Panel’s hearing focuses on Donald Trump’s actions during Capitol riot
The House committee probing the attack on the US Capitol laid out a searing, prime-time indictment of Donald Trump’s refusal to halt or condemn the violence.
The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol is holding the eighth and last of its summer series of hearings, focusing on an account of activities inside the White House during a 187-minute period following former president Donald Trump’s speech to his supporters that day at The Ellipse.
The panel has said it plans to portray Mr Trump as failing to respond to the attack, a decision that committee member Representative Elaine Luria (D., Va.), who will help lead Thursday’s 8pm (Friday morning Australian time) ET hearing, called a “dereliction of duty”.
“He literally watched the ship burn and didn’t try to put out the fire,” Ms Luria, a former navy officer, said in an interview.
She said Mr Trump’s inaction raises questions about his intentions that day and whether he was in some way in favour of his supporters’ assault on the Capitol.
Representative Bennie Thompson (D., Miss.), chairman of the committee, joined Thursday’s hearing remotely after he tested positive for Covid-19, committee aides said. Ms Luria and Mr Kinzinger led the questioning of witnesses at the hearing.
“Over the last month and a half, the select committee has told a story of a president who did everything in his power to overturn an election,” Mr Thompson said in opening remarks. On January 6, Mr. Trump “ignored and disregarded the desperate pleas of his own family, including Ivanka and Don Jr.,” to call off the attack on the Capitol, he said, referring to Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Previous hearings have focused on Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure government officials, including his own vice president, Mike Pence, and senior members of the Justice Department, to take steps to help him overturn the election.
Mr Trump and lawyers advising him, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, had argued that Mr Pence could reject electoral votes from several battleground states in an attempt to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
“Donald Trump’s own White House counsel, his own White House staff, members of his own family all implored him to immediately intervene to condemn the violence and instruct his supporters to stand down,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.), vice chairwoman of the committee, who presided over the hearing. trump
In doing so, Mr Trump “refused to defend our nation and our Constitution,” she said.
Ms Cheney said the committee would spend August continuing its investigation before convening in September for additional hearings.
The committee played a recording of a deposition of Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commenting on Mr Trump’s lack of action on January 6.
“You’re the commander in chief, you’ve got an assault going on the Capitol of the United States of America, and there’s nothing?” he said. “No call? Nothing? Zero?”
More hearings are expected later this year.
Mr Trump has said he did nothing wrong and has called the January 6 committee a partisan witch hunt. He continues to claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even though his campaign and his allies lost dozens of lawsuits around the country challenging the 2020 results.
The Justice Department said there were no signs of widespread fraud, and a bipartisan consortium of local, state and federal election officials declared the 2020 race the most secure U.S. election in history.
In never-before-seen video, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), flanked by his chief of staff Sharon Soderstrom, and in a knot that included Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who at the time was the Senate’s president pro tempore, could be seen in a call with Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who was on speaker phone.
“We’re not going to let these people keep us from finishing our business, so we need you to get the building cleared, give us the okay so we can go back in session and finish up the people’s business as soon as possible,” Mr. McConnell said.
The committee also aired audio of then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who was huddled with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) over a cellphone talking to Mr. Miller as well.
“Some people here in the Capitol Police believe it would take us several days to secure the building,” Mr. Schumer said. “Do you agree with that analysis?” He pressed further. “What is the earliest that we could safely resume our proceedings in the Senate and House chambers, the earliest that we could safely resume?”
The building was cleared in the evening and Congress reconvened. At 3:32 a.m. on Jan. 7, Mr. Pence affirmed Mr. Biden’s election victory after lawmakers certified the results.
Keep up with the latest developments here:
In Closing, Cheney says Trump violated Oath of Office
By Andrew Restuccia and Lindsay Wise
The committee wrapped up tonight’s hearings with closing remarks calling for new measures to ensure that an attack on the democratic process doesn’t happen again.
“We will recommend changes in laws and policies to guard against another Jan. 6,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.), a member of the committee. But he warned, “Laws are just words on paper. They mean nothing without public servants dedicated to the rule of law.”
“Whatever your politics, whatever you think about the outcome of the election, we as Americans must all agree on this: Donald Trump’s conduct on Jan. 6 was as supreme violation of his oath of office,” Mr. Kinzinger said.
“The case against Donald Trump, in these hearings, is not made by witnesses who are his political enemies; it is instead a series of confessions by Donald Trump’s own appointees, his own friends, his own campaign officials, people who worked for him for years and his own family,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.), the vice chair of the committee.
“There was no ambiguity, no nuance. Donald Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office, to ignore the ongoing violence against law enforcement, to threaten our constitutional order,” she said.
Mr. Trump has denied wrongdoing related to Jan. 6 and called the hearing a sham.
She praised the witnesses for appearing before the panel, singling out the young female White House staffers in particular, saying they are “an inspiration to American women and to American girls.”
Ms. Cheney criticized several senior members of the Trump administration for refusing to testify before the committee.
Ms. Cheney noted that the room in the Cannon Office Building where the hearing is taking place had been used in 2018 by a committee on women’s suffrage “to discuss and debate whether women should be granted the right to vote.”
She added: “This room is full of history. And we on this committee know we have a solemn obligation not to idly squander what so many Americans have fought and died for...Our committee understands the gravity of this moment, the consequences for our nation. We have much work yet to do. “
Trump aides enraged by Trump ignoring death of capitol police officer Sicknick
By Siobhan Hughes
The committee aired texts between Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh and Matthew Wolking, the deputy director of communications for the Trump campaign, over news that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick had died a day after confronting rioters at the Capitol.
“Also s—ty not to have even acknowledged the death of the Capitol police officer,’ wrote Mr. Murtaugh.
Mr. Wolking replied, “That is enraging to me. Everything he said about supporting law enforcement was a lie.”
Responded Mr. Murtaugh: “You know what that is, of course, if he acknowledged the dead cop, he’d be implicitly faulting the mob. And he won’t do that, because they’re his people. And he would also be close to acknowledging that what he lit at the rally got out of control. No way he acknowledges something that could ultimately be called his fault. No way.”
After being sprayed with a chemical substance around 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, Mr. Sicknick collapsed at the Capitol around 10 p.m. and was taken to a hospital, where he died at about 9:30 p.m. the following night, according to the examiner’s office. He was 42 years old.
The medical examiner’s office in Washington, D.C., later determined that he suffered a stroke and died of natural causes.
On January 9th, two of President Trump’s top campaign officials texted each other about the President’s glaring silence on the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who succumbed to his injuries the night of January 7th. pic.twitter.com/vh4v7qwQYp
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) July 22, 2022
Outtakes: Trump didn’t want to say the election was over
The committee played outtakes from videotaped Jan. 7 remarks by then-President Donald Trump on the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
In one of the outtakes, Mr. Trump appears to be reluctant to say directly that the election is over.
“I don’t want to say the election is over,” Mr. Trump says in the video. “I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, okay?”
“Now, Congress has certified the results,” Mr. Trump said in the final version of the video, which the White House distributed on social media. “A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.”
After leaving office, Mr. Trump has continued to maintain that the election was stolen, and he is weighing running again in 2024.
Pottinger: Jan. 6 emboldened US adversaries
Matt Pottinger, then-President Donald Trump’s former deputy national security adviser, said the Jan. 6 attack provided fodder for U.S. adversaries who have sought to amplify the argument that U.S. democracy is fragile.“It emboldened our enemies by giving ammunition to feed a narrative that our system of government doesn’t work, that the United States is in decline,” Mr. Pottinger said.
Trump’s White House counsel Cipollone considered resigning after attack
By Sadie Gurman
President Trump’s White House counsel Pat Cipollone told the committee he considered resigning in protest after the attack on the Capitol, but he was concerned about who would replace him.
“And I had some concerns it would be somebody who had been giving bad advice,” Mr. Cipollone said.
Mr. Trump had been advised in the days surrounding the election by a team of outside lawyers who helped fuel his baseless claims of election fraud and pushed strategies to overturn the results.
Other people in Mr. Trump’s orbit did step down following the attack, including Sarah Matthews, who testified Thursday that, as a White House spokeswoman, she would be unable to defend his “indefensible” response.
“I knew I would be resigning that day,” she said.
Trump to White House employee following Jan. 6 attack: ‘Mike Pence Let Me Down’
By Andrew Restuccia
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R., Ill.), a member of the Jan. 6 committee, recounted testimony from an unnamed White House employee about a conversation the person had with then-President Donald Trump on the evening of Jan. 6, as the riot came to a close.
“Mike Pence let me down,” Mr. Trump told the employee, according to Mr. Kinzinger, who said the president made no mention of the attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Trump left the Oval Office dining room and went to the White House residence at 6:27 p.m., Mr. Kinzinger said.
McConnell vowed to finish electoral count after riot
By Siobhan Hughes
In never-before-seen video, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), flanked by his chief of staff Sharon Soderstrom, and in a knot that included Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who at the time was the Senate’s president pro tempore, could be seen in a call with Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who was on speaker phone.
“We’re not going to let these people keep us from finishing our business, so we need you to get the building cleared, give us the okay so we can go back in session and finish up the people’s business as soon as possible,” Mr. McConnell said.
The committee also aired audio of then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who was huddled with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D., Md.) over a cellphone talking to Mr. Miller as well.
“Some people here in the Capitol Police believe it would take us several days to secure the building,” Mr. Schumer said. “Do you agree with that analysis?” He pressed further. “What is the earliest that we could safely resume our proceedings in the Senate and House chambers, the earliest that we could safely resume?”
The building was cleared in the evening and Congress reconvened.
Trump went off script in video telling rioters to go home
President Donald Trump went off script in his video remarks from the Rose Garden in the late afternoon of Jan. 6, according to the committee. In these remarks, Mr. Trump finally relented to calls from aides and political allies -- as well as President-elect Joe Biden -- and told rioters to go home.
In that video, he repeated his false claim the election was stolen. A draft of the president’s remarks obtained by the committee read: “I’m asking for you to leave the capitol region now and go home in a peaceful way.” Mr. Trump did not say those words in the video he released.
“When he finished his video, I think everybody was like, day’s over. People were pretty drained,” former White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann said in a clip of his interview before the panel played by the committee during the hearing.
Trump didn’t want to say ‘Peace’ in tweet, press aide Matthews says
By Andrew Restuccia
Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary, said she urged former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to tell Mr. Trump to release a statement forcefully condemning the riot.
Ms. McEnany left to speak with Mr. Trump, and when she returned, Ms. Matthews said tweets he sent out didn’t go far enough.
In response, Ms. Matthews said Ms. McEnany told her, “She looked directly at me and in a hushed tone shared with me that the president did not want to include any mention of ‘peace’ in that tweet.” Ms. McEnany added, according to Ms. Matthews, that Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, suggested language that appeared in the tweet that rioters should stay “peaceful.” In a pair of tweets on the afternoon of Jan. 6, Mr. Trump told lawmakers to support law enforcement and ” Stay peaceful!” In a subsequent tweet he added, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence!” This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event
Trump’s tweet about Pence seen as critical moment during riot
By Andrew Restuccia and Siobhan Hughes
White House officials described a tweet from then-President Donald Trump as a breaking point that prompted some to decide to resign.
Mr. Trump tweeted at 2:24 p.m., after the riot was under way: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” That was a reference to the vice president’s refusal to block the certification of President Biden’s election win in the joint session of Congress that day.
“The tweet looked to me like the opposite of what we really needed at that moment, which was a deescalation,” Matt Pottinger, Mr. Trump’s former deputy national security adviser, told the committee.
Sarah Matthews, a former White House deputy press secretary, argued that the tweet gave Mr. Trump’s supporters permission to continue their assault on the U.S. Capitol. “It was essentially him giving the green light to these people,” she said, adding that Mr. Trump’s supporters “truly latch on to every tweet and every word he says.” Both Mr. Pottinger and Ms. Mathews said the tweet prompted them to decide to step down.
The committee played testimony of other officials’ reactions to the tweet. “That’s a terrible tweet. And I disagreed with the sentiment, and I thought it was wrong,” said former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Former press aide Judd Deere said the tweet was “extremely unhelpful. ... The scenes at the U.S. Capitol were only getting worse at that point. This was not going to help that.” Rep. Elaine Luria (D., Va.), a member of the committee, said the violence escalated quickly right after the tweet, and the panel showed video of rioters shouting, throwing objects at police and taking swings at them.
The committee displayed a series of texts among the National Security Council starting at 2:13 p.m. -- 11 minutes before Mr. Trump issued the tweet about Mr. Pence.
“Starting to kick in windows at the capitol,” the first message said. By 2:16 p.m., another chat stated “VP being pulled.” At 2:18 p.m. -- six minutes before Mr. Trump’s post -- an NSC staffer had said in a chat “decision in the next 2 - 3 mins or they may not be able to move ... VP may be stuck at the Capitol.” The committee then took a short break.
The Wall Street Journal
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