The 2016 Presidential Foreboding: When Donald Trump Persistently Threats and Harassment Gets Closer to the People and the Laws

American politics is festering in violence, intimidation and inhumanity as another election looms amid escalating risks to political figures, all of which poses a grave threat to democracy.

Trump has caused anger among his supporters. The more outrageous the comments, the more that he and his supporters disdain the Washington elites who constrain the presidency and government institutions. His political self image emulates the militarism and brashness of foreign strongmen. His power over a party that refuses to rebuke him, however extreme he becomes, shows again when he refuses to temper his speech even at the risk of endangering others.

The foreboding atmosphere five weeks before the midterm elections shows the country remains in the grip of the rancor that stained the peaceful transfer of power from one president to another less than two years ago.

This coincides with painful and far from complete investigations into what happened after the 2020 election. On Monday, jurors heard how senators cried as they hid from the mob on the first day of the Oath Keepers trial.

The former President used his social media accounts to insult Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell and his wife Elaine, who was a former transportation secretary. Trump recently denounced FBI agents as “vicious monsters” over the search of his home.

At the weekend rally, one of the ex- President’s top boosters accused Democrats of wanting Republicans to die.

A New York Times story over the weekend, which detailed a stream of threats and harassment against lawmakers of both parties, noted that after Trump was elected in 2016, the number of reported threats against members of Congress rose more than 10 times to 9,625 in 2021, according to Capitol Police figures.

It was the latest outburst of a climate of violence and harassment swamping modern politics. Less than two years after an attack on the US Capitol resulted in Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, it took place. It happened a few months after a man was arrested for attempting to murder a Supreme Court Justice. Five years before this, GOP House Minority Whip Steve Scalise was shot at a baseball practice. And it’s less than 12 years since Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was left with a brain injury after she was shot in the head in Tucson, Arizona.

The ex- President had a brutal tone to his campaign rhetoric long before the Capitol insurrection. Trump built an impression that violence was a legitimate tool of expressing political grievances and further eroded the idea that Americans should take care of their differences rather than use violent action.

Millions of Americans have already voted early and there is hope that will continue next week. And violence is nothing new in the volatile two-and-a-half centuries of US history – sometimes erupting to the surface at a time of national stress.

The Facebook Attack on McConnell Revisited: Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat Sen. Bernie Thompson, condemned Trump’s Twitter Affliction on McConell

Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House select committee, on Monday condemned Trump’s social media assault on McConnell and told colleagues in both parties, “We need to be better than this.”

He said in a statement that Trump’s rhetoric “could incite political violence, and the former President knows full well that extremists often view his words as marching orders.”

“The ‘death wish’ rhetoric is ugly even by Mr. Trump’s standards and deserves to be condemned. The paper said that Mr. Trump wrote something other than Mr. McConnell has a political death wish.

Even a few years ago, the comments from Lake and various right-wing pundits might have been disqualifying. But in the Trump era, the cruelty is often the point, as candidates and surrogates seek to establish their credibility with a radical base of voters by saying what once would have been seen as offensive or simply callous. Their rhetoric often exacerbates the process of dehumanizing political opponents that seems to make violence more likely.

The Republicans often point to the rhetoric of key Democratic figures to say their supporters are being targeted. This happened most recently when Biden referred to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” supporters as embracing “semi-fascism.” Intemperate political rhetoric should always be condemned. But any objective viewing of Trump’s speeches and social media posts must conclude that he’s an incessant and deliberate offender.

Some brave lawmakers within his own party almost never condemn him. This was borne out by the uncomfortable dodging from Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the Senate GOP campaign committee, on Sunday shows when he was asked to condemn Trump’s post about McConnell.

The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic, 1860-1900, as a Memorable Moment from the History of the First Presidential Campaign

The President likes to name people. You can ask how he came up with the nickname. When asked by Dana Bash if he has a nickname for him, Scott said he was sure of it.

“I hope no one is racist. I hope no one says anything that’s inappropriate,” Scott said, encapsulating the manner in which Trump has intimidated his party into submission through seven years of fury since he announced his first campaign.

Editor’s Note: At the University of Connecticut, Manisha is the chair in American History. She is the author of multiple works on the history of slavery and abolition, the Civil War and Reconstruction, including the forthcoming “The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: A Long History of Reconstruction, 1860-1900.” Her views are expressed here. Read more opinion on CNN.

Midterm elections are usually not history-making stuff. There have been few that have been memorable. But in the 2022 midterms, as in the 1866 elections, the fate of American democracy hangs in the balance. If there is a moment from history that our current political moment most resembles, it is the 1866 midterm elections, held a year after the end of the Civil War.

The party in power has historically lost midterm elections with a few exceptions. Political pundits have repeated this conventional wisdom this year, with predictions of a November debacle for Democrats.

It looked a little different recently. There were some legislative successes by the Biden administration, such as the elimination of gas prices and the pardon of student loans, and the Supreme Court’s unprecedented decision about Donald Trump’s legal troubles.

In 1866, as now, the nation faced a rogue President, who incited and condoned political violence. Though in the present case, Trump, unlike Andrew Johnson, is no longer in office. Trump signaled support for paranoid conspiracy theories while complaining of persecution.

During Reconstruction, the period when Congress tried to establish an interracial democracy in the South, the Democratic Party developed an armed wing for its campaign of domestic political terror. The philosophy of the Republican Party’s alt right wing has been described by the president as “semi-fascist”. Lindsey Graham predicted bloodshed in the streets if Trump is indicted for taking top secret national security documents. Ben Tillman was a fellow South Carolinian and US Senate predecessor who went on to commit acts of violence against Black people and his political opponents.

Then, armed paramilitary groups were threatening the country. The Ku Klux Klan was founded after the Civil War and during the bloody summer of 1866, racists and ex-Confederates attacked freed people and Unionists in Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans. The January 6 insurrection by a violent mob of Trump supporters was more significant than the Memphis and New Orleans massacres in their impact on the nation. The congressional investigations of the two riots were eye-opening for many Americans.

The ex-Confederate states passed a number of “Black Codes” that made it possible for former slaves to be put in as close a state to slavery as they could get, denying African Americans their due process of the law and restricting their mobility and employment. GOP state legislatures are passing legislation that is against abortion at times with no exceptions for rape or incest. To most Northerners, the Black Codes made a mockery of emancipation and challenged the results of a hard-fought war, just as anti-abortion laws are criminalizing women’s long held right to bodily autonomy.

Is this going to replicate 1866 in a few years? As a historian, as a woman and as a citizen, I can only hope that it does. Free people would swarm the North according to the elites in the South. Today, Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas are using migrants as human pawns by transporting them to blue states in a sick political stunt.

History is a guide to the future for Americans and helps understand the present. The first federal civil rights law was passed in 1866 by congressional Republicans. A similar victory in 2022 could lead to federal laws protecting the right to vote and abortion if the Democrats can hold the House against all odds and a slightly bigger Democratic majority could get rid of the filibuster in the Senate. Democracy is at stake at the moment.

The 2016 Capitol Attack Attack on the U.S. Capitol: Why the Select Committee is Right Against Partisanism? An Update on the Mueller’s Investigation

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You have seen in our hearings that President Trump sent his supporters to the capitol knowing they were angry and armed. This was the last most desperate and dangerous prong of his plan to disrupt the joint session and prevent the orderly transition of power.

Right-wing domestic terrorists have been inspired by rhetoric from Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress. In this time, we have seen an uptick of extremists of all types willing to engage in political violence, we’ve seen militia groups mobilized to violence for the 2020 election and we’ve seen political violence continue throughout and beyond Trump’s presidency.

But as the panel wrapped up what was likely the last of its evidentiary hearings on Thursday, it was not at all clear that it had persuaded the jury. After four months of hearings and scrutiny, Americans who blamed the rampage on Mr. Trump were left with more evidence to back up their faith, while those who started out in his camp stayed put.

The movement in public opinion since the hearings began has been fairly static at best, indicative of the ongoing calcification of American politics. Many voters have been locked into their viewpoints, seemingly immune to contrary information. The majority of Mr. Trump’s supporters have stuck by him, despite the congressional investigation being a partisan exercise.

As a result, a former president who tried to overturn a demonstrably free and fair election to hang onto power in defiance of the voters, the Constitution and nearly two and a half centuries of democratic tradition remains the dominant figure in his political party and the odds-on favorite to win its nomination to run again. The plot was documented extensively, but the committee can’t enforce accountability for it.

BENNIE THOMPSON: The Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol will be in order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare the committee in recess at any point. Pursuant to House Deposition Authority Regulation 10, the chair announces the committee’s approval to release the deposition material presented during today’s hearing.

I would like to offer my best wishes to the United States of America. The committee started to give the findings to the American people four months ago. From the beginning, we understood that some people watching those proceedings would wrongly assume that the committee’s investigation was a partisan exercise.

That’s why I asked those who were skeptical of our work to — simply to listen, to listen to the evidence, to hear the testimony with an open mind, and to let the facts speak for themselves before reaching any judgment. The testimony at the hearings proved that Donald Trump was behind a multi-part plan to overturn the 2020 election.

We now know that the president wants to win the election. His false victory speech was well in advance of the vote being counted. It was a premeditated plan by the President to declare victory no matter what the actual result was. He made a plan to stay in office before Election Day. Donald Trump might do something on election night that the Vice President’s staff is concerned about.

What Donald Trump proceeded to do after the 2020 election is something no president has done before in our country. Donald Trump betrayed his oath by attempting to commit an attack on a pillar of our democracy. It’s still hard to believe, but the facts and testimony are clear, consistent, and undisputed.

How do we know this? How have we been able to present such a clear picture of what took place? We have presented to you through these proceedings, and the documentary evidence we have gathered and made available to you, the American people, is also a result of the testimony we have heard.

But ultimately, the vast majority cooperated with our investigation, and what we’ve shown you over the last four months has been centered on the evidence, evidence that has come overwhelmingly from Republican witnesses. So, I say to you again as I did in June, this investigation is not about politics. It’s not about partying.

Who was that? There are people who have worked for Donald Trump for years, Republican state officials and legislators, Republican electors, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, political professionals who worked at the highest levels of the Trump campaign, and appointees to the Justice Department who worked in the most senior positions.

I’ve been in congress for many years. It’s very difficult for a Congressional investigation to obtain such a detailed view into the inner circle of a president. And I want to be clear. Not all these witnesses were thrilled to talk to us. Some up — put up quite a fight.

Investigations of Donald Trump’s 2020 Presidential Campaign: Rudy Giuliani’s Failure to Distinguish Between President Trump and the House of Representatives

There is one thing different about this day. Pursuant to the notice circulated prior to today’s proceedings, we are convened today not as a hearing but as a formal committee business meeting so that, in addition to presenting evidence, we can potentially hold a committee vote on further investigative action based upon that evidence.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Since the last public hearing there has been a lot of events. We continue to analyze new documentation from the Secret Service, which we received as the chairman mentioned. We’ve received new witness testimony, including about efforts to obstruct our investigation and conceal key facts.

And according to public reporting, the Department of Justice has been very active in pursuing many of the issues identified in our prior hearings. Our committee may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, but we recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution.

The preamble to our Constitution recites among its purposes, to “establish justice.” And our nation’s judiciary and our US Department of Justice have that responsibility. A key element of this committee’s responsibility is to propose reforms to prevent January 6th from ever happening again. The Electoral Count Act was amended by the House to make sure that no other election can be overturned.

Today we will see new evidence but, as the chairman said, we will also synthesize evidence you’ve seen before. The vast weight of evidence presented so far has shown us that the central cause of January 6th was one man, Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of this would have happened without him.

He also visited the White House on December 12th. He posted a video that claimed credit for the attack. This video, posted on January 6th, was apparently created prior to the attack. This big lie, President Trump’s effort to convince Americans that he had won the 2020 election began before the election results even came in. It was something that was planned.

Rudy Giuliani, along with many others, stepped forward to help, knowing that there wasn’t enough evidence to change the election results. And on the evening of January 5th, they admitted they were still trying to find that phantom evidence. Of course, as a result of making intentionally false claims of election fraud, Mr. Giuliani’s license to practice law has now been suspended.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

What did President Trump Tell Us about the United States and Where Did He Get What He Wanted to Do? And when Did he Tell Us?

He sent them to the Capitol because he knew they were angry, and some of them were armed. As the riot began, he encouraged his supporters to commit more violence by publicly condemning his vice president. He refused to disband his rioting supporters and instruct them to leave the Capitol even after being begged several times. None of this is normal or acceptable or lawful in our republic.

Those who were involved in helping to defeat President Trump’s attempts to overturn the election include Vice President Pence, Bill Barr, State Republican officials and the White House staff.

All of these people had a hand in stopping Donald Trump. A key question is what this leads us to. Why would Americans assume that our Constitution and our institutions and our republic are invulnerable to another attack? Why do we assume those institutions will not fail in the future? A key lesson of this investigation is this.

Our institutions only hold when men and women of good faith make them hold regardless of the political cost. We have no guarantee that these men and women will be in place next time. Future presidents will not want to try and get what Donald Trump did in 2020 done because of the people who could stand in the way.

Our country is a country of laws, where the president must follow the law and respect the decisions of our courts. The president’s closest advisers held that view during and after the election. [Begin videotape]

The courts rejected President Trump’s fraud and other allegations and even his Department of Justice appointees did the same. President Trump knew the truth. He heard what all his experts and senior staff were telling him. He knew he had lost the election, but he made the deliberate choice to ignore the courts, to ignore the Justice Department, to ignore his campaign leadership, to ignore senior advisers, and to pursue a completely unlawful effort to overturn the election.

Let me read from one judge’s statement given at a recent sentencing hearing. “High ranking members of Congress and state officials, who know perfectly well the claim of fraud was and is untrue and that the election was legitimate, are so afraid of losing their power, they won’t say so. It has to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America to stand up for one man who knows full well that he lost instead of the Constitution he was trying to subvert.” The January 6th violence and lawlessness is unjustifiable, but our nation cannot only punish those who took over the Capitol.

So, as we observe the evidence, please think about where the nation is in its history. Is it possible for us to survive for another 246 years? Most people in most places on Earth have not been free. America is an exception, and America continues only because we bind ourselves to our founders’ principles, to our Constitution.

We recognize that some principles must be beyond politics, inviolate, and more important than any single American who has ever lived. Thank you for this, Chairman. I return the favor.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Earlier in the night of November 3, 2020, President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, told him that mail-in votes were still being counted

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very shortly after the election, oh — we begin this meeting by returning to election night, November 3rd, 2020. As the chairman noted, we’ve previously presented testimony about how the election results were expected to come in that night. In some states mail-in votes will not be counted until after the polls have closed.

That meant that election results would not be known for some time. Although President Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy had advised him, the president did not do so. The videotape should begin.

I just remember generally, you know, you had people arguing that we had a — a very, very robust get out the vote effort and that, you know, mail in ballots could be a good thing for us if we looked at it correctly.

I invited Kevin McCarthy to join the meeting, he being of like mind on — on the issue with me, in which we made our case for — for why we believed mail in balloting, mail in voting not to be a bad thing for his campaign, but, you know, the President’s mind was made up. End videotape.

So it was expected before the election that the initial counts in some states, in other words, those votes cast on Election Day, would be more heavily Republican and this would create the false perception of a lead for President Trump, a so-called red mirage. But as the results of the absentee ballots that were later counted, there could be trends towards Vice President Biden as those mail in ballots were counted.

Now on election night, Donald Trump’s advisers specifically told him he didn’t have a factual basis to declare victory, that he should wait for the remaining ballots to be counted. Here is campaign manager, Bill Stepien. In beginning videotape.

It wasn’t too early for people to be making calls like that. There were still ballots to be counted. The votes would be counted for days. And it was far too early to be making any proclamation like that. My recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted. It is too early to call the race.

This is a fraud on the public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were preparing to win the election. Frankly, we did win this election. [applause] We want all voting to stop. [End videotape]

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Threat to the VP from the Inciting of the Mob: An Investigation by the Secret Service and a Former White House Advisor to the Vice President

We have obtained new documents from the Secret Service that show how the Threat to the VP would be stemming from the President’s inciting of the mob. One agent in the Secret Services Intelligence Division immediately warned that POTUS was going to hurt Vice President Biden if he kept repeating “pathetic” things about him.

The possibility of a victory declaration within the White House before the election results are known was something I was told by Marc that there might be a push for. And that he was trying to figure out a way of avoiding the Vice President sort of being thrust into a position of needing to opine on that when he might not have sufficient information to do so. End the videotape.

The Select Committee got a memo from the National Archives. “It is essential that the Vice President is not seen as having decided questions concerning disputed electoral votes before they have been fully developed by the public”, the memo stated. A few days before the election, Mr. Trump also consulted with one of his outside advisers, inside activist, Tom Fitton, about the strategy for election night.

Everyone knew that ballot counting would lawfully continue past Election Day, claiming that the counting on election night must stop before millions of votes were counted was as we now know a key part of President Trump’s pre-meditated plan. On Election Day, just after 5 pm, Mr. Fitton indicated he’d spoken with the President about the statement.

And just a few days before the election, Steve Bannon, a former Trump chief White House strategist and outside adviser to President Trump, spoke to a group of his associates from China and said this. [Begin videotape]

He’s going to declare himself a winner. So when you wake up Wednesday morning, it’s going to be a firestorm. Also, if Trump is losing by 10:00 or 11:00 at night, it’s going to be crazy because he’s going to say that they stole it.

I’m ordering the Attorney General to stop all ballot places in all 50 states. He’s not going out easy, that’s for sure. If Biden is winning, Trump is going to do some crazy shit. [End videotape]

Mr. Bannon didn’t testify in our investigation. He’s been convicted of criminal contempt of Congress and he’s awaiting sentencing. But the evidence indicates that Mr. Bannon had advance knowledge of Mr. Trump’s intent to declare victory falsely on election night, but also that Mr. Bannon knew about Mr. Trump’s planning for January 6th. Here’s what Bannon said on January 5th. Start with a videotape.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The President of the United States, Robust Electoral Corrupt Practice, and Roger Stone: A Talk with the President Donald Trump on January 4th

All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It’s all converging and now we’re on, as they say, the point of attack, right, the point of attack tomorrow. I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. Ok, let’s go. It’s going to be different, in a very different way. And all I can say is strap in. Tomorrow is game day and you have made it happen.

Make no mistake, President Trump knew that what he was demanding Vice President Pence do was illegal. On January 4th he was continually apprised of this. Even his lawyer John Eastman admitted in front of President Trump that this plan would break the law by violating the Electoral Count Act. Begin the videotape.

I suspect it’ll be — I really do suspect it will still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Most laws require possession to be at least 10% of the law.

Although we don’t yet have all the relevant records of Roger Stone’s communications, even Stone’s own social media posts acknowledge that he spoke with Donald Trump on December 27th as preparations for January 6th were underway. In this post you can see how Roger Stone spoke about his conversations with Trump.

He wrote, “I also told the President exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and convicted and to ensure Donald Trump continues as our President.” By now we know that the idea for a special counsel is more than just a suggestion.

In addition to his connection to President Trump, Roger Stone maintained extensive direct connections to two groups responsible for violently attacking the Capitol, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. Both of these organizations have been charged with seditious conspiracy. And what is seditious conspiracy?

He pleaded guilty to obstruction of Congress and seditious conspiracy. The married couple,Kelly andConnieMeggs, are an example. Kelly Meggs was the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers. Both he and his wife provided security for Roger Stone, and both are charged with leading a military style stack attack of Oath Keepers attacking the Capitol on January 6th. Roger Stone had a close relationship with the national chairman of the Proud Boys.

Roger Stone’s connection with Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys is well documented by video evidence, with phone records the Select Committee has obtained. Tarrio, along with other Proud Boys, has been charged with multiple crimes concerning the attack on January 6th, including seditious conspiracy. Tarrio sent a message to other Proud Boys saying we did that.

It was planned. It was not based on results or any evidence of actual fraud, even if there are problems with machines. It was a plan concocted in advance to convince his supporters that he won. It is believed that people who knew of that plan in advance will play a key role in January 6. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

I know the President was informed about the network decision when the networks called it. That afternoon at some point, myself And a handful of other folks went over and sat down with the President and communicated that the odds of us prevailing in legal challenges were very small.

There is a discussion going on in the Oval. I think it could have been someone else, but the President said words to the effect that we lost. The issue should be put to the next guy, meaning President Biden.

I remember maybe a week after the election was called, I popped into the Oval just to like give the President the headlines and see how he was doing. He looked at the television and said, “Can you believe I lost to this effing guy?”

Mark and I raised it on the 18th. And so following that conversation with the motorcade ride driving back to the White House, I said, look, does the President really think he lost? And he said, you know, a lot of times he’ll tell me that he lost, but he wants to keep fighting it. He believes that there might be enough to win the election, but he has acknowledged that he’s lost.

President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business, knowing that he only had weeks left in office. This is an example of President Trump issuing an order. He ignored concerns about the consequences for fragile governments that are on the front lines of the fight against terrorists.

After he knew he was leaving office, he signed this order with the intention of removing troops from both Afghanistan and Uganda in time for Biden’s inauguration. As you watch the clips, you’ll know that General Kieth Kellogg was the national security adviser to the vice president and chief of staff to the National Security Council for President Trump.

Are you familiar with a memo that the President reportedly signed on November 11, 2020, ordering that troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Somalia?

I believe that you have seen a memo or two from Johnny McEntee to Douglas Macgregor. To get the US forces out of Afghanistan, you need to do it here. It’s reasonable to say that when you first met Colonel Douglas Macgregor, you discussed his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.

He responded to you on that day and said that DOD leadership was not going to do any of those steps without an order.

I explained in language that should be in the order while I was in the meeting with McEntee, and this was my answer to him. I said, If you want this to happen or the President wants this to happen, he’s got to write an order.

I drew some statements on the paper for him. You know, the President directs. What is the right word for this type of language?

McEntee duly takes it up, brings it in to the President. The President signs it and boom, it’s over — faxed over e-mail, scanned over. Kash Patel delivers it to me.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Reply to the Speaker of the House Select Committee on ‘Is there a legislative mandate for the presidency of the United Nations?’ (Jan. 2006, pp 11253384)

I told the PPO that I would do something physical if I ever saw that kind of thing. That was a terrible disservice to the nation. And by the way, that was a very contested issue. There were people who did not agree with getting out of Afghanistan.

I replied to that. And for the department to insert itself into the political process this way I think would have had grave consequences for the country. It may have led to a constitutional crisis. End video.

Keep in mind the order was for an immediate withdrawal. It would have been terrible. The president signed the order. These are the highly consequential actions of a President who knows his term will shortly end. President Trump was told there was no evidence of fraud or irregularity needed to change the outcome when he acknowledged privately that he lost the election.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Report on the Jan. 6 Subcommittee on the ‘Are All the Key States Votes Voted to the U.S. Senate Major General Assembly?”

I remember that Mr.Meadows was on the phone asking me if I was finding anything. I shared with him that we weren’t able to change the results in any of the key states.

It would be our job to track it down and come up dry because the allegation didn’t prove to be true. And we’d have to, you know, relay the news that, yeah, that that — that tip that your — someone told you about those — those votes or that fraud or, you know, nothing came of it. That will be our job and, you know, not a very fun job, because it’s easy to tell the President about wild allegations.

If fraud, maladministration, abuse or irregularity were aggregated and read most favorably to the campaign, that would be outcome determinative. And I think everyone’s assessment in the room, at least amongst the staff, Marc Short, myself, and Greg Jacob, was that it was not sufficient to be outcome determinant. [End videotape]

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Supreme Court Denied President Trump’s Litigation on December 11, 2021: A Brief History of a Presidential Campaign, President Trump and the Secret Service

Any candidate is free to litigate genuine election disputes. Nobody argues that, because President Trump’s litigation was unsuccessful. In our past hearings, we told you that the committee had identified a total of 62 election lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and its allies between November 4th and January 6th of 2021. Those cases resulted in 61 losses and only a single victory, which did not affect the outcome for any candidate.

The lack of evidence for election fraud in those lawsuits was criticized in strong language. The federal appeals court in Pennsylvania stated the charges required specific allegations and proof. We do not have either here. A federal judge in Wisconsin wrote, quote, the court has allowed the former president the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits.

Another judge in Michigan called the claims, quote, nothing but speculation and conjecture that votes for President Trump were either destroyed, discarded or switched to votes for Vice President Biden. A federal judge in Michigan sanctioned nine attorneys, including Sidney Powell, for making frivolous allegations in an election fraud case, describing the case as a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.

The last chance at success for Trump was lost in the US Supreme Court when he lost a lawsuit on December 11th. A newly obtained Secret Service message from that day shows how angry President Trump was about the outcome. That’s right, the president is pissed. Breaking news, Supreme Court denied his lawsuit.

We know that the White House advisers thought negatively of President Trump. Immediately after the call, Cassidy Hutchinson had a conversation with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Begin videotape.

This is the day that the Supreme Court had rejected that case. A Christmas reception occurred at the White House. The President and I walked out of the Oval Office onto the Rose Garden colonnade after the Christmas reception.

The President was fired up about the Supreme Court decision. And so I was standing next to Mr. Meadows, but I had stepped back. The person said that he was probably two or three feet from him. The president was angry at the decision and why didn’t we call more, and he ranted about how it’s wrong.

The states certified their votes on December 14th and sent them to Congress. And in my view, that was the end of the matter. I didn’t see — you know, I — I thought that this would lead inexorably to a new administration.

I told him that I believed that the Electoral College had met and that there was no chance of him pursing litigation because it was unlikely that he could get even a partial recount.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Dominion: A company that’s very suspect and wants to keep the vote going to Biden. [End videotape] President Trump’s visit to the White House

Gene Scalia, the secretary of labor and the son of late Justice Scalia, visited the President in December to explain the situation. [Begin videotape]

So, I had put a call in to the president. I might have called on the 13th. We spoke, I believe, on the 14th, in which I conveyed to him that I thought that it was time for him to acknowledge that President Biden had prevailed in the election. But I communicated to the president that, you know, when that legal process is exhausted and when the electors are — have voted, that that’s the point at which that outcome needs to be expected.

I told him that he should concede the outcome, if fraud had not been established, because I thought it was important to get the legal process running and to make sure the election was fair. [End videotape]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The turning point was mid-December. President Trump made a decision to ignore the courts and his advisers and go forward with trying to overturn the election. His efforts to overturn the election were not random or disconnected, rather, they were part of a coordinated multipart plan to ensure that he stayed in power.

I found the claims against the voting machines to be very disturbing, and I saw absolutely no basis for them. I told them that it was a grave disservice to the country and they were too busy wasting time on that.

We have a company that’s very suspect. Its name is Dominion. With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you could press a button for Trump and the vote goes to Biden. What kind of a system is this?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Big Vote Dump: A Case Study of a Michigan County Election Officials’ Behaviour and What Donald Trump Did About It

We definitely talked about Antrim County again. At that point, the hand recount had been completed and that was all that was needed. This is an example of something people are telling you, that’s not supported by evidence, and it’s being filed in some of these court filings.

In addition, there is the highly troubling matter of Dominion voting systems. In one Michigan county alone, 6,000 votes were switched from Trump to Biden, and the same systems are used in the majority of states in our country.

I went into this and would, you know, tell him how crazy some of these allegations were and how ridiculous some of them were. I’m talking about some things that were easy to blow up, like the fact that more vote were cast in Pennsylvania before the election than there were babied ballot requests. There was no indication of interest in what the actual facts were.

More votes were cast than voters. That is something to think about. You had more votes than you had voters. That’s an easy one to figure, and it’s by the thousands.

He called it the big vote dump in Detroit. And that — you know, he said people saw boxes coming in to the counting station at all hours of the morning. I told the President there were 630 polling places in Detroit. They centralized the process so that they’re not counted in each precinct.

We looked at the tape with Georgia in mind. We interviewed the witnesses. There is not a suitcase. The president kept fixating on this suitcase that supposedly had fraudulent ballots and that the suitcase was rolled out from under the table. And I told him that there was no suitcase. You can watch the video multiple times.

There is nothing in a suitcase. There is a wheeled bin where they carry the ballots, and that’s just how they move ballots around that facility. There is no reason to suspect that at all.

Election officials pulled boxes, Democrats, and suitcases of ballots out from under a table. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. End the videotape.

This happened over and over again, and our committee’s report will document it, purposeful lies made in public directly at odds with what Donald Trump knew from unassailable sources, the Justice Department’s own investigations and his own campaign. Donald Trump maliciously repeated this nonsense to a wide audience over and over again.

His intent was to deceive. President Trump’s plan also involved trying to coerce government officials to change the election outcome in the states he lost. He personally reached out to numerous state officials and pressured them to take unlawful steps to alter the election results in those states. These actions, taken directly by the president himself, made it clear what his intentions were; to prevent the orderly transfer of power.

This call and other related activity is now the focus of an ongoing criminal investigation in Fulton County, Georgia. Georgia is not the only place where President Trump tried to get officials to change the results. He also attempted to press — pressure state officials in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to change the results in those states as well.

So, look, now all I want to do is this. We won the state so I want to find 11,780 more votes. Look, we need only 11,000 votes. We have far more than that as it stands now. We’ll have more and more. So, what are we going to do here, folks? I don’t need to get over 11,000 votes.

I just want to find 11,780 votes. That’s an extraordinary demand by the president, especially since he already knew from the Justice Department there was no genuine basis for this request. It would be against the law for the Secretary of state to simply find the votes for the president in order to win the election.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

What Vice President Pence had to say about the reversal of Donald Trump’s decision to make the attorney general of the Department of Justice to overturn the election

That is the thing. That is a criminal offense. You can’t let that happen. That is a big risk to you and your lawyer. That’s a big risk. [End videotape]

I remember looking at him. And I said, Mark, you can’t possibly think we’re going to pull this off. That call was out of place. He looked at me and shook his head. He was like, no, Cass, you know, he knows it’s over. We’re going to keep trying, even though he knows he lost. There’s some good options out there still.

President Trump decided to make Jeff Clark acting attorney general because he would do what other officials wouldn’t do. Clark would have been able to corruptly use the Justice Department’s authority if Trump had done so for a specific purpose.

For example, when Richard Donoghue and Jeff Rosen, both appointed by President Trump, learned of Mr. Clark’s proposal, here’s why they said they forcefully rejected it. [Begin videotape]

I said at the end that you’re going to be dealing with the United States Justice Department in the outcome of a presidential election, not the other way around. But more importantly, this was not based on fact. This was actually contrary to the facts as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and months.

The President ultimately relented only because the entire leadership of the Department of Justice as well as his White House counsel threatened to resign. Mr Chairman, I return the favor.

When I received the call from the White House switchboard, I did not remember the exact date or location, but it was President Trump who contacted me.

And then essentially, he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors, in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states. Continue the videotape.

The plan to make Vice President Mike Pence reject or refuse to count certain Biden electoral votes was part of a larger scheme to make President Donald Trump win reelection. Here is what Vice President Pence has said about this scheme.

President Trump wrongly said he had the right to overturn the election. I had no right to change the result of the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. One of the un- American things about the idea of anyone choosing the American President is that anyone could do it.

And Dr. Eastman confirmed this in writing. Do you think the President has the power to decide things on his own? In the email written on January 6th, the VP’s counsel asked if he had power to decide in his own way. He’s been advised by Dr. Eastman.

Pat Cipollone, President Trump’s own White House counsel, was aware that this plan was not in line with the law. Here is Mr. Cipollone’s testimony. Start a videotape.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

When did President Trump and the Capitol Crimes End? A Memorino with the Secretary-of-Minister David Norquist

I apologized for being impolite, but do you remember what she said when she talked about her father calling the Vice President?

But Vice President Pence didn’t waver even when his own life was endangered by President Trump and the rioters at the Capitol on January 6, as you’ll see in more detail later. A federal judge concluded, based on this and other evidence, that President Trump’s pressure campaign against the Vice President likely violated multiple criminal statutes.

On December 19th, President Trump first told his supporters to come to Washington. January 6 was promoted as the dayAmericans could change the outcome of the election on many occasions. For weeks, President Trump worked with others to plan the rally, intending all along that he would send an assembled crowd of angry supporters to the Capitol after his speech on the Ellipse on January 6. One rally organizers sent a text message on January 4th. In part it reads that, quote, POTUS is going to have us march there at the Capitol.

The head of the President’s Secret Service protective detail, Robert Engel, was specifically aware of the large crowds outside the magnetometers. Tony Ornato was in the chief of staff’s office. According to the documents obtained from the Secret Service, the agents knew that the crowd was armed. Take a look at what they saw and heard.

The Secret Service has given the select committee more assistance since our last hearings. Nevertheless, Secret Service text messages from this period were erased in the days and months following the attack on the Capitol, even though documents and materials related to January 6th had already been requested by the Department of Justice and Congress.

There are predictions that there may be violence at the Capitol. David Norquist, deputy secretary of defense, had warned the president’s national security team about the possibility of an attack on the Capitol.

I only remember that he was very prescient during these calls. During one of the calls Norquist says a direct assault on the Capitol is the greatest threat. I’ll never forget it. [End videotape]

This email, for example, was an alert that the Secret Service received on December 24th with the heading, Armed and Ready, Mr. President. According to the intelligence, multiple users online were targeting members of Congress, instructing others to march into the chambers on January 6th and make sure they know who to fear.

The Secret Service field office relayed a tip that was received by the FBI. The Proud Boys will march armed into DC, according to a source. They think that they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed, so they will outnumber the police, according to a source.

Later on the evening of January 5th, the Secret Service learned during an FBI briefing that right-wing groups were establishing armed QRFs or quick reaction forces readying to deploy for January 6th. The Oath Keepers and other groups were prepared if POTUS asked for assistance under the Insurrection Act.

One report from the rally site at 7:58 a.m. said, some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks. Another from 9:30 a.m. said that there were possibly OC spray, meaning pepper spray, and/or plastic riot shields. At 11:23 a.m., agents also reported a man with a rifle and a man with a glock.

A man with a gun, pistol on hip, and an assault rifle were reported by agents over the course of an hour.

The Federal Protective Service, a agency tasked with protecting federal buildings, was alerted about the arrest of a protester with a gun just minutes before President Trump began his speech. Weapons related arrests continued during the speech. At 12:13 PM, United States Park Police arrested a man with a rifle in front of the World War II Memorial. These agents were concerned that the situation could get worse as they remarked on how many weapons had been seized that day.

One of those sites was called The Donald.win. The Select Committee has obtained a text message that Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser, sent to Mark Meadows less than a week before January 6th. He wrote in all caps, that he got the base fired up. The link was sent to TheDonald.win.

The linked web page had comments about the joint session of Congress on January 6th. Take a look at some of those comments. “Gallows do not require electricity.” “If the filthy commie worms try to push their fraud through, there will be hell to pay.” “Our lawmakers in Congress can either leave a body bag and leave after certifying Trump, or they can leave a body bag and leave after officially certifying Trump as the President-elect.” Mr. Miller claimed that he had no idea about the hundreds of comments like these in the link that he sent to Mark Meadows.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The rioting mob of the Capitol was angry, and he hadn’t warned the public about the election… until the day of the Green Giant eviction

If I had seen something like that, I would have flipped it to someone at the White House, and I would have flagged it to the Secret Service. [End videotape]

The same day Jason Miller sent his text message, agents received reports about a spike in activity on another platform called Parler. The day was December 30th. An agent received an email from Parler that included a lot of violent rhetoric against government people and entities.

Another agent reported the dramatic impact of Trump’s anti-Pence tweet on his followers. “He lacked courage and had over 24,000 likes in under 2 minutes” the president said. Employees at Twitter were nervously monitoring the situation. They knew that certain Twitter users were rioting at the Capitol and tweeting about it at the same time.

Just that they were — they were fired up. They were angry. They feel like the election’s been stolen, that the election was rigged, that — he went on and on about that for a little bit. [End videotape]

Yes, the president knew the crowd was angry because he had stoked that anger. He had lied to them about the election being rigged and stolen, so they believed it. By the time that he invited the angry mob to march on the Capitol, he knew they were going to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Hearing Transcription: The California Senator, whose mags are weapons, and when they are not: I’m sorry, but I can’t bring them up

The gentleman is going to return the favour. The meeting will take a brief recess at this point. Pursuant to the order of the committee of today, the chair declares the committee in recess for a period of approximately 10 minutes. [In recess] The man from California is being recognized by the chair.

He wanted it full, and he was angry that we weren’t letting people through the mags with weapons, what the Secret Service deemed as weapons and are — are weapons. I overheard the president say something to the effect that he didn’t care that they had weapons.

They are not here to hurt me, that’s for sure. Take the f’ing mags away. Allow my people in. From this location, they can march to the Capitol. Let the people in. Take the mags away. [End videotape]

I’d love to have those tens of thousands of people in the military, police, and Secret Service; and we want to thank you. You are doing a good job. [Applause] But I’d love it if they could be allowed to come up here with us. Is that possible? Can you just let them come up, please?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Investigating the President’s irate behavior in the limo on January 6th: Why we were alarmed when we learned that the president had left the Capitol

The professional who told us that said that when the president was in the limo on January 6th they heard how upset he was. That professional also testified that they were specifically informed of the –president’s irate behavior in the SUV by Mr. Ornato in Mr. Ornato’s office. It was Mr. Engel, with Mr. Ornato in that office.

I will note this as well. The committee is reviewing testimony regarding potential obstruction on this issue, including testimony about advice given not to tell the committee about this specific topic. In our report, we will address this matter.

They were told that the president would leave for the Capitol in two hours. It wasn’t until 1:55 PM that the president’s lead Secret Service agent told them to stand down. We are not going to the Capitol. Rioters penetrated the Capitol and were attacking the brave men and women in law enforcement trying to fight the mob.

We all had a state of shock. Because why? We knew that this was no longer a rally and that he would have to walk to the Capitol, which is why we just went ahead and did it.

I don’t know if you want to call it a coup. We all knew that this would move from a normal democratic, you know, public event into something else. Why were we are alarmed?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Reply to ‘The White House’: President Trump refusing entreaties to his closest advisers and family members to tell him to stop and leave the Capitol’

We have testimony from several members of the president’s White House staff establishing that President Trump refused entreaties from his closest advisers and family members to tell his supporters to stand down and leave the Capitol. Pat Cipollone is the White House counsel.

The press secretary of the White House described an exchange she had with the president as he arrived back at the White House. Continue with videotape.

So, to the best of my recollection, I recall him being — wanting to — saying that he wanted to physically walk and be a part of the march, and then saying that he would ride the beast if — if he needed to, ride in the presidential limo. The end of videotape.

There was an email from the Secret Service at 1:19 pm on January 6th, the same time President Trump got out of his vehicle at the White House. As soon as the president left the motorcade, the Secret Service warned Bobby Engel, the lead agent for the presidential detail that they were concerned about an off the record movement to the Capitol.

I can’t talk about conversations with the president, but I can generically say that I said, you know, people need to be told — there needs to be a public announcement fast that they need to leave the Capitol.

Approximately when? It was violent almost instantly after I found out people were going into the Capitol.

I — I don’t — I can’t think of anybody, you know, on that day who didn’t want people to get out of the — the Capitol once the — you know, particularly once the violence started, no. I mean.

I’m sorry. I am. I apologize. I thought you said who on — who else on the staff. I can’t reveal what’s happening, but I think that you know. [End videotape]

Mr. Cipollone’s testimony is corroborated by multiple other White House staff members, including Cassidy Hutchinson. Ms. Hutchinson said that she heard Mark Meadows say something. Start the videotape.

You heard what he said, Pat. He doesn’t want to do anything more. He doesn’t believe they’re doing anything wrong. End videotape.

A former White House staffer recalled an exchange of words between Eric Herschmann and Mr. Cipollone about the mob assault on the Capitol. Mr. Herschmann spoke to Mr. Cipollone. He seemed to relay that, you know, the president didn’t want anything done.

Throughout this period, some of the president’s most important political allies, family members, and senior staff all begged him to tell his supporters to disperse and go home. They were joined by his son Donald Trump Jr., the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, other Congress members, and officials in the cabinet and the executive branch.

All of them made appeals to Donald Trump, which he rejected and he ignored. The witnesses that were interviewed by the Select Committee told them that Donald Trump was watching the violence on TV while they were in the dining room. He did not call the secretary of defense, the National Guard, the Capitol Police or the Metropolitan Police Department.

Did the president spend the entire time in that private dining room, or did he go to the White House, only to find out about the attack on the Capitol?

Yeah. What did they say, Mr. Meadows or the president, at all during that brief encounter with you in the dining room? What do you remember? I think they were — everyone was watching the TV. When you talked to him on January 6th, do you know if he watched TV in the dining room?

Was the violence visible on the screen of the Capitol on the television when you sat down in the dining room?

You will see how everyone was working to stop the violence, to get federal law enforcement deployed to the scene, and to secure the Capitol complex. Not just Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, but Republicans like Vice President Pence, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Majority Whip John Thune, and countless other appointees across the administration.

We’re starting to get surrounded. The north front scaffolding is being taken by them. Unless we get more rockets, we are not going to be able to hold. The door has been breached and people are gaining access into the Capitol.

There has to be some way we can maintain the sense that people have that there is some security or some confidence that government can function and that we can elect the president of United States. Did we go back into session?

We went back in session and now everyone on the floor is wearing their tear gas masks. I’m trying to find out more.

I can’t. We need a area for the House members. They’re all walking over now through the tunnel. Bring her out here. Hey, boys, we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.

I’m going to make a call to the DOD secretary. We have some Senators who are still in their hideaways. They need to hire a lot of personnel. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come as well?

I have something to say, Mr. Secretary. We’re — I’m going to call the mayor of Washington DC right now and see what other outreach she has to other police departments, as Steny — Leader Hoyer has mentioned.

Hello, Governor. Nancy is what this is. I’m not sure if you’ve been asked about the Virginia National Guard. Mr. Hoyer was connect — speaking to Governor Hogan, but I still think you probably need the Ok of the federal government in order to come in to another jurisdiction. I would like to thank you.

They said someone was shot. It’s horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States. Ok, thank you, Governor. I’m very appreciative of what you’re doing. I’d like to keep in touch with you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

You know, I was just talked to Governor Northam, and what he said is they sent 200 state police and a unit of the National Guard. They’re breaking windows and going in, obviously ransacking our offices and all the rest of that. That’s nothing. The concern we have about personal harm.

Personal safety is something that surpasses everything. On any given day they are breaking the law in many different ways and it’s all due to the work of the president of the United States. At least somebody is possible if he could.

Yeah, why don’t you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility, a public statement they should all leave.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Pentagon and the White House. I’m standing at the Capitol building. The investigation into the Tuesday night attack by mob rioters on President-elect Biden

I don’t want to speak for the leadership that’s going to be responsible for executing the operation, so I’m not going to say that. They are experts because they are meeting on the ground. [Inaudible]

Pretend for a second that it was the Pentagon or the White House that had been attacked. Let me say you can logistically get people there as you make the plan. We are trying to figure out a way to get this done. We talked to Mitch about it earlier. He was with us before, and he said, “We want to expedite this.” We could vote if they restricted it to one complaint, Arizona, and then we could just move forward with the rest of the state.

It’s the wish of the majority that it be done at the Capitol. What we are being told very directly is it’s going to take days for the Capitol to be Ok again. We’ve gotten a very bad report about the condition of the House floor, defecation and all that kind of thing as well. I don’t think that that’s hard to clean up, but I do think it is more from a security standpoint of making sure that everybody is out of the building and how long will that take.

It could take days to clean up the poo poo in the Capitol and that is a counter point to what I said.

Nancy, so I’m at the Capitol building. I’m literally standing with the Chief of Police of — you know, the US Capitol Police. The sergeant-at-arms told me that they believe the House and the Senate will be able to return to work in roughly an hour.

The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. When he saw what was going on, he should have denounced the mob. President Trump needs to act immediately on these facts. Accept his share of responsibility, quell the unrest, and ensure that President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.

It was obvious that only President Trump could end this. He was the only one who could. The former aides begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the administration. But the President didn’t act quickly. He did not do his job. He didn’t take steps so federal law could be faithfully executed and order restored.

Another witness, Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s former chief of staff, has also come forward and corroborated her shocking account. [Begin videotape]

I asked Kevin McCarthy, who is the Republican leader, if he got through to Donald Tr