6.17 “Together, We Will STOP THE STEAL.”

6.17 “Together, We Will STOP THE STEAL.”

¶On the evening of January 5th, the President edited the speech he would deliver the next day at the Ellipse. The President’s speechwriting team had only started working on his remarks the day before.⁴⁷⁶⁴⁷⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Ross Worthington, (Feb. 15, 2022), p. 112. Despite concerns from the speechwriting team, unfounded claims coming from Giuliani and others made their way into the draft.⁴⁷⁷⁴⁷⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of William Bock IV, (Apr. 15, 2022), pp. 23, 32; Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attacks on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), 076P-R000002884_00001, (January 5, 2021, email from Worthington to Staff Secretary at 7:46 p.m., attaching a draft speech). In the final hours before the speech, White House lawyers would insist that the speech needed fact-checking and were most worried about the claims about Dominion Voting. See Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, (National Archives Production) 076P-R000007308_0001 (January 5, 2021, email from Worthington to Staff Secretary at 7:46 p.m.). But President Trump would deliver the speech with the allegations intact. See Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Committee on Rules and Administration, 117th Congress, “Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack: A Review of the Security, Planning, and Response Failures on January 6” (Staff Report), p. B-18, (June 8, 2021).Show full note

¶The initial draft circulated on January 5th emphasized that the crowd would march to the U.S. Capitol.⁴⁷⁸⁴⁷⁸ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, (Vincent Haley Production), VMH-00002701-02 (Draft Speech, “Stop the Steal Rally”). Based on what they had heard from others in the White House, the speechwriting team expected President Trump to use his address to tell people to go to the Capitol.⁴⁷⁹⁴⁷⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Stephen Miller (Apr. 14, 2022), p. 125-26; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Ross Worthington (Feb. 15, 2022), p. 124.

¶That evening, President Trump convened an impromptu gathering in the Oval Office with members of his staff, primarily his press team⁴⁸⁰⁴⁸⁰ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), pp. 15-16. and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, who was in charge of President Trump’s personal Twitter account.⁴⁸¹⁴⁸¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), p. 16; see also Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, (National Archives Production), Photo files 69c1_x032_555c_7, 0d9d_x039_557d_7 (January 5, 2021, photos of the meeting). Despite the bitter cold, the President ordered his staff to keep the door to the Rose Garden open so he could hear the music and cheering from his supporters at Freedom Plaza.⁴⁸²⁴⁸² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Nicholas Luna, (Mar. 21, 2022), pp. 76-77; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), pp. 17, 19-20; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson P. Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), p. 84; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Madison Fox Porter, (May 5, 2022), p. 19.Show full note The music playing at Freedom Plaza was so loud “you could feel it shaking in the Oval.”⁴⁸³⁴⁸³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), pp. 16-17; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), pp. 83-84. As President Trump listened, he was tweeting, at one point telling his supporters he could hear them from the Oval Office.⁴⁸⁴⁴⁸⁴ Donald J. Trump (@RealDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 5, 2021 5:05 p.m. ET, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22Washington+is+being+inundated%22 (archived). (“Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”).Show full note His speechwriters incorporated those tweets into a second draft of the speech that was circulated later that evening.⁴⁸⁵⁴⁸⁵ The Select Committee has obtained two drafts of the speech from January 5th, one of which was circulated at approximately 3:30 p.m. and another at 7:40 p.m. See Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Vincent Haley Production), VMH-00002700, VMH-00002708 (January 5, 2021, email from Ross Worthington to Stephen Miller circulating draft speech at 3:30 p.m.); Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, (National Archives Production), 076P-R000002878_00001, 076P-R000002879_00001, (January 5, 2021, email from Ross Worthington to Stephen Miller circulating draft speech at 7:40 p.m.).Show full note The following appeared in both tweet form⁴⁸⁶⁴⁸⁶ Donald J. Trump (@RealDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 5, 2021 5:05 p.m. ET, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com (archived). (“Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”). and was adapted into the speech:

¶President Trump and members of his staff in the Oval Office on the evening of January 5, 2021. Photo provided to the Select Committee by the National Archives and Records Administration.

“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! Together, we will STOP THE STEAL.”⁴⁸⁷⁴⁸⁷ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, (National Archives Production), 076P-R000002879_00001 (Draft of Jan. 6, 2021 speech by President Donald Trump).

¶In speaking with staff, he still seemed optimistic that “Congress would take some sort of action in his favor.”⁴⁸⁸⁴⁸⁸ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson P. Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), pp. 91-92. The White House photographer, who was also in attendance, recalled that President Trump again remarked that he should go to the Capitol the next day, and even asked about the best route to get there.⁴⁸⁹⁴⁸⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Shealah Craighead, (June 8, 2022), pp. 32-33. Craighead believed that she later shared this with Ornato. See id., at 33. The President peppered staff for ideas concerning how “we could make the RINOs do the right thing” and make the next day “big.”⁴⁹⁰⁴⁹⁰ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), p. 17; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson P. Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), p. 99. Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews, who was present in the Oval Office that evening, understood that President Trump wanted to get Republican Members of Congress to send the electoral votes back to the States, rather than certify the election.⁴⁹¹⁴⁹¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), p. 17. Deere did not recall this specific question nor responding to it, but did remember advising President Trump that he should focus on his administration’s accomplishments during his January 6th Ellipse rally speech rather than his stolen election claims. Deere recalled President Trump asking about which Members of Congress would be with him the next day and vote against certifying the election. Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), pp. 88-90, 92, 99-100.Show full note Matthews recalled that initially no one spoke up in response, since they were trying to “process” what he had said.⁴⁹²⁴⁹² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), p. 17.

¶Eventually, Deere suggested that President Trump should focus his speech on his administration’s accomplishments, rather than on his claim that the election had been stolen.⁴⁹³⁴⁹³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Sarah Matthews, (Feb. 8, 2022), p. 17; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), pp. 85-86. But the President told Deere that while they had accomplished a lot, the crowd was going to be “fired up” and “angry” the next day because they believed the election had been stolen and was rigged.⁴⁹⁴⁴⁹⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson P. Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), pp. 86-87, 99. President Trump knew the crowd was angry because he could hear them.⁴⁹⁵⁴⁹⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Judson P. Deere, (Mar. 3, 2022), p. 86. Of course, President Trump was responsible, more than any other party, for ginning up their anger.

¶President Trump ended the evening by asking an aide how many people were going to be at the rally. The aide responded that he was not sure but told President Trump that he saw videos on Twitter of “pro-trump people chanting on planes heading to DC,” which he asked to be shared with Scavino.⁴⁹⁶⁴⁹⁶ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, 076P-R000007361_0001 (January 5, 2021, email from Austin Ferrer to Dan Scavino at 10:16 p.m.).

¶“We will not let them silence your voices,” the President told the crowd from the podium at the Ellipse. “We’re not going to let it happen, I’m not going to let it happen.”⁴⁹⁷⁴⁹⁷ Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Committee on Rules and Administration, 117th Congress, “Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack: A Review of the Security, Planning, and Response Failures on January 6” (Staff Report), p. B-2, (June 8, 2021); Statement of Catherine A. Sanderson, Ph.D., (June 3, 2022), at 5. His supporters started chanting, “fight for Trump!” The President thanked them.⁴⁹⁸⁴⁹⁸ Lena V. Groeger, Jeff Kao, Al Shaw, Moiz Syed, and Maya Eliahou, “What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol,” Pro Publica, at 12:05 p.m. ET at 0:30, Jan. 17, 2021, available, https://projects.propublica.org/parler-capitol-videos/; Statement of Catherine A. Sanderson, Ph.D., (June 3, 2022), at 5.

¶President Trump knew not only that his supporters were angry, but also that some of them were armed.⁴⁹⁹⁴⁹⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), pp. 11-19. At times, he ad-libbed, deliberately stoking their rage even more. At one point he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”⁵⁰⁰⁵⁰⁰ Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Committee on Rules and Administration, 117th Congress, “Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack: A Review of the Security, Planning, and Response Failures on January 6” (Staff Report), pp. B-22, 23, (June 8, 2021). The word “fight,” or a variation thereof, appeared only twice in the prepared text.⁵⁰¹⁵⁰¹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), 076P-R000002911_00001, 076P-R000002912_00001 (January 6, 2021, email from Robert Gabriel Jr. to Dan Scavino at 1:25 p.m. re: Final draft attached with attachment ‘210106 Save America March.doc’); Statement of Jennifer Mercieca, (Mar. 31, 2022), at 18. President Trump would go on to utter the word twenty times during his speech at the Ellipse.⁵⁰²⁵⁰² Statement of Jennifer Mercieca, (Mar. 31, 2022), at 18.

¶President Trump had summoned a mob, including armed extremists and conspiracy theorists, to Washington, DC on the day the joint session of Congress was to meet. He then told that same mob to march on the U.S. Capitol and “fight.” They clearly got the message.

¶President Trump speaks at the January 6th Ellipse rally. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)