According to testimonies before the committee of inquiry into the storming of the US Capitol, ex-President Donald Trump could have stopped the violence at any time. The Republican’s then-deputy press secretary, Sarah Matthews, said at a public hearing on Thursday evening (local time) that Trump could have contacted his supporters directly. “If the President had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he could have been on camera almost immediately.”
In the last public hearing before the summer break, the committee of inquiry focused primarily on the time after a speech by then US President Donald Trump that day, in which he again incited his supporters. It was only 187 minutes later that Trump asked his supporters in a video message to go home. “Almost everyone wanted President Trump to call on the mob to disperse, but he refused,” said Adam Kinzinger, Republican member of the committee. Trump supporters stormed the seat of parliament in Washington on January 6, 2021. Congress met there to formally confirm the election victory of Trump’s democratic challenger Joe Biden. Five people died in the violent storm, many were injured.
Matthews said the White House was discussing what kind of tweet Trump should make during the Capitol attack to stop the violence. Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany whispered to her that Trump did not want the word “peace” to appear in any form in such a tweet. There should have been discussions about it. Only daughter Ivanka Trump was finally able to convince her father of the phrase “stay peaceful”, McEnany is said to have continued. The following tweet was dropped: “Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement agencies. You are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful!”
Instead, Trump poured “oil on the fire” during the Capitol attack, said then Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger. “It was evident that the situation in the Capitol was violent and rapidly escalating.” The forces that Trump unleashed that day are still there, Kinzinger said. “The militant, intolerant ideologies, the militias, the alienation and discontent, the weird fantasies and disinformation – it’s all still out there.” Committee chairman Bennie Thompson called for serious consequences for Trump and his helpers. “Unless accountability is taken for January 6th, for every part of this plan, I fear we will not overcome the ongoing threat to our democracy.”
There is no doubt that Trump oversaw and led a coordinated effort to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. “There can be no doubt that he ordered a mob — a mob he knew to be heavily armed, violent and angry — to march on the Capitol and try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power,” he said. “He lied. He bullied. He betrayed his oath. He tried to destroy our democratic institutions.” Thompson announced that the committee’s investigation would continue. There will be further hearings in September. The Committee itself cannot initiate criminal proceedings. That decision rests with the Ministry of Justice.
