The January 6 House select committee investigating the events of January 6, 2021, revealed previously unseen raw footage of President Donald Trump on the day of, and the day after, the deadly attack on the United States Capitol on Thursday’s primetime hearing.
During the riot on Capitol Hill, Trump recorded and released a video message from the White House Rose Garden, urging the mob to disperse and telling his supporters, “We adore you. You’re one of a kind.”
The hearing was held to determine what Trump did and did not do in the 187 minutes before he finally called off the attack, following hours of pleas from his inner circle.
“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt,” Trump said in the video, which was later released. “But you have to go home now; we need peace. We need law and order, and we need to respect our great people in law and order.”
The following day, he shot another video from inside the White House. Both videos’ outtakes were shown during the hearing on Thursday.
“The White House staff that remained on Jan. 7 knew the president needed to address the nation again, and they had a speech ready for him that morning. But he refused to give it to me for hours “At Thursday’s hearing, Rep. Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat and former Navy officer who sits on the Jan. 6 panel, said
According to Luria, the committee heard testimony that Trump was finally persuaded to deliver the message later that evening of Jan. 7 by advisors who warned of “concerns that he might be removed from power under the 25th Amendment or by impeachment.”
Luria stated that the outtakes were shot more than 24 hours after the video was shot in the White House Rose Garden.
Following a few takes, Trump is heard saying, “This election has concluded. “Congress has certified the results,” he says on camera, before pausing and saying, “I don’t want to say the election is over.” I just want to say that Congress has certified the results without concluding the election, okay?”
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and former senior advisor, can be heard off camera coaching the president on the exact words to say in the video.
Later in the video, Trump stumbles over the word “yesterday” and requests that it be removed from his prepared remarks.
In another video played during the hearing, he smacks the presidential podium while saying, “My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.”
Thursday marked the conclusion of the committee’s summer schedule of televised hearings.
