The House of Representatives committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol on Thursday placed the blame for the events on Donald Trump, saying the attack was not spontaneous but was instead an “attempted coup.” State” and a direct result of the defeated president’s efforts to nullify the 2020 election.
With a never-before-seen 12-minute video showing the violence, and with testimonies from Trump’s inner circle, the Select Commission provided gripping details in arguing that Trump’s repeated lies about alleged voter fraud and his attempted public attempt to nullify Joe Biden’s victory led to the attack and endangered American democracy.
“Democracy is still in danger,” the panel’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said during the hearing, which was broadcast in prime time to reach as many Americans as possible.
What happened “on January 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one protester put it shortly after January 6, to overthrow the government,” Thompson said. “The violence was not an accident. ”.
In a video, the panel played a comment by former Attorney General William Barr, who testified that he told Trump that claims of a rigged election were “bullshit.”
In another, the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, testified before the commission that she respected Barr’s view that there was no voter fraud. “I accepted what he said.”
Other recordings showed the leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys extremist groups preparing to storm the Capitol to defend Trump. Testifying in person was Caroline Edwards, a police officer who suffered serious injuries while fighting a mob that stormed the Capitol.
“President Trump called a violent mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the panel. “When a president fails to take the necessary steps to preserve our union, or worse, causes a constitutional crisis, we are at danger to our republic.
There was a gasp in the courtroom as Cheney read an account that when Trump was told that the Capitol mob was chanting for then-Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, Trump responded that maybe they were right, that “they he deserves it”
Trump was upset that Pence, who was presiding over Congress that day, rejected his order to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.
–
