Committee on the storming of the US Capitol: "Complete nonsense" - Trump is losing touch with reality

Created: 06/14/2022, 06:52

By: Lukas Zigo

The hearings on the storming of the US Capitol are entering the decisive phase.

Ex-Attorney General Barr accused Donald Trump.

• Committee meets in Washington DC:

  In the US capital, a congressional committee of inquiry has been dealing with the events of January 6, 2020 for months.

• The tension is rising:

  For Donald Trump, the results of the investigative committee could still have serious consequences.

• Ex-employee announces statement:

  Trump's former campaign manager Bill Stepien wants to take a surprising position.

  Democrats also announce "additional evidence."

+++ 19.15 p.m .:

After the lost presidential election in 2020, according to former US Attorney General William Barr, no reasonable conversation with then President Donald Trump was possible.

At the second public hearing of the investigative committee into the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, video recordings of an interview with Barr were again shown.

"I felt like it was possible to reason with the president before the election," Barr said.

After the US election in November 2020, Trump stopped listening.

"I was a little demoralized because I was like, boy, if he really believes this stuff, he's lost touch with reality," Barr said of Trump's voter fraud allegations.

Barr called the claims "complete bullshit" and "stupid."

"I told him that the stuff his people are dishing out to the public is 'bullshit'.

I mean the allegations of cheating were bullshit.

And, you know, he was upset about it.”

Barr also explained that Trump had already spoken of voter fraud on election night - at a time when there could not have been any evidence of it.

Already in the first public hearing, video recordings of a Barr questioning were shown, in which Barr had incriminated Trump.

Donald Trump and then-Attorney General William Barr have become estranged over allegations of voter fraud by the former US President.

© MANDEL NGAN/AFP

Capitol Storm Committee - Donald Trump's 'big lie was also a big rip-off'

+++ 5:20 p.m.:

Democratic MP and committee member Zoe Lofgren said in her opening remarks that the committee will show that the 2020 election was not stolen, adding that the “big lie of the Trump campaign was also a big rip-off. "

“The American people elected President Joe Biden.

We will present evidence that Mr. Trump's allegations of voter fraud were false, that he and his closest aides knew the allegations were false, but continued to peddle them anyway, up until the moments before a mob of Trump- supporters attacked the Capitol.” 

Lofgren continued, "We will also show that the Trump campaign used these false allegations of voter fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were intended for legal battles in the courts, but who Trump campaign did not use the money for it.

The big lie was also a big rip-off.”

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Turnaround in Washington: Trump's ex-employee does not appear before the committee at short notice

+++ 4.56 p.m .:

The hearing on the events of January 6, 2021 starts with some delay when hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.

Some statements, including from Trump's ranks, are expected.

Update from Monday, June 13, 2022, 4:00 p.m.:

The hearing on the events of January 6, 2021 was postponed by about 20 minutes.

It was now known in advance that Trump's former campaign manager Bill Stepien would not appear in person as expected.

Consistent sources report that Stepien's wife will soon have a child, so he will not appear in person today.

Stepien will send a delegation that will make a statement.

It is not yet known whether Stepien will appear on another day.

However, this should not change the orientation of the hearing.

First report from Monday, June 13, 2022, 2:00 p.m.:

Washington DC – On January 6, 2021, a wave of horror goes through the democratic world.

Supporters of US President Donald Trump, who was still in office at the time, used violence and armed to gain access to the cradle of US democracy, the Capitol.

In addition to trying to prevent the Senate and House of Representatives from formally confirming new US President Joe Biden, the attackers chanted "Hang Mike Pence" and threatened several other politicians with violence.

Now there is a breakthrough in the investigation.

On Sunday (June 12, 2022), members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said they had uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump.

He tried to falsify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

USA: Donald Trump's campaign manager surprisingly before making a statement

Donald Trump's former campaign manager Bill Stepien is set to make a surprise appearance before the House Committee on Monday (June 13, 2022).

The committee announced that Stepien, along with Chris Stirewalt – former Fox News political editor, will testify at the first of two sessions on Monday.

The second session will feature prominent anti-Trump conservative election attorney Ben Ginsburg, former Philadelphia Republican election official Al Schmidt, and former US Attorney in Georgia BJ Pak.

Stepien is scheduled to testify at Monday's hearing about the efforts Trump and his team made to disseminate his views on an allegedly stolen election.

US MP: Authorities must investigate 'every credible allegation'

The committee began its public hearings last week, with members laying out their arguments against Trump.

They want to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election, despite several advisers suggesting otherwise.

Democrats say additional evidence will be released this week.

This is intended to show that Trump and some of his advisers have made a "massive effort" to spread misinformation.

They are also said to have pressured the Justice Department to accept the false claims and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to dismiss the state elections and block confirmation of the Jan. 6, 2021 election.

USA: Will Donald Trump be charged?

Attorney General Merrick Garland will ultimately decide whether Donald Trump will be charged.

Based on the hearings, he must decide whether his authorities can and should prosecute Trump.

According to committee members, the evidence is sufficient for a trial.

Garland had not commented on whether he was ready to press charges.

That would be unprecedented and potentially very complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of ​​running for president again.

USA: Donald Trump with Premiere – No charges have ever been brought against any US President

Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974, facing impeachment and a likely grand jury charge of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

President Gerald R. Ford later pardoned his predecessor before indictments related to Watergate could be brought.

Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uncomfortable precedent in which one party government could routinely crack down on the former president of another party.

"We will follow the facts wherever they lead us," Garland said in his speech at Harvard University's inaugural ceremony last month.

(lz)