The former president of the United States, Donald Trump, chose to continue the operation, despite calls to stop the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The decision aligned with Trump’s stance during a day when the committee investigating the riot argued he remained deliberately passive. They noted he was the one person capable of stopping the crowd, yet his aides and allies could not persuade him. He even ignored pleas from his own family, including Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., according to the committee leadership, chaired by Democrat Bennie Thompson.
This latest session, broadcast in prime time, marked the eighth and final installment of a broader inquiry that began a month earlier. In total, the proceedings extended to about 187 minutes. The day featured speeches encouraging the crowd to press their demands at the Capitol. By 4:17 p.m., Trump released a video on a social platform in which he urged the participants to go home for the first time that day.
Nearly 10,000 people attended the protest, with the majority supporting Trump, and about 800 eventually entering the building as the results of the November presidential election were formally confirmed. The episode left five dead and around 140 officers injured. After the events, the committee underscored that Trump had left power on the day as the demonstrations unfolded, culminating in his later posts urging restraint. His daughter reportedly influenced the choice of language used in those statements.
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The committee’s review of the 187 minutes centers on the moment surrounding the video from Trump that preceded his next steps. It highlights how Trump, who had access to a direct message system, did not urge an immediate peaceful shift in behavior; instead, a different line of communication was preferred by some participants. The focus is on the internal dynamics of decision making within the White House at that critical time.
At that moment, the President was in the White House, unable to persuade his drivers to transport him to the Capitol. Cassidy Hutchinson, a key witness later identified by the inquiry, described the dynamics within the presidential team and the staffer who supervised the daily operations. A security official later recalled the potential for the situation to escalate into something far more dangerous, depending on how it progressed.
The two principal witnesses were Matthew Pottinger, a former national security adviser aide, and Sarah Matthews, then a White House deputy press secretary who resigned after the attack. Both suggested that if Trump had chosen to address the nation sooner, a concise, rapid speech could have been delivered from the west wing to the media room within a minute.
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Instead, Trump followed coverage on a conservative network and did not mobilize his advisers or request a rapid law enforcement response. He spent time consulting with legal counsel and other political figures, while some lawmakers urged him to take a different course and accept the electoral outcome.
Inside the Capitol, Vice President Mike Pence faced fear for his safety and urged family members to prepare for potential danger. House Republicans, including Kevin McCarthy, discussed the next steps and even contemplated mediating with Trump’s son-in-law about calming the situation.
By January 7, the former president had not decisively closed the election process. The committee had hoped to reveal a series of Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, but only a fraction were recovered. It later emerged that a Department of Homeland Security inquiry is examining the deletion of messages, with the Secret Service asked to pause its own investigation to prevent interference.
Previous hearings highlighted links between supremacist groups that helped organize the protests and Trump’s inner circle. The Trump family public statements repeatedly stressed that the theory of electoral fraud was not substantiated. Melania Trump, the First Lady, told Fox News that day that she did not publicly condemn the violence immediately and that she had been preoccupied with her schedule, with others unaware of ongoing discussions.