Explosive Videos of Trump Advisors Reveal Election Strategy: "Let's Go Straight to Violence"
Created: 10/14/2022, 09:25 am
By: Erkan Pehlivan
The commission of inquiry into the storming of the Capitol summons former US President Donald Trump.
Trump can refuse to testify.
Washington – The parliamentary inquiry into the storming of the US Capitol has summoned former President Donald Trump.
The nine members of the body had previously voted unanimously in favor of it in a public meeting.
"It is our obligation to seek a statement from Donald Trump," said committee chair Bennie Thompson of the Democratic Party.
"He must be accountable for his actions."
A video of former US President Trump is shown during a hearing of the investigative committee into the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in the House of Representatives.
© Alex Wong/Pool Getty/AP/dpa
USA: Donald Trump can refuse to testify
Trump can initially also send his lawyers to court against the subpoena.
And even if Trump should follow the request, he can refuse to testify, for example, so as not to incriminate himself.
Several of his confidants had exercised this right when questioned by the committee.
In a first reaction, Trump did not want to comment on how he wanted to proceed, but attacked the investigation.
Time is running out for the Democrats: President Joe Biden's party fears losing its majority in the House of Representatives in the congressional elections on November 8th.
That would mean the end for the committee of inquiry when the new parliamentary year begins in January.
And according to polls and analysis, the chances are good that the largely pro-Trump Republican Party will win a majority in the House of Representatives in the election.
USA: Trump calls committee of inquiry “total bankruptcy”
Trump immediately attacked the U-Committee sharply, but did not say whether he would testify.
On the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded, the former president described the body as a "total bankruptcy" that continues to divide the country.
He also raised the question of why the panel hadn't asked him to testify "months ago".
"Why did you wait until the end, the last moments of your last meeting?" The panel includes seven Democrats and two Republicans.
On Thursday (October 13), after a break of several months, it held a public meeting again - probably the last before the elections.
Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney of the Republican Party again blamed Trump for the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021.
The evidence presented so far has shown that "the central cause of January 6th was one man - Donald Trump".
Hundreds of radical Trump supporters stormed the Capitol when Biden's victory in the November 2020 presidential election was to be finally confirmed there.
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USA: Trump adviser calls for violence before count - "Let's go straight to violence"
In the weeks before, Trump had spread the false claim that he had actually won the election and had been deprived of a second term through massive electoral fraud.
Before the Capitol was stormed, he called on his followers to fight “whatever the hell”.
On Thursday, the investigative committee drew a wide arc from the time before the presidential election to January 6, 2021, using recorded testimonies, video recordings, emails and text messages.
The session included video footage of Trump's longtime confidante Roger Stone, a notorious political adviser.
Shortly before the election, Stone says he doesn't want to wait for all the votes to be counted.
"Let's move straight to the violence." Reference was also made to Stone's links to the extremist groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
USA: “Trump deliberately spread nonsense about election fraud”
Members of these groups were charged with seditious conspiracy after the Capitol storm.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren said at the hearing that Trump planned from the start to declare himself the winner on election night, "no matter what the actual result."
Her party friend Elaine Luria said Trump spread the "nonsense" about election fraud even though he knew full well that the allegations were false - partly because the Justice Department had refuted the allegations.
The committee meeting also showed emails and text messages from the Secret Service and other security agencies citing fears of violence and an attack on the Capitol ahead of Jan. 6.
On the day of the attack itself, the Secret Service quickly realized that many Trump fans who had gathered in Washington were armed.
"Mr. Trump knew that," said Rep. Pete Aguilar.
The then president nevertheless sent a partially armed “angry mob” to the Capitol.
(Erkan Pehlivan/dpa/AFP)