Former US president Donald Trump sat watching television in the White House and did not contact police, the military or other authorities to try stop the violence while his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6th last year, a congressional committee has been told.
In a prime-time hearing on Thursday night the committee also heard that members of former vice-president Mike Pence’s security detail were fearful for the lives as they protected him on January 6th and contacted their families to say goodbye.
Out-takes from a video recorded by the president on the day after the attack on the Capitol on January 7th also showed that he did not want to say publicly that the 2020 presidential election was over.
The committee accused Mr Trump of a “complete dereliction of duty” and “supreme violation of his oath of office” by failing to act to stop the attack on the US Capitol by supporters who were hoping to obstruct the formal certification of Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
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The committee maintained that for several hours Mr Trump sat in the White House dining room as aides, allies and family members urged him to try to stop the attack. The committee said Mr Trump at the same time continued to call US senators trying to persuade them to hold up the certification of the election result.
The chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, said about the president’s response: “You’re the commander in chief — you’ve got an assault going on the Capitol of the United States of United States and there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?”
Former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews testified she was told Mr Trump “did not want to include any sort of mention of peace” in a tweet aides urged him to send in a bid to quell the violence on the afternoon of January 6th last year.
She said that an earlier tweet sent by Mr Trump attacking his vice-president for “not having the courage” to refuse to certify the election results amounted to “pouring gasoline on the fire” as his supporters attacked the Capitol building.
Ms Matthews and former deputy national security advisor Matthew Pottinger said this tweet had prompted both to resign.
Ms Matthews said this tweet on the afternoon of January 6th was effectively a “green light” to those who were attacking the Capitol. “I’ve seen the impact that his words have on his supporters. They truly latch on to every word and every tweet that he says,” she said.
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In video testimony former White House counsel Pat Cipollone said he and other senior advisers and family members were pushing for the president to issue a strong statement condemning the violence. He appeared to imply Mr Trump was alone in being reluctant to publicly urge the rioters to go home.
The committee also heard that Mr Trump, when he did issue a video message after 4pm on January 6th, departed from the script and did not say a line prepared by his staff asking his supporters to leave the Capitol Hill area at once and go home in a peaceful way.
Committee member and Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said: “The mob was accomplishing President Trump’s purpose, so of course he didn’t intervene [to try halt the attack on the Capitol].”
“President Trump did not fail to act ... He chose not to act.”
An unidentified security professional gave evidence in a video testimony that Mr Pence’s security personnel were so concerned as rioters broke into the Capitol building that they “were starting to fear for their own lives”.
The witness said: “There was a lot of yelling. A lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing. I don’t like talking about it, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on and so forth. It was getting — for whatever the reason was on the ground the vice-president’s detail thought that this was about to get very ugly.”
The committee showed Mr Trump recording a video on January 7th but apparently changing his mind about the text.
Mr Trump was recorded as saying initially: “But this election is now over — Congress has certified the results.”
He then stopped reading from the teleprompter.
“I don’t want to say the election is over, I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, OK?” Mr. Trump said.
The committee also heard evidence from a new witness who appeared to support claims by a former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, some weeks ago that Mr Trump had been furious that he was not permitted by his security personnel to go to the Capitol with his supporters following a rally on January 6th.
Former police officer Mark Robinson said he had received information that the president was upset and was adamant about going to the Capitol.
