Trump knew there was no fraud and knew there’d be violence – he deserves to answer for his actions

Wide-ranging under-oath testimony gives us a glimpse into the former president’s state of mind and bolsters evidence of criminal intent

This video screenshot released by the House Select Committee shows then-President Donald Trump with his coat on as he returns to the Oval Office after speaking on the Ellipse on 6 January, 2021 (AP)

Donald Trump knew. That was the key phrase repeated throughout today’s January 6 hearing, and for good reason. It was a presentation that sought to laser-focus on Trump’s potential criminal intent and provide a basis for the Select Committee’s unanimous vote to subpoena the former president.

This was the ninth and most wide-ranging hearing the January 6 Committee has held yet. The hearing, which had no in-person witnesses, saw each committee member walk through a different component of Trump’s plot to overturn democracy, from election day to January 6.

The common thread was Trump’s state of mind and intent throughout the attempted coup. The hearing also revealed new Secret Service emails and texts that showed an awareness of incoming violence. The hearing was incredibly effective and tied together everything we’ve seen over the past eight hearings.

Trump knew he lost and declared victory anyway. Trump knew his election fraud claims were false and exploited them to pressure elected officials anyway. Trump knew his pressure campaign against Vice President Mike Pence was illegal and pursued it anyway.

Trump knew his supporters were armed and threatening violence, and he told them to go to the Capitol anyway. What this amounted to was a 21st-Century attempted coup by an American president.

Let’s dive into the historic hearing that justified a consequential congressional subpoena of Donald Trump.

A premeditated declaration of victory

The hearing began by highlighting how Trump’s effort to overturn the election was set in stone well before election day. Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) played documentary clips of Trump ally Roger Stone talking about how Trump was going to declare victory and that violence was incoming.

"F*** the voting, let’s get right to the violence," Stone said on November 4, 2020. Stone was in direct contact with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, some of which have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy charges.

Lofgren also revealed a pre-prepared memo from Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton dated October 31, 2020, that had draft victory remarks sent to Trump aides Molly Michael and Dan Scavino.

An October 31, 2020 audio clip from Steve Bannon outlined exactly how it would all go down. Bannon predicted that Trump was going to declare victory no matter the results and that Trump would exploit the delays in largely Democratic mail-in ballots to declare victory as Republican-heavy election-day votes were counted first.

As we later saw, that’s exactly what happened.

Trump admitted he lost

By election night, Trump knew what he was going to do regardless of the outcome. Lofgren pointed out that Trump’s advisors – including Jared Kushner, then-Campaign Manager Bill Stepien, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – all told Trump that mail-in ballots should’ve been advocated. Trump knew election day votes would create a red mirage and he exploited it.

Stepien told Trump not to declare victory on election night and that votes still needed to be counted. Trump was warned about a premature victory declaration and went forward with it anyway. We also have brand new evidence indicating that while Trump was publicly lying about the election being stolen, he privately acknowledged that he lost.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) showcased new footage of Trump aides testifying that Trump acknowledged he lost. Alyssa Farah Griffin, who was the former Communications Director for Trump, claimed that he said, "Can you believe I lost to this f***ing guy." In new testimony, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson claimed when Trump was "raging" about the Supreme Court denying his election case, he said: "I don’t want people to know we lost."

There was also a deeply concerning new bit of evidence. Trump signed a draft order to immediately withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Somalia before the end of his term, another signal he knew he lost.

Meanwhile, court cases shot down Trump’s election lies and his own advisors echoed those debunkings. The January 6 Committee showed testimony of Trump officials, including former Attorney General William Barr, outlining how they told Trump his election fraud claims were lies. Then, they showed clips of Trump spreading those very same lies days after being straight-up told they were lies.

So, we now have under-oath testimony indicating Trump was told he lost and he acknowledged that loss. All of this is very key because it gives us a glimpse into Trump’s state of mind and bolsters evidence of criminal intent. Trump simply being shown evidence that he lost isn’t as powerful as testimony indicating he admitted it.

Trump pressure campaigns and the fake elector plot

The January 6 Committee then covered familiar ground by giving a top-line summary of Trump’s pressure campaigns. We once again heard the audio of Trump’s infamous call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where he demanded:  “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”

The committee then briefly went over Trump’s rebuffed efforts to pressure the DOJ, pressure state legislatures to overturn their results, and the fake elector scheme. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) discussed how the fake elector scheme was directly tied to the pressure campaign to coerce Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election. This was a plan they knew was illegal, but they pursued it anyway.

Not only has testimony alleged former Trump lawyer John Eastman told Trump in person that his Pence pressure campaign was illegal, Eastman admitted as such via e-mail on the morning of January 6.

New Secret Service messages reveal knowledge of incoming armed violence

In perhaps the most dramatic moments of the hearing, the January 6 Committee gave us a glimpse of the nearly 1 million emails and electronic records they obtained from the Secret Service. The key revelation was that the Secret Service exchanged emails and messages from late December up until January 6 indicating that they were all well aware of the incoming threat of violence on January 6.

"Their plan is to literally kill people. Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further." That was a tip of incoming January 6 violence planned by the Proud Boys referenced in a newly revealed Secret Service email on December 26, 2020.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) revealed a January 4 CTS intelligence summary that showed there were calls from Trump supporters to occupy federal buildings, invade the Capitol, and arm themselves. On January 5, a Secret Service email discussed that "right wing groups" were establishing "quick reaction forces" in Virginia, and "standing by at the ready should POTUS request assistance."

Schiff also revealed how the Secret Service were messaging each other in the 12 pm hour on January 6 about armed Trump supporters, mentioning that they were heading to the Capitol after Trump’s speech.

Now we know that almost every level of law enforcement was aware of credible threats of violence on January 6 and did not adequately prepare. This was something Donald Trump used to his advantage.

Trump knew his rallygoers were armed and violent

The Committee re-aired Cassidy Hutchinson’s previous testimony from this past June. Trump was allegedly incredulous backstage at his January 6 rally that morning: “I don’t f***ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f***ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the f***ing mags away."

During his rally, Trump then told the crowd, which he knew was armed, to head to the Capitol. Newly revealed messages confirm that the Secret Service was preparing to take Trump to the Capitol but was called off by their lead officer.

Afterward, Trump did nothing to stop the violence as he watched it all unfold on Fox News for 187 minutes in the White House dining room. While Trump was watching, Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy, pleaded with Trump to call off the violence. Trump not only dragged his feet, he egged the violent mob on.

Trump sent a 2:24 pm tweet targeting Vice President Mike Pence. Trump sent this right as Pence was facing the highest threat of violence. The Secret Service sent concerned messages about Trump’s tweet.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) also aired new footage of members of Congress during the Capitol attack. The footage showed that during the hours of Trump’s inaction, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) coordinated a response to the attack while the violence unfolded.

What’s next for the January 6 Committee?

Have these hearings been effective? Signs point to yes. Polling indicates that a majority of Americans see "MAGA Republicans" as a threat to democracy while President Biden has ratcheted up his rhetoric against extremism within the GOP. But swaying public opinion isn’t their only objective. The committee has been making clear and direct appeals to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Even though the midterms are 26 days away, we’re still due a final report from the Committee so this won’t be the last we see of them. We’ll likely get that report by the end of the year. At the end of today’s hearing, January 6 Committee Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) said they have sufficient evidence to make criminal referrals for several individuals, but a key step remains: seeking testimony directly from Donald Trump. They voted unanimously to subpoena Donald Trump for documents and under-oath testimony related to his plot to overturn the 2020 election.

Whether this subpoena will be enforced is yet to be seen, but one thing is for sure: Donald Trump deserves to answer for his corrupt conduct and the January 6 Committee has done an excellent job of outlining why.