The following commentary is submitted by Charles Landis.
On November 1, 2020, Cape Charles Mirror published my commentary on the laws and protocols if there were contested electoral votes when Congress met on January 6. My comments were based upon studies by constitutional law scholars at Hover Institute/Stanford ad Heritage Foundation. I have republished this below for the following reasons:
1. To better understand what Trump was trying to do was as provided for by the Electoral Vote Count Act, the 12th Amendment, and the Presidential Succession Act.
2. To assert Luria’s declamation and narrative of the Jan 6 Committee is the most dishonest deceitful, diatribe ever prorogated in the corrupt halls of a Democrat congress. It is the biggest lie…ever.
Because the results of the election were so strongly contested and Trump had said he wanted Pence to “ do the right thing”, I concluded the rules and protocols would come into play and I could watch news coverage of both those proceedings and Trump’s speech to supporters. When Trump urged the supporters to ‘peacefully march to the Capitol and make their voices heard”. I considered everything that appeared as it should be: freedom of assembly, speech and to protest grievances. Except for messaging, the crowd appeared not much different than I observed when I attended Martin Luther King’s March on Washington and I have a Dream speech in 1963.
It was a great surprise, therefore, to see a large group of provocateurs/agitators had broken away from Trump’s speech and were rioting at the Capitol. Two days later, I spoke to someone who lives in Washington and attended the rally as an observer riding a bike and thus able to observe the whole of the crowd at the rally but not at the Capitol. It was observed that the supporters at the rally were in a very “jovial’’ mood, men, women, children, and families, of all colors, and walks of life. It has also been reported that these supporters en route to the capital did not break any windows. smash cars, start fires etc. Some were seen stopping o pick up trash.
The narrative of the Jan 6 Committee and the Democrat party is as Elaine Luria said when summarily speaking for the Jan 6 Committee as to their findings in course of hearings. All is reduced to Trump summoning a mob to Washington and inciting to attack Congress and force a change in the electoral account so Trump would remain in power.
The cause of all of this Luria and Jan 6 Com assert was Trump’s big lie that the election was stolen by fraud whereas Luria and Jan 6 Com assert the election was the freest, fair, and secure election in history and there is no evidence to the contrary. But there is an abundance of evidence for violatio0ns of election integrity. Mass mailings of unrequested ballots, voter harvesting, unattended drop boxes, absence of verification, and third-party interference. Rules were changed by election admiration officials, governors, and judges, and not by state legislators as required under the Constitution.
Suppression and censorship of news favored the anti-Trump. Indeed, surveys have shown 8% of Democrats would not have voted for Biden if they had known of Hunter Biden’s laptop. And of course, there were over $400 million in Zuckerbucks. Rigged election or fraudulent? A distinction without a difference.
The Jan 6 Com narrative needs to be viewed within the context of everything the Democrats have been trying to do since Biden assumed office to fundamentally change America with a progressive Democrat socialist agenda by any means possible.
When Trump said he “hoped Pence would do the right thing” his meaning was to follow the established rules and laws relating to the contested electoral vote count. Unfortunately, the rioters interrupted which is exactly what Trump did not want which is contrary to the whole narrative of Luria and the Jan. 6 Com.
It was possible that Congress would follow the SCOTUS Bush v Gore precedent and return contested electors to the state legislatures where there were more Republican legislatures at play than Democrats and Trump would be elected. Democrats all over the country would have rioted and many cities would be in flames
In the final analysis, Trump was trying to do the right and lawful thing. The Democrats have engaged in treacherous lies, deceits, and fabrications from impeachment hoaxes to Jan 6 Com and now to Mar A Largo.
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.
Article Two of our Constitution requires that the president swear a very specific oath every four years.
Every president swears or affirms to faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and to the best of their ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
The president also assumes the constitutional duty to take care that our nation’s laws be faithfully executed and is the commander in chief of our military.
Our hearings have shown the many ways in which President Trump tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the days leading up to January 6th.
With each step of his plan he betrayed his oath of office and was derelict in his duty.
Tonight, we will further examine President Trump’s actions on the day of the attack on the Capitol.
Early that afternoon, President Trump instructed tens of thousands of supporters at and near the ellipse rally, a number of whom he knew were armed with various types of weapons, to march to the Capitol.
After telling the crowd to March multiple times, he promised he would be with them and finished his remarks at 1:10 p.m. like this.
[Begin Videotape]
DONALD TRUMP: We’re going to walk down and I’ll be there with you.
We’re going to walk down.
[Applause]
We’re going to walk down anyone you want, but I think right here.
We’re going to walk down to the Capitol.
[Applause]
So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: By this time, the Vice President was in the Capitol.
The joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s victory was underway and the Proud Boys and other rioters had stormed through the first barriers and begun the attack.
Radio communications from law enforcement informed Secret Service and those in the White House Situation Room of these developments in real time.
At the direction of President Trump, thousands more rioters marched from the ellipse to the Capitol and they joined the attack.
As you will see in great detail tonight, President Trump was being advised by nearly everyone to immediately instruct his supporters to leave the capital disperse and halt the violence.
Virtually everyone told President Trump to condemn the violence in clear and unmistakable terms.
And those on Capitol Hill and across the nation begged President Trump to help.
But the former President chose not to do what all of those people begged.
He refused to tell the mob to leave until 4:17, when he tweeted out a video statement filmed in the Rose Garden ending with this.
[Begin Videotape]
DONALD TRUMP: So go home.
We love you.
You’re very special.
You’ve seen what happens.
You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil.
I know how you feel.
But go home and go home in peace.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: By that time, two pipe bombs had been found at locations near the Capitol including where the Vice President elect was conducting a meeting.
Hours of hand-to-hand combat had seriously injured scores of law enforcement officers.
The Capitol had been invaded, the electoral count had been halted as members were evacuated.
Rioters took the floor of the Senate.
They rifled through desks and broke into offices, and they nearly caught up to Vice President Pence.
Guns were drawn on the House floor and a rioter was shot attempting to infiltrate the chamber.
We know that a number of rioters intended acts of physical violence against specific elected officials.
We know virtually all the rioters were motivated by President Trump’s rhetoric that the election had been stolen, and they felt they needed to take their country back.
This hearing is principally about what happened inside of the White House that afternoon.
From the time when President Trump ended his speech until the moment when he finally told the mob to go home, a span of 187 minutes, more than three hours.
What you will learn is that President Trump sat in his dining room and watched the attack on television, while his senior most staff, closest advisors, and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American President.
I served proudly for 20 years as an officer in the United States Navy.
Veterans of our armed forces know firsthand the leadership that’s required in a time of crisis, urgent and decisive action that puts duty and country first.
But on January 6th, when lives and our democracy hung in the balance, President Trump refused to act because of his selfish desire to stay in power.
And I yield to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Kinzinger.
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you, Madam Vice Chair.
As you’ve seen in our prior hearings, President Trump summoned the mob to DC on January 6th.
Before he went on stage he knew some of them were armed and prepared for combat.
During his speech he implored them to march to the Capitol as he had always planned to do.
By the time he walked off the stage, his supporters had already breached the outer perimeter of the Capitol at the foot of Capitol Hill.
Since our last hearings, we’ve received new testimony from a security professional working in the White House complex on January 6th with access to relevant information and responsibility to report to national security officials.
This security official told us that the White House was aware of multiple reports of weapons in the crowd that morning.
We as a committee are cognizant of the fear of retribution expressed by certain national security witnesses who have come forward to tell the truth.
We’ve therefore taken steps to protect this national security individual’s identity.
Listen to this clip from their testimony.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: What was the consistent message from the people about this idea of the President to walk to the Capitol?
To be completely honest, we were all in a state of shock.
Because why?
Because — because it just — one, I think the actual physical feasibility of doing it.
And then also we all knew what that implicated and what that meant.
That this was no longer a rally, that this was going to move to something else if he physically walked to the Capitol.
I — I don’t know if you want to use the word insurrection, coup, whatever.
We all knew that this would move from a normal, democratic, you know, public event into something else.
What was — what was driving that sentiment considering this — this — this part of it, the actual breach of the Capitol hadn’t happened yet.
Why were we alarmed?
Right.
The President wanted to lead tens of thousands of people to the Capitol.
I think that was enough grounds for us to be alarmed.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Even though he understood many of his supporters were armed, the President was still adamant to go to the Capitol when he got off the stage at the ellipse.
But his Secret Service detail was equally determined to not let him go.
That led to a heated argument with the detail that delayed the departure of the motorcade to the White House.
We have evidence from multiple sources regarding an angry exchange in the Presidential SUV, including testimony we will disclose today from two witnesses who confirmed that a confrontation occurred.
The first witness is a former White House employee with national security responsibilities.
After seeing the initial violence at the Capitol on TV, the individual went to see Tony Ornato, the Deputy Chief of Staff in his office.
ELAINE LURIA: Mr. Ornato was there with Bobby Engel, the President’s lead Secret Service agent.
This employee told us that Mr. Ornato said the President was quote, “irate”, when Mr. Engel refused to drive him to the Capitol.
Mr. Engel did not refute what Mr. Ornato said.
The second witness is retired Sergeant Mark Robinson of the DC Police Department who was assigned to the President’s motorcade that day.
He sat in the lead vehicle with the Secret Service agent responsible for the motorcade, also called the TS agent.
Here’s how Sergeant Robinson remembered the exchange.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: Was there any description of what — of what was occurring in the car?
MARK ROBINSON: No, only that on — the only description I received was that the President was upset and was adamant about going to the Capitol and there was a heated discussion about that.
UNKNOWN: And when you say heated, is that your word or is that the word that was described by the TS agent?
MARK ROBINSON: No — word described by the TS agent, meaning that the President was upset and he was saying there was a heated argument or discussion about going to the Capitol.
UNKNOWN: About how many times would you say you’ve been part of that motorcade with President?
MARK ROBINSON: Ha. Ha. Ha.
Probably over 100 times.
UNKNOWN: And in that 100 times, have you ever witnessed another discussion of an argument or heated discussion with the President where the President was contradicting where he was supposed to go or what the Secret Service believed was safe?
MARK ROBINSON: No.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Like other witnesses, Sergeant Robinson also testified that he was aware that individuals in the crowd were armed.
[Begin Videotape]
MARK ROBINSON: Yes, I believe he was on special events channel in — I was monitoring the traffic.
So I can hear some of the unit pointing out to individuals that there were individuals along Constitution Avenue that were armed that were up in the trees and I can hear the units responding to those individuals.
So there’s always a concern when there’s a [POTUS] in the area.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: And like other witnesses, Sergeant Robinson told us that the President still wanted to travel to the Capitol even after returning to the White House.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: So at the end of the speech, what was the plan supposed to be?
MARK ROBINSON: So at the end of the speech, we do know that while inside the limo, the President was still adamant about going to the Capitol.
That’s been relayed to me by the TS agent.
And so we did [depart] the Ellipse and we responded back to the White House.
However, we at the motorcade — POTUS motorcade was placed on standby.
And so we were told to stand by on the West exac [ph] until they confirmed whether or not the President was going to go to the Capitol.
And so I may have waited, I would just estimate maybe 45 to — 45 minutes to an hour waiting for Secret Service to make that decision.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: The motorcade waited at the White House for more than 45 minutes before being released.
The committee is also aware that accounts of the angry confrontation in the Presidential SUV have circulated widely among the Secret Service since January 6th.
Recent disclosures have also caused the committee to subpoena yet further information from the Secret Service, which we’ve begun to receive and will continue to assess.
The committee is also aware that certain Secret Service witnesses have now retained new private counsel.
We anticipate further testimony under oath and other new information in the coming weeks.
After the Secret Service refused to take President Trump to the Capitol, he returned to the White House.
What you see on the screen is a photo of him inside the Oval Office immediately after he returned from the rally still wearing his overcoat.
A White House employee informed the President as soon as he returned to the Oval about the riot at the Capitol.
Let me repeat that.
Within 15 minutes of leaving the stage, President Trump knew that the Capitol was besieged and under attack.
At 1:25, President Trump went to the private dining room off the Oval Office.
From 1:25 until 4:00, the President stayed in his dining room.
Just to give you a sense of where the dining room is situated in the West Wing, let’s take a look at this floor plan.
The dining room is connected to the Oval Office by a short hallway.
Witnesses told us that on January 6th President Trump sat in his usual spot at the head of the table facing a television hanging on the wall.
We know from the employee that the TV was tuned to Fox News all afternoon.
Here you can see Fox News on the TV showing coverage of the joint session that was airing that day at 1:25.
Other witnesses confirm that President Trump was in the dining room with the TV on for more than two and a half hours.
There was no official record of what President Trump did while in the dining room.
On the screen is the Presidential call log from January 6th.
As you can see, there’s no official record of President Trump receiving or placing a call between 11:06 and 6:54 pm.
As to what the President was doing that afternoon, the Presidential Daily Diary is also silent.
It contains no information from the period between 1:21 pm. and 4:03 pm.
There are also no photos of President Trump during this critical period between 1:21 in the Oval Office and when he went outside to the Rose Garden after 4:00.
The chief White House photographer wanted to take pictures because it was in her words, very important for his archives and for history, but she was told quote, “no photographs”.
Despite the lack of photos or an official record, we’ve learned what President Trump was doing while he was watching TV in the dining room.
But before we get into that, it’s important to understand what he never did that day.
Let’s watch.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: So are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Secretary of Defense that day?
PAT CIPOLLONE: Not that I’m aware of, no.
UNKNOWN: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of United States to the attorney general of the United States that day?
PAT CIPOLLONE: No.
UNKNOWN: Are you aware of any phone call by the President of the United States to the Secretary of Homeland Security that day?
PAT CIPOLLONE: I’m not aware of that, no.
UNKNOWN: Did you ever hear the Vice President — or excuse me, the President ask for the National Guard?
KEITH KELLOGG: No.
UNKNOWN: Did you ever hear the President ask for a law enforcement response?
KEITH KELLOGG: No.
UNKNOWN: So as somebody who works in the national security space and with the National Security Council here, if there were going to be troops present or called up for a rally in Washington DC, for example, is that something that you would have been aware of?
KEITH KELLOGG: Yeah, I would have.
UNKNOWN: Do you know if you asked anybody to reach out to any of those that we just listed off?
National Guard, DOD, FBI, Homeland Security, Secret Service, Mayor Boswer, or the Capitol Police about the situation in the Capitol.
NICHOLAS LUNA: I am not aware of any of those requests.
No, sir.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: We have confirmed in numerous interviews with senior law enforcement and military leaders, Vice President Pence’s staff and DC government officials, none of them, not one, heard from President Trump that day.
He did not call to issue orders.
He did not call to offer assistance.
This week we received a — additional testimony from yet another witness about why the President didn’t make any efforts to quell the attack.
The former White House employee with national security responsibilities told us about a conversation with senior advisor, Eric Herschmann, and Pat Cipollone, the top White House lawyer.
This conversation was about a pending call from the Pentagon seeking to coordinate on the response to the attack.
Mr. Herschmann turned to Mr. Cipollone and said, the President didn’t want to do anything.
And so Mr. Cipollone had to take the call himself.
So if President Trump wasn’t calling law enforcement or military leaders, what did President Trump spend his time doing that afternoon while he first settled into the dining room?
He was calling Senators to encourage them to delay or object to the certification.
Here’s Kayleigh McEnany, his press secretary, to explain.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: All right.
That says back there and he wants list of Senators.
And then he’s calling them one by one.
Do you know which ones he called?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: To the best of my recollection, no.
As I say in my notes, he wanted a list of the Senators.
And, you know, I left him at that point.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Because the Presidential call log is empty, we do not yet know precisely which Senators President Trump was calling.
But we do know from Rudy Giuliani’s phone records that President Trump also called him at 1:39 after he had been told that the riot was underway at the Capitol.
Mr. Giuliani was President Trump’s lead election attorney.
According to the phone records, the President’s call with him lasted approximately four minutes.
Recall that Fox News was on in the dining room.
Let’s take a look at what was airing as this call was ending.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: The President, as we all saw, fired this crowd up.
They’ve all — tens of thousands, maybe 100,000 or more have gone down to the Capitol or elsewhere in the city and they’re very upset.
Now I jumped down as soon as we heard the news that Bret gave you about, Mike Pence.
I started talking to these people.
I said, what do you think?
One woman, an Air Force veteran from Missouri said she was quote, “disgusted to hear that news and that it was his duty to do something”.
And I told her, I said there’s nothing in the Constitution unilaterally that Vice President Pence could do.
She said, that doesn’t matter.
He should have fought for Trump.
[End Videotape]
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ELAINE LURIA: At 1:49, here’s what was happening at the Capitol with President Trump’s fired up supporters.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: We’re going to give — fire a warning.
We’re going to try to get compliance, but this is now effectively a riot.
1:49 hours declaring it a riot.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: What did President Trump do at 1:49 as the DC police at the same time were declaring a riot at the Capitol.
As you can see on the screen, he tweeted out a link to the recording of his Ellipse speech.
This was the same speech in which he knowingly sent an armed mob to the Capitol, but President Trump made no comment about the lawlessness and the violence.
As you’ve heard, by 2:00 multiple staff members in the White House recognized that a serious situation was underway at the Capitol.
Personally, I recall being evacuated from the House office building where we’re sitting by — before this time.
(1:46 p.m.
Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., tweets she is being evacuated after reports of a pipe bomb outside.
“Supporters of the President are trying to force their way into the Capitol and I can hear what sounds like multiple gunshots.”
– USA TODAY, “Timeline: How a Trump mob stormed the US Capitol, forcing Washington into lockdown” by George Petras, Janet Loehrke, Ramon Padilla, Javier Zarracina and Jennifer Borresen on Jan. 15, 2021)
It was due to the discovery of two pipe bombs in nearby buildings.
Ms. Mathews, around the same time, you were watching the violence unfold on television and social media with colleagues, including with Ben Williamson, a senior aide to Mark Meadows and the acting director of communications.
You told us that before President Trump’s sent his next tweet at 2:24, Mr. Williamson got up to go see Mr. Meadows and you got up to go see Kayleigh McEnany.
Why did you both do that?
SARAH MATTHEWS: So, Ben and I were watching the coverage unfold from one of the offices in the West Wing.
And we both recognized that the situation was escalating and it was escalating quickly, and that the president needed to be out there immediately to tell these people to go home and condemn the violence that we were seeing.
So, I told him that I was going to make that recommendation to Kayleigh, and he said he was going to make the same recommendation to the chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you.
And one of your colleagues in the press office, Judd Deere, told us he also went to see Ms. McEnany at that time.
Let’s hear what he said about this critical period of time right as the rioters were getting into the Capitol.
[Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: And why did you think it was necessary to say something?
JUDD DEERE: Well, I mean, it appears that individuals are storming the US Capitol building.
They also appear to be supporters of Donald Trump, who may have been in attendance at the rally.
We’re going to need to say something.
UNKNOWN: And did you have a view as to what should be said about the White House?
JUDD DEERE: If I recall, I told Kayleigh that I thought that we needed to encourage individuals to stop, to respect law enforcement, and to go home.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Although President Trump was aware of the ongoing riot, he did not take any immediate action to address the lawlessness.
Instead, at 2:03, he called Rudy Giuliani again, and that call lasted for over eight minutes.
Moments later at 2:13, rioters broke into the Capitol itself.
One of the Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy, Dominic Pezzola, used an officer’s shield to smash a window, and rioters flooded into the building.
[Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: [Crowd noise]
Go, go, go, go.
Go in the Capitol.
Go, go, go.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: As rioters were entering the building, the Secret Service held Vice President Pence in his office right off the Senate chamber for 13 minutes as they worked to clear a safe path to a secure location.
Now listen to some of that radio traffic and see what they were seeing as the protesters got just feet away from where the Vice President was holding.
[Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: They’re taking the building.
Hold.
Harden that door up.
If you are moving, we need to move now.
Copy.
If we lose any more time, we may have — we may lose the ability to — to leave.
So, if we’re going to leave, we need to do it now.
They’ve gained access to the second floor and I’ve got public about five feet from me down here below.
Ok, copy.
They are on the second floor moving in now.
We may want to consider getting out and leaving now, copy?
Will we encounter the people once we make our way?
Repeat?
Encounter any individuals if we made our way to the — to the — There’s six officers between us and the people that are five to 10 feet away from me.
Stand by.
I’m going to down to evaluate.
Go ahead.
We have a clear shot if we move quickly.
We’ve got smoke downstairs.
Stand by, unknown smoke from downstairs.
By the protesters?
Is that route compromised?
We have the — is secure.
However, we will bypass some protesters that are being contained.
There is smoke, unknown what kind of smoke it is, copy?
Clear.
We’re coming out now, all right?
Make a way.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: The president’s National Security Council staff was listening to these developments and tracking them in real time.
On the screen, you can see excerpts from the chat logs among the national — among the president’s National Council — National Security Council staff.
At 2:13, the staff learned that the rioters were kicking in the windows at the Capitol.
Three minutes later, the staff said the vice president was being pulled, which meant agents evacuated him from the Senate floor.
At 2:24, the staff noted that the Secret Service agents at the Capitol did not “sound good right now.”
Earlier you heard from a security professional who had been working in the White House complex on January 6th with access to relevant information and a responsibility to report to national security officials.
We asked this person what was meant by the comment that the Secret Service agents did not “sound good right now.”
In the following clip of that testimony, which has been modified to protect the individual’s identity, the professional discusses what they heard from listening to the incoming radio traffic that day.
[Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: Ok.
That last entry in the page is service at the capital does not sound good right now.
Correct.
What does that mean?
Well, members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives.
There were a lot of — there was a lot of yelling, a lot of — a lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing.
I don’t like talking about it.
But there — there were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on and so forth.
It was getting — for — for whatever the reason was on the ground, the VP detail thought that this was about to get very ugly.
And do — did you hear that over the radio?
Correct.
Ok.
What was the response by the agents who were — Secret Service agents who were there?
UNKNOWN: Everybody kept saying — you know, at that point it was just reassurances or — I think there were discussions of reinforcements coming.
But — but again, it was just chaos, and they were just obviously, you’ve conveyed that’s disturbing.
But what — what prompted you to put it into an entry as it states there, Service at the Capitol?
They were running out of options and they were getting nervous.
It — it sounds like we’re — that we came very close to either service having to use lethal options or — or worse.
Like, at — at that point I don’t know.
Is the VP compromised?
Is the detail comp — like, I — I don’t know.
Like, we didn’t have visibility, but it doesn’t — if they’re screaming and — and saying things like say goodbye to the family, like, the floor needs to know this is going to on a whole nother [Ph] level soon.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: As this next video shows, the rioters’ anger was foc — focused primarily on Vice President Mike Pence.
[Begin videotape]
JANET BUHLER: This woman cames up to the side of us and she says Pence folded.
So it was kind of, like, Ok, well — in my mind I was thinking, well that’s it.
You know.
Well, my son-in-law looks at me and he says I want to go in.
UNKNOWN: What percentage of the crowd is going to the Capitol?
JESSICA WATKINS: 100 percent.
It is — it has spread like wildfire that Pence has betrayed us.
And everybody is marching on the Capitol, all million of us.
It’s insane.
UNKNOWN: Mike Pence will not stick up for Donald Trump.
Mike Pence, traitor.
Mike Pence has screwed us, in case you haven’t heard yet.
What happened?
What happened?
I keep hearing that Mike Pence has screwed us.
That’s the word.
I keep hearing reports that Mike Pence has screwed us.
Did people appear angry as you were walking to the Capitol?
Yeah, a lot of people — a lot of people seemed like they were very upset.
Tell us some of the things they were saying, if you recall.
STEPHEN AYRES: Oh, there was — they were saying all type — you know, people were screaming all types of stuff.
They were mad that Vice President Pence was going to accept the electoral laws.
I mean, it was — I mean it was a load of — you can — if you can think it up that’s — you are hearing it.
UNKNOWN: I believe that Vice President Pence was going to certify the electoral votes and — or not certify them.
But I guess that’s just changed.
Correct?
And it’s a very big disappointment.
I think there’s several hundred thousand people here that are very disappointed.
[End videotape]
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ELAINE LURIA: ELAINE LURIA: President Trump did not try to calm his thousands of disappointed supporters.
Instead at almost the same moment violence was getting completely out of hand, Donald Trump sent his 2:24 tweet.
The President said Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution.
Despite knowing the Capitol had been breached and the mob was in the building, President Trump called Mike Pence a coward and placed all the blame on him for not stopping the certification.
He put a target on his own Vice President’s back.
Mr. Pottinger and Miss Mathews, when we asked you about your reaction to seeing the 2:24 tweet in real time, you both use the same imagery to describe it.
President Trump was adding fuel to the fire.
Mr. Pottinger, you made the decision to resign after seeing this tweet.
Can you please tell us why?
MATTHEW POTTINGER: Yes.
So that was the — pretty soon after I’d — or shortly before I’d gotten back to the White House.
I’d come from off site.
I began to see for the first time those images on TV of the chaos that was unfolding at the Capitol.
One of my aides handed me a sheet of paper that contained the tweet that you just read.
I — I read it and was quite disturbed by it.
I — I was disturbed and worried to see that the President was attacking Vice President Pence for doing his constitutional duty.
So the tweet looked to me like the opposite of what — what we really needed at that moment, which was a de-escalation.
And that’s why I had said earlier that it looked like fuel being poured on the fire.
So that was the moment that I decided that I was going to resign, that that would be my last day at the White House.
I — I simply didn’t want to be associated with — with the events that were unfolding on the Capitol.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you.
And Ms. Matthews, what was your reaction to the President’s tweet about Vice President Pence?
SARAH MATTHEWS: So, it was obvious that the situation at the Capitol was violent and escalating quickly.
And so I thought that the tweet about the Vice President was the last thing that was needed in that moment.
And I — I remember thinking that this was going to be bad for him to tweet this because it was essentially him giving the green light to these people, telling them that what they were doing at the steps of the Capitol and entering the Capitol was Ok, that they were justified in their anger.
And he shouldn’t have been doing that.
He should have been telling these people to go home and to leave and to condemn the violence that we were seeing.
And I’m someone who has worked with him.
You know, I worked on the campaign, traveled all around the country going to countless rallies with him.
And I’ve seen the impact that his words have on his supporters.
He — they truly latch on to every word and every tweet that he says.
And so I think that in that moment for him to tweet out the message about Mike Pence, it was him pouring gasoline on the fire and making it much worse.
(2:38 p.m. Trump tweets again, calling for support of the Capitol Police and law enforcement.
He urges people to “stay peaceful.”)
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you both.
And let’s watch what others also told us about their reactions to this tweet.
[Begin videotape]
PAT CIPOLLONE: I don’t remember when exactly I heard about that tweet, but my reaction to it is that’s a — a terrible tweet.
And I disagreed with the sentiment and I thought it was wrong.
UNKNOWN: What was your reaction when you saw that tweet?
JUDD DEERE: Extremely unhelpful.
UNKNOWN: Why?
JUDD DEERE: It — it — it wasn’t the message that we needed at — at that time.
It wasn’t going to — the — the scenes at the US Capitol were only getting worse at that point.
This was not going to help that.
UNKNOWN: Were you concerned it could make it worse?
JUDD DEERE: Certainly.
LIZ CHENEY: Ms. Hutchinson, what was your reaction when you saw this tweet?
CASSIDY HUTCHINSON: As a staffer that works to always represent the Administration to the best of my ability and to showcase the good things that he had done for the country, I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really it — it felt personal.
I — I was really sad.
As an American, I was disgusted.
It was unpatriotic.
It was un-American.
We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: As you will see, at 2:26, the Vice President had to be evacuated to safety a second time and came within 40 feet of the rioters.
The attack escalated quickly right after the tweet.
[Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: [Inaudible]
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: During this chaos, what did President Trump do at that point?
He went back to calling Senators to try to further delay the electoral count.
While the Vice President was being evacuated from the Senate, President Trump called Senator Tommy Tuberville, one of his strongest supporters in the Senate.
As Senator Tuberville later recalled, he had to end the call so that he could evacuate the Senate chamber himself.
Let’s listen.
[Begin videotape]
TOMMY TUBERVILLE: He called — didn’t call my phone.
Called somebody else and they handed it to me.
And I — I basically told him, I said Mr. President, we’re — we’re not doing much work here right now because they just took our Vice President out.
And matter of fact I’m gonna have to hang up on you.
I’ve got to leave.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Senator Josh Hawley also had to flee.
Earlier that afternoon before the joint session started, he walked across the east front of the Capitol.
As you can see in this photo, he raised his fist in solidarity with the protesters already amassing at the security gates.
We spoke with a Capitol police officer who was out there at the time.
She told us that Senator gest — Senator Hawley’s gesture riled up the crowd, and it bothered her greatly because he was doing it in a safe space, protected by the officers and the barriers.
Later that day Senator Hawley fled after those protesters he helped to rile up stormed the Capitol.
See for yourself.
[Begin videotape]
[End videotape]
Think about what we’ve seen, undeniable violence at the Capitol.
The Vice President being evacuated to safety by the Secret Service.
Senators running through the hallways of the Senate to get away from the mob.
As the Commander in Chief, President Trump was oath and duty bound to protect the Capitol.
His senior staff understood that.
[Begin videotape]
LIZ CHENEY: Do — do you believe, Jared, that the President has an obligation to ensure a peaceful transfer of power?
JARED KUSHNER: Yes.
LIZ CHENEY: And do you think the President has an obligation to defend all three branches of our government?
JARED KUSHNER: I believe so.
LIZ CHENEY: And I assume you also would agree the President has a particular obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
PAT CIPOLLONE: That is one of the President’s obligations, correct.
LIZ CHENEY: No, I mean, I asked what his duty is.
KEITH KELLOGG: Well, I mean, there’s a — there’s a constitutional duty — I — what he has — he’s the Commander in Chief.
And that was the — the — that was my biggest issue with him as National Security Advisor.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Rather than uphold his duty to the Constitution, President Trump allowed the mob to achieve the delay that he hoped would keep him in power.
I reserve.
LIZ CHENEY: The gentlewoman reserves.
I request that those in the hearing room remain seated until the Capitol Police have escorted members and witnesses from the room.
I now declare the committee in recess for a period of approximately 10 minutes.
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ADAM KINZINGER: I yield to my friend from Virginia.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you, Mr. Kinzinger.
President Trump finally relented to the pleas from his staff, his family, and from Capitol Hill for him to do something more at 4:17, 187 minutes.
More than three hours after he stopped speaking at the Ellipse.
After he stopped speaking to a mob that he had sent armed to the Capitol.
That’s when he tweeted a video telling the rioters to go home while also telling him — them that they were special and that he loved them.
By that time although the violence was far from over law enforcement had started to turn the tide, reinforcements were on the way, and elected officials were in secure locations.
The writing was already on the wall.
The rioters would not succeed.
Here’s what was showing on Fox News, the channel the President was watching all afternoon.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: Dr. Brett Baer with more information now.
Brett, what do you have?
BRETT BAER: You know our Pentagon team, Jen Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson, now confirming the Defense Department has now mobilized the entire DC National Guard, 1,800 troops, take several hours as I was mentioning before, to get them up and running.
The Army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, is setting up a headquarters at the FBI.
You just heard from David Spunt that the FBI is also sending troops to the Capitol.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: It’s no coincidence then that President Trump finally gave in and went out to the Rose Garden at 4:03.
His staff prepared a script for him to read, but he refused to use it.
As you can see on the screen, you can see the script is stamped, President has seen.
The script said, quote, “I’m asking you to leave the Capitol region now and go home in a peaceful way”.
The President was urged to stick to the script, but he spoke off the cuff.
Eric Herscmann and Nick Luna went with the President to film the message in the Rose Garden.
Let’s hear what they had to say and see the never before seen raw footage of the President recording this video message.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: Ultimately, these remarks that we’re looking at here and Exhibit 25 were not the remarks that the President delivered in the Rose Garden.
Do you know why the President decided not to use these?
NICHOLAS LUNA: I don’t know, sir.
No, I do not know why.
UNKNOWN: Did the President use any written remarks to your knowledge or did he just go off the cuff?
NICHOLAS LUNA: To my knowledge, it was off the cuff, sir.
UNKNOWN: [off-mic] When you’re ready, sir.
DONALD TRUMP: You tell me when.
UNKNOWN: When you’re ready, sir.
DONALD TRUMP: Who’s behind me?
UNKNOWN: He’s gone.
He’s gone.
We’re all clear now.
DONALD TRUMP: I know your pain, I know you’re hurt.
We had a election — let me say.
I know your pain.
I know you’re hurt.
We had an election that was stolen from us.
It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now.
We have to have peace.
We have to have law and order.
We have to respect our great people in law and order.
We don’t want anybody hurt.
It’s a very tough period of time.
There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country.
This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people.
We have to have peace.
So go home.
We love you.
You’re very special.
You’ve seen what happens.
You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil.
I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace.
JARED KUSHNER: When I got there, basically the President just had finished filming the video and I think he was basically retiring for the day.
UNKNOWN: Was there any discussion about the President releasing a second video that day?
ERIC HERSCMANN: Not that I recall.
When — when he finished his video, I think everyone was like day’s over.
People are pretty drained.
UNKNOWN: Were pretty what?
ERIC HERSCMANN: Drained.
UNKNOWN: When we say day — day over are we — there were still people in the Capitol at that point weren’t there?
ERIC HERSCMANN: There were people in the Capitol.
But I believe by this stage law enforcement — I’d have to go back and look, but I believe law enforcement was either there moving in or going to take charge.
And I just think people were emotionally drained by the time that videotape was done.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: Emotionally drained at the White House?
Here’s what was happening at the same time at the Capitol.
We warn the audience that this clip also contains strong language and violence.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: Keep pushing.
Don’t lose the momentum.
[off-mic]
We’ve got another officer unconscious at the terrace.
West Terrace.
Everybody, we need [inaudible].
We need strong, angry patriots to help our boys.
They don’t want to leave.
[off-mic]
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: While President Trump refused to even lift another finger to help, other leaders honored their oath and acted to clear the Capitol and resume the joint session.
For instance, here are never before seen photos and video of Congressional leaders in action during the attack.
The video is a portion of a call they had at approximately 4:45 with Acting Secretary of Defense, Chris Miller.
[Begin Videotape]
MITCH MCCONNELL: We’re not going to let these people keep us from finishing our business.
So we need you to get the building cleared.
Give us the okay, so we can go back in session and finish up the people’s business as soon as possible.
CHRISTOPHER MILLER: Amen, sir.
CHUCK SCHUMER: Mr. Secretary, it’s Senator Schumer, some people here in the Capitol police believe it would us take several days to secure the building.
Do you agree with that analysis?
CHRISTOPHER MILLER: I’m not on the ground, but I do not agree with that analysis.
CHUCK SCHUMER: So what is the earliest that we could safely resume our proceedings in the Senate and House chambers?
The earliest we could safely resume?
CHRISTOPHER MILLER: I — here’s my assessment, but I prefer to be on the ground, which I personally would prefer to be right now, but I need to be here.
I would say best case, we’re looking at four to five hours.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: The Vice President also worked the phones from his own secure evacuation location, including conversations with Acting Secretary of Defense Miller and other military leaders.
While past President Trump’s 4:17 video, let’s look at some never before seen photographs of the Vice President during this critical time and hear about the Vice President’s conversation with military leaders to secure the Capitol and ensure everyone was safe.
[Begin Videotape]
MARK MILLEY: Vice President Pence?
There were two or three calls with Vice President Pence.
He was very animated and he issued very explicit, very direct, unambiguous orders.
There was no question about that.
And he was — and I can give you the exact quotes I guess from some of our record somewhere, but he was very animated, very direct, very firm.
And to Secretary Miller, get the military down here, get the guard down here, put down this situation, etc.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: As you heard earlier in the hearing, the President did not call the Vice President or anyone in the military, federal law enforcement, or DC government, not a single person.
But General Milley did hear from Mark Meadows.
The contrast between that call and his calls with Vice President Pence tell you everything you need to know about President Trump’s dereliction of duty.
Let’s listen.
[Begin Videotape]
MARK MILLEY: He said this from memory.
He said, we have — we have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions.
We need to establish the narrative that, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable.
Or words to that effect.
I immediately interpret that as politics, politics, politics.
Red flag for me personally, no action, but I remember it distinctly and — and I don’t do political narratives.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: So while President Trump and his advisors were drained, other leaders upheld their oaths to do the right thing.
Maybe it was exhausting to get the President to put out that video, but think about the law enforcement officers who were attacked by the mob that day.
And President Trump had summoned them himself to Washington.
And what about President Trump?
He watched TV, tweeted, called Senators to try to delay the count of electoral votes, called Rudy Giuliani, and argued with his staff who were insinuating — who were insisting that he should call off the attack.
Ms. Mathews, what was your reaction to President Trump’s message to the mob at 4:17?
SARAH MATTHEWS: I was struck by the fact that he chose to begin the video by pushing the lie that there was a stolen election.
And as the video went on, I felt a small sense of relief because he finally told these people to go home.
But that was immediately followed up by him saying, we love you, you’re very special.
And that was disturbing to me because he didn’t distinguish between those that peacefully attended his speech earlier that day and those that we watched cause violence at the Capitol.
Instead, he told the people who we had just watched storm our nation’s Capitol with the intent on overthrowing our democracy, violently attack police officers, and chant heinous, things like, hang Mike Pence, we love you, you’re very special.
And as a spokesperson for him, I knew that I would be asked to defend that.
And to me, his refusal to act and call off the mob that day and his refusal to condemn the violence was indefensible.
And so I knew that I would be resigning that evening.
And so I finished out the work day, went home, and called my loved ones to tell them of my decision and resigned that evening.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you.
Indefensible.
Let’s hear what some of your colleagues in the press office told us about their reaction to the same 4:17 message.
[Begin Videotape]
JUDD DEERE: I felt like it was the absolute bare minimum of what could have been said at that point for something on camera.
UNKNOWN: What else do you think should have been said?
JUDD DEERE: So — a more forceful — a more forceful dismissal of the violence, a more forceful command to go home, a more forceful respect for law enforcement, even a comparison to the respect that we have given law enforcement as it relates to what was done to them in the prior summer.
And I thought it was important that an acknowledgment be given to the US Capitol building itself.
What it’s a symbol of, what it means, not only to the people that work there, but to the American people generally, and the work of Congress that by law needed to be conducted that day.
UNKNOWN: Do you wish in hindsight that the President had asked the protesters to leave the Capitol earlier than he ended up asking them to do that?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY: Of course, I would have loved if the go home message would have happened earlier in the day.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: The President’s words matter.
We know that many of the rioters were listening to President Trump.
We heard from one last week, Stephen Ayres.
Let’s listen to what he had to say about the 4:17 message from the President and see how rioters reacted to the President’s message in real time.
STEPHEN AYRES: Well, when we were there, as soon as that come out, everybody started talking about it.
And that’s — it seemed like it started to disperse.
You know some of the crowd —
UNKNOWN: I’m here delivering the President’s message.
Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home.
[off-mic]
That’s our order.
[off-mic]
He says, go home.
He says, go home.
[off-mic]
Yeah.
He said to go home.
[End Videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: But just as Mr. Ayres said, police were still fending off the last throes of the brutal assault.
I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
HMMMMMMMMM!
Let’s see here:
J Wheaton says @ JULY 25, 2022 AT 1:03 PM:
One more point based in fact.
You said “…and the security of the Capitol was the responsibility of Nancy Pelosi and Charley “Chuck” Schumer, not Trump.”
Actually, the security of the Capitol is the responsibility of the Capitol Police who are made up of officers who are professional, patriots, veterans and not, male and female, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
We saw them defending the Capitol without, with one exception using deadly force.
We all saw them being overrun on the TV.
Probably the same network our former President was watching, who had the power to reinforce the Capitol Police but did nothing.
Tell me, in Vietnam when being overrun, didn’t someone answer that radio call?
****************************************************
But FOUR (4) days EARLIER, on 21 July 2022, WITCH HUNTER from Virginia Elaine Luria said this:
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you, Mr. Kinzinger.
Here’s what was showing on Fox News, the channel the President was watching all afternoon.
[Begin Videotape]
UNKNOWN: Dr. Brett Baer with more information now.
Brett, what do you have?
BRETT BAER: You know our Pentagon team, Jen Griffin, Lucas Tomlinson, now confirming the Defense Department has now mobilized the entire DC National Guard, 1,800 troops, take several hours as I was mentioning before, to get them up and running.
The Army secretary, Ryan McCarthy, is setting up a headquarters at the FBI.
You just heard from David Spunt that the FBI is also sending troops to the Capitol.
[End Videotape]
end quotes
So what is up with that, people?
Quite obviously, the CHAIN OF COMMAND worked just fine on 6 January 2021, as it was designed to do, which is why in the military, there is a chain of command, to decentralize decision-making in cases where somebody is getting overrun and doesn’t have time to waste while somebody tries to track down the president for instructions on what to do, without an incompetent like Trump to **** it up, and we know that because while Trump was watching Fox, as Elaine Luria has just pointed out, Fox was alerting not only the nation and world but Trump himself that the Defense Department had mobilized the entire DC National Guard, 1,800 troops, and it would take several hours to get them up and running, so what then was it that Trump was supposed to do?
Tell them to run faster?
To get a move on?
This is all so stupid it makes me wonder what third-world country I am really in.
Hey Paul, left out a couple of facts.
As I said Trump, as the head of all Federal forces could have picked up the phone and told the guard to go. All the red tape would have been gone. the Chain of Command didn’t work well. Optics were a problem instead of a reaction.
1:26 p.m.: Capitol Police order the evacuation of the Capitol complex.
1:34 p.m.: In a phone call with Secretary of the Army McCarthy, Bowser requests an “unspecified number of additional forces,” according to the Pentagon timeline.
1:49 p.m.: Sund, in a phone call with the commanding general of the D.C. National Guard, Maj. Gen. William Walker, requests immediate assistance, and tells him to prepare to bring in the guard.
About 2 p.m.: Rioters breach the Capitol. In an interview with the Washington Post published on Jan. 10, Sund says, “If we would have had the National Guard we could have held them at bay longer, until more officers from our partner agencies could arrive.”
2:10 p.m.: Sund says Irving calls him back with formal approval to send in the guard. But as the Washington Post noted, “Sund finally had approval to call the National Guard. But that would prove to be just the beginning of a bureaucratic nightmare to get soldiers on the scene.”
2:22 p.m.: The secretary of the Army, Bowser, D.C. police leadership and others “discuss the current situation and to request additional DCNG support,” according to the Pentagon timeline.
2:24 p.m.: Trump tweets, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
2:26 p.m.: Sund says he joins the conference call to plead for additional backup. “I am making urgent, urgent immediate request for National Guard assistance,” Sund recalls saying. According to Sund and others on the call, the Washington Post reports, Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, director of the Army staff, says he could not recommend that to his boss, McCarthy, because, “I don’t like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background.”
However, Piatt disputed that, saying in a statement: “I did not make the statement or any comments similar to what was attributed to me by Chief Sund in the Washington Post article — but would note that even in his telling he makes it clear that neither I, nor anyone else from [the Department of Defense], denied the deployment of requested personnel.”
2:30 p.m.: Miller, Milley and McCarthy meet to discuss the requests from Capitol Police and Bowser.
3 p.m.: Miller “determines all available forces of the DCNG are required to reinforce MPD [Metropolitan Police Department] and USCP positions to support efforts to reestablish security of the Capitol complex,” according to the Pentagon timeline. Simultaneously, the D.C. National Guard prepares to move 150 personnel to support Capitol Police, pending Miller’s approval.
3:04 p.m.: Miller “provides verbal approval of the full activation of DCNG (1100 total) in support of the MPD,” according to the Pentagon. In response, McCarthy immediately directs the D.C. National Guard “to initiate movement and full mobilization.” That means the D.C. guard members helping with traffic and crowd control are redeployed to support the Metropolitan Police Department at the Capitol, and the entire D.C. guard begins full mobilization.
3:19 p.m.: McCarthy explains in a phone call to Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Miller has already approved full DCNG mobilization. Miller later releases a statement saying, “Chairman Milley and I just spoke separately with the Vice President and with Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Senator Schumer and Representative Hoyer about the situation at the U.S. Capitol. We have fully activated the D.C. National Guard to assist federal and local law enforcement as they work to peacefully address the situation.” No mention is made of Trump’s involvement.
3:36 p.m.: White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweets: “At President @realDonaldTrump’s direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services.”
4:17 p.m.: Trump releases a video on social media in which he states, in part, “We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. … We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.”
5:02 p.m.: 154 members of the D.C. National Guard leave the D.C. Armory.
5:40 p.m.: The first National Guard personnel arrive at the Capitol. By then, most of the violence had ended.
6 p.m.: A citywide curfew goes into effect.
6:01 p.m.: Trump tweets, “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
6:14 p.m.: Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police and the D.C. National Guard “successfully establish perimeter on the west side of the U.S. Capitol,” the Pentagon timeline states.
8 p.m.: Capitol Police declare the Capitol building secure.
8:06 p.m.: Vice President Mike Pence reopens the Senate. “The Capitol is secured and the people’s work continues,” Pence says. “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins, and this is still the people’s house.” Pelosi brings the House back into session less than an hour later.
Early the next morning, Pence officially affirmed the election results and that Joe Biden won the presidency.
Call from Trump at 2:35 and the world might have been a different place, but nope. He wanted to watch it burn. A true patriot
You know what happens in combat when you are getting overrun, J Wheaton?
There’s a good chance that you are going to die.
That’s what happens when you are getting overrun.
You fight your way out if you can, and if you can’t, in the parlance of us infantry dudes, you are pretty much ******.
Look what happened to the 300 Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae.
Where were their reinforcements?
Look what happened on Saipan on July 7, 1944, when the US Army 27th Infantry Division bore the brunt of the largest Banzai attack of the war and was overrun.
Where did their reinforcements come from?
And how about the Rangers who were overrun during the Battle of Cisterna which took place during World War II, on 30 January–2 February 1944, near Cisterna, Italy, as part of the Battle of Anzio, part of the Italian Campaign.
The battle was a clear German victory which also had repercussions on the employment of U.S. Army Rangers that went beyond the immediate tactical and strategic results of the battle.
And how about Korea, J Wheaton?
And VEET NAM?
You want to believe what you read about when young in the Sergeant Rock USMC comic books, about help coming always in the nick of time, and the John Wayne movies, but it don’t work that way in real life, J Wheaton.
I’ve been on relief missions as an infantryman in VEET NAM, J Wheaton.
It’s not like the movies, at all.
And you persist in your belief that on 6 January 2021, Trump had it in his power to change what happened with respect to the mob, because you want to believe that and have a psychological need to believe that, and so, that is what you are going to persist in believing.
And because it is emotional with you, there is no rational or logical argument that can be used to counter your beliefs, so I won’t bother trying.
As to that timeline you presented, that goes to show just how INCOMPETENT the POLITICAL HACKS responsible for security at the capitol and in Washington were, not only on that day, but in the whole planning process for 6 January 2021, which had been on-going for at least a week before 6 January 2021, which planning process Trump was never a part of, nor should he have been, because what does Trump know about security, besides nothing.
And anyway, J Wheaton, this thread is about Elaine Luria’s declamation above here on 21 July 2022 and the narrative of the Jan 6 Committee she is regurgitating in an obviously scripted setting where Ms. Luria is reading from a script prepared for her by screen writers imported from Hollywood for the occasion by the smarmy pencil-neck Adam “SHIFTY” Schiff, who is the congressman for Hollywood and Disneyland, being the most dishonest deceitful, diatribe ever prorogated in the corrupt halls of a Democrat congress.
As the author clearly says, it is the biggest lie – ever.
And your timeline of the incompetence in Washington, D.C. on 6 January 2021 makes that point in spades, as the Democrats try to shift the blame for the incompetence you have uncovered and exposed in your timeline above here over onto Trump.
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you, Mr. Kinzinger.
The staff who remained at the White House on the morning of January 7th knew the president needed to address the nation again.
And they had a speech prepared for him that morning, but he refused for hours to give it.
As you heard Cassidy Hutchison testify previously, President Trump finally agreed to record an address to the nation later that evening, the evening of January 7th, because of concerns he might be removed from power under the 25th Amendment or by impeachment.
We know these threats were real.
Sean Hannity said so himself in a text message that day to Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
He wrote “No more stolen election talk.”
“Yes, impeachment and 25th Amendment are real.”
We obtained the never before seen raw footage of the president recording his address to the nation that day on January 7th, more than 24 hours after the last time he had addressed the nation from the Rose Garden.
Let’s take a look.
[Begin videotape]
UNKNOWN: Whenever you’re ready, sir.
DONALD TRUMP: I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday.
And to those who broke the law, you will pay.
You do not represent our movement.
You do not represent our country.
And if you broke the law — I can’t say that.
I’m not gonna — I already said you will pay.
The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defied the seat of — it’s defiled, right?
See, I can’t see it very well.
I’ll do this.
I’m going to do this.
Let’s go.
But this election is now over.
Congress has certified the results.
I don’t want to say the election’s over.
I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, okay?
IVANKA TRUMP: But Congress has — now Congress has —
DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, right.
IVANKA TRUMP: Now Congress.
DONALD TRUMP: I didn’t say over.
So, let — let me see.
Don’t go to the paragraph before.
Okay?
I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday.
Yesterday is a hard word for me.
IVANKA TRUMP: Just take it out.
Say heinous attack.
UNKNOWN: Say heinous attack on our nation.
DONALD TRUMP: Ah, good.
Take the word yesterday out, because it doesn’t work with the heinous attack on our country.
Say on our country.
Want to say that?
IVANKA TRUMP: No, keep it.
DONALD TRUMP: My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.
My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: On January 7th, one day after he incited an insurrection based on a lie, President Trump still could not say that the election was over.
Mr. Pottinger, you’ve taken the oath multiple times in the Marines and as an official in the executive branch.
Can you please share with us your view about the oath of office and how that translates into accepting election results and a transfer of power?
MATTHEW POTTINGER: Sure.
You know, this isn’t the first time that we’ve had a close election in this country.
And President Trump certainly had every right to challenge in court the results of these various elections.
But once you’ve had due process under the law, you have to conform with the law no matter how bitter the result.
Once you’ve presented your evidence in court, judges have heard that evidence, judges have ruled, if you continue to contest an election, you’re not just contesting an election anymore, you’re actually challenging the Constitution itself.
You are challenging the societal norms that allow us to remain unified.
I think that one example, for example, you’ve got Vice President Richard Nixon back in 1960 had lost a hard fought election against Senator John F Kennedy.
There were irregularities in that vote, according to a lot of the histories.
And a lot of Vice President Nixon’s supporters asked him to fight, contest it, don’t concede.
But in one of his finest moments, Vice President Nixon said no.
He said it would tear the country to pieces.
And he conceded to Jack Kennedy and announced that he was going to support him as the next president.
We have an example of a Democratic candidate for President, Vice President Al Gore, who faced a very similar dilemma.
He strongly disagreed with the Supreme Court decision that lost his election bid and allowed President George W Bush to take office.
But he gave a speech of concession in late December, mid or late December of — of 2000, where he said this is for the sake of the unity of — of us as a people and for the strength of our democracy.
I also am going to concede.
I’m going to have to support the — the new president.
His speech is actually a pretty good model, I think, for any candidate of — for any office up to and including the president, and from any party to read, particularly right now.
You know, the oath that our presidents take, it’s very similar to the oath of office I took as a US Marine officer and the — the oath I took as a White House official.
It is to — to support and defend the Constitution.
It’s to protect the Constitution, to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution.
And it is a sacred oath.
It’s an oath that we take before our families.
We take that oath before God.
And I think that we have an obligation to live by — by that oath.
And I do still believe that we have the most ingenious system of government on earth despite its imperfections.
I don’t envy countries that don’t have this system that actually allows for a predictable, peaceful transfer of government every four to eight years.
And it’s not something that we should take for granted.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you.
As we heard at the start of the hearing, in the immediate aftermath of January 6th, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy understood that President Trump bore responsibility for that day and should have taken immediate action to stop the violence.
He was even more candid in calls with Republican colleagues.
As you’ll hear in a moment, recordings of some of these calls that were made were later published by The New York Times.
The context for these calls was that a resolution had been introduced in the House calling for Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to remove President Trump from power under the 25th Amendment.
Let’s listen.
[Begin videotape]
KEVIN MCCARTHY: I’ve had it with this guy.
What he did is unacceptable.
Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it.
The only discussions I would have with him is that I think this will pass and it would be my recommendation he should resign.
I mean, that would be my take, but I don’t think he would take it, but I don’t know.
But let me be very clear to all of you, and I’ve been very clear to the president.
He bears responsibility for his words and actions, no ifs, ands, or buts.
I asked him personally today does he hold responsibility for what happened?
Does he feel bad about what happened?
He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened and he needed to acknowledge that.
[End videotape]
ELAINE LURIA: President Trump has never publicly acknowledged his responsibility for the attack.
The only time he apparently did so was in that private call with Kevin McCarthy.
There’s something else President Trump has never acknowledged, the names and the memories of the officers who died following the attack on the Capitol.
We’re honored to be joined tonight by police and first responders who bravely protected us on January 6th.
Your character and courage give us hope that democracy can and should prevail even in the face of a violent insurrection.
We on this dais can never thank you enough for what you did to protect our democracy.
On January 9th, two of President Trump’s top campaign officials texted each other about the president’s glaring silence on the tragic death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who succumbed to his injuries the night of January 7th.
His campaign officials were Tim Murtaugh, Trump’s director of communications, and one of his deputies, Matthew Wolking.
Their job was to convince people to vote for President Trump, so they knew his heart, his mind, and his voice as well as anyone, and they knew how he connects with his supporters.
Here’s what they had to say about their boss.
Murtaugh said, “Also shitty not to have acknowledged the death of the Capitol Police officer.”
Wolking responded, “That’s enraging to me.”
“Everything he said about supporting law enforcement was a lie,” to which Murtaugh replied, “You know what this is of course?”
“If he acknowledged the dead cop, he’d be implicitly faulting the mob.”
“And he won’t do that because they’re his people.”
“And it would also be close to acknowledging that what he lit at the rally got out of control.”
“No way he acknowledges something that could ultimately be called his fault.”
“No way.”
President Trump did not then and does not now have the character or courage to say to the American people what his own people know to be true.
He is responsible for the attack on the Capitol on January 6th.
Thank you, and I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
J Wheaton, dude, I notice that above here, you tag Trump with the pejorative of “PATRIOT.”
What about Elaine Luria, who has herself wrapped so tightly in the Flag it’s a wonder she can breathe!
She too calls herself a “PATRIOT.”
So what is the difference between Elaine Luria and Trump then?
And that raises an interesting question here, to wit:
WOULD A REAL AMERICAN PATRIOT LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AS CONGRESSWOMAN AND PELOSI-ITE WITCH HUNTER ELAINE LURIA DID ON 21 JULY 2022 ON PRIMETIME TV?
As to the lie, called by some or many a scurvy and slimy lie, if we go to the OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT above here of the July 21, 2022 episode of NANCY’S WITCH HUNTERS PREESENT PURE POLITICAL BULL**** INTENDED TO SMEAR AND HEAP SLIME ON DONALD TRUMP ON PRIMETIME TV, we have the Luria Lie right here as follows:
ELAINE LURIA: On January 9th, two of President Trump’s top campaign officials texted each other about the president’s glaring silence on the tragic death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who succumbed to his injuries the night of January 7th.
end quotes
That, J Wheaton, is on 21 July 2022.
As to Brian Sicknick, however, FIFTEEN (15) months EARLIER, on 20 April 2021, CBS News ran a story titled “Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes after defending Capitol on January 6, medical examiner says” by Victoria Albert, wherein we all, which you would have thought would have included WITCH HUNTER and TRUMP HATER Elaine Luria, learned as follows about the death of Brian Sicknick, to wit:
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes a day after defending the Capitol during the January 6 assault, the D.C. medical examiner’s office announced Monday.
Sicknick was previously believed to have died from injuries sustained during the riot.
Sicknick died from strokes, the chief medical examiner’s office said in a report summary, citing “acute brainstem and cerebellar infarcts due to acute basilar artery thrombosis.”
In an interview with The Washington Post, chief medical examiner Francisco J. Diaz said Sicknick suffered two strokes at the base of his brainstem caused by a clot in an artery.
end quotes
So why is Elaine Luria LYING to the American people on 21 July 2022, telling them a falsehood about Sicknick dying of his injuries, which falsehood had been debunked FIFTEEN MONTHS EARLIER?
On 19 April 2021, NPR, a very anti-Trump rag not above stretching the truth or outright lying, ran a story titled “Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Died Of Natural Causes, Medical Examiner Rules” by Alana Wise, wherein was stated as follows:
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who engaged with pro-Trump rioters during the Jan. 6 insurrection, died of natural causes the day after the attack, Washington, D.C.’s chief medical examiner announced Monday.
Sicknick died after suffering strokes, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Francisco Diaz, said in a report.
In an interview, Diaz told The Washington Post, which first reported on the determination, that Sicknick suffered two strokes.
end quotes
And on 19 April 2021, FIFTEEN MONTHS BEFORE Elaine’s BULL**** on 21 July 2022 about Sicknick dying of his “injuries, the Capitol Police themselves published a press release titled “Medical Examiner Finds USCP Officer Brian Sicknick Died of Natural Causes” wherein as stated as follows:
The USCP accepts the findings from the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes.
end quotes
So why them J Wheaton, is Elaine Luria trying to INFLAME PASSIONS and sic a LYNCH MOB on Trump by lying to the American people about Brian Sicknick?
And what about this BULL**** from out the mouth of Elaine Luria on 21 July 2022, to wit:
ELAINE LURIA: On January 7th, one day after he incited an insurrection based on a lie, President Trump still could not say that the election was over.
end quote
Incited an insurrection?
That is a lie by Elaine Luria, because there has been to date no insurrection either charged or proven.
SO WHY IS ELAINE LURIA USING THE WITCH HUNTER HEARINGS ON PRIMETIME TV TO LIE TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?
BECAUSE SHE IS A PATRIOT AND THAT IS WHAT PATRIOTS DO?
Full transcript from the July 12 hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
ELAINE LURIA: Thank you, Mr. Kinzinger.
Throughout our hearings, we’ve provided many facts and painted a vivid picture of the events of January 6th.
The violence, the human toll, both emotional and physical, including the tragic loss of life, the threats to our Constitution, the rule of law, and the danger to this nation, a nation we all love as Americans.
In tonight’s hearing, we’ve gone into great detail about the events inside the White House on January 6th.
We’ve described how the President of the United States who was bound by oath to the Constitution and by duty to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, took no action when the cornerstone of our democracy, a peaceful transition of power, was under attack.
But it’s more than that, Donald Trump summoned a violent mob and promised to lead that mob to the Capitol to compel those he thought would cave to that kind of pressure.
And when he was thwarted in his effort to lead the armed uprising, he instigated the attackers to target the Vice President with violence, a man who just wanted to do his constitutional duty.
So in the end, this is not as it may appear, a story of inaction in a time of crisis, but instead it was the final action of Donald Trump’s own plan to assert the will of the American people and remain in power.
Not until it was clear that his effort to violently disrupt or delay the counting of the election results had failed did he send his message — a message to his supporters in which he commensurated with their pain and he told them affectionately to go home.
That was not the message of condemnation and just punishment for those who broke the law that we expect from a President whose oath and duty is to ensure the laws are faithfully executed.
But instead, It was his newest version of Stand Back and Stand By.
To me, this is personal.
I first swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against enemies, foreign and domestic, when I entered the US Naval Academy at age 17.
I spent two decades on ships at sea defending our nation from known and identifiable foreign enemies who sought to do us harm.
I never imagined that that enemy would come from within.
I was not as pression [ph] as Abraham Lincoln who 23 years before the Civil War said, if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and its finisher.
Donald Trump was the author.
And we the people, for ourselves and our posterity, should not let Donald Trump be the finisher.
Thank you.
And I yield to the Vice Chair.