speak out about the magnitude of the threats facing our people.
Yes and after in response to this too. Because I think as many as many of Donald Trump’s tweets did, it again fanned the flames. The individuals who were already constructing gallows and willing to execute someone and looking for another to be killed, were the ones who had made the gallows. Now, the individual was called upon then to begin this coup is now pointing the finger at another individual while they’re ready to do this.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
After the Sixth, What Do We Want to Do? When Donald Trump, Matt Pottinger and Sarah Matthews, Stepped Over the Security Line on the West Side of the Capitol
Mike Pence will not stick up for Donald Trump. Mike Pence was a traitor. If you haven’t heard yet, Mike Pence messed us up. What did happen? What happened? I hear people saying that Mike Pence has messed us. That’s the word I keep hearing reports that Mike Pence has screwed us. End videotape.
Thousands of rioters ran over the line that had been set up by the NYPD on the west side of the Capitol within 10 minutes of Trump’s announcement. This was the first time in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department that a security line like that had ever been broken.
President Trump’s conduct that day was so shameful and so outrageous that it prompted numerous members of the White House staff and other Trump appointees to resign. You have heard why Matt Pottinger and Sarah Matthews decided to step down on that day.
We’ve spoken to more high ranking officials, like President Trump’s envoy to Northern Ireland and former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and transportation secretary Elaine Chao who resigned after the 6th in protest of Trump’s misdeeds.
I was stunned by the violence, and the President’s apparent indifference to it. And now is the time for the President to be presidential. I had the impression that he failed at it. I thought he failed at a critical time to be the sort of leader that the nation needed.
I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking. I mentioned in my statement that I could not put it aside. It was not possible for me to continue because of my values and philosophy. I came to this country as an immigrant.
I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. I made my own decision, and that is what I was. Continue the videotape.
We are talking to the President. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. That’s what we ordered. [Inaudible] He says, go home. [End videotape]
Finally, at 6:01, President Trump tweeted again not to condemn the mass violence in any way, but rather to excuse and glorify it. Significantly, he made it clear that he considered the violence perfectly foreseeable and predictable. Check it out. When a sacred landslide election win is so sudden and devastating, stripped away from great patriots who have been unfairly treated for so long, those are the things that happen.
The whole game is up to these things, he said. Trump was telling us that the Vice President, the Congress, and all the injured and wounded cops, some of whom are with us today, got what was coming to us. Trump said it. January 6 should not be a day that lives in shame in infamy in our history, but rather in glory.
Would it have been possible for the president to speak to the nation in the final moments after he spoke in the video statement, at any time between when he first spoke and when he spoke again? Would it have been possible?
The Fourth Amendment and the First Amendment: Defending Insurrection in the U.S. Constitution Through Investigations of the January 6th Demonstration
Mr. Chairman, in numerous places, our Constitution strongly opposes insurrection and rebellion. Article I gives Congress the power to call forth the militia to suppress insurrections. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment prohibits anyone who has taken an oath to defend the Constitution from holding federal or state office.
The best explanation of why democracy rejects insurrection was given by President Lincoln at the start of the Civil War. Insurrection, he said, is a war upon the first principle of popular government, the rights of the people. American democracy belongs to all the American people, not to a single man. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The gentleman yields back. Four police officers testified during the committee’s first hearing in July of last year, helping to repel theJanuary 6th riots. We asked them what they hoped to see the committee accomplish over the course of our investigation. Officer Grinnell wanted to know why the rioters were made to believe that the election process was rigged.
We were asked to look at the actions and activities that took place during the day. Officer Hodges was concerned about whether anyone in power had a role. Get to the bottom of what happened. We’ve worked for more than a year to get those answers. We’ve conducted more than a thousand interviews and depositions.
We want to hear from him since he is the person who at the center of the story. The committee needs to do everything they can to tell the most complete and complete story possible, in order to prevent something like January 6th from happening again. It is important to be fair and thorough in getting a full context for the evidence.
Under oath is how the testimony must be sought. More than 30 witnesses have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self- incrimination, and some of them did so in response to questions about their dealings with Donald Trump. Here are a few examples.
There’s precedent in American history for the testimony of a president. In the past, presidents have provided testimony and evidence to Congressional investigators. We also recognize that a subpoena to a former president is a serious and extraordinary action.
That’s why we want to take this step in full view of the American people, especially because the subject matter at issue is so important to the American people and the stakes are so high for our future and our democracy. And so, I recognize the Vice Chair, Ms. Cheney of Wyoming, to offer a motion.
I want to thank the Chairman. The committee has enough information to answer many of the questions that Congress posed at the beginning. A key task is still to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals, although we have enough information to do so.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
JAN 6-COMMITTEE-HEARING TRANScript: a false trial of General Flynn on December 12, 2020 after he walked with Oath Keepers
General Flynn testified before the committee on December 12, 2020, after he walked with Oath Keepers. [Begin videotape]
Here is John Eastman fraudulently instructing tens of thousands of angry protesters that the Vice President could change the election outcome on January 6th. Donald Trump was aware what he was trying to do was illegal, as noted in writings by Dr. Eastman on this same day. John was testifying before the committee.
Is it possible for you to talk about your position in the media, but not with this committee, because you had direct talks with the President of the US?
The other witnesses went to extraordinary lengths to avoid testifying about their dealings with Donald Trump. Steve Bannon has been tried and convicted by a jury of his peers for contempt of Congress. He is scheduled to be sentenced for this crime later this month. Criminal proceedings regarding Peter Navarro continue.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Joint Committee on the House Judiciary Committee report on CNN’s January 6 congressional-investigation investigation (Response to a Motion by the Secretary of State)
The resolution is agreed to. There is a motion on the table. The Committee requests that people remain seated until the Capitol Police clear the room. The committee did not have an objection.
The documents the Secret Service provided to the congressional investigators that CNN has obtained exclusively tell us a lot about what law enforcement knew and when they knew it leading up to January 6.
So, where is the intelligence failure? If the intel was on target, and the information was being shared, how did the events of January 6 unfold the way they did?
The documents tell us that federal law enforcement agencies were meeting regularly in the days leading up to January 6 and that intelligence was moving between agencies. The Secret Service documents show that the FBI would give briefings at 6 and 10 pm on the night before a protest, which would turn into an insurrection.
The Secret Service received information from the US Marshalls Service on January 6 in regards to weapons and carry permit information. “I’m here for justice bang bang. We better see what happens if the man who sold out is going in or out of that building.
Another post two days earlier in the same app predicts, “It’s gonna get violent as we charge the federal buildings and drag out corrupt politicians dead or alive!”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/politics/miller-analysis-january-6-secret-service/index.html
The First Capitol Police Officer in Washington, Donohue, said: “Stop the Steal and the National Guard may become a Threat to the Public”
The question shows a fundamental misunderstanding of intelligence flows. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are supposed to provide information to law enforcement partners.
Critics claimed that shows the Secret Service was downplaying the potential for violence. As an intelligence professional who read similar summaries for nearly two decades, I can tell you that caveat simply meant this: There is simply no indications in the Facebook posting of planned violence.
To underscore that point, the same document went to great pains on its first page to point out that prior demonstrations by some of the same groups in Washington just weeks earlier had resulted in “physical altercations between pro and anti-Trump demonstration groups as well as numerous arrests” including for assault, assault on a police officer, possession of a weapon and inciting violence.
The most on-point paper from the days before January 6 may the threat assessment produced by the US Capitol Police intelligence arm on January 3 – three days before the storming of the Capitol.
The document was written by a team of Capitol Police intelligence analysts, who were working for an expert on politically motivated violent extremists. Prior to joining the Capitol Police, Donohue had been one of my deputies in the NYPD.
This is what his January 3 memo concluded: “Supporters of the current president see January 6, 2021 as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election. This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent.” Another key judgment on that page: “Unlike previous post-election protests, the targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not necessarily the counter-protesters…but rather Congress itself.”
The analysis ends with these words: “this, combined with Stop the Steal’s propensity to attract white supremacists, militia members and others who actively promote violence, may lead to a significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement and the general public alike.” That was Sunday, January 3 at 3 p.m.
A day after Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund read Donohue’s Intelligence analysis, according to his testimony in the Senate, “I he approached the two Sergeants at Arms to request the assistance of the National Guard, as I had no authority to do so without an Emergency Declaration by the Capitol Police Board.”
“Certain media reports have stated that ‘optics’ determined my judgment about using those National Guard troops. That is not true. Safety was paramount when assessing security for January 6 and the media’s misrepresentation of “optics” didn’t determine our security posture.
I asked Stenger how quickly we could get assistance if needed, and if we had to ask for help on January 6th, if he would approve the request. When Sund called National Guard Gen. William Walker on the days leading up to January 6, he asked if Walker would be able to get troops on the ground if needed. Walker told Sund yes, but needed the formal approvals to mobilize.
The sergeants-at-arms testified in March that they never received the January 3 request from the chief of the Capitol to either Pelosi or McConnell. Irving said, “The intelligence was not that there would be a coordinated attack on the Capitol nor was it contemplated in any of the meetings I attended before the attack.” He died of cancer in June.
The Capitol Police chief had to fall on his swords, as did the sergeants-at-arms. In March, Congress called for a review of how critical operational decisions are made by the Capitol Police. Legislation was passed in Congress to give the Capitol Police Chief the ability to ask for help from the DC National Guard and other agencies without going through the Capitol Police Board.
The swift passage of the new legislation shows that elected officials who work by committee understand that crisis shouldn’t be handled by the police chief.
The GOP Protected Capitol Report on Jan. 6: The Insurrection Against the U.S. Capitol Was Designed By Trump
- Intelligence gathered in advance of Jan. 6 did not support a conclusion that antifa or other left-wing groups would likely engage in a violent counterdemonstration, or attack Trump supporters on Jan. 6. Intelligence indicated that left-wing groups were telling their members to stay at home on Jan. 6. All of these groups were not involved in the attack on the Capitol.
The House Republicans released a report that focused on security issues at the US Capitol in January of 2021, and revealed that there had been breakdowns in intelligence sharing and Capitol security coordination.
The GOP report also doesn’t address Trump’s claim that he issued a directive prior to January 6 to deploy thousands of National Guard troops to the Capitol that day.
The primary recommendation is about how to reform the US Capitol Police Board and bolster congressional oversight, two issues that were identified by both parties in the wake of the January 6 attack.
The GOP report didn’t mention that there were people trying to change the power of the presidency after the 2020 election, or that politicians were responsible for the security breakdown on January 6. The report resurfaces largely unfounded allegations to cast blame on Democrats like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while glossing over former President Donald Trump’s own role.
The final report was going to be released on Wednesday but has been delayed until Thursday. The executive summary states that the insurrection was caused by Trump.
The GOP report comes from the five Republicans who House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy initially appointed to serve on the select committee before deciding members of his party would not participate.
It does not include a statement that Trump waited hours before calling on the rioters to leave the US Capitol that day and that he made racist remarks at the rally preceding the attack.
Instead, the report paints Trump as only encouraging his supporters at the White House Ellipse to march to the US Capitol and demonstrate “peacefully,” noticeably omitting other parts of the speech, including when he encouraged rally goers to “fight like hell.”
Trump’s former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, in an interview with the select committee, denied Trump gave him formal orders authorizing the deployment of National Guard troops to the Capitol on January 6.