US Capitol Storm Hearings: Witnesses make Rudy Giuliani look old 

Created: 06/15/2022, 05:01

By: Lukas Zigo

Hearings on the storming of the US Capitol continue.

More and more allies are turning their backs on Donald Trump.

There is massive criticism of Rudy Giuliani.

• No contact with reality:

  Donald Trump's allegations of voter fraud are "insane," according to his former Attorney General William Barr.

• Big rip-off instead of big lie:

  The Democrats accuse Donald Trump of cheating his own electorate with allegations of election fraud.

• Donald Trump harshly rejects allegations

  : Former US President reacts to committee with fire letter.

• 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.

+++ 3.30 p.m .:

The investigation into the storming of the Capitol continues to gain momentum in the USA.

On June 13, the role of Donald Trump was the focus of the hearing of the committee of inquiry.

Several former government officials and campaign advisors have clearly distanced themselves from Trump's actions and openly contradicted his talk of voter fraud.

The former US President reacted extremely coldly to the statements from his environment (see update from 8 a.m.).

But not only Trump was the focus on Monday, another person in Trump's circle got off very badly.

In any case, many witnesses were not on good terms with Rudy Giuliani.

They were mostly highly critical of Giuliani, whom they portrayed as the leader of a group of conspiracy fanatics.

"I thought what they suggested was crazy," said former Trump attorney Eric Herschmann.

Donald Trump and his former attorney Rudy Giuliani.

(Archive photo) © Don Emmert/afp

None of that stopped Giuliani from hitting back verbally.

He specifically targeted Republican Liz Cheney, who described him as "apparently drunk" on election night.

Giuliani called Cheney "absolutely hysterical" and "insane" before spreading yet another baseless conspiracy narrative that QAnon supporter Ashli ​​Babbitt, who was killed in the Capitol storm, was killed by Antifa.

The next public hearing of the committee of inquiry is scheduled for June 15.

The committee intends to publish a final report in September.

Donald Trump raises $250 million with 'Big Lie'

+++ 12.00 p.m .:

It remains exciting in Washington DC.

The public hearings of the commission of inquiry into the storming of the Capitol enter the third day.

Donald Trump's role remains at the center of the debate.

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After Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and ex-Attorney General William Barr had distanced themselves from Donald Trump in their statements, it was also about the income that the former president had made with his allegations of voter fraud.

Trump and his team are said to have raised $250 million in donations alone.

This money was collected under the pretense of paying court costs arising from lawsuits against the election results and how they came about.

In fact, the vast majority of the money ended up in Trump's own lobbying group, the Save America Political Action Committee.

The hearing in Washington DC is all about one person: Donald Trump.

© Mandel Ngan/imago

The group has attracted attention in the past for paying Donald Trump Jr. fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle $60,000 for a two-minute speech.

Lara Trump and other family confidants were also royally rewarded by the group for public appearances.

Hearing on the storming of the Capitol: Donald Trump harshly rejects allegations

Update from Tuesday, June 14, 8:00 a.m .:

Former US President Donald Trump has rejected allegations by the investigative committee to storm the US Capitol in a multi-page document.

Trump accused the committee on Monday evening of making “justice a laughingstock” and excluding exonerating witnesses.

In the twelve-page letter, which also contains a number of footnotes, Trump repeated his unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud and fantasies of election victory.

He accused the Democrats and US President Joe Biden of destroying the country.

"The Democrats [...] are doing everything in their power to stop me - but we cannot be stopped," it said.

Donald Trump reacts to committee with fire letter

At the second public hearing of the committee of inquiry on Monday, several high-ranking people from Trump's environment firmly contradicted his allegations of voter fraud.

Former government officials and campaign advisors have clearly distanced themselves from Trump's actions.

Ex-Attorney General William Barr and others called Trump's cheating allegations "insane."

Barr said Trump seems to have increasingly "lost touch with reality."

To this day, Trump claims without evidence that he was deprived of victory in the 2020 presidential election by electoral fraud.

Resistance to the outcome of the election culminated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which the committee of inquiry in Congress is working on.

For months, the investigative committee questioned hundreds of witnesses - including Trump's daughter Ivanka - behind closed doors and viewed large amounts of documents and evidence.

The panel is now revealing its findings in a series of public hearings.

Some Trump confidants, such as former chief strategist Steve Bannon, refused to cooperate with the committee.

Donald Trump has 'lost touch with reality'

+++ 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.

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.”

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)