Trump releases letter to Jan. 6 committee ranting about its investigation

Former President Donald Trump on Friday released a letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021, after the panel voted to subpoena Trump over his role in the insurrection.

In the 14-page letter — which includes a 10-page appendix and photos of the crowd at his rally that preceded the attack — Trump rants about the committee’s investigation and repeats false claims about the 2020 election. But the former president did not say whether he would comply with a subpoena.

“Dear Chairman Thompson, THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” the letter begins, before launching into a litany of complaints and grievances.

Referring to the bipartisan panel as a “Committee of highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs whose sole function is to destroy the lives of many hard-working American Patriots,” Trump explains that the point of his letter is to express his “anger, disappointment, and complaint that with [sic] all of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on what many consider to be a Charade and Witch Hunt. ...

“Despite strong and powerful requests, you have not spent even a short moment on examining the massive Election Fraud that took place during the 2020 Presidential Election, and have targeted only those who were, as concerned American Citizens, protesting the Fraud itself,” Trump writes. “Those who committed the Fraud, thereby having created the Crime of the Century, go unblemished and untouched, but those who fought the Crime have suffered a fate that was unthinkable just a short time ago. ...

“The Unselect Committee has perpetuated a Show Trial the likes of which this Country has never seen before,” Trump adds. “It is a Witch Hunt of the highest level, a continuation of what has been going on for years. You have not gone after the people that created the Fraud, but rather great American Patriots who questioned it, as is their Constitutional right. These people have had their lives ruined as your Committee sits back and basks in the glow.”

The letter, which was released a day after the committee’s 10th and potentially final public hearing, did not directly address Thursday’s presentation, including the dramatic video showing congressional leaders — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — sheltering in an undisclosed location as a violent mob of Trump’s supporters stormed through the halls of the Capitol.

In the footage, Pelosi and then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., are seen at the height of the violence, calling various Trump administration officials to ask for help from federal law enforcement and requesting that they deploy the National Guard.

In his letter, Trump claims that he “fully authorized” National Guard troops to be present at the Capitol before Jan. 6, but that Democrats, including Pelosi, refused the authorization.

However, there is no record of Trump authorizing National Guard troops to be at the Capitol before the attack, and no evidence that Democrats denied such a request.

Christopher Miller, who was serving as acting defense secretary on the day of the insurrection, testified to the committee that Trump never gave an order to have National Guard troops ready.