The Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday revealed details of an unhinged late night meeting at the White House with defeated Trump’s outside lawyers suggesting the military seize state voting machines in a last-ditch effort to pursue his false claims of voter fraud before he summoned a mob to the U.S. Capitol.
The committee probing last year’s assault on the Capitol is trying to prove how far-right extremists responded to Trump’s appeal to attend a large gathering in Washington.
Before posting the rally invitation on Dec. 18, Trump huddled late into the night with White House counsel after many lawsuits and his accusations of voting fraud had collapsed. Attend, it’s going to be crazy! Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members have been charged with sedition in connection with the siege.
There were seven hearings on Tuesday for the January 6 committee.
A story of a defeated Trump detachment from reality, clinging to bogus charges of voting fraud, and striving hard to overturn his election setback has been developed over the last month by the group of experts.
The committee believes that the assault on the Capitol was the climax of the events that led up to it.
New video evidence from Pat Cipollone, Trump’s former White House lawyer, was shown during the panel. Cipollone recalled the heated White House meeting when Trump’s outside legal team delivered a draught executive order to take states’ voting equipment.
Cipollone said that’s not how things are done in the United States.
According to yet another assistant, the meeting had become “completely out of control”.
At Trump’s late-night meeting with lawyers Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and the chairman of online retail business Overstock, Cipollone sprung into action. Another assistant testified that there was a lot of yelling and shouting.
White House staffer Eric Herschmann said, “What they were suggesting, I felt was insane.”
Then, he assured his White House attorneys that at least Powell and other allies were attempting to do something.
Giuliani recalls the president telling the White House lawyers in video testimony that they weren’t tough enough.
He called them “p-” and used crude language.
Ahead of Congress’ count of the Electoral College votes on January 6, Trump issued an invitation to his supporters to gather in Washington, D.C. Be there! Trump predicted a wild ride.
Extremists responded very immediately.
On Jan. 6, the right-wing panellists, including Alex Jones, laid out their battle plan, which included showing graphic and violent text messages and playing films.
Racially charged and vulgarly expressed, the far-right forums were gearing up for the big day in Washington, which they said was demanded by Trump.
Mass murder would be symbolised by a red marriage, one person added. Do not leave home without your handcuffs.”
Members of the U.S. Capitol Police who had battled the crowd that day sat in the first row of the committee chamber, their faces expressionless.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., noted in her introductory comments that the issue of politicians inciting mob violence to undermine free and fair elections is the oldest internal opponent of constitutional democracy.
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes’s buddy Jason Van Tatenhove was expected to testify in person.
Stephen Ayres, who pled guilty to rowdy and disruptive behaviour in a restricted facility only a month ago, was supposed to be a third witness.
For him, Trump’s demand for a massive demonstration in Washington D.C. on January 6th, 2021 was announced on January 2, 2021.
The committee is looking into whether Trump-supporting extreme organisations like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and QAnon supporters planned their Jan. 6 rally with help from White House associates. Despite their denials, the Oath Keepers insist that an assault on the Capitol was never contemplated.
Until further notice, there will be no more proceedings this week. For the time being, a scheduled prime-time hearing on Thursday has been postponed.
Trump adviser Cassidy Hutchinson said this week under oath that the president was aware of his supporters’ plans to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 and failed to promptly call them off as violence broke out, siding with rioters when they sought out Vice President Mike Pence.
This story is untrue, according to Trump. However, Cipollone’s evidence on Friday in a closed session did not contradict prior statements. There was a lot of Cipollone’s testimony to be used by the panel, Raskin noted.
A statement on social media, published on December 29th, said that the Proud Boys’ leader expected a record turnout on January 6th, according to the message “according to an indictment filed in federal court.
Group members were told not to come dressed in the monument’s customary black-and-yellow hues, but rather to be completely unrecognisable.
During Trump and Biden’s first debate, the Proud Boys say their numbers rose because Trump declined to criticise the organisation openly, instead telling them to step back and watch.
Tarrio met with Rhodes the night before Jan. 6 in an underground parking garage, according to court documents and photographs given by a documentary filmmaker who was following the group’s activities in New York City.
A fast reaction force had been organised at a nearby hotel in Virginia by the Oath Keepers in preparation for the 6th of January, according to court documents.
Rhodes’ lawyer has now informed the committee that he intends to speak in front of the whole group. This is unlikely to happen since Rhodes was previously vetted by the committee secretly.
Many Trump fans who rushed the Capitol looked to be QAnon adherents, the panel aims to mention.
As many as 38 people have been tied to a “Trump conspiracy theory,” according to an analysis of federal court records.
