served in the air force, and i serve currently in the air national guard. i can tell you general s reaction to president trump s conduct is 100% correct. so was leader mccarthy s. but explains president trump s behavior? why did he not take immediate action in a time of crisis? because president trump s plan for january 6th was to halt or delay congress s official proceeding to count the vote. the mob attacked the capitol quick, the mob attacking the capital quickly caused the evacuations of both house and senate. the count ground to an absolute halt, and was ultimately delayed for hours. the mob was accomplishing president trump s purpose, so of course, he did not intervene. here s what i want clear by the end of this hearing. president trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the ellipse,
without objection, the presiding officer is authorized to declare the committee in recess at any point. pursuant to house deposition authority, regulation ten, i announced the committee has approved the release of the that the zeeshan material, presented during today s hearing. let me begin tonight by wishing chairman thompson a rapid recovery from covid. he has expertly lead us through eight hearings so far, and he has brought us to the point we are today. in our initial hearing, the chairman and i described what ultimately became donald trump s seven-part plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election. a plan stretching from before election day, through january 6th. at the close of today s hearing, our ninth, we will have addressed each element of that plan. in the course of these hearings, we have received new evidence, and new witnesses have bravely
accountability to the american people, accountability at every level from the local precincts, in many states, for donald trump and his allies are attacking election workers for just doing their jobs. all the way up to the oval office. donald trump embraced the legal advice of insurrectionists that a federal judge has already said was a coup, in search of a legal theory. our democracy withstood the attack on january 6th. if there is no accountability, for january 6th, for every part of this scheme, i fear we will not overcome the ongoing threat to our democracy. there must be stiff consequences for those responsible. now, i will turn things over to our vice chair, to start telling this story. thank you, mister chairman.
at the capitol on january 6th, 2021, before 1 pm. and continued until well after darkness fell. what exactly was our commander and chief doing during our hours of violence today we address that issue. everything you ve heard in the hearings thus far, will address president trump s motives during the violence. you already know donald trump s goal to pull off or delay congresses proceedings to certify electoral votes. you know donald trump tried to pressure his vice president to illegally reject votes and delay that proceedings. you know he tried to convince state officials and state legislators to flip their electoral votes from biden to trump. you know donald trump tried to correct our department of justice to aid his scheme. by january 6th, none of that had worked. only one thing was succeeding
and then he stopped. for 187 minutes, on january 6th, this man of unbridled destructive energy could not be moved, not by his aides, not by his allies, not by the violent chance of rioters or the desperate pleas of those facing down the riots. more tellingly, donald trump ignored and disregarded the desperate pleas of his own family, including ivanka and don jr.. even though he was the only person in the world who could call off the mob, he sent, to the capitol, he could not be moved to rise from his dining room table, and walk the few steps down the white house holloway, into the press briefing room, where cameras were anxiously, and desperately, waiting to carry his message to