- [Narrator] The House Select Committee
investigating the Capitol riot,
wrapped its first series of public hearings on Thursday
- We have far more evidence to share
with the American people and more to gather.
- The committee was formed in the wake
of the January 6th, 2021 attack on the Capitol,
in order to find out what happened.
- [Narrator] The eight televised hearings
aimed to make the case that former President Donald Trump
was accountable for the attack
and that it was the result of a multi-pronged conspiracy.
Trump has said he's done nothing wrong,
and has called the committee a "partisan witch hunt."
The Journal's, Scott Patterson explains
how the committee has presented evidence they say shows
that Trump failed to intervene
after setting the stage for the riot.
Promoted baseless accusations of election fraud.
And led a pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee's latest prime time session
zeroed in on Trump's activities inside
the White House during the 187 minutes
after he gave his speech at the Ellipse on January 6th.
According to live and recorded testimony on Thursday,
Trump spent more than two and a half hours
in front of a television in his private dining room
as rioters breached the Capitol.
- What people were really asking President Trump to do,
including his own family,
and top officials in the White House,
was for him to put out a statement to the rioters
to stop and leave the Capitol building.
- If the president had wanted to make a statement
and address the American people,
he could have been on camera almost instantly.
- [Narrator] The committee also played outtakes
from a video recorded
at the White House on January 7th, 2021,
which showed that the former president
still refused to concede that he lost the election.
- This election is now over.
Congress has certified the results.
I don't wanna say the elections over.
I just wanna say Congress has certified the results,
without saying the election's over, okay?
- [Scott] It was the first time in the history of
the United States that we did not
have a peaceful transfer of power.
- [Woman] Traitor, traitor!
- [Narrator] Cassidy Hutchinson,
a one time aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows,
testified in an earlier hearing
that Trump knew that his supporters were armed
when he urged them to march to the Capitol.
Hutchinson said Trump was briefed about
the presence of weapons at the rally,
but was concerned that magnetometers
were keeping supporters from attending.
- I overheard the president say something to
the effect of, you know,
"I don't effing care that they have weapons.
They're not here to hurt me, take the effing mags away."
- Despite knowing all this he stands before them and says,
"Go to the Capitol."
- The committee played never before seen footage
of rioters breaching the building
as officers brace for the assault.
- [Officer] This is now effectively a riot.
- [Narrator] Testimony from Capitol police officer
Caroline Edwards, described the attacks as a war scene.
- I saw friends with blood all over their faces.
I was slipping in people's blood.
- The goal of that was to really show
to the American public,
many of whom may not have seen footage like this before,
how violent it was.
- [Narrator] Steven Ayres, a former Trump supporter
who pleaded guilty to breaching the Capitol,
testified that he initially had no intention
of going there on the sixth.
- Basically, you know, the president, you know,
got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down.
So we basically were just following what he said.
- [Narrator] Video showed rioters reading
a Tweet sent by Trump that criticized
then vice president Mike Pence,
for refusing to block the electoral college count.
- [Man Over PA] Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do
what should have been done to protect
our country and our constitution.
- [Narrator] The committee detailed
the potential peril to Pence,
who became a clear target of the mob.
- [Man Over PA] Bring out Pence.
Bring out Pence.
- [Narrator] The crowds surged,
and within one minute of Trump's Tweet
made it to one floor below where Pence
was waiting off the Senate floor
- [Officer] Vice president Pence and his team
ultimately were led to a secure location
where they stayed for the next four and a half hours,
barely missing rioters a few feet away.
- The main point that the committee
was trying to make with this
is how Trump has this power over his followers,
and they do what he says and he knows that.
- [Narrator] According to videotaped depositions,
Trump was told repeatedly by top Justice Department
officials and members of his inner circle
that he hadn't won the 2020 election.
And that claims a voter fraud were without merit.
- [William] I told him that it was crazy stuff.
- [Narrator] Trump continued to spread
election fraud claims,
including ones that election workers
brought a suitcase full of fake ballots
into an Atlanta voting facility.
- Evidence of fraud is overwhelming.
And again, I'm gonna ask you to look up
at that very very powerful and very expensive screen.
- [Anchor] Hidden cases of possible ballots are rolled out
from under a table, four people under a cloud of suspicion.
- [Narrator] Gabriel Sterling,
a top Republican Georgia election official
addressed the claims in testimony to the committee.
- What it actually showed was Fulton County
election workers engaging in normal ballot processing.
- [Narrator] Testimony from Georgia's Secretary of State,
Brad Raffensperger detailed requests by Trump aimed
at overturning the election results.
- [Donald Trump] Look, all I wanna do is this.
I just wanna find
11,780 votes
which is one more that we have because we won the state.
- There were no votes to find.
That was an accurate count that had been certified.
- [Narrator] Ruby Freeman,
who was a Georgia election worker
also testified about how she received threats
so severe that at one point she went into hiding
after Trump accused her of participating in voter fraud.
- There is nowhere I feel safe, nowhere.
Do you know how it feels to have the president
of the United States to target you?
- [Narrator] the public hearings laid out
the committee's view of the attack on the Capitol
as a watershed historical moment for American democracy,
and a red alarm for threats it could face in the future.
- [Scott] What they're saying is
that they continue to hear from new witnesses.
We don't know who these people are?
But we're being told
that there's enough to merit further hearings.
- [Narrator] Members of the January 6th Committee
have indicated they believe Trump broke the law
when he attempted to overturn
the 2020 presidential election.
But they have no power to initiate a criminal investigation.
- They can't make charges.
That's not their role.
But it is the role of the DOJ.
- [Narrator] The Justice Department
is conducting its own parallel investigation into
the January 6th attack.
- We are seeing signs
that the investigation is widening,
and potentially looking
at individuals in Trump's inner circle.
Although as of yet we don't have any sign
that the DOJ is looking at Mr. Trump himself.
- [Man] This way!
This way!