The latest Congressional hearing on the Capitol riots gives an insight into the events. It shows Trump, actions or rather inaction about the riot.
On Thursday, the 6th Congressional hearing took place, which brought to light many facts. It throws light on Trump’s satisfaction with the rioters as he refused to accept the results of the elections. With more and more witnesses coming forward and documents coming up, it is not long before the former President is incremented.
Trump and the Capitol riots
Matthew Pottinger, the former deputy national security advisor came with the most important pieces of information. During the hearing, he testified that Trump’s inaction lasted for about 187 minutes. “If the president had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he could have been on camera almost immediately,” said Pottinger. “If he had wanted to make an address from the Oval Office, we could have assembled the White House press corps within minutes.”, he added.
The president aides and advisers repeatedly urged him to put an end to the rioting but all the requests went unheard. He even ignored his children’s requests on the matter. Reportedly, Don jr. In a text message to Trump’s Chief of Staff said, “He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP.” Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, told the committee that House Republican leader was ‘scared’ when he asked for his help in stopping the riot.
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone brought up a couple of names before the committee, all of whom wanted the rioting to stop. The names included Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, etc.
The committee investigating the riots has seven Democrats and two Republicans while Bennie Thompson is the committee chairperson. According to Adam Kinzinger, one of the Republicans, the US President had no intention of calling off the rioters. “The mob was accomplishing President’s purpose, so of course, he didn’t intervene,” said Kinzinger. Moreover, Kinzinger called the date a ‘stain on our (America’s) history.
In the hearing, more than 10,000 witnesses came forward apart from both audio and visual testimonies. So far 850 people have been indicted and there have been 325 guilty pleas.
Key points of the hearing
In the hearing, other important details came up which put things in perspective.
The capitol riots kicked off nearly 15 minutes after Trump’s inflammatory speech. The rioting was so intense that the security official feared for their lives. Former Vice President Mike Pence, himself could not exit the second floor of the senate. According to a few sources, many security officials deployed even made ‘goodbye calls’ to their families. Among the injured, there were 140 police officers and several dead.
In another turn of events, Senator Josh Hawley also came up on video evidence. In the video, Hawley is raising his fist in support of the rioters before the beginning of the riot. However, once the riot began, Hawley made a very quick exit out of the Capitol, much to the amusement of the people present at the hearing.
The committee will conduct more hearings in September. With more witnesses and the US president ex-aides coming forward, it will not be surprising if even more incrementing testimonies come up.
The US President is perhaps the only American president in the history of America who did not accept the public consensus graciously. Not only did he call for the voting to stop but he also encouraged the crowd to storm the Capitol. Now that he is again considering the idea of running for the president, it is up to the American people to be warier of the politics he represents.
Read more: Capitol Riot: Trump disregarded requests to denounce the attack
