Former President Donald Trump responds a day after a House committee released previously unseen video of his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, saying she accepted then-Attorney General Bill Barr's statement that the Justice Department found no fraud sufficient to overturn the election, saying she had "long since checked out."
Despite Trump's efforts to downplay Ivanka Trump's influence in his government at the time of the January 6, 2021 riots, she did join her father to a rally at the White House Ellipse that before the attack on the US Capitol.
Donald Trump Dismisses Ivanka' Testimony in Jan. 6 Hearing
Ivanka Trump was asked about her reaction when Barr declared there was no widespread election fraud in a clip from her deposition that aired Thursday night, according to CNN. Ivanka Trump met with the committee virtually for about eight hours in April, and CNN previously reported that she verified important evidence from other witnesses who stated the then-President was hesitant to try to call off the rioters despite being requested to do so.
The committee also cited Barr's closed-door deposition, in which he claimed Trump's charges were "bullshit." Barr, who resigned in December 2020, said Trump's baseless claims of fraud were one of the reasons he left the Trump administration.
The committee conducted over 1,000 interviews with persons who were involved in the siege and gathered over 140,000 documents. They'll use it in seven sessions this month to explain how the attack was planned by some of the rioters in the violent crowd who burst into the Capitol and disrupted President Joe Biden's win certification - and how Trump's efforts triggered it all.
After eating dinner together, lawmakers who were locked together in the House during the insurgency are attending Thursday's session. As rioters battered on the doors, the members, all Democrats, were trapped in an upper gallery of the chamber.
Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., expressed dismay that an incident that demonstrated the fragility of democracy could "somehow be whitewashed by tens of millions of people." Some Republican politicians have attempted to minimize the uprising, claiming that Democrats are too focused on the attempted peaceful transition of power, Daily Mail reported.
According to those who have spoken with Trump in recent days, Trump, who has been a frequent and inconsistent viewer of television news over his four years in the White House, will be watching on Thursday when the House committee investigating the Capitol attack begins prime-time hearings.
The 45th president's watching habits will impact not only Republicans' spin on the hearings, but also the outcome of this year's midterm elections and the Republican Party's future. What Trump sees might lead to everything from raging social media rants to a broad assault on how Americans see the horrific attack on the US Capitol the previous year.
Republicans Claim Jan.6 Hearing Is Democrats' Political Stunt
Trump wants to know what the special House committee, which is packed with political opponents, will produce for the American people to see, especially since he has no allies on the committee to inform him ahead of time, according to two people who have recently spoken with him on the condition of anonymity about private conversations.
The ex-POTUS and other Republicans have no idea what evidence they will face ahead of the hearings on January 6. That alone indicates that the ex-president and his supporters will pay close attention to the proceedings. Given Trump's notoriously unpredictable demeanor, all of this might change, those sources said, emphasizing that he has no set timetable and could change his mind about his viewing intentions at any time.
Even before the hearings begin, the former president's political action committee and House Republican leaders are planning "counter-programming" efforts using social media, news websites, and television, radio, and newspaper interviews to respond to hearing discoveries.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and other Republican leaders have stated they declined to participate in the inquiry because Democrats refused to let pro-Trump legislators on the panel, as per USA Today.
Jordan and McCarthy have announced their approach for counter-programming. In short, depict the Jan. 6 hearings as a political stunt by Democrats to divert attention away from concerns like inflation and high gas costs while Americans vote in November to choose which party will control Congress. Trump's reaction is difficult to anticipate.
Trump has been sending out missives via the app Truth Social, to which he has financial ties, but still not on Twitter as he was banned immediately after the insurgency. He's also been known to call conservative news organizations to discuss breaking news.
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