WASHINGTON (The Hill) - The White House was paralyzed for three hours on Jan. 6 as former president Trump rebuffed frantic pleas from anxious aides to intervene to quell the violence at the U.S. Capitol, according to evidence presented Thursday night by the House committee investigating last year’s rampage.
Trump’s inaction over that 187-minute span — even in the face of desperate calls from top staff and close family — allowed the riot to escalate, investigators charged, threatening the lives of lawmakers and his own vice president, Mike Pence, who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
That inactivity was no accident, in the panel’s telling, but just another part of Trump’s plan to weaponize the fury of his supporters — convinced by Trump himself that the election was “stolen” — in an effort to remain in power despite his election defeat.
“President Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). “He chose not to act.”
Thursday’s prime-time hearing — the eighth in six weeks — was an autopsy of those tense 187 minutes, from the moment Trump finished his rally speech at the White House Ellipse, where he encouraged supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol, until he released a video urging the rioters to go home.
The account of those hours portrayed a president fixated on the riot, which he was following closely on Fox News from the head of the table in the White House dining room, a witness testified. He would remain there for more than 2 1/2 hours, beginning at 1:25 p.m., the committee said, calling Republican lawmakers, to urge them to fight the election results, and his campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was spearheading the “Stop the Steal” campaign.
The details of Trump’s actions during those hours are only now coming into focus, based on witness testimony, and the committee suggested the secrecy was by design.