By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and FARNOUSH AMIRI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite determined pleas from aides, allies, Republican congressional leaders and even his household, Donald Trump refused to name off the Jan. 6 mob assault on the Capitol, as an alternative “pouring gasoline on the fire” by aggressively tweeting his false claims of a stolen election and telling the gang of supporters in a video handle how particular they had been.
The subsequent day, he declared anew, “I don’t want to say the election is over.” That was in a beforehand unaired outtake of a speech he was to present, proven at Thursday night time’s prime-time listening to of the House investigating committee.
The committee documented how for some 187 minutes, from the time Trump left a rally stage sending his supporters to the Capitol to the time he in the end appeared within the Rose Garden video, nothing may transfer the defeated president, who watched the violence unfold on TV.
Even an announcement ready for Trump to ship — which mentioned, “I am asking you to leave the Capitol Hill region NOW and go home in a peaceful way.” — couldn’t be delivered as written, with out Trump modifying it to repeat his baseless claims of voter fraud that sparked the lethal assault. “So go home,” he did say, including, “We love you. You’re very special. … I know how you feel.”
He additionally had wished to incorporate language about pardoning the rioters in that speech, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified beforehand.
“President Trump didn’t fail to act,” mentioned Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a fellow Republican however frequent Trump critic who flew fighter jets in Iraq and Afghanistan. “He chose not to act.”
Plunging into its second prime-time listening to on the Capitol assault, the committee aimed to point out a “minute by minute” accounting of Trump’s actions that fateful day, how he summoned the gang to Washington together with his false claims of a stolen election after which dispatched them to struggle for his presidency.
With the Capitol siege raging, Trump poured “gasoline on the fire” by tweeting condemnation of Mike Pence’s refusal to associate with his plan to cease the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, former aides informed the Jan. 6 investigating committee in a prime-time listening to Thursday night time.
Two Trump aides resigned on the spot.
“I thought that Jan. 6 2021, was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history,” mentioned former White House aide Sarah Matthews testifying earlier than the panel. “And President Trump was treating it as a celebratory occasion. So it just further cemented my decision to resign.”
The committee performed audio of Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reacting with shock to the previous president’s response to the assault.
“You’re the commander-in-chief. You’ve got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s Nothing? No call? Nothing Zero?” he mentioned.
Earlier, an irate Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol after his supporters had stormed the constructing, nicely conscious of the lethal assault, however then returned to the White House and did nothing to name off the violence, regardless of appeals from household and shut adviser,, witnesses testified.
At the Capitol, the mob was chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” testified Matt Pottinger, a deputy nationwide safety adviser for Trump, as Trump tweeted his condemnation of his vice chairman.
Meanwhile, recordings of Secret Service radio transmissions revealed brokers asking for messages to be relayed telling their households goodbye.
Pottinger mentioned that when he noticed Trump’s tweet he instantly determined to resign, as did former White House aide Matthews, who mentioned she was a lifelong Republican however couldn’t associate with what was happening. She was the witness who known as the tweet “pouring gasoline on the fire.”
The listening to aimed to point out a “minute by minute” accounting of Trump’s actions that day and the way slightly than cease the violence, he watched all of it unfold on tv on the White House.
“He refused to do what every American president must,” mentioned Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the panel’s Republican vice chair.
“And for hours, Donald Trump chose not to answer the pleas from Congress, from his own party and from all across our nation, to do what is required,” she mentioned.
An irate Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol after the supporters he despatched laid siege, nicely conscious of the lethal assault and that some within the mob had been armed however refusing to name it off as they fought to reverse his election defeat, witnesses informed the committee.
Trump had dispatched the gang to Capitol Hill in heated rally remarks on the Ellipse behind the White House, and “within 15 minutes of leaving the stage, President Trump knew that the Capitol was besieged and under attack,” mentioned committee member Elaine Luria, D-Va.
She mentioned the panel had obtained testimony the confirming the highly effective earlier account of former White House aide Hutchinson of an altercation involving Trump as he insisted the Secret Service drive him to the Capitol.
Among the witnesses testifying Thursday in a recorded video was retired District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department Sgt. Mark Robinson who informed the committee that Trump was nicely conscious of the variety of weapons within the crowd of his supporters however wished to go regardless.
“The only description that I received was that the president was upset, and that he was adamant about going to the Capitol and that there was a heated discussion about that,” Robinson mentioned.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, showing just about as he self-isolates with COVID-19, opened Thursday’s listening to saying Trump as president did “everything in his power to overturn the election” he misplaced to Joe Biden, together with earlier than and in the course of the lethal Capitol assault.
“He lied, he bullied, he betrayed his oath,” charged Thompson, D-Miss.
After months of labor and weeks of hearings, Cheney mentioned “the dam has begun to break” on revealing what occurred that day, on the White House in addition to within the violence on the Capitol.
This was in all probability the final listening to of the summer time, however the panel mentioned they’ll resume in September as extra witnesses and knowledge emerges.
“Our investigation goes forward,” mentioned Thompson testifying remotely as he isolates after testing optimistic for COVID-19. “There needs to be accountability.”
The listening to room was packed, together with with a number of law enforcement officials who fought off the mob that day. The panel is arguing that the defeated president’s lies a few stolen election and makes an attempt to overturn Biden’s election victory fueled the assault and have left the United States going through enduring questions concerning the resiliency of its democracy.
Ahead of the listening to, the committee launched a video of 4 former White House aides — press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, safety aide Gen. Keith Kellogg, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and government assistant to the president Molly Michael — testifying that Trump was within the personal eating room with the TV on because the violence unfolded.
Some Cabinet members had been so alarmed they mentioned invoking the twenty fifth Amendment to take away Trump from workplace.
While the committee can’t make felony expenses, the Justice Department is monitoring its work.
So far, greater than 840 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Over 330 of them have pleaded responsible, principally to misdemeanors. Of the greater than 200 defendants to be sentenced, roughly 100 obtained phrases of imprisonment.
No former president has ever been federally prosecuted by the Justice Department.
Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned Wednesday that Jan. 6 is “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation that the Justice Department has ever entered into.”
Five folks died that day as Trump supporters battled the police in gory hand-to-hand fight to storm the Capitol. One officer has testified that she was “slipping in other people’s blood” as they tried to carry again 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 mentioned.
This regardless of numerous pleas from Trump’s aides and allies, together with his daughter Ivanka Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity, based on earlier testimony and textual content messages the committee has obtained.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Kevin Freking, Mike Balsamo and Nomaan Merchant in Washington and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s protection of the Jan. 6 committee hearings at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”