https://nationalpost.com/news/world/as-u-s-capitol-attack-hearings-open-republican-says-trump-lit-the-flame
Trump 'lit the flame,' Republican says as U.S. Capitol attack hearings open
'Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen'
WASHINGTON — A congressional hearing into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat presented testimony on Thursday showing that close allies – even his daughter – rejected his false claims of voting fraud.
The House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault also showed graphic footage of thousands of rioters attacking police and smashing their way into the Capitol. It was the first of six planned hearings intended to show that the Republican former president tried to subvert the U.S. Constitution and unlawfully hold onto power.
The Democratic-led committee presented video of testimony from notable Trump administration figures including his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Attorney General William Barr, campaign spokesperson Jason Miller and General Mark Milley.
It also showed part of Trump’s incendiary speech before the attack in which he repeated false election fraud claims and directed his supporters’ anger at Vice President Mike Pence, who was at the Capitol overseeing congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election win – a process the riot failed to prevent.
Democratic committee chair Bennie Thompson said Trump was at the center of a conspiracy to thwart American democracy and block the peaceful transfer of power.
“Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one writer put it shortly after Jan. 6, to overthrow the government,†Thompson said. “The violence was no accident. It was Trump’s last stand.â€
Barr in videotaped testimony said: “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I call the bullshit. And, you know, I didn’t want to be a part of it.â€
Barr’s view convinced Trump’s daughter.
“I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying,†Ivanka Trump said in videotaped testimony.
Trump, who is publicly flirting with another White House run in 2024, issued a statement before the hearing calling the committee “political Thugs.â€
“Aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Well, maybe our supporters have the right idea,'†said Representative Liz Cheney, one of the two Republicans on the nine-member panel and its vice chairperson.
Since leaving office last year, Trump has kept up his false claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was the result of widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by numerous courts, state election officials and members of his own administration.
“We can’t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that there was fraud in the election,†Barr, who resigned about two weeks before the Capitol attack, said in the video.
The hearing also featured two witnesses who testified in person, U.S. Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards, who sustained a brain injury in the attack, and Nick Quested, a filmmaker who captured footage of the far-right Proud Boys group, accused of helping to plan the attack.
Edwards described insults hurled by rioters at her during the melee but said she was proud of fighting them off even after being injured.
“I was slipping in people’s blood,†Edwards said. “It was carnage. It was chaos.â€
“What I saw was just a war scene,†Edwards added.
The hearings are being held ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine whether Biden’s party retains control of the House and the Senate.
The mob attacked police, sent lawmakers and Pence fleeing for their safety and caused millions of dollars in damage. Four people died that day, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. More than 100 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Four officers later died by suicide.
“Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen and that he was the rightful president,†Cheney said. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.â€
To her fellow Republicans – who voted to remove her from her House leadership position – Cheney offered a warning: “Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: ‘There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.'â€
Biden on Thursday described the attack as “a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution,†telling reporters: “I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election.â€
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday underscored the partisan lens through which many Americans view the assault. It found that among Republicans about 55% believed the false claim that left-wing protesters led the attack and 58% believed most of the protesters were law-abiding.
Two Republican Georgia state election officials who Trump tried to pressure to “find†votes that would overturn his election defeat will testify at hearings later this month, a source familiar with the matter said.
Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, from excerpts of his opening statement:
“We can’t sweep what happened under the rug. The American people deserve answers. So I come before you this evening not as a Democrat, but as an American who swore an oath to defend the Constitution. The Constitution doesn’t protect just Democrats or just Republicans. It protects all of us.â€
“So tonight, and over the next few weeks, we’re going to remind you of the reality of what happened that day. But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger. The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over.â€
“January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here.â€
U.S. Representative Liz Cheney:
“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.â€
“On this point, there is no room for debate. Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.â€
“All Americans should keep … in mind this fact, on the morning of Jan. 6, President Donald Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States.â€
“As you will see in our hearings, the White House received specific reports in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including during President Trump’s Ellipse rally (near the White House), indicating that elements in the crowd were preparing for violence at the Capitol,†Cheney said.
“The White House staff knew the President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends. They knew the president needed to be cut off from all of those who had encouraged him. They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone, at least until he left office on Jan. 20.â€
Greg Jacob, former counsel to Vice President Mike Pence, to Trump-allied lawyer John Eastman, quoted by Cheney:
“Thanks to your bullshit. We are under siege.â€
Former Attorney General William Barr, by video:
“I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I call the bullshit. And, you know, I didn’t want to be a part of it. … We can’t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that the election that there was fraud in the election.
Ivanka Trump, former President Trump’s daughter, in video testimony:
“I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying.â€
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in videotaped testimony he spoke to Vice President Mike Pence two or three times on Jan. 6:
“He was very animated, very direct, very firm … ‘Get the military down here, get the (National) Guard down here, put down this situation.â€
Caroline Edwards, U.S. Capitol Police officer injured in attack:
“I was called (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s dog, called incompetent, called a hero and a villain.â€
“They dared to question my honor. They dared to question my loyalty and they dared to question my duty.â€
“When I fell behind that line and I saw – I can just remember my breath catching in my throat because what I saw was just a war scene. It was like something I had seen in the Middle East. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. … I was slipping in people’s blood. … It was hours of hand-to-hand combat.â€
Nick Quested, documentary filmmaker who followed the right-wing Proud Boys protesters on Jan. 6:
“I was surprised at the size of the group, the anger and profanity.â€
– Reuters
Trump 'lit the flame,' Republican says as U.S. Capitol attack hearings open
'Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen'
WASHINGTON — A congressional hearing into the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat presented testimony on Thursday showing that close allies – even his daughter – rejected his false claims of voting fraud.
The House of Representatives select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault also showed graphic footage of thousands of rioters attacking police and smashing their way into the Capitol. It was the first of six planned hearings intended to show that the Republican former president tried to subvert the U.S. Constitution and unlawfully hold onto power.
The Democratic-led committee presented video of testimony from notable Trump administration figures including his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Attorney General William Barr, campaign spokesperson Jason Miller and General Mark Milley.
It also showed part of Trump’s incendiary speech before the attack in which he repeated false election fraud claims and directed his supporters’ anger at Vice President Mike Pence, who was at the Capitol overseeing congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election win – a process the riot failed to prevent.
Democratic committee chair Bennie Thompson said Trump was at the center of a conspiracy to thwart American democracy and block the peaceful transfer of power.
“Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one writer put it shortly after Jan. 6, to overthrow the government,†Thompson said. “The violence was no accident. It was Trump’s last stand.â€
Barr in videotaped testimony said: “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I call the bullshit. And, you know, I didn’t want to be a part of it.â€
Barr’s view convinced Trump’s daughter.
“I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying,†Ivanka Trump said in videotaped testimony.
Trump, who is publicly flirting with another White House run in 2024, issued a statement before the hearing calling the committee “political Thugs.â€
“Aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘hang Mike Pence,’ the president responded with this sentiment: ‘Well, maybe our supporters have the right idea,'†said Representative Liz Cheney, one of the two Republicans on the nine-member panel and its vice chairperson.
Since leaving office last year, Trump has kept up his false claims that his 2020 election loss to Biden was the result of widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by numerous courts, state election officials and members of his own administration.
“We can’t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that there was fraud in the election,†Barr, who resigned about two weeks before the Capitol attack, said in the video.
The hearing also featured two witnesses who testified in person, U.S. Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards, who sustained a brain injury in the attack, and Nick Quested, a filmmaker who captured footage of the far-right Proud Boys group, accused of helping to plan the attack.
Edwards described insults hurled by rioters at her during the melee but said she was proud of fighting them off even after being injured.
“I was slipping in people’s blood,†Edwards said. “It was carnage. It was chaos.â€
“What I saw was just a war scene,†Edwards added.
The hearings are being held ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine whether Biden’s party retains control of the House and the Senate.
The mob attacked police, sent lawmakers and Pence fleeing for their safety and caused millions of dollars in damage. Four people died that day, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. More than 100 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Four officers later died by suicide.
“Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen and that he was the rightful president,†Cheney said. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.â€
To her fellow Republicans – who voted to remove her from her House leadership position – Cheney offered a warning: “Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: ‘There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.'â€
Biden on Thursday described the attack as “a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution,†telling reporters: “I think these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election.â€
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday underscored the partisan lens through which many Americans view the assault. It found that among Republicans about 55% believed the false claim that left-wing protesters led the attack and 58% believed most of the protesters were law-abiding.
Two Republican Georgia state election officials who Trump tried to pressure to “find†votes that would overturn his election defeat will testify at hearings later this month, a source familiar with the matter said.
Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, from excerpts of his opening statement:
“We can’t sweep what happened under the rug. The American people deserve answers. So I come before you this evening not as a Democrat, but as an American who swore an oath to defend the Constitution. The Constitution doesn’t protect just Democrats or just Republicans. It protects all of us.â€
“So tonight, and over the next few weeks, we’re going to remind you of the reality of what happened that day. But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger. The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over.â€
“January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here.â€
U.S. Representative Liz Cheney:
“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.â€
“On this point, there is no room for debate. Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: That the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.â€
“All Americans should keep … in mind this fact, on the morning of Jan. 6, President Donald Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States.â€
“As you will see in our hearings, the White House received specific reports in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including during President Trump’s Ellipse rally (near the White House), indicating that elements in the crowd were preparing for violence at the Capitol,†Cheney said.
“The White House staff knew the President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends. They knew the president needed to be cut off from all of those who had encouraged him. They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone, at least until he left office on Jan. 20.â€
Greg Jacob, former counsel to Vice President Mike Pence, to Trump-allied lawyer John Eastman, quoted by Cheney:
“Thanks to your bullshit. We are under siege.â€
Former Attorney General William Barr, by video:
“I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I call the bullshit. And, you know, I didn’t want to be a part of it. … We can’t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that the election that there was fraud in the election.
Ivanka Trump, former President Trump’s daughter, in video testimony:
“I respect Attorney General Barr. So I accepted what he was saying.â€
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in videotaped testimony he spoke to Vice President Mike Pence two or three times on Jan. 6:
“He was very animated, very direct, very firm … ‘Get the military down here, get the (National) Guard down here, put down this situation.â€
Caroline Edwards, U.S. Capitol Police officer injured in attack:
“I was called (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi’s dog, called incompetent, called a hero and a villain.â€
“They dared to question my honor. They dared to question my loyalty and they dared to question my duty.â€
“When I fell behind that line and I saw – I can just remember my breath catching in my throat because what I saw was just a war scene. It was like something I had seen in the Middle East. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. … I was slipping in people’s blood. … It was hours of hand-to-hand combat.â€
Nick Quested, documentary filmmaker who followed the right-wing Proud Boys protesters on Jan. 6:
“I was surprised at the size of the group, the anger and profanity.â€
– Reuters
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