What Did Donald Trump Tell Us About The 2020 Presidential Election? A State-Dependent Accountability Testimony of his Decree to Presidency
The full transcript from the October 13 hearing can be found below. The transcript was produced by CQ.
Good afternoon, and may God bless the United States of America. Four months ago, this committee started to present our findings to you, the American people. From the beginning, we understood that some people watching those proceedings would wrongly assume that the committee’s investigation was a partisan exercise.
What did President Trump know? What was he told? What was his personal and substantial role in the multipart plan to overturn the election? For those of you who’ve watched our prior hearings, some of this evidence will look familiar. 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.
In mid-December 2020, President Trump’s senior advisers told him the time had come to concede the election. Donald Trump knew the courts had ruled against him. He had all of this information, but still he made the conscious choice to claim fraudulently that the election was stolen, to pressure state officials to change election results, to manufacture fake electoral slates, to attempt to corrupt our Department of Justice, to summon tens of thousands of supporters to Washington.
What Donald Trump proceeded to do after the 2020 election is something no president has done before in our country. In a staggering betrayal of his oath, Donald Trump attempted a plan that led to 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 presented a clear picture of what happened? Because of the testimony we’ve heard and that we have presented to you through these proceedings, because of the documentary evidence we’ve gathered and also made available directly to you, the American people.
But the need for this committee to hear from Donald Trump goes beyond our fact finding. This is a question about how people are held accountable. He needs to be held accountable. He is required to answer for his actions. He’s required to answer to those police officers who put their lives and bodies on the line to defend our democracy.
Who has done that? Aides who’ve worked loyally for Donald Trump for years, Republican state officials and legislators, Republican electors, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, political professionals who worked at the highest levels of the Trump campaign, Trump appointees who served in the most senior positions in the Justice Department, President Trump’s staff and closest advisers in the White House, members of the — President Trump’s family, his own White House counsel.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Summary and Summary of the Evidence from Senator John F. Trump’s Joint Session with the Senate Select Committee on Investigations into the January 6th Abuse Threat
The committee is looking at additional information from the Secret Service and other sources to see if the testimony is credible. The Secret Service was monitoring this kind of online activity and was sharing and receiving the results of that effort. They shared information about the joint session of Congress from social media and other sources.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In our past hearings, you have seen direct evidence that President Trump sent a crowd of his supporters to the Capitol on January 6th, knowing they were armed and angry. This was the final plan to disrupt the joint session and prevent the orderly transition of power.
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.
There’s one more difference about 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.
From the Secret Service, the Select Committee has also obtained important new evidence on this issue. It demonstrates how frantic the Secret Service was today, trying to get the President to back down from a risky decision that puts people in harm’s way.
And according to public reporting, the Department of Justice has been very active in pursuing many of the issues identified in our prior hearings. Our committee may decide to make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, but our role is not to make decisions about prosecution.
The preamble to our Constitution recites among its purposes, to “establish justice.” And our nation’s judiciary and our US Department of Justice have that responsibility. A key element of this committee’s responsibility is to propose reforms to prevent January 6th from ever happening again. The House passed a bill to amend the Electoral Count Act to make sure that no other attempts to overturn an election are successful.
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.
He also visited the White House on December 12th. He posted a disturbing video saying that he was responsible for the attack. This video, posted on January 6th, was created before the attack. The effort to convince Americans that President Trump won the election began before the election results even came in. It was intentional.
Rudy Giuliani, who came forward to help, knew he never had the chance to change the election results. On January 5th they acknowledged that they were still trying to find the phantom evidence. 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 Case for Replacing President Trump with a Justice Whose Obstruction to Distinguish the Constitution and the Law of the First Amendment
President Trump finally gave his instructions at 4:13 p.m. after security assistance arrived at the Capitol and the tide turned against the insurrection. More than 100 law enforcement officers were injured in the rioting and the crowd finally dispersed.
Today you should ponder who had a hand in defeating President Trump’s effort to overturn the election, such as the Vice President, the Department of Justice, State Republican officials, and the White House staff.
All of these people had a hand in stopping Donald Trump. This leads us to a key question. Why would Americans assume that our Constitution and our institutions and our republic are invulnerable to another attack? Why would we assume that those institutions will not falter next time? A key lesson of this investigation is this.
Our institutions only hold when men and women of good faith make them hold regardless of the political cost. We have no guarantee that these men and women will be in place next time. People who could stand in the way of a president trying to do what Donald Trump did are no longer an option.
Also, please think about this. The rulings of our courts are respected and obeyed because we as citizens pledge to accept and honor them. The president swears to obey the laws, since he has a constitutional obligation to do so. When the president disregards the court’s rulings, what happens?
Donald Trump was tricked or irrational. No president can defy the rule of law in a republic. Mr. Chairman, our nation’s federal judges are sworn to do impartial justice to preserve our Constitution and preserve our union. Dozens of these judges have been addressing January 6th cases, and many have given us plain, unmistakable warnings about the direction of our republic.
I want to read from the judge’s statement at the recent sentencing hearing. They don’t want to lose power, and they know that the election was legitimate, but they won’t say so. It has to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America to stand up for one man who knows full well that he lost instead of the Constitution he was trying to subvert.” 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. Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years. People in most places on Earth have not been free. America is an exception only because we bind our principles to our Constitution.
Some principles are beyond politics, in violation, and more important than any American has ever lived. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Is President Donald Trump really going to win the election? The case against a Republican campaign manager, Kevin McCarthy, and Jared Kushner
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The meeting will be held very soon after the election of November 3, 2020. As the chairman noted, we’ve previously presented testimony about how the election results were expected to come in that night. In certain states, ballots cast by mail before Election Day would be counted only after the polls closed that evening.
That meant that results wouldn’t 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 that people said mail in ballots might be a good thing for them if they looked at it correctly.
I invited Kevin McCarthy to join the meeting, he being of like mind on — on the issue with me, in which we made our case for — for why we believed mail in balloting, mail in voting not to be a bad thing for his campaign, but, you know, the President’s mind was made up. Continue videotape.
Before the election it was expected that the votes cast in some states would be more Republican and this would cause a false perception of a lead for President Trump. There could be trends towards Vice President Biden as the votes from the mailed in ballots are counted.
“Sending along again. Just talked to him about the draft below.” Again, this plan to keep — to declare victory was in place before any of the results had been determined. In the course of our investigation, we also interviewed Brad Parscale, President Trump’s former campaign manager. He told us he understood that President Trump planned as early as July that he would 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 votes were going to be counted for a while. It was too early to make such a big deal of it. I believe my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted. It’s too early to tell, and too early to call the race.
This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were preparing to win the election. Frankly, we did win this election. [applause] We want all voting to stop. End videotape.
There is no doubt that President Trump’s pressure campaign on Vice President Pence was significant. The President called the Vice President from the Oval Office on the morning of January 6 and demanded that the election results be thrown out. Numerous witnesses told the Select Committee about the invective that President Trump leveled at his own Vice President.
I was told that there might be a declaration of victory by the White House before the election results are known. He was trying to figure out a way of avoiding the Vice President getting thrust into a position of having to opine when there is not enough information to do so. [End videotape]
The Select Committee got this pre-prepared statement from the National Archives. The draft statement that was sent on October 31st states, “we had an election today – and I won.” According to the Fitton memo, the only thing that would matter is if the votes are counted before the Election Day deadline.
Everyone knew that the ballot counting would continue past Election Day, despite claims by President Trump that the counting on election night must stop before millions of votes were counted. Mr. Fitton said he had spoken with the President about the statement on Election Day.
Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist and an adviser to the president, spoke to a group of associates from China just a few days before the election. [Begin videotape]
He’s going to say that he is a winner. When you wake up Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a big deal. If Trump is losing by 10:00 or 11:00 at night, it is going to be even more crazy because he’s going to say they stole it.
The Attorney General must shut down all ballot places in all 50 states. He’s not going out easier, that’s for sure. If Biden is winning, Trump is going to do some crazy shit. The end of videotape.
As you know, Mr. Bannon refused to testify in our investigation. He’s been convicted of criminal contempt of Congress and he’s awaiting sentencing. Evidence shows that Donald Trump planned to make a false declaration on election night, but also that Mr. Bannon knew about it. Here’s what Bannon said on January 5th. [Begin videotape]
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The White House is Going to Win a Game: Roger Stone and Donald Trump in a White House Campaign on January 5th and 6th
All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. The point of attack is what they say, and it’s all coming together. If you think it’s going to happen, you’re wrong. Ok, okay. It is going to be very different. And all I can say is strap in. Tomorrow is game day and you have made it happen.
The President tried to do that earlier in the month. The testimony we have gathered shows that President Trump spoke to Roger Stone and Michael Flynn at the president’s request, at the Willard Hotel on January 5th and 6th.
I think it will be, but I don’t believe it will be decided in the end. When that happens, the key thing to do 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. In this post, you can see how Roger Stone talked about his conversations with President Trump.
He wrote, “I also told the President exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and convicted and to ensure Donald Trump continues as our President.” by now we know that the idea for a special counsel was more than just an out of the blue suggestion.
It is a plan to use violent force against the United States to oppose their lawful 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.
As we all know now, the Oath Keepers did play a specific role in January 6th and had stashed weapons in Virginia for further violence that evening. Also, on that day, the Secret Service was readying its security precautions for the President’s speech at the Ellipse the next day. A Secret Service deputy chief instructed agents to add certain objects to the list of items that would be prohibited at the rally site, including ballistic vests, tactical vests, armored or not, and ballistic helmets.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The President of the United States of America, Senator Tarrio, and the Proud Boys: Correspondence with the Select Committee on the Attack on January 6th
Video evidence and phone records obtained by the Select Committee show Roger Stone’s close relationship with Tarrio and the Proud Boys. 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 they did it.
It was planned. 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 convince his supporters that he had won. The people that seemingly knew about the plan in advance would have a big part in the events of January 6. Mr Chairman, I am not going to fight you.
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.
There is a discussion going on in the Oval. And the President says, I think — it could have been Pompeo, but he says words to the effect of, yeah, we lost. We — we need to let that issue go to the next guy, meaning President Biden.
The election was called a week later and I went to the Oval to see how the President was doing. He looked at the TV and he said that he had lost to an effing guy.
The President said to the effect of, I do not want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. I don’t want people to know that we lost. [End videotape]
Knowing that he had lost and that he had only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business. One key example is this: President Trump issued an order for large-scale US troop withdrawals. There are fragile governments in the front lines of the fight against terrorists and he ignored their concerns.
Knowing he was leaving office, he acted immediately and signed this order on November 11th, which would have required the immediate withdrawal of troops from Somalia and Afghanistan, all to be complete before the Biden inauguration on January 20th. As you watch these clips, recall that General Keith Kellogg was the national security adviser to the vice president and had served as chief of staff to the National Security Council for President Trump.
Did you know that the president ordered the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan on November 11, 2020?
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. When you first interviewed and met Colonel Douglas Macgregor, is it fair to say you discussed this decision of withdrawing from Somalia and Afghanistan, correct?
So on that same day, just so I’m clear, he responded back to you that day, meaning DOD leadership was not going to do — take any of those steps without an order.
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. I said, If you want this to happen or the President wants this to happen, he’s got to write an order.
Well, I sketched on a piece of paper for him some key statements. You know, the President directs. You know, this is — what’s the right word — boilerplate language?
Mc Entee brought it in to the President. It’s over once the president signs it and faxes it over. Kash Patel delivers it to me.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Senator Macgregor in the House of Representatives to the Select Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms (Jan-6-commission-hearing-transcript)
I told Macgregor that if I saw something like that, I would do something physical. Because I thought what that was then was a tremendous disservice to the nation. And by the way, that was a very contested issue. Some people disagreed with the idea of getting out of Afghanistan.
So, I responded to that. And for the department to insert itself into the political process this way I think would have had grave consequences for the country. It could have resulted in a crisis of the constitutional order. The end of 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 the highly consequential actions of a President who knows his term will shortly end. 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 story of Donald J. Meadows and the outcome of a grand jury investigation into a federal election fraud case in the U.S. Supreme Court
I remember a call with Mr. Meadows, where Mr. Meadows 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. that, yeah, that that — that tip that your — someone told you about those — those votes or that fraud or, you know, nothing came of it. It’s not a very fun job to be telling the President about wild allegations, as you know, and that’s where the truth-telling squad comes in.
What was generally discussed on that topic was whether the fraud, maladministration, abuse or irregularities if aggregated and read most favorably to the campaign, would that be outcome determinative. And I think everyone’s assessment in the room, at least amongst the staff, Marc Short, myself, and Greg Jacob, was that it was not sufficient to be outcome determinant. The videotape is ending.
The claims were not supported by any sufficient evidence of fraud or irregularities. Judges recognized them as baseless. Only 62 cases were able to prove that there was election fraud, which gave President Trump the power to overturn the results. We shared with you the words that judges around the country used to reject the Trump campaign’s claims.
There is strong language that states that there is no evidence for election fraud in those lawsuits. The charges required specific allegations and proof according to the federal appeals court in Pennsylvania. We have neither here. The court allowed the former president the chance to make his case and he lost, according to a federal judge in Wisconsin.
Another judge in Michigan called the claims, quote, nothing but speculation and conjecture that votes for President Trump were either destroyed, discarded or switched to votes for 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 Trump allies lost a case in the US Supreme Court, which they believed to be their last chance at success in the courts. A newly obtained Secret Service message from that day shows how angry President Trump was about the outcome. POTUS is pissed, just said it. The Supreme Court denied his lawsuit.
President Trump’s White House advisers reacted negatively. Cassidy Hutchinson had a conversation with the Chief of Staff. You can begin videotape.
This is the day that the Supreme Court had rejected that case. The White House was where we were at the 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 fired up about the Supreme Court decision. And so I was standing next to Mr. Meadows, but I had stepped back. So I was probably two or three feet catty-cornered, diagonal from him. The President just raged about the decision and why he didn’t call more, and just this typical anger out of the corner of his eye.
December 14th was the day when the states certified their votes and sent them to Congress. And in my view, that was the end of the matter. I didn’t see — you know, I — I thought that this would lead inexorably to a new administration.
I told him that I believed the Electoral College had met and it would be pointless to pursue litigation because the system was set up to choose a president and vice president.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Senator Scalia: “You know that president Biden has won the election, but what did he do?” (CNNJPR, Jan. 6). The Dominion voting machines
Gene Scalia, the Secretary of Labor, explained to the president the situation after he had visited him. Begin the videotape.
So, I had put a call in to the president. I might have called on the 13th. We spoke, I believe, on the 14th, in which I conveyed to him that I thought that it was time for him to acknowledge that President Biden had prevailed in the election. But I communicated to the president that, you know, when that legal process is exhausted and when the electors are — have voted, that that’s the point at which that outcome needs to be expected.
I told him that I did believe, yes, that once the — those legal processes were run, if fraud had not been established that had affected the outcome of the election, then unfortunately I believed that what had to be done was concede the outcome. [End videotape]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The point of turning point was mid-December. President Trump had a choice to ignore the courts and his advisers and push for the overturn of the election. They were part of a plan to make sure that he remained in power and were not random or disconnected.
I specifically raised the Dominion voting machines, which I found to be among the most disturbing allegations, disturbing in the sense that I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations. It was a grave disservice to the country when I told them it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on it.
The company we have is very suspect. The name of the entity is Dominion. You could use a dial or chip to change the vote from Trump to Biden. What type of system is this?
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Reply to “Comment on ‘The Big Vote Dump in Detroit” by R. Donald Trump’s Reply”
We talked about the county again. The hand recount had been done and it was time to do that. This example of what people are saying and what’s being filed in court is just 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 changed from Trump to Biden, and the same systems are used in the rest of the country.
I would tell him how crazy some of the allegations were, and how ridiculous they were. And I’m talking about some of the ones like, you know, more votes — more absentee votes were cast in Pennsylvania than there were absentee ballots request — you know, stuff like that was just easy to blow up. There was never — there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.
There were more votes than there were voters. Think of that. You had more people to vote for. 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 the people saw boxes coming in at all hours of the morning. I told the president there were 630 precincts in Detroit. They centralized the counting process so that they aren’t counted in each precinct.
With regard to Georgia, we looked at the tape. We interviewed the witnesses. There is nothing in a suitcase. The president insisted that the suitcase was rolled out from the table and that it was filled with fraudulent ballots. I said there was no suitcase. You can see that video over and over.
There is no bag. There is a wheeled bin where they carry the ballots, and they move them around that facility. There’s nothing suspicious about that at all.
Election officials pulled boxes, Democrats, and suitcases of ballots out from under a table. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. [End videotape]
This happened over and over again, and our committee’s report will document it, purposeful lies made in public directly at odds with what Donald Trump knew from unassailable sources, the Justice Department’s own investigations and his own campaign. Donald Trump repeated the nonsense multiple times to a wide audience.
His intentions were to make something sound better. President Trump tried to change the result of the election in some states that he lost. He contacted several state officials and pressured them to change the election results in their states. The actions the president himself took made it clear what he was going to do to prevent the transfer of power.
Secretary Raffensperger told the president the truth, that he lost the election in Georgia, but President Trump did not accept that answer. Instead, he suggested that Secretary Raffensperger himself might be prosecuted. [Begin videotape]
So, look, now all I want to do is this. There are 11,780 votes that I want to find 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. So, what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes.
I want to find11,780 votes. It’s an extraordinary demand by the president since he already knew that there wasn’t a genuine basis for it. The secretary of state wouldn’t have a right to find the votes the president needed in order to win.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Bringing the gun out of a prisoner’s hiding-in-the-hidden state. [End videotape] I know you don’t know what to do
That’s the thing. You know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And — and, you know, you can’t let that happen. That is a big risk for you and your lawyer. That is a big risk. [End videotape]
I remember looking at Mark. I said that I don’t think we are going to pull it off. That call wasn’t right. He shook his head when he looked at me. He was like, no, Cass, you know, he knows it’s over. He knew he lost, but we’re going to keep trying. There are still good options out there.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The False Electors Plan of President Donald Trump and the National Archives: Jeff Clark and the Committee on the Investigation of the Fake Elections
Jeff Clark was involved with Donald Trump to undermine the Department of Justice. Jeff Clark was proposed by President Trump as the acting attorney general. He did that in this call log from the National Archives. Mr. Clark is speaking before the committee. Start the videotape.
For example, when Richard Donoghue and Jeff Rosen, both appointed by President Trump, learned of Mr. Clark’s proposal, here’s why they said they forcefully rejected it. Begin the video.
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. This was actually contrary to the facts as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and months.
The entire leadership of the Department of Justice as well as the White House Counsel threatened to resign and that’s why the President relented. Mr. Chairman, I give up.
When I got the call from the White House, I couldn’t remember the exact date, but it was President Trump who contacted me.
He turned over the phone to Mr. Eastman who talked about how important it was for the RNC to help the campaign gather the contingent electors in case there were legal challenges that changed the result of the states. [End videotape]
The fake electors plan was part of a bigger plan to make the Vice President refuse to count certain electoral votes, so that Donald Trump could win reelection. 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 have no right to overturn the results of the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. The idea that anyone can choose the President of the United States is un-American.
In writing, Dr. Eastman confirmed this. In an email written on January 6 the Vice President’s counsel asked if they had power to decide things on their own. Dr. Eastman replied, he’s been so advised.
Of course, President Trump’s own White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, also recognized that this plan was unlawful. This is Mr. Cipollone’s testimony. Begin the videotape.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Secret Service Observations of The Donald. Win. He Had a Plan to March on the Ellipse, Not the Day After the POTUS
She apologized for being impolite, but did you hear what her father said when he called the Vice President?
2:30 pm. Knowing that the deadly riot was now bearing down on his own Vice President, President Trump put together a plan to attack him for not rejecting Electoral College votes for Joe Biden and handing Trump the presidency. The impact of that tweet was foreseeable and predictable.
The president told his people to come to Washington on December 19th. In this and numerous other tweets, he fraudulently and repeatedly promoted January 6 as the day Americans could come in and change the election outcome. For weeks, President Trump worked with others to plan the rally, intending all along that he would send an assembled crowd of angry supporters to the Capitol after his speech on the Ellipse on January 6. We got a text message from one of the rally organizers. It reads that the president is going to have us march at the Capitol.
One agent wrote “could be sporty after dark.” With so many weapons found, one agent wondered how many are unknown. “No doubt,” another agent said at 12:38 PM. The people at the Ellipse said they are moving to the Capitol after the POTUS speech.” The documents we’ve received show the Secret Service was aware of weapons being possessed in DC as early as the night before.
At the time of the January 6 assault on the Capitol, I was the deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism at the New York Police Department. My intelligence analysts also shared information we gathered with the US Capitol Police and the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police. Congressional critics are scrutinizing whether the Secret Service gave information to other agencies.
As the time for the Ellipse rally approached, an email was circulated among intelligence officials, including Secret Service intelligence official, attaching communications among rally goers that specifically contemplated violence. One post on The Donald. Win said that Trump had given them marching orders. If you’re east of the Mississippi, you should be there.
I only remember that he was very good at predicting things in the future. One of the most serious threats is a direct assault on the Capitol. I will never forget it. [End videotape]
The email that was sent to the Secret Service was titled “armed and ready, Mr. president” and was sent on December 24th. Multiple users were online instructing others to go into the chambers of congress on January 6th to make sure they know who to fear.
The plan is to kill people, according to the source. Please take this tip very seriously and investigate further. The source made it clear that the Proud Boys had made plans on multiple websites. We should pause here. The Proud Boys’ plans for January 6th were in the knowledge of the Secret Service. We know now, of course, that the Proud Boys and others did lead the assault on our Capitol building.
The January 5 summary of FBI intelligence shows right wing groups responding from across the nation and establishing quick reaction forces in Virginia. Should POTUS need assistance, stand by at the ready.
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 was a person who claimed that there was possibly OC spray, which is pepper spray and/or plastic riot shields. 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.
Shortly before President Trump’s speech was to begin, a member of the Federal Protective Service was aware of the arrest of a protester with a gun. And during the speech, the weapons related arrests continued. At 12:13 PM, United States Park Police arrested a man with a rifle in front of the World War II Memorial. These agents remarked on the number of weapons that had been seized that day, speculating that the situation could get worse.
On one of these sites — as you’ve heard, one of those was called TheDonald.win. The Select Committee obtained a text message from Miller, a senior communications adviser, which he sent to Mark on January 6th. He wrote, “I got the base fired up” in all caps. He sent a link to this page on TheDonald.win.
There was a link on the web page to comments on the Joint Session of Congress. Look at some of the comments. “Gallows do not need electricity.” There will be hell to pay if the filthy commie people push their fraud through. “Our lawmakers in Congress can leave one of two ways; one, in a body bag, two, after rightfully certifying Trump the winner.” Mr. Miller said he didn’t know about the hundreds of comments that were in the link he sent.
The hearing of the December 30th February 2016 riot: President Trump told the congressman that the election had been rigged and that it had been stolen
If I had seen something like that, I would have made sure to flag the matter to the Secret Service, or I would have flipped it to someone at the White House. End videotape.
The same day that Miller sent his text, agents received reports of a spike in activity on Parler. This was December 30th. An agent was forwarded a report stating a lot of violent rhetoric directed at government people and entities, including Secret Service protectees.
The President gathered his communications staff in the Oval Office on January 5th. The door was open, allowing the president and others assembled there to hear the sounds of the crowd gathered at Freedom Plaza, just a few blocks from the White House. President Trump could tell by the noise of his supporters. Judd Deere, a deputy White House press Secretary, has previously described the president’s reaction.
They were fired up, just that they were. They were angry. He said that they feel like the election was rigged and that they felt like the election was stolen. [End videotape]
Yes, the president knew the crowd was angry because he had stoked that anger. He knew that he had told them that the election had been rigged, and they thought it had been 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
A brief break for the committee on jan 6 hearings: The California gentleman, and the Metropolitan Police officer, that’s Cassidy Hutchinson
The gentleman yields back. We’re going to take a brief break at this point. Pursuant to the order of the committee of today, the chair declares the committee in recess for a period of approximately 10 minutes. In recess. The chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Aguilar, for an opening statement.
He wanted it full and he was angry that we weren’t letting people through the mags with weapons, something the Secret Service deemed as 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’re not here to hurt me. Take the f’ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let them into the building. 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 good job. [Applause] But I’d love it if they could be allowed to come up here with us. Is that possible? Can you just let them come up, please?
“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 is similar to the testimony you saw this summer from Cassidy Hutchinson, a Metropolitan Police officer who was in the motorcade.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Reply to Commission 7 : Why we are alarmed by the events that Donald Trump walked to the Capitol in January 2016”
And I’m also going to note this. 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. This will be addressed in our report.
The people sworn to protect the safety of the president of the United States and who routinely put themselves in harm’s way were convinced that this was a bad idea. Secret Service documents also reveal how agents were poised to take President Trump to the Capitol later that afternoon. Agents were told to wear protective gear and be ready for a movement.
To be completely honest, we were all in a state of shock. Why? Because — because we just — one, I think the actual physical feasibility of doing it, and then also we all knew what that indicated and what that meant, that this was no longer a rally, that this was going to move to something else if he physically walked to the Capitol.
I — I don’t know if you want to use the word insurrection, coup, whatever. We all knew that it would be different than a normal democratic event. Why were we are alarmed?
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
President Trump’s Telling the Truth: “I Can’t Get Out of the Capitol,” a White House Activist Reminiscence
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. The White House counsel is Pat Cipollone.
As the president arrived back at the White House, the press secretary had a discussion with him. [Begin videotape]
I recall that he wanted to be a part of the march and then said he would ride the beast if he needed to, if he had to. [End videotape]
Take a look at the Secret Service email from January 6th, the minute President Trump got out of his car and went to the White House. 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’t talk about conversations with the president, but I can generically say that I said, you know, people need to be told — there needs to be a public announcement fast that they need to leave the Capitol.
Approximately when? There were a lot of people getting into the Capitol in a way that was violent.
I cannot think of anyone who would not want people to get out of the Capitol once the violence started. I mean —
I’m sorry. I am. I am sorry. I think you said who else on the staff. I don’t know but I think that I can’t reveal communications. End the videotape.
Mr. Cipollone’s testimony is corroborated by multiple other White House staff members, including Cassidy Hutchinson. Here’s Ms. Hutchinson describing what she heard from Mark Meadows. [Begin videotape]
You heard him, Pat, he had said something to the effect. He doesn’t want to do anything more. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong. The end of the 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 told Mr. Cipollone something. He seemed to tell the president that he didn’t want anything done.
The president’s most important political allies and family members begged him to tell his supporters to go home. They included Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other allies at Fox News, his son Donald Trump Jr, the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, others in Congress, and officials in the cabinet and the executive branch.
All of them made appeals to Donald Trump, which he rejected and he ignored. The Select Committee interviewed several people who were in the dining room that afternoon, and every single one of them told them he was watching the violent fights on TV. He didn’t call the Secretary of Defense, the National Guard, the Capitol Police or the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Was the president in the private dining room during the time of the attack on Capitol, or was he somewhere else, only to your knowledge?
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 recall? I think they were — everyone was watching the TV. Do you know whether he was watching TV in the dining room when you talked to him on January 6th?
Was the violence at the Capitol visible on the screen in the dining room while you were there, or on the television?
You’ll see how everyone involved was working actively to stop the violence, to get federal law enforcement deployed to the scene, to put down the violence and secure the Capitol complex. Democrats like Speaker Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, but also Republicans like the President, Vice President, Senate Majority Leader, and many others.
We’re starting to get surrounded. They are working on the north front scaffolding. We aren’t going to be able to hold if we don’t get more weapons. People are gaining access to the capitol after the door has been broken.
We have to maintain a sense of security for the people that government can work and that we can choose the president of the country. 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 out more.
I can’t. The House members have their own area. They’re all walking over now through the tunnel. Bring her out here. Hey, boys, we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.
I’m going to call the DOD secretary. There are some Senators who are hiding. Massive personnel are needed now. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come too?
Something to say, Mr. Secretary. The leader said that he would call the mayor of Washington DC and see what other outreach she has to other departments.
Hi, Governor. 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.
It’s really that, they said someone was shot. It is just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States. Ok, thank you, Governor. I appreciate what you’re doing. I’d like to stay in touch if you don’t mind. Thank you. Thank you.
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, and obviously ransacking our offices. That’s nothing. We have concern about personal harm.
Personal safety is — it just transcends everything. They’re breaking the law in many different ways, and they’re doing it at the direction of the president of the United States. 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 Building is going to go home, and I’m standing there with the Chief of Police of the US Capitol Police. Is it going to take days?
I do not want to speak for the leadership that is going to execute the operation so I am not going to say that. They are experts because they are meeting on the ground. It’s inaudible.
If you wanted to be sure, just pretend it was the White House or Pentagon that was under siege. You can get people there at the right time if you make the plan. We are trying to find a way to get this job done. 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 We could vote and just move on with the rest of the state if they could just confine it to one complaint, Arizona.
The Capitol is where the wish is to do it. It’s going to take days for the Capitol to be back to its former state, according to what we are being told. A bad report about the House floor, defecation and all the other stuff has been given to us. I don’t think it’s very hard to clean, but I think it’s more important to keep everyone out of the building, and how long that will take, from a security standpoint.
I said that it may take days to clean up the poo poo in the Capitol, and that it may take weeks to get back.
I’m at the Capitol building. I’m literally standing with the Chief of Police of — you know, the US Capitol Police. 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.
You just saw a video where Senator Schumer encourages the Attorney General to get President Trump to call off the rioters. Many other officials, as well as acting AG Rosen, took action to defend the government. Congressional leadership was of the opinion that President Trump could end the mob’s siege of the Congress by leaving the Capitol and going home.
It was clear that only President Trump could end this. He was the only one who was capable of doing so. Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Allies made frantic calls to the administration. The President was not quick to act. He did not do his job. He did not take any steps to ensure that federal law could be faithfully executed.
Mick Mulvaney, who was President Trump’s chief of staff, corroborates her shocking account. [Begin videotape]
Kevin McCarthy told me that Donald Trump finally got through to him after I asked about this. and he said, you have got to get on TV. You have to be on social media. You’ve got to call these people off. You know what the President said to him? This is the same thing as it is happening.
He said, well, Kevin, these aren’t my people. These are not just a bunch of people doing things that are anti-fascist. And Kevin responded and said, no, they’re your people. They literally just came through my office windows, and my staff are running for cover. I mean, they’re running for their lives. You need to call them off. And the President’s response to Kevin to me was chilling.
I think they’re more upset with the election than you are, Kevin, he said. 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 President Barack Obama said “no, I’m” before beginning the swearing in. 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, It was very similar to how she had described it, where he called and asked the President to get them to stop. And the President told him something along the lines of, Kevin, 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 Oasis of Justice: Vice President Pence Hearing the Senate Committee on Human Rights and the First Amendment Right after the Election
But let me be very clear to all of you and I’ve been very clear to the President; he bears responsibilities for his words and actions, no ifs, ands or buts. I asked him personally today, does he hold responsibility for what happened? Does he feel bad about what happened? He told me, he does have some responsibility for what happened and he need to acknowledge that.
The mob was provoked to escalate their violence by it, since they were chanting ” hang Mike Pence”. The decision to enrage the mob against Vice President Pence is not justified by what President Trump might have thought about the election. The VP’s Secret Service detail was most concerned about his physical safety 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. Individuals who were already constructing gallows, who were able and willing to murder someone, were the ones who were looking for someone to be killed. The individual who was supposed to start the coup is pointing the finger at another person now that they are ready to do this.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Mike Pence’s Madness Has Not Be Done For Donald Trump. He says, Go Home. That’s our order. [Inaudible] The Times at 6:01 AM on the Capitol
Mike Pence will not stick up for Donald Trump. Mike Pence is a traitor. In case you haven’t heard before, Mike Pence has messed us up. What happened? What happened? I’m hearing that Mike Pence has hurt us. I’m hearing reports that Mike Pence has hurt us. [End videotape]
Between 2:30 and 2:35, within 10 minutes of President Trump’s tweet, thousands of rioters overran the line that the Metropolitan Police Force’s Civil Disturbance Unit was holding on the west side of the Capitol. The security line that was broken was the first one in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department.
The conduct of President Trump on that day prompted several members of the White House staff and other Trump appointees to resign. In prior hearings, you’ve heard Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger and Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Matthews explain why they felt compelled to resign on that day.
Since then, we have spoken to more senior officials, including President Trump’s envoy to Northern Ireland, and former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, who resigned from his position after the 6th, in protest of Trump’s behavior.
I was shocked by the violence, but also surprised by the President’s apparent indifference to it. And now is the time for the President to be presidential. I believed he failed at it. I believed he failed at a critical time to be a leader that the nation needed.
I think the events at the Capitol were very shocking. And it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside. The events made it hard for me to continue because I had personal values and my philosophy. I came as an immigrant to this country.
I think about this country a lot. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so I was a — it was a decision that I made on my own. End videotape.
The President’s message is being delivered. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. That’s our order. [Inaudible] He says, go home. The videotape ends.
President Trump used the time at 6:01) to excuse and glamorize mass violence, failing to condemn it in any way. He made it clear that he thought the violence was predictable. Check it out. These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously, viciously, stripped away from great patriots who have been badly unfairly treated for so long.
He said they were the things that happened, giving the whole game away. The Vice President, Congress, and all the injured and wounded cops got what was coming to us, according to Trump. According to Trump. January 6 is a day that should go down in history as one of the best days.
If the president had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he could have been on camera almost instantly. The White House press corps’ offices are directly behind the briefing room. And so, if he had wanted to make an address from the Oval Office, we could have assembled the White House press corps probably in a matter of minutes to get them into the Oval for him to do an on camera address.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Investigating the January 6, 2016 Reaction of the Defendendant of Insurrection and Repression Against Reionization
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. Anyone who has sworn an oath to defend the Constitution but then traitors it is no longer allowed to hold a federal and state office.
At the beginning of the Civil War, it was President Lincoln who made the best explanation of why democracy rejects insurrection. He said the rights of the people were the first principle of popular government. Democracy in the US is for the entire American people, not a single man. I would like to thank you Mr. Chairman.
The gentleman yields back. During the first hearing of the committee in July of last year, our witnesses were four police officers who helped repel the riots of January 6th. 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.
The officer asked us to look into actions that took place during the day. Whether someone in power was involved was a concern for Officer Hodges. Officer Dunn put it simply, get to the bottom of what happened. We have been working for more than a year to get those answers. We’ve done a lot of depositions.
He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6th, so we want to hear from him. The committee needs to do everything in our power to tell the most complete story possible and provide recommendations to help ensure nothing like January 6th ever happens again. We need to be fair and thorough and gain a full context for the evidence we’ve obtained.
We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th’s central player. More than 30 witnesses in our investigation have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and several of those did so specifically in response to questions about their dealings with Donald Trump directly. Here are a few examples.
There’s precedent in American history for Congress to compel the testimony of a precedent — president. Presidents have provided testimony and proof to Congressional investigators in the past. A former president has a subpoena and it 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. I am aware that the Vice Chair, Ms. Cheney, is going to offer a motion.
Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. Our committee now has a lot of information to answer some of the questions congress posed at the beginning. We have sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals and to recommend a range of legislative proposals to guard against another January 6th, but a key task remains.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
John Eastman testifies that Donald Trump knew what he had done on January 6th, 2020, and when he would be sentenced
This is a picture of General Michael Flynn walking with Oath Keepers outside on December 12, 2020. [Begin videotape]
John Eastman told tens of thousands of angry protesters that the vice president could change the election result on January 6th. Later on this same day, Dr. Eastman acknowledged in writing that Donald Trump knew what he was attempting was illegal. Here is John Eastman testifying before our committee.
So is it your position that you can discuss in the media direct conversations you had with the President of the United States, but you will not discuss those same conversations with this committee.
Other witnesses have also gone to enormous 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 concerning Peter Navarro are ongoing.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Secret Service Committee Report on a January 6 Decrement in the Los Angeles, Maryland, Capitol, and Washington, D.C. (AdS01) Hearing Room
The resolution is agreed to. Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Chair requests that those in the hearing room remain seated until the Capitol Police have escorted members from the room. Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.
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.
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 the Secret Service provided to the committee show most of the intel was coming from the FBI. Much of that was being passed in briefings at the FBI’s Washington field office to all agencies involved in preparing for the January 6 protests. Critics point to a December 31, 2020, Secret Service summary of Facebook posts promoting pro- Trump protests on January 6 with each paragraph ending with, “There is no indication of civil disobedience.”
On January 6, the US marshals service posted a message on the online social site Parler, which is popular with conservatives, stating that they had provided information to the Secret Service. I am here for justice. F—k Pence sellout traitor we better see him coming out that building in handcuffs or were going in.”
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
Donohue’s Monitor of the Capitol, his Monitor, Sentiments and a Taskforce on Capitol Police Threat Assessment
The question shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how intelligence flows between agencies. The two organizations that are supposed to share information widely with law enforcement partners are the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
Critics claimed that shows the Secret Service was downplaying the potential for violence. As an intelligence professional who’s been reading similar summaries for almost two decades, I can say with certainty that there is no indication in the posting on Facebook 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.
Three days before the storming of the Capitol, the US Capitol Police intelligence arm produced a threat assessment that had the most on-point paper from the days before.
The document was written by intelligence analysts working for Jack Donohue, 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.” The targets of the pro-Trump supporters are not the counter-protesters but Congress itself, according to a key judgment on that page.
This combination of Stop the Steal’s ability to attract white supremacists, militias and others who actively promote violence may lead to a dangerous situation for law enforcement and the public alike. On Sunday, January 3, at 3 PM was when it happened.
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.”
There have been reports that stated thatoptics affected my decision about using the National Guard troops. That is categorically false. ‘Optics’ as portrayed in the media did not determine our security posture; safety was always paramount when evaluating security for January 6.”
According to Sund, Stenger also would not approve the request but “suggested I ask them how quickly we could get support if needed and to ‘lean forward’ in case we had to request assistance on January 6.” 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.
Both sergeants-at-arms testified in March that they never brought the January 3 request from the chief of the Capitol to either Pelosi or McConnell until the Capitol was fully under siege on January 6. Irving said, “The intelligence was not that there would be a coordinated attack on the Capitol, nor was it contemplated in any of the interagency meetings I attended before the attack.” Stenger died of cancer in June.
Sergeants at-arms and Capitol Police chief had to fall on their swords. In March, Congress called for a review of how critical operational decisions are made by the Capitol Police. The chief of the Capitol Police could ask for emergency help without going through the Capitol Police Board, thanks to legislation passed by Congress.
The swift passage of the new legislation shows us that even elected officials who routinely work by committee, understood that their police chief shouldn’t have to run a crisis through one.
Jan. 6 – 13: The Capitol Attack Observed by the House Intelligence Subcommission (Hastings)
There are 14. Intelligence showed that anti-fascists would not likely engage in a violent counterdemonstration on Jan. 6. Indeed, intelligence from Jan. 5 indicated that some left-wing groups were instructing their members to “stay at home” and not attend on Jan. 6. None of these groups were involved in the attack on the Capitol.
Annotation for 13, 14 and 15: The committee has faced criticism, especially from Republicans, for not focusing more attention on the failures by intelligence and law enforcement officials on Jan. 6 and in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack. The panel gave some preliminary findings and may issue a separate report.
Annotation: The question of why it took so long to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol is one of the enduring mysteries of Jan. 6. The committee sharply criticized Mr. Trump for not taking action that day, but found no evidence that the Guard’s deployment was delayed for political reasons.