We've seen bravery and honor in these hearings and Miss Matthews
and Mr Pat Injure. Both of you will be remembered for that.
As well. Cassidy Hutchinson.
She sat here alone.
Took the oath and testified before millions of Americans.
She knew all along that she would be attacked by President Trump.
And by the 50, 60 and 70 year old men who hide themselves behind
executive privilege.
But like our witnesses today,
She has courage, and she did it anyway.
Cassidy, Sarah and our other witnesses, including Officer Caroline
Edwards, Shane Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, are an inspiration
to American women and two American girls.
We owe a debt to all of those who have and will appear here.
And that brings me to another point.
This committee has shown you the testimony of dozens of Republican
witnesses.
Those who served President Trump loyally for years.
The case against Donald Trump in these hearings.
Is not made by witnesses who were his political enemies.
It is instead, a series of confessions by Donald Trump's own appointees,
his own friends, his own campaign officials, people who worked for
him for years and his own family.
They have come forward, and they have told the American people the
truth.
And for those of you who seem to think the evidence would be different.
If Republican leader McCarthy had not withdrawn his nominees from
this committee, Let me ask you this.
Do you really think Bill Barr is such a delicate flower that he would
wilt under cross examination? Patsy Bologna. Erik Hersman, Jeff Rosen,
Richard Donohue. Of course they aren't. None of our witnesses are
At one point in 2016 when he was first running for office, Donald
Trump said this
I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and
I wouldn't lose any voters.
That quote came to mind last week when audio from Trump adviser Steve
Bannon surfaced from October 31st 2020 just a few days before the
presidential election. Let's listen.
And what Trump's going to do is just declare victory, right? He's
like declare victory. But that doesn't mean he's a women
gonna say he's the one the Democrats don't more of our people vote.
Early that count. There's voted make, and so they're gonna have a
natural
Disadvantaged and trust them to take advantage of that's Australia's
got himself a winner. So when you wake up Wednesday morning
It's gonna be a firestorm. Also, that's also if Trump is if Trump
is losing.
By 10 or 11 o'clock at night. It's going to be even crazier us crazy
because you just sit right there and said they stole bands winning
Trump is going to do some crazy show.
And, of course, four days later, President Trump declared victory
when his own campaign advisers told him he had absolutely no basis
to do so.
What the new Steve Bannon Audio demonstrates is that Donald Trump's
plan to falsely claimed victory in 2020, no matter what the facts
actually were was premeditated.
Perhaps worse.
Donald Trump believed he could convince his voters to buy it.
Whether he had any actual evidence of fraud or not.
And the same thing continued to occur from Election Day onward until
January, 6th
Donald Trump was confident that he could convince his supporters
the election was stolen. No matter how many lawsuits he lost, and
he lost scores of them.
He was told over and over again in immense detail that the election
was not stolen. There was no evidence of widespread fraud.
It didn't matter.
Donald Trump was confident he could persuade his supporters to believe
whatever he said.
No matter how outlandish and ultimately that they could be summoned
to Washington to help him remain president for another term.
As we showed you last week. Even President Trump's legal team led
by Rudy Giuliani knew they had no actual evidence to demonstrate
the election was stolen.
Again, it didn't matter.
Here's the worst part.
Donald Trump knows
That millions of Americans who supported him.
Would stand up and defend our nation. Were it threatened?
They would put their lives and their freedom at stake to protect
her.
And he is praying on their patriotism.
He is preying on their sense of justice.
And on January 6th Donald Trump turned their love of country into
a weapon against our capital and our constitution.
He has purposely created the false impression that America is threatened
by a foreign force controlling voting machines, or that a wave of
tens of millions of false ballots were secretly injected into our
election system or the ballot. Workers have secret thumb drives and
are stealing elections with them all complete nonsense.
We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free
nation.
In late November of 2020. While President Trump was still pursuing
lawsuits. Many of us were urging him to put any genuine evidence
of fraud forward in the courts and to accept the outcome of those
cases. As January 6th approached, I circulated a memo to my Republican
colleagues, explaining why our congressional proceedings to count
electoral votes could not be used to change the outcome of the election.
But what I did not know at the time was that President Trump's own
advisers. Also Republicans. Also conservatives, including his White
House counsel is Justice Department, his campaign officials. They
were all telling him almost exactly the same thing. I was telling
my colleagues there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities.
Sufficient to change the election outcome.
Our courts had ruled it was over.
Now we know that it didn't matter what any of us said.
Because Donald Trump wasn't looking for the right answer legally.
Or the right answer factually.
He was looking for a way to remain in office.
Let's put that aside for a moment and focus just on what we saw today.
In our hearing tonight, you saw an American president.
Faced with a stark and unmistakable choice between right and wrong.
There was no ambiguity, no nuance.
Donald Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office.
To ignore the ongoing violence against law enforcement.
To threaten our constitutional order.
There is no way to excuse that behavior. It was indefensible.
And every American must consider this.
Can a president who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made
during the violence of January 6th.
Ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation
again.
In this room.
In 1918.
The committee on Women's suffrage convened
To discuss and debate whether women should be granted the right to
vote.
This room is full of history.
And we on this committee? No, we have a solemn obligation not to
idly squander what So many Americans have fought and died for
Ronald Reagan's great ally, Margaret Thatcher said this
Let it never be said that the dedication of those who love freedom
is less than the determination of those who would destroy it.
Let me assure everyone of you this. Our committee understands the
gravity of this moment.
The consequences for our nation.
We have much work yet to do and we will see you all in September.
I request. Those in the hearing room remain seated until the Capitol
police have escorted witnesses and members from the room.