A meeting in the Oval Room of the White House, office of the then president Donald Trumpwas the place where several advisers proposed that he seize the ballot and annul the results through an executive orderalleging that a fraud had occurred.
After that meeting, in which there was no lack of insults and threats with other advisers who considered “crazy” the plan, Trump tweeted his call to his supporters calling them to a “wild” rally at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, the date on which Congress had to certify the victory of the Democratic candidate.
The details of Trump’s “craziest meeting”, according to one of the participants, were reconstructed after several coincident testimonies before the special committee of the representatives that analyzes what happened. Several have already described it as a Coup attempt.
The group met on Tuesday, but it was only a day later that the explosive details became known. to that meeting three advisers brought Trump the text of an executive order for him to sign, annulling the scrutiny by denouncing fraud.
The move was planned by the campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, promoter of conspiracy theories; former general and national security adviser Michael Flynnand the businessman Patrick Byrneformer CEO of Overstock.com.
According to the investigating committee, the draft authorized the defense secretary to seize the vote and for Powell to be appointed special counsel to investigate the November election, unaware of Biden’s victory and allowing Trump to stay in power.
The trio author of the plan appeared in the Oval Office without an appointmentwhich is why White House lawyers were alerted to the unexpected visit.
Powell said the group was alone with the president for between 10 and 15 minutes. before another White House adviser, Pat Cipollone, will come running to the office.
“I didn’t understand how they got in,” Cipollone told the committee. “I didn’t like seeing the people that were in the Oval Office.”
Cipollone said he was “vehemently” opposed to Powell being named special counsel, and that seizing the vote was a “terrible idea.”
According to Democratic representative and committee member Jamie Raskin, for more than six hours there was a “heated and foul confrontation” between Cipollone, other White House employees and Trump’s outside advisers.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorneyjoined the movementafter pushing theories of electoral fraud for weeks.
“It was not a chance meeting,” said Derek Lyons, White House staff secretary. “There were people yelling at each other, insulting each other.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, adviser to Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, has already stated that listened to the scandal in the presidential office and sent a text message to another staff member saying that the West Wing was “chaotic”.
Cipollone, the top White House adviser, stated that outside advisers were “verbally attacking me” for not showing loyalty to Trump and investigate allegations of voter fraud.
Eric Herschmann, another White House attorney who was there, said Flynn at one point tried to demonstrate the alleged electoral irregularities with diagrams showing “internet-connected Nest thermostats.”
“It got to a point where the screaming was completely out of place,” Herschmann said. “It was late at night. It had been a long day and what they were proposing seemed crazy to me.”
The attorney said he reminded those present that all of Trump’s legal challenges to the election results had been thrown out of court, to which Powell responded: “Well, the judges are corrupt”.
“Each one of them is corrupt? Even the ones we’ve named?Herschmann replied. It was then that the security adviser Flynn accused him of “deserter”.
“So I yelled at him: ‘Either you come closer or sit your fucking ass back down'”Herschmann declared.
The meeting ended after midnight having “landed up where we started,” according to chief of staff Lyons, who said attendees were “fighting” for Trump to remain president.
At the end of the meeting, Trump sent out a tweet urging his millions of supporters to attend a rally in Washington on Jan. 6, promising “it will be wild.”
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