5 Key Revelations From Tuesday’s Jan. 6 Hearing

Nikki McCann Ramirez and Ryan Bort
·6 min read
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US-POLITICS-unrest - Credit: Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images
US-POLITICS-unrest - Credit: Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images

The Jan. 6 committee revealed plenty during its seventh public hearing on Tuesday, including a damning collection of evidence that former President Trump’s infamous call for his supporters to march to the Capitol was premeditated.

Trump drafted but didn’t send a tweet that a march to the Capitol was going to be part of the much-hyped Jan. 6 protest, the committee revealed. The panel also laid out the extent to which rally organizers and those close to Trump knew of plans to have the president direct protestors to the Capitol. The committee continued to draw connections between Trump and his allies, the organizers of his rally at the Ellipse, and the extremist groups present the day of the riot. 

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Organizers of the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse have repeatedly denied culpability from the subsequent violence at the Capitol, saying that Trump’s call to march on the Capitol was unprompted and unscripted — and reacting angrily at any suggestion that they were even aware of potentially violence actions ahead of the Capitol riot. We learned on Tuesday that they were lying.

Here’s a rundown of everything the committee revealed in what is likely to be its penultimate hearing:

Trump’s call for supporters to march to the Capitol was premeditated

The committee said on Tuesday that it obtained a draft of an unsent tweet in which Trump teased a march to the Capitol following his speech at the Ellipse. “I will be making a Big Speech at 10 a.m. on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House),” read the draft tweet, preserved by the National Archives. “Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the steal!”

The committee also displayed a text exchange from Jan. 4 between White House Ellipse rally organizer Kylie Kremer and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in which the pair discussed secret plans to have Trump call for protesters to march to a second location, either the Supreme Court or Capitol, on Jan. 6. Kremer urges Lindell to keep the plans secret, since they did not have permits for the march.

A second text message was displayed by the committee from Ali Alexander, who on Jan. 5 outlined that plans for the next day. “Tomorrow: Ellipse then US Capitol. Trump is supposed to order us to capitol at the end of his speech but we will see.”

Steve Bannon spoke to Trump right before he told listeners to “strap in” for “all hell” to break loose on Jan. 6

When Steve Bannon said on his radio show on Jan. 5, 2021 that “all hell” would break loose the following day, he wasn’t speculating. The committee revealed on Tuesday that Bannon’s radio prediction came shortly after a phone call with Trump, as the former president was in the final stages of preparing for his supporters to come to Washington to protest the results of the 2020 election.

The White House phone logs obtained by the Jan. 6 committee show that Trump spoke to Bannon at least twice on Jan. 5, once for 11 minutes beginning at 8:57 a.m., and again for six minutes beginning at 9:46 p.m. “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow,” Bannon said on the air after speaking to Trump that morning. “It’s all converging and now we’re on the point of attack tomorrow.”

“I’ll tell you this: It’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen,” he added with a wry smile. “It’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is, strap in.”

Trump’s own campaign manager blamed him for the death on Jan. 6

In a text exchange between former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Trump national campaign spokesperson Katrina Pearson, Parscale lamented that a woman died during the Capitol attack, the committee revealed. When Pearson tells him, “You do realize this was going to happen,” Parscale responds, “Yeah if I was Trump and knew my rhetoric killed someone.” Parscale continues, “This is about Trump pushing for uncertainty in our country … A sitting president asking for civil war … This week I feel guilty for helping him win.”

The White House held “unhinged” election meeting on Dec. 18

Several witnesses recounted a chaotic White House meeting on Dec. 18 in which the conspiracy theorists Trump surrounded himself with after the election clashed with administration figures who had accepted the reality of President Biden’s win.

Rudy Giuliani, one of the aforementioned election conspiracy theorists, was there. “You’re a bunch of pussies,” he recalled hearing as Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, and Sidney Powell, one of the conspiracy theorizing attorney who had Trump’s ear following the election, sparred with those in the White House who didn’t want to go along with the scheme to overturn the election — particularly, as was discussed on Dec. 18, a plan to have the military to seize voting machines.

“What they were proposing, I thought was nuts,” testified former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, noting that there was a lot of “screaming,” particularly from Flynn. “Either come over or sit your effing ass back down,” Herschmann recounts responding to Flynn.

Trump personally tried to tamper with a witness, Cheney says

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney closed Tuesday’s hearing with a revelation that Trump attempted to call a witness following the committee’s previous hearing late last month. The witness did not answer the call, instead having their lawyer inform the committee. Cheney says the committee then supplied the information to the Department of Justice.

The revelation comes after the committee disclosed during its sixth hearing last month that multiple witnesses reported fielding calls and texts from Trump allies apparently looking to influence their cooperation with the committee. Cheney read a statement from a witness who was told they would “stay in good graces in Trump World”  if they continued to be a “team player.” The witness was also warned that Trump reads deposition transcripts. Another witness was called before their deposition and told that “he knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”

The identity of the witness Trump tried to call recently is unknown, although Cheney noted that it is someone who hasn’t been heard from during the public hearings.

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