Digging into the aftermath of the 2020 election, members of the Jan. 6 Committee on Tuesday spoke to former President Donald J. They focused on meetings between Trump and outside advisers.
Former Attorney General William B. From testimony from Barr and others, the panel described in detail the hastily arranged meeting, in which advisers Mr. They proposed an executive order to allow the military to seize voting machines in key states Trump lost.
“On Friday, December 18, his team of outside advisers paid him a surprise visit at the White House that will soon become legend,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland. “The meeting was uneventful, not casual, and has been called the strangest meeting of a Trump presidency.”
According to the group, a few weeks before the meeting in December, Mr. Barr and Pat Cipollone included Mr. Many of Trump’s advisers have publicly and privately dismissed and emphasized the possibility of widespread voter fraud. Mr. Trump has to agree. Dec. 1 On Mr. Barr issued a public statement confirming that he had found no significant evidence of fraud.
Four days before the meeting, on December 14, the Electoral College met to certify the election results, which Mr. Barr told the group that “should have been the end of the matter.”
But Dec. 18 evening, Sidney Powell and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, including Mr. Many of Trump’s outside advisers have called on Mr.
As the crowd heated up, Mr. Cipollone told the committee that other plans had been discussed, including granting Ms. Powell security clearance and naming her special counsel, with Mr. He was responsible for Trump’s legal effort.
The meeting lasted several hours, moving from the Oval Office to other areas of the West Wing, according to the group. And arguments erupted throughout the evening, including “challenges to a physical fight,” Mr. Ruskin said.
In a taped interview released Tuesday, Derek Lyons, a former White House staff secretary, said, “Sometimes, yelling at each other, insulting each other — that’s not the kind of people. Bed like chit-chatting.”
The group showed evidence that the meeting ended at midnight, with no agreement among participants on how to proceed.
But since there was no opportunity to contest the election results during the meeting in December, Mr. Committee members used Tuesday’s hearing to say that Trump was frustrated, and at that point he turned to his supporters and encouraged them to come. to Washington on January 6.
An hour after the meeting was said to have ended, Mr Trump tweeted at 1:42am on December 19 that it was “statistically impossible” for him to lose the election. In the tweet, he urged supporters to gather in Washington to demonstrate, saying they plan to bring dozens of responses and photos of weapons from people sharing plans to occupy the Capitol building.
“Hang in there, it’ll be wild” the tweet said.
