January 6 probe, new books lift lid on Trump's final days in office

The Pentagon's chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, felt the need to assuage China, which worried about US stability after Donald Trump refused to concede election defeat

The Congressional investigation into the January 6 assault on the US Capitol by a mob loyal to Donald Trump is increasingly focusing on the former president and his top aides -- and what they did before the riot.

Last week, an appeals court ruled that Trump cannot block the release to investigators of his White House records relating to the attack, and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows faces being ruled in contempt for refusing to testify.

It is piecing together a picture of the moves made by Trump after he lost the November 2020 election to Joe Biden, and the possibility that he was attempting to engineer a coup in an unprecedented threat to US democracy.

- Trump serious about reversing election -

After failing to reverse vote counts in the states he needed to change the result, Trump focused intensely on preventing Congress from certifying Biden's victory on January 6. 

Meadows was one of several people close to Trump who, according to various reports, disseminated that plan, along with bizarre conspiracy theories alleging the election was fraudulent.

Pence, increasingly under pressure, sought advice in late December from former vice president Dan Quayle, who said he was required to certify Biden's win.

"You don't know the position I'm in," he said, according to "Peril," the book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.  

Meanwhile, on January 5 and 6, Trump, Meadows and other White House aides liaised regularly with a "war room" in a nearby hotel staffed by Eastman, advisor Steve Bannon and numerous others, who also were in contact with Trump supporters in the streets. 

In the weeks after Trump refused to concede defeat, top officials feared he could try to mobilize the military to hold onto power.

After the election, when Trump fired defense secretary Mark Esper, CIA Director Gina Haspel called the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, saying: "We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity," according to "Peril."

On January 2, 10 former defense secretaries issued an extraordinary statement warning it was dangerous to challenge the election results or use the military to resolve political issues.

Nine days after the November election, Trump asked advisors about launching air strikes to take out Iran's entire nuclear program. They persuaded him to stand down, but they were unnerved.

When the issue was again raised after a barrage of missiles was launched at the US embassy in Baghdad on December 21, officials struggled to contain Trump, according to "Betrayal," a new book by ABC journalist Jonathan Karl.

Just before the election, Milley took the unusual step of calling his Chinese counterpart to offer reassurances.

Beijing's worries resurfaced after the January 6 riot, and Milley called Li again.

- 'Got it?' -

In the hours after the attack, both Republican and Democratic political figures, including some in Trump's own cabinet, felt he was unstable and should be removed from office by constitutional means. 

Ultimately, Pence certified the election result, and calm was restored -- more or less.

"The nuclear triggers are secure," Milley told her, according to "Peril." "I can assure you that that will not happen."

He looked at each one and said, "Got it?"

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