Donald Trump “failed in his duty” in the assault on the Capitol and must be held legally responsible, elected officials who have been investigating the attack on the 6 January 2021. The former Republican president opened the floodgates “to disorder and corruption,” said Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House of Representatives committee in charge of these investigations.
“It will take severe consequences”
All those responsible, including at the White House, will have to “answer for their actions in court”, added the elected Democrat. “It will take severe consequences, otherwise I fear that our democracy will not recover.” The members of the commission completed a series of high-profile hearings on Thursday by devoting two and a half hours to the day of January 6, 2021 as experienced “minute by minute” by Donald Trump.
They accused him of having followed, for three hours, the surge of violence from his supporters without reacting, in “violation of his duty as commander-in-chief”. Yet it was he who had summoned them to Washington, the day the parliamentarians were to certify the victory of his Democratic rival Joe Biden in the presidential election.
Around noon, in a fiery speech in the heart of the capital, he asked them to “fight like the devil” against supposed “massive electoral fraud”. He then returned to the White House, while the crowd launched an assault on the temple of American democracy.
“Trump refused to act because of his selfish desire to stay in power”
Entrenched in the dining room, Donald Trump followed the attack on television “while his close advisers and family members begged him to intervene”, described the elected Democrat Elaine Luria.
In a video clip of his deposition, former White House legal adviser Pat Cipollone confirmed that he told him “very clearly” that he had to make an “immediate and clear public statement calling on people to leave the Capitol.” . But “President Trump refused to act because of his selfish desire to stay in power,” said Elaine Luria.
Worse according to her, at 2:24 p.m. he sent a tweet to criticize his Vice President Mike Pence for not wanting to block the certification of the results of the election, fueling the grievances of the rioters.
Within the next two hours, he sent two more messages, merely calling on the crowd to “stay peaceful”. Then deputy White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews reported that he only agreed to the minimalist term after his own daughter Ivanka intervened.
And when he finally shot a video to call on his supporters to “come home”, he did not respect the text written by his advisers. “I know your pain,” he chose to say, presenting himself again as the victim of a “stolen” election.
And never, during those 187 minutes, did he pick up his phone to “give orders or offer help” to the police or the army, noted Elaine Luria, showing the telephone records of the presidency .
Trump has ‘instrumentalised patriotism’
The next day, when many White House employees resigned, Donald Trump agreed to shoot a video to condemn the violence. But excerpts from the shoot revealed his reluctance. “I don’t want to say that the election is over,” he says with annoyance.
“This is not the story of inaction in times of crisis, but the final act of the plan concocted by Donald Trump (…) to stay in power”, concluded Liz Cheney at the end of the session, the only Republican on the commission along with Adam Kinzinger. For her, he “instrumentalized the patriotism and sense of justice” of his supporters to push them to act. Her actions were “premeditated”, “conscious, “indefensible”, asserted the elected official, repudiated by her party.
A final report is expected in the fall
This audition was the eighth in six weeks and the second broadcast at prime time. The previous ones have focused, among other things, on the role of the far right in the assault or on the pressure exerted on electoral agents by Donald Trump.
New auditions will take place in September, said Bennie Thompson. A final report is expected in the fall. Whatever his recommendations, the decision to prosecute Donald Trump will rest with Justice Minister Merrick Garland, who does not rule it out. “No one is above the law,” he said Wednesday.
Donald Trump, who openly flirts with the idea of running for president in 2024, vehemently denounces the work of the commission, which he describes as “fraud” and “shame”.