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The question for every one of us who serves in Congress, for every elected official across this great nation—indeed, for every American—is this: Will we adhere to the rule of law? Will we respect the rulings of our courts? Will we preserve the peaceful transition of power? Or will we be so blinded by partisanship that we throw away the miracle of America?
As the sun went down outside the windows of the club, Matt walked us through the awful hours of January 6 inside the West Wing. The memories were painful ones. Matt, a Marine, understood the magnitude of Donald Trump’s dereliction of duty. He took no pleasure in recounting what had happened.
Donald Trump, Jr. texted again and again, urging action by the president: “We need an Oval address. He has to lead now. It’s gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
Fox News had been particularly active in spreading Donald Trump’s intentionally false election-fraud claims. It was important for the public to realize that Fox personalities were simply not leveling with the network’s viewers.
Fox News hosts and executives knew the election-fraud claims were false, despite what Fox News was broadcasting to its viewers.
it is difficult to understand how profoundly the violence affected them—and how angry these officers are with members of Congress who try to downplay everything that happened.
The resolution reflected a political party that had lost its principles and, frankly, seemed to be led by morons.
I’m a Constitutional conservative, and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump. History will be their judge.
In the choice between the Constitution and Donald Trump, the leaders of the Republican Party were turning away from the Constitution.
Eastman came in for an interview on December 9, 2021. But he invoked his 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination 100 times, including in response to questions about his direct discussions with Donald Trump.
Flynn even took the 5th when I asked him if he believed in the peaceful transition of power in the United States.
the planning for January 6 appears to have consumed the vast majority of the president’s time for several weeks in December of 2020. He was doing almost nothing else. Donald Trump did not do all this on a whim. It was not something planned in one hour, or in one day, or even in one week. It was complicated and detailed. And, above all else, it was premeditated.
we knew that Trump had been told repeatedly—by his campaign, by his Justice Department, and by his White House staff—that none of his stolen-election claims were true.
those lies were the foundation for everything that followed.
Donald Trump had tried to pressure state legislatures and state officials to flip official certified Biden electoral votes to Trump.
significant evidence showing how the Trump team had created fraudulent Trump electoral slates for states that Biden had won.
the vote flipping and the slate fabrication—were key elements...
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When Trump’s plot to convince state legislatures to flip the electoral votes did not work, Trump began looking for a way to make the US Justice Depart...
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Trump offered an official named Jeffrey Clark the job of acting attorney general after others at Justice refused to spread D...
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The Trump team planned each of those steps with the January 6 joint session of Congress in mind. The intent was that Vice President Mike Pence, in his formal role as president of the Senate, would agree on January 6 not to count the official Biden electoral votes from multiple states. And Pence would rely on the fraudulent Trump electoral slates as a rationale for doing that.
Donald Trump summoned his supporters to Washington on January 6, where he would stage an emotionally charged rally with slogans like TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY before sending them to the US Capitol. The crowd itself would apply the pressure needed to make all this work. Trump was well aware of the potential for violence by those tens of thousands of people, yet he went ahead with that part of his plan anyway.
And it was at this point that Donald Trump refused to do what everyone knew was absolutely necessary: He refused, for hours, to instruct the rioters to stand down and leave, all while continuing to lobby legislators to stop the count.
more than 140 law-enforcement officers were attacked and injured, and five deaths eventually resulted.
“They’re going to get the sobbing police officer,” Nehls predicted, “or sobbing Democrat or somebody that said how terrible this was and now they are suffering from PTSD.”
Demonstrates a total lack of empathy
He quoted from the letter we had seen at the Library of Congress a few months earlier—Lincoln’s pledge to do all in his power to support his successor if he was defeated, to uphold the rule of law and guarantee the peaceful transfer of power. And he described Donald Trump’s refusal to do the same, instead attempting to overturn the results of a presidential election in order to stay in power.
as he walked from the Oval Office up to the White House residence not long thereafter, he commented only that he was angry with Mike Pence for letting him down. He voiced no regrets about what had already happened, and was still happening, at the Capitol.
As you will see in the hearings to come, President Trump believed his supporters at the Capitol, and I quote, “were doing what they should be doing.” This is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob,
The foundation for everything that happened on January 6 was entirely made up.
matter what your party, government service should be noble, based on love of country and commitment to principles. But what I saw from my party now was unprincipled.
ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL BARR: I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff. Which I told the president was bullshit.… I didn’t want to be a part of it.…
The committee’s hearings are exceeding expectations, because it is not behaving like a typical congressional committee. There is no grandstanding and no preening. There are no petty partisan squabbles. There is not even the disjointedness that normally occurs when a bunch of politicians are each given five minutes to question each witness. There is only the relentless march of evidence, all of it deeply incriminating to a certain former president who keeps insisting that he was robbed of his rightful election victory.
LIKE SO MUCH OF THE story of January 6, the story of President Trump pressuring Mike Pence to violate the law and his oath to the Constitution tells us exactly who Donald Trump is.
But Donald Trump would not accept the truth. In fact, Donald Trump did not care about the truth.
Trump’s plan to pressure Mike Pence “likely” violated multiple federal criminal statutes.
“Donald Trump and his allies… are a clear and present danger to American democracy.”
This is elections. This is the backbone of democracy. And all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.
The video in question showed Freeman handing Moss something small. It was not a thumb drive. It was a ginger mint. But Donald Trump attacked both Moss and Freeman relentlessly on a national stage, describing Ruby Freeman as “a professional vote scammer and hustler.”
trump is pure evil
There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United States target you? The President of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me, Lady Ruby—a small-business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who stood up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic.
Nobody with any sense of honor or dignity would have treated them the way Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and others working on Trump’s behalf had done.
Republicans cannot both be loyal to Donald Trump and loyal to the Constitution.
Ultimately, that is what our duty as Americans requires of us, that we love our country more, that we love her so much, that we will stand above politics to defend her, and that we will do everything in our power to protect our Constitution and our freedom paid for by the blood of so many.
The case against Donald Trump in these hearings is not made by witnesses who were his political enemies; it is instead a series of confessions by Donald Trump’s own appointees—his own friends, his own campaign officials, people who worked for him for years, and his own family.
Margaret Thatcher, said this: “Let it never be said that the dedication of those who love freedom is less than the determination of those who would destroy it.”
A man who would behave that way when his character is tested lacks the sense of right and wrong that most Americans learn from their parents.
No House seat—no office in this land—is more important than the principles that we are all sworn to protect,
the Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,
on many issues, the people of the United States are not united. But when the fundamental ideals of our nation come to bear, we must be united. When our country faces a crisis, we must find our noble purpose. Some things are beyond partisanship. That is the reason we all take an oath.
One thing was now unavoidably apparent to any objective observer: Donald Trump had demonstrated that he is unfit for any office.
