The message is considered a “call to arms”. The parliamentary inquiry tasked with determining the role of Donald Trump in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, sought to demonstrate, on Tuesday July 12, how a tweet from the billionaire had motivated the far right to coordinate its assault on the American capital to violently contest the result of the presidential elections.
At the heart of the investigators’ presentation during this seventh hearing is this message from the ex-businessman on Twitter – his favorite megaphone at the time – dating from December 19, 2020, in which he calls the crowd to gather in the US capital on the day Joe Biden’s victory was certified:
Massive demonstration in Washington on January 6. Be there, it will be crazy.
“This tweet served as a call to action, and in some cases a call to arms, for many of President Trump’s loyal supporters”said the elected democrat Stephanie Murphy.
“A violent militia”
Supporting videos and montages, the commission detailed how radio hosts, youtubers and conservative personalities immediately relayed Donald Trump’s call. One of them even mentions the possibility of” tackle “ Capitol. Donald Trump’s message also “electrified and galvanized his supporters, especially dangerous extremist groups like the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and other groups of racists and white nationalists ready to fight against the government”accused the elected Democrat Jamie Raskin.
The group of elected officials has indeed detailed how these radical groups coordinated before January 6 via encrypted messaging and online forums. And exchanged regularly with a close friend of Donald Trump, Roger Stone. “They may not like to call themselves a militia, but they are”claimed, Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers “It’s a violent militia. »
Arriving in the American capital with paramilitary equipment, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys quickly interested federal prosecutors. Several of their members have been charged in recent months with “sedition”a very rare charge that involves conspiring against the government or any of its laws.
“I felt like I had blinders on”
The parliamentary committee also received testimony on Tuesday from a repentant Trumpist, who entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and has since lost his job and been forced to sell his house. “It changed my life, and certainly not for the better”said Stephen Ayres, who went to apologize to several police officers injured during the storming of the Capitol at the end of the hearing
He described being absorbed by the statements of Donald Trump who, without proof, claimed that the election had been “stolen”. “I felt like I had blinders for horses. I was locked up the whole time”, he admitted, as he is due to stand trial in September after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor during the riot. He is among approximately 840 people charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack — more than 330 of them have pleaded guilty, most to offenses punishable by more than a year in prison, and more than 200 were convicted.
Stephen Ayres said he believed, as he walked to the Capitol, that Donald Trump would join them and that there was still a chance that the election would be canceled. He described being a loyal follower of the former US president on social media, and that he had no intention of storming the Capitol before Donald Trump’s message “piss everyone off”.
“Basically we were just following what he said”he admitted. “I clung to every word he said”he added. “Everything he came out, I followed him. »
Mr. Ayres said he and friends who accompanied him to Washington decided to leave the Capitol when Donald Trump tweeted asking the rioters to leave. If the former president had done this earlier today, “maybe we wouldn’t be in such a bad situation”said Mr. Ayres.
Asked by Representative Liz Cheney if he still believes the election was stolen, Mr Ayres replied: “Not so much now. »
The importance of midterm elections
The commission finally wanted to sweep away the possibility that Donald Trump could have been manipulated by anyone in his maneuvers to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
“President Trump is a 76-year-old man, not an easy kid to impress”assured the elected Liz Cheney, one of the few Republicans to have agreed to sit on this commission. “Donald Trump cannot shirk responsibility by being deliberately blind”she warned, at a time when some are calling for the former president to be charged for his post-election maneuvers.
The Republican billionaire, who openly flirts with the idea of running for president in 2024, vehemently denounces the work of the commission, calling its members Tuesday « politicards » and of “thugs”.
His party, which he still controls with an iron fist, has already promised to bury the conclusions of this commission if the Conservatives were to take control of the House of Representatives during the mid-term legislative elections. in November.