By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tuesday’s congressional committee hearing into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump featured a detailed recounting of Trump’s actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Here are three takeaways from the hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Jan. 6:
MID-DECEMBER CONSENSUS: GAME OVER
By mid-December, after the U.S. Electoral College count showed that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated the Republican Trump, leading Trump officials thought he should concede the election and wind down his presidency, they testified.
On Dec. 14, the Electoral College declared Biden had won the election by 306-232 electoral votes.
In a videotape recording, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump was shown testifying: “I think it was my sentiment, probably prior as well.”Others providing the same assessment: former Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who also testified that then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows believed the same.
HIGH-VOLUME DEC. 18, 2020, MEETING
The committee detailed a “surprise visit” to the White House the night of Dec. 18 that lasted for more than six hours.
It brought together outside Trump advisers ranging from personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to disgraced former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor who fought to overturn the election on false claims of election fraud.
They presented a draft “executive order” calling for the U.S. military to seize states’ voting machines. White House counsel Pat Cipollone testified he thought that was a “terrible idea.”
What followed was several hours of screaming and insults that ranged from the Oval Office to Trump’s private quarters, participants testified.
“It was not a casual meeting. At times there were people shouting at each other, throwing insults at each other,” said Derek Lyons, former White House staff secretary.
Giuliani said he accused White House staffers of not fighting for Trump’s interests.
“You guys are not tough enough. Or maybe I put it another way. You’re a bunch of pussies, excuse the expression. I’m almost certain the word was used,” he said.
At one point, Trump offered to give Powell a job as a special counsel with a security clearance, participants testified.
It was past midnight when the meeting ended, the witnesses said. Giuliani was escorted off White House grounds to make sure he did not wander back, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin said at Tuesday’s hearing, citing other testimony.
TWEET INSPIRES ACTION
Shortly after the late-night meeting, early in the morning of Dec. 19, Trump issued a tweet urging his supporters to assemble in Washington on Jan. 6 for what he promised would be a “wild” gathering.
The committee provided evidence that this tweet energized militant groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to gather in Washington armed. In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, violent rhetoric coursed through the internet.
The committee showed an online broadcast of a right-wing personality calling for a “red wedding” on Jan. 6, code language for mass slaughter, Raskin said.
The committee said it found that Trump spoke twice on Jan. 5, 2021, with former top adviser Steve Bannon, who was shown on videotape saying, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow,” as he referred to a “point of attack” that would be “quite extraordinarily different.”
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Patricia Zengerle, Doina Chiacu and Rose Horowitch; editing by Andy Sullivan and Howard Goller)
