The Archive

INSURRECTION INVESTIGATION

Trump fumed while Capitol attacked – but did little else

The Jan. 6 select committee painted a striking portrait of an indifferent Donald Trump during Thursday night’s primetime hearing. The former president sat fuming in the private dining room of the West Wing, rejecting pleas from top aides and family members to rein in a violent mob of his supporters as they attacked the Capitol. Trump was still fixated on how he could overturn an election that he’d lost weeks before.

And Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, kept up with his effort to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. Like Trump, Giuliani was calling Republican senators to urge them to object to the election results even as U.S. Capitol Police officers and National Guard troops struggled to clear rioters out of the building.

Yet in perhaps the most powerful moment of the hearing, outtakes from Trump’s speech on Jan. 7 were shown. Trump still couldn’t bring himself to say he’d lost while the country reeled from the previous day’s events. It reportedly took an hour to film what ended up being a three-minute video.

“I don’t want to say the election is over,” Trump is shown saying to a group of aides that included his daughter, Ivanka Trump. “I just want to say that Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, ok?”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), one of only two Republicans on the select committee, offered this devastating comment on Trump’s behavior throughout that deadly day:

There was news during Thursday’s hearing, albeit not as much as in other sessions. But the select committee worked as usual to weave video and documentary evidence in with witness testimony to produce a powerful narrative. We’re going to run down what we learned:

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The select committee’s leadership – chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) – said the panel will have additional hearings in September. Cheney went as far as to say that the “dam has begun to break” since the public hearings began and the committee was receiving lots of new information. Cheney:

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For Cheney, this was the select committee’s last hearing before her Aug. 16 primary. The few public polls in that race show Cheney losing badly to a Trump-endorsed candidate, Harriet Hageman. Cheney’s closing statement was another broadside at Trump, who is as much her primary opponent as much as Hageman:

→	The panel showed Trump knew within 15 minutes that the Capitol’s security perimeter had been breached. Trump was secluded in the private dining room between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The official White House photographer was told to take no pictures of Trump during that period.

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The panel showed video clips of top Trump administration officials – former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, Vice President Mike Pence’s National Security Adviser Keith Kellogg and Trump body man Nick Luna – testifying that the former president didn’t call the secretary of Defense, attorney general or Homeland Security secretary during the attack.

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A former White House employee told the select committee this week that the Pentagon called the White House on Jan. 6 and was told that Trump didn’t want anything done to help secure the Capitol. Kayleigh McEnany, the former White House press secretary, testified that Trump instead asked for a list of senators to call.

→	Cipollone testified that he advocated for an “immediate and forceful response” to the attack that would urge rioters to go home. Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Mark Meadows all made similar appeals, Cipollone said. Trump declined for hours, and in the end, made a half-hearted call for calm.

→	Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), who led the hearing along with Kinzinger, said several Secret Service officers have retained private counsel in the wake of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony that Trump lunged at agents in the presidential SUV after they refused to take him to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) later told reporters former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato – a Secret Service agent – and Robert Engel, who Trump reportedly lunged at in the limo, are among those getting their own lawyers, as is the driver:

The Secret Service has disclosed that cell phone data from a number of agents and officials – including Engel – has been deleted, despite the fact that multiple congressional committees asked for all such information to be retained. Luria indicated they expect more testimony on this front soon.

→	The select committee also had testimony that Pence’s Secret Service detail feared for their lives during the Capitol attack. Agents were asking aides at the White House to say goodbye to their families.

→	The committee showed a never-before-seen video of Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell on the phone with national security officials asking when they could bring the Senate back into session in order to finish certifying the Electoral College count.

→	Sarah Matthews, the former Trump White House deputy press secretary, testified before the select committee on Thursday. Matthews – who resigned following the insurrection – told the panel that Trump gave “the green light” to rioters to storm the Capitol.

For this, Matthews was attacked by the Twitter account of House Republicans. “Just another liar and pawn in Pelosi’s witch-hunt” @housegop tweeted out. There’s only one problem here – Matthews is currently the Republican spokesperson for the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Yeah. The tweet was later deleted.

– Jake Sherman, Christian Hall and John Bresnahan

EMPIRE STATE CAMPAIGN

Zeldin safe after attack

Rep. Lee Zeldin, the Republican candidate for governor of New York, was attacked during a speech on Thursday night.

Video from the incident shows a man climbing onto the stage while Zeldin was speaking in Perinton, N.Y., which is just outside of Rochester. The man grabs Zeldin’s arm and pulls him to the ground. Onlookers climb onto the stage to help subdue the assailant, who was later identified as David Jakubonis of Fairport, N.Y., according to WROC-TV in Rochester.

Also at the event was Alison Esposito, a former NYPD inspector general who is running for lieutenant governor.

Here’s Zeldin:

Zeldin, 42, finished his speech after the incident.

– John Bresnahan

THE MONEY GAME

This weekend’s fundraising events

Here’s your periodic update of where people are raising money this weekend, 109 days before Election Day.

→	New York Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins has his Saratoga Weekend at the racetrack in upstate New York.

→	House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Pete Aguilar will be in Detroit for an event with Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.).

– Jake Sherman

THE CAMPAIGN

→	New: Wisconsin Senate Democratic primary candidate Sarah Godlewski is calling out her primary opponents for their failure to advocate forcefully for abortion rights in a new ad entitled “Where Were You.”

The spot, which is part of a seven-figure ad buy running statewide, replays Godlewski’s July 17 debate challenge to her fellow Democrats.

“You know what, guys, I’m glad that now that Roe is overturned you are all now sharing your own personal stories,” Godlewski says, addressing the other candidates on the debate stage. “But I was the only one talking about reproductive rights, because for me, this is not an afterthought.”

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks EVP Alex Lasry and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson are Godlewski’s main opponents in the race. Barnes led the field with 25%, Lasry was second with 21% and Godlewski — the state’s treasurer — was in third with 9% in a late June Marquette University poll of the race.

→	The Congressional Leadership Fund, the House Republican super PAC, reported a $5 million contribution from Miriam Adelson, the widow of Sheldon Adelson, the late casino magnate and GOP mega donor. The disclosure came in a pre-primary report that CLF filed.

→	Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) reported raising $1.67 million between July 1 and July 13. He has a stunning $24.7 million in the bank.

— Max Cohen and Jake Sherman

MOMENTS

President Joe Biden has Covid and is quarantining. The House and Senate are out.

10:30 a.m.: Biden will get his daily briefing virtually.

12:30 p.m.: Vice President Kamala Harris will speak at the National Urban League Annual Conference at the convention center in D.C.

Biden will get a briefing from his economic team on gas prices in the afternoon.

3 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre and Covid-19 coordinator Ashish Jha will brief.

CLIP FILE

WaPo

→	“Pence seeks distance from Trump as he considers 2024 presidential run,” by Michael Scherer, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey

WSJ

→	“Turkey, U.N. Officials Say Deal Reached With Russia, Ukraine on Grain Exports,” by Jared Malsin, William Mauldin and Alistair MacDonald

Bloomberg

→	“Here’s How China Might Respond to a Taiwan Visit by Nancy Pelosi,” by Philip Glamann, Cindy Wang, Samson Ellis, and Jing Li

“South Korea Restores Military Drills Once Reduced to Help Trump,” by Sangmi Cha

Politico

→	“The Jan. 6 committee makes Jan. 7 — and beyond — matter,” by Kyle Cheney and Nick Wu