WASHINGTON –
Members of the U.S. House Committee investigating the January 6 incident will hold their first high-level hearing on Thursday to share what they have learned about former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn lar the results of the 2020 elections, which culminated in the deadly storm. of the US Capitol. Part of his mission: to determine the actions of the former president that day.
Much is already known about where Trump was, what he said and how he reacted. But there are still gaps. What we know:
“WE FIGHT LIKE HELL”
The day began, as they often did, with angry calls and tweets. While Vice President Mike Pence was preparing to chair a joint session of Congress to count the election votes that will formalize the victory of Democrat Joe Biden, Trump continued to put public pressure. He demanded that Pence reject the results by invoking powers that Pence had made clear to the president that he did not possess.
“States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, as well as a corrupt process that never received legislative approval,” Trump falsely claimed at 8:17 p.m. “All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the United States. AND WE WIN,” he added. “Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”
Trump continued to repeat his unfounded claims of widespread election fraud as thousands of his supporters rallied for a “Save America” rally in the Ellipse in front of the White House, organized to pressure Republicans in Congress to they would reject the democratic vote, a measure that would have provoked the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
“States want to re-vote. They found out they voted a FRAUD. Legislatures have never been passed. Let them do it. BE STRONG! ”He urged.
By then, the rally was already underway.
Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Wing, proclaimed, “Today is the day for American patriots to start taking names and giving them a foothold.”
“We are going to the test for combat,” said Rudy Giuliani, who led Trump’s lost legal effort.
Before leaving the White House, Trump made a call to Pence from the Oval Office and reprimanded his soldier, once loyal. “You don’t have the courage to make a difficult decision,” Trump said in a rush, according to a report described in a committee letter.
Trump then went to the rally and arrived around 11:42 a.m. as the soundtrack of his campaign exploded through the icy air. Shortly before noon, he took to the stage with his usual “God Bless the USA” and delivered a fiery speech in which he complained of “rigged” elections and insisted that “he would never give in.”
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we’ll win the election,” he falsely declared from behind a protective glass wall, telling his supporters, “Let’s fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, there’s no you will go to have one more country “. He told them he planned to join them on their planned march to the Capitol, adding that “you will never recover our country with weakness.”
At that time, many of his supporters, many with large “Trump” flags, were already running through the mall to the Capitol, where Congress proceedings were beginning.
While Trump was speaking, Pence issued a public letter formally setting out his position challenging the president. “It is my view that my oath to support and defend the Constitution limits me to claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” he wrote.
At 1:12 p.m., Trump had finished his speech and was dancing on the “YMCA” stage, performing first and applauding as protesters clashed with police just 1.5 miles away on the steps of the Capitol. . As the presidential entourage crowded into the waiting caravan, questions flew over whether to 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 BAD AND NOT WHO WE ARE”
When Trump returned to the White House, the situation at the Capitol was deteriorating. Pro-Trump mob rioters stormed through police barricades, assaulted officers, smashed windows and slammed doors. At 1:49 p.m., DC police officially declared a riot. And at 2:15 p.m., Pence and members of Congress quickly hid as the mutineers entered the building.
“This is wrong and it’s not who we are,” tweeted the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who had spoken at the rally at 2:17 p.m. “Be peaceful and use your 1st Amendment rights, but don’t start acting like the other side. We have a country to save and that doesn’t help anyone.”
His father, however, took on a different tone.
“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states the opportunity to certify a set of corrected facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones that are He asked them to certify in advance, and Trump tweeted at 2:24 p.m .: “The US is demanding the truth!
The tweet came when Trump accidentally called Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee while trying to contact Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Wing Republican. Lee reportedly passed the phone to Tuberville, who told Politico that he informed Trump that Pence had just been evacuated from the Senate chamber.
Finally, at about 2:40 p.m., as footage of protesters marching down the building’s golden corridors flooded the West Wing’s television screens, Trump sent an instant tweet to the rioters to stay peaceful.
“Please support our police and Capitol law enforcement. They really stand by our country. Keep calm!” At 2:43 p.m., Ashli Babbitt, a pro-Trump protester, was shot while trying to enter the House of Commons.
‘CONDEMN IT NOW’
It is unclear when exactly this happened, but sometime after returning from the rally, Trump secluded himself in the oval office dining room to watch the violence on television.
“All I know from that day is that he was in the dining room, happily watching his TV as he often did: ‘Look at all the people fighting for me,’ rewinding, looking back, that’s what I know, “former press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who also served as chief of staff to First Lady Melania Trump, told CNN.
Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. They include his eldest son, several Fox News presenters, several members of Congress, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had worked with Trump in preparation for the debate.
Unable to get there directly, the Allies struggled to get their attention as best they could. Some resorted to tweeting. Others appeared on television, trying to pass.
“Disconnect, Mr. President,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Told CNN.
“Condemn it now, @realDonaldTrump: you’re the only one they’ll hear. For our country!” tweeted her former communications director, Alyssa Farah Griffin, at 2:54 p.m.
“The president’s tweet is not enough. He can stop this now and he has to do exactly that. Tell these people to go home, “wrote his former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, at 3:01 p.m.
Former Councilwoman Kellyanne Conway, who had then left the White House, said she called an aide she knew would be on Trump’s side with an urgent message.
“Urge the president to tell the people of the Capitol to stop. Just stop. Get out of there,” he wrote in his recent memoirs. “Maybe there are speakers. Someone could broadcast it live. He needs to hear his voice.” He also made his plea on television and on Twitter where he wrote, “STOP. Stop. Peace. Law and order. Security for all” at 3:21 p.m.
Republican House Leader 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, tell these people to leave. He said he didn’t know what was going on.”
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., Said McCarthy transmitted the conversation to him. According to his account, when McCarthy told Trump that it was his own supporters who broke into the building, Trump replied, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you.”
Others sent text messages to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, asking Trump to say something and trying to convey the gravity of the situation.
“We are under siege,” one journalist wrote. “We are all helpless.”
“He must condemn this s — as soon as possible,” Trump Jr. sent. in Meadows.
“I’m working hard. I agree,” Meadows said.
Trump Jr. he texted again and again, urging his father to act.
“We need an oval direction. Now he has to lead. He has gone too far and got out of hand.”
Fox News hosts agreed.
“Mark, the president has to tell the people of the Capitol to go home. That hurts us all. It’s destroying his legacy,” Ingraham wrote.
“Can you make a statement? Ask people to leave the Capitol,” Sean Hannity wrote.
At 3:13 p.m., Trump finally issued a tweet asking his supporters to stay at peace, but not asking them to leave.
“I call on everyone in the United States Capitol to remain at peace. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law and Order: respect the Law and our great men and women of blue. Thank you!” He wrote. .
“IT’S TOTALLY BORGIA”
The testimony of Congress released so far paints a picture of a chaotic scene inside the White House, with staff as desperate as those outside the building for Trump to act. Keith Kellogg, Pence’s national security adviser, who had been in the Oval Office during Trump’s morning call to the vice president, said that …