Trump sat for hours watching riot without acting, panel hears

WASHINGTON • Former president Donald Trump sat for hours watching last year's Jan 6 attack on the US Capitol unfold on live TV, ignoring pleas by his children and other close advisers to urge his supporters to stop the violence, witnesses have told a congressional hearing.

The House of Representatives Select Committee used its eighth hearing this summer on Thursday to detail what members said was Mr Trump's refusal to act for the 187 minutes between the end of his inflammatory speech at a rally urging supporters to march on the Capitol, and the release of a video telling them to go home.

"President Trump sat at his dining table and watched the attack on television while his senior-most staff, closest advisers and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American president," said Democratic Representative Elaine Luria.

The panel played videotaped testimony from White House aides and security staff discussing the events of the day.

Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone was asked question after question in the recorded testimony about Mr Trump's actions: Did he call the secretary of defence? The attorney-general? The head of Homeland Security?

Mr Cipollone answered "no" to each question.

"He's got to condemn this s*** ASAP," Mr Trump's eldest son, Mr Donald Trump Jr, appealed in a text message to Mr Trump's chief of staff, Mr Mark Meadows.

"They will try to f*** his entire legacy on this if it gets worse."

The onslaught on the Capitol, as Vice-President Mike Pence met with lawmakers, led to several deaths, injured over 140 police officers and delayed certification of President Joe Biden's victory in the November 2020 election.

Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the committee, said Mr Trump had no interest in calling off the rioters, adding: "The mob was accomplishing President Trump's purpose, so of course he didn't intervene."

Mr Trump remains popular among Republican voters and continues to flirt with the possibility of running for president again in 2024.

But a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded on Thursday found his standing among Republicans has weakened slightly since the hearings began six weeks ago.

Some 40 per cent of Republicans now say he is at least partially to blame for the riot, up from 33 per cent in a poll conducted as the congressional hearings were getting under way.

Mr Trump denies wrongdoing and continues to claim falsely that he lost because of widespread fraud. "These hearings are as fake and illegitimate as Joe Biden - they can't do anything without a teleprompter," Trump spokesman Liz Harrington said in a post on the Truth Social site during the hearing.

Another round of hearings will begin in September, said the panel's Republican vice-chairman, Representative Liz Cheney.

Witnesses in the room were Mr Matthew Pottinger, a deputy national security adviser under Mr Trump, and Ms Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary in his White House. Both resigned in the hours following the riot.

"If the president had wanted to make a statement and address the American people, he could have been on camera almost immediately," Ms Matthews testified.

"If he had wanted to make an address from the Oval Office, we could have assembled the White House press corps within minutes."

The panel of seven Democratic and two Republican House members has been investigating the attack for the past year, interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses and amassing tens of thousands of documents.

It has used the hearings to build a case that Mr Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat by Mr Biden in 2020 constitute dereliction of duty and illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics. "Trump was pouring gasoline on the fire," Ms Matthews said.

Near the end of the hearing, the committee showed outtakes of a video Mr Trump made on Jan 7 addressing what he called "the heinous attack".

But he refused to say in the speech that the election was over.

Mr Trump eventually left Washington on Jan 20 rather than attend Mr Biden's inauguration that day.

Asked for his assessment of the riot, Mr Cipollone said in the testimony shown on Thursday that it could not be justified in any way.

"It was wrong and it was tragic and it was a terrible day for this country."

REUTERS