4 days in January: Trump push for Capitol coda to 2020 vote
Newslooks- WASHINGTON (AP)
It would have been something never quite before seen in America — a defeated president, Donald Trump, standing at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a mob of supporters, some armed, contesting the election outcome.
FILE – A video of former President Donald Trump speaking during a rally near the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, is shown as committee members from left to right, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., look on, during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
FILE – This exhibit from video released by the House Select Committee, shows a photo of former President Donald Trump talking to his chief of staff Mark Meadows before Trump spoke at the rally on the Ellipse on Jan 6, displayed at a hearing by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, June 28, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP, File)
“He’s going to look powerful,” mused Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to a young White House aide four days earlier.
FILE – Pat Cipollone, the former White House counsel under President Donald Trump, arrives at an interview room in the Ford House Office Building after a break while answering questions from investigators with the Jan. 6 Select Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, July 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)
But White House lawyers thought it was a “terrible” idea. Counsel Pat Cipollone warned that Trump could be charged with “every crime imaginable” if he joined mob on Capitol Hill trying to interfere with the certification.
FILE – Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State, testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
In the end, Trump never made it to the Capitol on Jan. 6. His security refused to take him as rioters, some with weapons, laid siege to the building.
Furious, and stuck at the White House, Trump watched the insurrection on television.
FILE- Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testifies about how former President Donald Trump reacted in his vehicle after being told he was not able to go to the Capitol from the Ellipse on Jan. 6, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Jan. 6 hearings are providing dramatic new insight about Trump’s intentions as he told loyalists he would join them on a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to “fight like hell” for his presidency. This account is drawn largely from the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Her recollections from her close proximity to the president and his inner circle suggest Trump’s demands were not the brash desires of an impulsive commander in chief but part of his last-ditch plan for stopping Biden’s victory.
FILE – Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testifies as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Trump and his allies quickly disputed Hutchinson’s account, and the former president conducted his own interview days later disparaging her with derisive commentary and nicknames.
FILE – In this image from video released by the House Select Committee, Rudy Giuliani speaks with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, that was displayed at the hearing Tuesday, June 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP, File)
This coming week, the committee is set to focus on Trump’s own actions and those of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in allegedly leading the Capitol attack.
FILE – A video of Rudy Giuliani is displayed on a screen, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, Thursday, June 23, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
A look at what’s known about Trump’s plans to join the mob on Jan. 6:
