During their first public hearing, the January 6th Committee laid out a new set of evidence, gathered by non-partisan career prosecutors, proving that Trump knew his claims of fraud were untrue while he and his MAGA allies planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy to overturn an election they knew they had already lost.
Testimony by former Attorney General Barr and Ivanka Trump, as well as Trump campaign officials Jason Miller, and Matt Morgan, revealed they told Trump and Mike Meadows repeatedly that there was no basis for his claims of fraud and that he had lost the election. Knowing full well that his claims lacked merit, Trump continued to lie to the American people and engage in a criminal conspiracy to overturn an election he lost. As Liz Cheney revealed, when it was made clear that Trump had incited and embraced the violence that injured 140 police officers during the Capitol insurrection, he ignored pleas for assistance.
Until the end of his presidency, Trump entertained and pushed conspiracy theories as his former Senior Advisor Jared Kushner worked on issuing pardons, and White House staffers knew “he was too dangerous to be left alone.” Getting to the truth during these hearings and demanding accountability in the courts and at the ballot box is how we stop the current MAGA campaign to sabotage future elections by changing state laws, threatening state officials, and packing election administration offices so that they can have the final say over election results – even when they lose.
During the 2020 Election
November 4: Trump Falsely Alleged Fraud In The Election And Claimed Victory While Votes Were Still Being Counted. Election Day was relatively uneventful with record numbers of voters voting by mail. At the end of the night on November 3, several states remained in the process of counting votes and neither candidate had won enough electoral votes to claim victory. At 2:30 AM on November 4, Trump appeared in the East Room at the White House and called for vote counting to halt, falsely describing the situation as a “major fraud in our nation” and vowing to take his case to the Supreme Court. Trump claimed victory in the election stating, “To me, this is a very sad moment, and we will win this. And as far as I’m concerned, we already have.” Trump’s declaration fired up his supporters to begin organizing a movement to overturn the legitimate results of the election, and left social media platforms and media outlets scrambling to assert that the election had not been called yet.
Trump And His Allies Start Pushing Unfounded Conspiracy Theories About The Election While Filizing Dozens Of Lawsuits Seeking To Halt Vote Counting. On the day after the election, Donald Trump, Eric Trump, and top members of his campaign began promoting a series of unfounded conspiracy theories about the vote-tallying process to claim that Democrats were ‘rigging’ the final count. Eric Trump tweeted a QAnon video purportedly showing someone burning ballots cast for his father. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh falsely claimed that crowd control at a ballot processing center in Detroit was part of an effort to thwart Trump’s victory, while the campaign was also tacitly endorsing disruptive protests in Philadelphia and Detroit, aiming to “Stop the Steal.” On the same day, lawyers from the Trump campaign simultaneously attempted to use the courts to halt vote-counting in Pennsylvania and Michigan, sought a recount in Wisconsin, and challenged the handling of ballots in Georgia.
Before The Events Of January 6th
Trump and His Advisors Spread False ‘Election Fraud’ Allegations After They Knew They Had Lost The 2020 Election. During the first hearing, Cheney stated, “Donald Trump and his advisors knew that he had in fact lost the election. But despite this, President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to convince huge portions of the U.S. population that fraud had stolen the election from him. This was not true.”
Attorney General Barr Told Trump There Was No Evidence Of Massive Fraud. Under deposition, Barr told the Committee: “…repeatedly told the President in no uncertain terms that I did not see evidence of fraud that would have affected the outcome of the election. And frankly, a year and a half later, I haven’t seen anything to change my mind on that.” He also told federal prosecutors, “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen, and I told the President it was bullshit.”
- Ivanka Trump ‘Accepted’ Barr’s Conclusions Over The 2020 Election. Ivanka agreed with Barr under deposition, telling the committee that his words, “affected my decision…I accepted what he was saying.”
White House And Trump Campaign Officials Told Trump There Was No Evidence Of Massive Fraud. A few days after the 2020 election, senior Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller told White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: “We weren’t finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.” Meadows replied, “So there’s no ‘there, there?’” Matt Morgan, the Trump campaign’s General Counsel, also explained to him that: “all of the fraud allegations and the campaign’s other election arguments, taken together, and viewed in the best possible light for President Trump, would still not change the outcome of the election.”
During The Capitol Insurrection
Trump Was ‘Well Aware’ Of Violence During The Capitol Insurrection, Ignored Pleas For Assistance. Cheney testified: “There’s no doubt that President Trump was well aware of the violence as it developed. White House staffers urged President Trump to intervene and call off the mob.” She then presented a document written by White House staff, advising Trump to release a statement: “Anyone who entered the Capitol without proper authority should leave immediately.” Cheney confirmed, “As the violence was underway, President Trump ignored multiple pleas for assistance and failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol.”
Trump Agreed With Protestors Wanting To “Hang Mike Pence”, Saying “Mike Pence Deserves It”. Cheney stated, “And aware of the rioters’ chants to ‘Hang Mike Pence’, the President responded with this sentiment: “Maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.” Months later, Trump continued to defend his comments, arguing that these violent sentiments were “common sense.”
In The Aftermath of January 6th
White House Staff Said Trump Was “Too Dangerous To Be Left Alone” After Jan. 6. After Trump finally released a statement telling the rioters “we love you and you are very special,” White House staff “knew that President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his end. 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,” said Cheney. Former Trump Senior Advisor Jared Kushner stated he was “just trying to get as many pardons done” after that time.
