WASHINGTON (AP) – Members of the House of Representatives committee investigating the events of January 6 will hold their first prime-time hearing on Thursday to share what they revealed about then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election ., which culminated in the deadly storming of the US Capitol. Part of their mission: to determine Trump’s actions that day.
Much is already known about where Trump was, what he said and how he reacted. But major gaps remain. What we know:
‘WE FIGHT AS AD’
The day began, as they often did, with calls and angry tweets. As Vice President Mike Pence was preparing to chair a joint session of Congress to count the vote, which would formalize Democrat Joe Biden’s victory, Trump continued to exert public pressure. He asked Pence to reject the results, citing powers Pence had made clear to the president that he did not have.
“The United States wants to correct its votes, which it now knows are based on irregularities and fraud, plus the corruption process has never received legislative approval,” Trump said falsely at 8:17 a.m.. “All Mike Pence has to do , is to send them back to the United States AND WE WIN “, he added. “Do it, Mike, it’s time for great courage!”
Trump continued to repeat his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud as thousands of his supporters rallied for an elliptical “Salvation of America” rally in front of the White House, organized to pressure Republicans in Congress to reject the Democratic vote. which would throw the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
“The United States wants to renew its voice. They realized that they had voted for FRAUD. The legislature has never been approved. Let them do it. BE STRONG! “He called.
At that time the rally was already underway.
Mo-Brooks spokesman R-Ala said, “Today is the day American patriots start dropping names and kicking ass.”
“Let’s test ourselves through battle,” said Rudy Giuliani, who led Trump’s losing lawsuit.
Before leaving the White House, Trump called Pence from the Oval Office and cursed his former loyal soldier again. “You do not have the courage to make a difficult decision,” said the boiling Trump, according to an account described in a letter to the commission.
Trump then went to the rally, arriving around 11:42 a.m. as his campaign soundtrack drifted through the cold air. Shortly before noon, he took to the stage of his usual “God bless the United States” and began a fiery speech in which he complained about “rigged” elections and insisted that “he will never back down.”
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we will win the election,” he said falsely behind a wall of protective glass, telling his supporters, “We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t go to have a state.” He told them he planned to join them in their planned march to the Capitol, adding that “you will never return our country with weakness.”
By this time, crowds of his supporters – many carrying large Trump flags – were already flocking through the mall to the Capitol, where Congress was beginning.
As Trump spoke, Pence released a public letter formally outlining his position in opposition to the president. “My thoughtful judgment is that my oath to support and defend the Constitution prevents me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which votes should be counted and which should not,” he wrote.
By 1:12 p.m., Trump had finished his speech and danced on the YMCA stage, pumping his first and clapping his hands as protesters clashed with police just 2.5 miles up the Capitol stairs. As the president’s entourage piled up in the waiting procession, questions arose as to whether he would head to the Capitol, as he had told the crowd. Instead, after a delay, the president’s limousine headed for the White House. Trump later told The Washington Post in an interview that the Secret Service had banned him from traveling.
“THIS IS WRONG AND NOT WHO WE ARE”
As Trump returned to the White House, the situation in the Capitol was deteriorating. Pro-Trump rebels stormed police barricades, attacked officers, smashed windows and smashed doors. At 1:49 p.m., police officially declared a riot. And by 2:15 p.m., Pence and members of Congress were forced into hiding as rebels stormed the building.
“This is wrong and it’s not us,” tweeted the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who spoke at the rally at 2:17 p.m. you act like the other side. We have a country to save and that doesn’t help anyone. “
However, his father adopted a different tone.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what needed to be done to protect our country and our constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, rather than the fraudulent or inaccurate ones previously asked to prove.” “Trump tweets at 2:24 p.m.” The United States demands the truth!
The tweet came around the time Trump accidentally called Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, while trying to reach Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. Lee reportedly handed the phone to Tuberville, who told Politico that he had informed Trump that Pence had just been evacuated from the Senate.
Finally, around 2:40 p.m., when images of protesters marching through the gilded corridors of the building flooded television screens throughout the West Wing, Trump tweeted, urging the rebels to remain peaceful.
“Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement. They really are on the side of our country. Stay calm! ” At 2:43 p.m., Ashley Babbitt, protesting in favor of Trump, was shot dead trying to break into the House of Commons.
‘CONDEMN THIS NOW’
It remains unclear exactly when it happened, but at one point after returning from the rally, Trump isolated himself in the Oval Office dining room to watch the violence unfold on television.
All I knew about that day was that he was in the dining room, watching TV happily, as he often did – “Look at all the people fighting for me,” pushing back and forth, watching him again – I know that. “Former spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, who was also chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump, told CNN.
Supporters frantically tried to reach the White House to persuade Trump to show up and ask the rebels to leave. Among them were his eldest son, several Fox News presenters, many members of Congress, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who worked with Trump to prepare for the debate.
Unable to contact him directly, the Allies struggled to get his attention in every way. Some resorted to tweeting. Others appeared on television, trying to pass.
“Cancel it, Mr. President,” Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Told CNN.
“Condemn this now, @realDonaldTrump – you are the only one who will be listened to. For our country! ” tweeted his former communications director Alice Fara Griffin at 2:54 p.m.
“The president’s tweet is not enough. He can stop this now and he must do just that. Tell these people to go home, “wrote his former chief of staff, Mick Mulvani, at 3:01 p.m.
Former Councilor Kelian Conway, who had left the White House by then, said she had called an aide she knew would be with Trump in an emergency.
“Call on the president to tell the people in the Capitol to stop. Just stop. Get out of there, “she wrote in her latest memoir. “Maybe there are speakers. Someone can broadcast it live. They need to hear his voice. “She also made her request on television and Twitter, where she wrote:” STOP. Just stop. Calmness. Order and law. Safety for all “at 3:21 p.m.
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told a California radio station that he had also spoken to the president.
“I was the first person to call him,” McCarthy said. “I told him to go on national television, to tell these people to stop. He said he did not know what was happening. ”
Jaime Herrera Butler’s spokesman, R-Wash., Said McCarthy passed the conversation on to her. According to her account, when McCarthy told Trump that his own supporters were breaking into the building, Trump replied: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset by the election than you are.
Others sent text messages to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, asking Trump to say something and trying to convey the seriousness of the situation.
“We are under siege,” one reporter wrote. “We are all helpless.”
“He must condemn this nonsense as soon as possible,” Trump Jr. wrote to Meadows.
“I am pushing him hard. “I agree,” Meadows said.
Trump Jr. sent messages over and over, urging his father to act.
“We need an Oval address. He must lead now. He went too far and got out of control. “
The hosts of Fox News agreed.
“Mark, the president has to tell the people in the Capitol to go home. It hurts us all. He is destroying his heritage, “Ingram wrote.
“Can he make a statement?” “Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Sean Hannity wrote.
At 3:13 p.m., Trump finally posted a tweet urging his supporters to keep the peace, but not asking them to leave.
“I ask everyone in the US Capitol to remain peaceful. Without violence! Remember that WE are the Party of Law and Order – respect the law and our great men and women in blue. Thank you! “He wrote.
‘IT’S COMPLETELY MADNESS’
Congressional testimonies so far paint a picture of a chaotic scene in the White House, with staff as desperate as those outside the building to allow Trump to act. Keith Kellogg, Pence’s national security adviser, who was in the Oval Office during Trump’s morning telephone conversation with the vice president, testified that officials wanted Trump to take immediate action to tackle the violence, but Trump refused.
The commission has identified a nearly eight-hour gap in the official White House …
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