Jan. 6 panel probes Trump's 187 minutes as Capitol attacked

Mr Chairman, let me put what you have seen today in *** broader context. At the very outset of our hearings, we described several elements of President Trump's multipart plan to overturn the 2020 election. Our hearings have now covered all but one of those elements, an organized campaign to persuade millions of americans of *** falsehood That the 2020 election was stolen by widespread fraud. *** corrupt effort to pressure Vice President Pence to refuse to count electoral votes. An effort to corrupt the U. S. Department of Justice, efforts to pressure state election officials and legislators to change state election results, *** scheme to create and submit fake electoral slates from multiple states. And today you saw how President Trump summoned *** mob to Washington for January six and then knowing that that mob was armed, directed that mob to the United States capitol. Every one of these elements of the planning for January six is an independently serious matter. They were all ultimately focused on overturning the election and they all have one other thing in common. Donald trump participated in each substantially and personally, he oversaw or directed the activity of those involved. Next week we will return to January six itself As we have shown in prior hearings Donald Trump and his legal team led by Rudy Giuliani were working on January 6 to delay or halt Congress's counting of electoral votes, The mob attacking and invading the Capitol on that afternoon of January six was achieving that result and for multiple hours. Donald trump refused to intervene to stop it. He would not instruct the mob to leave or condemn the violence. He would not order them to evacuate the capital and disperse the many pleas for help from Congress did no good. His staff insisted that president trump call off the attack. He would not here are *** few of the many things you will hear next week from mr Sipple oni. Is that right? Was it necessary to continue to push for *** statement directing people to leave all the way through that period of time until it was ultimately issued. After I felt it was my obligation to continue to push for that and others felt it was their obligation as well. Wouldn't have been possible at any moment for the president to walk down to the podium in the briefing room and help talk to the nation at any time Between when you first gave him that advice 2:00 and 4:17 video statement. Would that be possible? Would have been possible? Yes possible. And you will hear that donald trump. Never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help. This is not ambiguous. He did not call the military. His Secretary of Defense received no order. He did not call his attorney general. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security mike Pence did all of those things. Donald trump did not. We will walk through the events of January six next week. Minute by minute and one more item after our last hearing, President Trump tried to call *** witness in our investigation. *** witness you have not yet seen in these hearings. That person declined to answer or respond to President trump's call and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us, and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice. Let me say one more time. We will take any effort to influence witness testimony. Very seriously. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

The House Jan. 6 committee aims to show in what could be its final hearing Thursday night that Donald Trump's lies about a stolen election fueled the grisly U.S. Capitol attack, which he did nothing to stop but instead “gleefully” watched on television at the White House.The prime-time hearing will dive into the 187 minutes that Trump failed to act on Jan. 6, 2021, despite pleas from aides, allies and even his family. The panel is arguing that the defeated president's attempts to overturn Joe Biden's election victory have left the United States facing enduring questions about the resiliency of its democracy.“A profound moment of reckoning for America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the committee.With live testimony from two former White House aides, and excerpts from the committee's more than 1,000 interviews, the Thursday night session will add a closing chapter to the past six weeks of hearings that at times have captivated the nation and provided a record for history.Ahead of the hearing, the committee released a video of four former White House aides — press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, security aide Gen. Keith Kellogg, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and executive assistant to the president Molly Michael — testifying that Trump was in the private dining room with the TV on as the violence unfolded.“Everyone was watching television,” Kellogg said.Returning to prime time for the first time since the series of hearings began, the panel intends to explain just how close the United States came to what one retired federal judge testifying this summer called a constitutional crisis.The events of Jan. 6 will be outlined “minute by minute,” said the panel's vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.“You will hear that Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help," Cheney said.“He did not call the military. His Secretary of Defense received no order. He did not call his Attorney General. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security," Cheney said. “Mike Pence did all of those things; Donald Trump did not.”The hearing will show never-before-seen outtakes of a Jan. 7 video that White House aides pleaded for Trump to make as a message of national healing for the country. The footage will show how Trump struggled to condemn the mob of his supporters who violently breached the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it ahead of its public release.Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has testified that Trump wanted to include language about pardoning the rioters in the speech, but White House lawyers advised against it. Trump reluctantly condemned the riot in a three-minute speech that night.Testifying Thursday are former White House aides. Matt Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, then press aide, both submitted their resignations on Jan. 6, 2021, after what they saw that day. Trump has dismissed the hearings on social media and regarded much of the testimony as fake.Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the committee, is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 and will attend by video. Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a former Naval officer who will lead the session with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said she expects the testimony from the White House aides will “just be really compelling.”"These are people who believed in the work they were doing, but didn’t believe in the stolen election,” Luria said.The White House aides were not alone in calling it quits that day. The panel is expected to provide a tally of the Trump administration aides and even Cabinet members who resigned after Trump failed to call off the attack. Some Cabinet members were so alarmed they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.As the panel continues to collect evidence and prepares to issue a preliminary report of findings, it has amassed the most substantial public record to date of what led up to Americans attacking the seat of democracy.While the committee cannot make criminal charges, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.Video below: Jan. 6 rioter apologizes to officers at hearingSo far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Of the more than 200 defendants to be sentenced, approximately 100 received terms of imprisonment.What remains uncertain is whether Trump or the former president's top allies will face serious charges. No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Jan. 6 is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.”“We have to get this right,” Garland said. “For people who are concerned, as I think every American should be, we have to do two things: We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.”In delving into the timeline, the panel aims to show what happened between the time Trump left the stage at his “Stop the Steal” rally shortly after 1:10 p.m., after telling supporters to march to the Capitol, and some three hours later, when he issued a video address from the Rose Garden in which he told the rioters to “go home” but also praised them as “very special.”It also expects to produce additional evidence about Trump's confrontation with Secret Service agents who refused to drive him to the Capitol — a witness account that the security detail has disputed.Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand combat to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified about how she was “slipping in other people's blood” as they tried to hold back the mob. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.“The president didn’t do very much but gleefully watch television during this time frame,” Kinzinger said.Not only did Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he did not call other parts of the government for backup and gave no order to deploy the National Guard, Cheney said.This despite countless pleas from Trump's aides and allies, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to previous testimony and text messages the committee has obtained.“You will hear that leaders on Capitol Hill begged the president for help,” Cheney has said, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who she said indicated he was “'scared' and called multiple members of President Trump’s family after he could not persuade the President himself.”The panel has said its investigation is ongoing and other hearings are possible. It expects to compile a preliminary report this fall, and a final report by the end of this session of Congress.

WASHINGTON —

The prime-time hearing will dive into the 187 minutes that Trump failed to act on Jan. 6, 2021, despite pleas from aides, allies and even his family. The panel is arguing that the defeated president's attempts to overturn Joe Biden's election victory have left the United States facing enduring questions about the resiliency of its democracy.

“A profound moment of reckoning for America,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the committee.

With live testimony from two former White House aides, and excerpts from the committee's more than 1,000 interviews, the Thursday night session will add a closing chapter to the past six weeks of hearings that at times have captivated the nation and provided a record for history.

Ahead of the hearing, the committee released a video of four former White House aides — press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, security aide Gen. Keith Kellogg, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and executive assistant to the president Molly Michael — testifying that Trump was in the private dining room with the TV on as the violence unfolded.

“Everyone was watching television,” Kellogg said.

Returning to prime time for the first time since the series of hearings began, the panel intends to explain just how close the United States came to what one retired federal judge testifying this summer called a constitutional crisis.

The events of Jan. 6 will be outlined “minute by minute,” said the panel's vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

“You will hear that Donald Trump never picked up the phone that day to order his administration to help," Cheney said.

“He did not call the military. His Secretary of Defense received no order. He did not call his Attorney General. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security," Cheney said. “Mike Pence did all of those things; Donald Trump did not.”

The hearing will show never-before-seen outtakes of a Jan. 7 video that White House aides pleaded for Trump to make as a message of national healing for the country. The footage will show how Trump struggled to condemn the mob of his supporters who violently breached the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it ahead of its public release.

[related id='ef5f97b0-0316-44fc-9ed0-6598b8363e39' align='center'][/related]

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has testified that Trump wanted to include language about pardoning the rioters in the speech, but White House lawyers advised against it. Trump reluctantly condemned the riot in a three-minute speech that night.

Testifying Thursday are former White House aides. Matt Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser, and Sarah Matthews, then press aide, both submitted their resignations on Jan. 6, 2021, after what they saw that day. Trump has dismissed the hearings on social media and regarded much of the testimony as fake.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the committee, is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 and will attend by video. Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a former Naval officer who will lead the session with Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said she expects the testimony from the White House aides will “just be really compelling.”

"These are people who believed in the work they were doing, but didn’t believe in the stolen election,” Luria said.

The White House aides were not alone in calling it quits that day. The panel is expected to provide a tally of the Trump administration aides and even Cabinet members who resigned after Trump failed to call off the attack. Some Cabinet members were so alarmed they discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

As the panel continues to collect evidence and prepares to issue a preliminary report of findings, it has amassed the most substantial public record to date of what led up to Americans attacking the seat of democracy.

While the committee cannot make criminal charges, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.

Video below: Jan. 6 rioter apologizes to officers at hearing

[mediaosvideo align='' embedId='fa5d0cfb-5813-42a8-831b-84723e3b1521' mediaId='4034a973-fb26-49a4-b4d0-4d80f93dc117' size=''][/mediaosvideo]

So far, more than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Of the more than 200 defendants to be sentenced, approximately 100 received terms of imprisonment.

What remains uncertain is whether Trump or the former president's top allies will face serious charges. No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday that Jan. 6 is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.”

“We have to get this right,” Garland said. “For people who are concerned, as I think every American should be, we have to do two things: We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.”

In delving into the timeline, the panel aims to show what happened between the time Trump left the stage at his “Stop the Steal” rally shortly after 1:10 p.m., after telling supporters to march to the Capitol, and some three hours later, when he issued a video address from the Rose Garden in which he told the rioters to “go home” but also praised them as “very special.”

It also expects to produce additional evidence about Trump's confrontation with Secret Service agents who refused to drive him to the Capitol — a witness account that the security detail has disputed.

[related id='b3113ee8-b2d2-486e-b8c1-243e92100ec5' align='center'][/related]

Five people died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand combat to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified about how she was “slipping in other people's blood” as they tried to hold back the mob. One Trump supporter was shot and killed by police.

“The president didn’t do very much but gleefully watch television during this time frame,” Kinzinger said.

Not only did Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he did not call other parts of the government for backup and gave no order to deploy the National Guard, Cheney said.

This despite countless pleas from Trump's aides and allies, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, according to previous testimony and text messages the committee has obtained.

“You will hear that leaders on Capitol Hill begged the president for help,” Cheney has said, including House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who she said indicated he was “'scared' and called multiple members of President Trump’s family after he could not persuade the President himself.”

The panel has said its investigation is ongoing and other hearings are possible. It expects to compile a preliminary report this fall, and a final report by the end of this session of Congress.

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