7.10 “We Love You. You’re Very Special”

7.10 “We Love You. You’re Very Special”

¶Guns are drawn in the House Chamber on January 6th as rioters attempt to break in. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

¶The President’s tweets were not tamping down on the violence, and White House staff knew it.²⁴⁷²⁴⁷ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), p. 88; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Kayleigh McEnany, (Jan. 12, 2022), p. 172; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), p. 155.Show full note By 3:17 p.m., Fox News was reporting gunshots on Capitol Hill. Law enforcement officers could be seen in the House chamber, pointing guns over the barricaded door: The chyron blared “Guns Drawn on House Floor.”²⁴⁸²⁴⁸ “Pergram: Most Significant Breach of Government Institution Since 1814,” Fox News, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.foxnews.com/video/6220760122001#sp=show-clips. Between 3:29 p.m. and 3:42 p.m., the network was flashing images of a protestor in the presiding officer’s chair, right where Vice President Pence had been sitting 90 minutes earlier.²⁴⁹²⁴⁹ Fox News, “Individual Shot in U.S. Capitol,” YouTube, at 1:59, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL-M0LuE3Hk. Other images showed Members of Congress trapped in the House gallery, crouching below the balcony for cover.²⁵⁰²⁵⁰ “Andy McCarthy Blasts Pro-Trump Protesters after Breach at Capitol,” Fox News, at 1:28, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.foxnews.com/video/6220757649001#sp=show-clips.

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¶Allies continued to text Meadows, begging the President to order the mob to go home and indicating that it was time the American people hear from the President directly:

Unknown, 3:04 p.m.: “Are you with potus right now? Hearing he is in the dining room watching this on TV . . .” “Is he going to say anything to de-escalate apart from that Tweet?”²⁵¹²⁵¹ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014932, MM014934.

Reince Priebus, 3:09 p.m.: “TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!”²⁵²²⁵² Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014935. This was sent from a phone number associated with Priebus’s family member.

Unknown, 3:13 p.m.: “POTUS should go on air and defuse this. Extremely important.”²⁵³²⁵³ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014936.

Alyssa Farah, 3:13 p.m.: “Potus has to come out firmly and tell protestors to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed . . .”²⁵⁴²⁵⁴ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014937.

Representative Chip Roy, 3:25 p.m.: “Fix this now.”²⁵⁵²⁵⁵ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014939. Meadows responded: “We are.”²⁵⁶²⁵⁶ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014943.

Sean Hannity (Fox News), 3:31 p.m.: “Can he make a statement. I saw the tweet. Ask people to peacefully leave the capital [sic].”²⁵⁷²⁵⁷ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014944. Meadows responded: “On it.”²⁵⁸²⁵⁸ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014947.

Katrina Pierson, 3:40 p.m.: “Note: I was able to keep the crazies off the stage. I stripped all branding of those nutty groups and removed videos of all of the psychos. Glad it [sic] fought it.”²⁵⁹²⁵⁹ Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014948.

Unknown, 3:42 p.m.: “Pls have POTUS call this off at the Capitol. Urge rioters to disperse. I pray to you.”²⁶⁰²⁶⁰ Document on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014949.

Unknown, 3:57 p.m.: “Is he coming out?” “He has to right?”²⁶¹²⁶¹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014956, MM014957.

Brian Kilmeade, 3:58 p.m. (Fox News): “Please get him on tv. Destroying every thing you guys have accomplished.”²⁶²²⁶² Document on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014961.

Donald Trump, Jr., 4:05 p.m.: “We need an oval address. He has to lead now. It’s gone too far and gotten out of hand.”²⁶³²⁶³ Document on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014964.

¶At any moment in the afternoon, it would have been easy for President Trump to get before cameras and call off the attack. The White House Press Briefing Room is just down the hallway from the Oval Office, past the Cabinet Room and around the corner to the right. It would have taken less than 60 seconds for the President to get there.²⁶⁴²⁶⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 21, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. The space, moreover, is outfitted with cameras that are constantly “hot,” meaning that they are on and ready to go live at a moment’s notice.²⁶⁵²⁶⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 21, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th; see also CBS News, “House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: ‘I completely condemn the violence in the Capitol,’” YouTube, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpBbpqO5qgU.Show full note The White House press corps is also situated in the West Wing, right by the briefing room.²⁶⁶²⁶⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 21, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. The whole affair could have been assembled in minutes.²⁶⁷²⁶⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 22, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), p. 163.

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¶However, it was not until nearly 3 hours after the violence began that President Trump finally agreed to tell the mob to go home.²⁶⁸²⁶⁸ Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 6, 2021 4:17 p.m. ET, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FPm2PKV0Fp3%22 (archived).

¶The Presidential Daily Diary notes that President Trump left the dining room to shoot the video at 4:03 p.m.²⁶⁹²⁶⁹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R000255 (Jan. 6, 2021, Daily Diary of President Donald J. Trump). By this point—per Fox News coverage playing continually in the dining room—more law enforcement officers had arrived at the Capitol to resist the violent mob.²⁷⁰²⁷⁰ ”Bill Hemmer Reports,” Fox News, at 3:56 p.m. ET, available at https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20210106_200000_Bill_Hemmer_Reports/start/3360/end/3420 (archived).

¶The video shoot took place in the Rose Garden, the outdoor space that borders the Oval Office and the West Wing.²⁷¹²⁷¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Nicholas Luna, (Mar. 21, 2022), pp. 162–63. The setup was not ornate, just a camera and a microphone. Luna made sure that the background and lighting looked good, and that President Trump’s hair and tie were in place.²⁷²²⁷² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Nicholas Luna, (Mar. 21, 2022), p. 162. President Trump delivered his remarks in one take, more or less, although he stopped and restarted at one point.²⁷³²⁷³ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), Video file 40983. In all, the video took less than 4 minutes to shoot, and the President was back in the dining room by 4:07 p.m.²⁷⁴²⁷⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R000255 (Jan. 6, 2021, Daily Diary of President Donald J. Trump).

¶President Trump huddles with aides, watching a completed take of a video through the monitor of the video camera. (Photo provided to the Select Committee by the National Archives and Records Administration)

¶“I would stick to this script . . . ,” McEnany told President Trump before he stepped out to film.²⁷⁵²⁷⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Kayleigh McEnany, (Jan. 12, 2022), p. 234. President Trump did not react to her suggestion, McEnany said. See id.

¶He didn’t.

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¶Kushner and others had drafted a statement, but President Trump spoke entirely off the cuff.²⁷⁶²⁷⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Nicholas Luna, (Mar. 21, 2022), p. 161; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), pp. 97–99. Here’s what he said:

I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home, we love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace.²⁷⁷²⁷⁷ Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 6, 2021 4:17 p.m. ET, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FPm2PKV0Fp3%22 (archived).

¶A photo obtained from the National Archives shows President Trump and Herschmann huddled next to each other, watching a completed take through the monitor on the video camera.²⁷⁸²⁷⁸ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), Photo file 4243_hi_j0233_61ae.

¶“There needs to be a more direct statement” telling the rioters to leave the Capitol, Luna heard Herschmann—yet again—tell the President.²⁷⁹²⁷⁹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Nicholas Luna, (Mar. 21, 2022), p. 182. See Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), pp. 49–50 (remembering that someone in the Rose Garden told the President something along the lines “that he needed to use stronger, more forceful” language in the video).Show full note Herschmann testified that he did not recall this exchange.²⁸⁰²⁸⁰ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), p. 99.

¶But according to Luna, President Trump rejected the note.

¶“These people are in pain,” he said in reply.²⁸¹²⁸¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Nicholas Luna, (Mar. 21, 2022), p. 181.

¶Down at the Capitol, the video began streaming onto rioters’ phones, and by all accounts including video footage taken by other rioters, they listened to President Trump’s command.

¶“Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home,” one rioter shouted as he “deliver[ed] the President’s message.” “That’s our order,” another rioter responded. Others watching the video responded: “He says, go home.”²⁸²²⁸² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 21, 2022), at 1:58:30, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbRVqWbHGuo.

¶The crowd afterward began to disperse.²⁸³²⁸³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 12, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. (“[A]s soon as that come out, everybody started talking about it and that’s—it seemed like it started to disperse.”). The video made clear what had been evident to many, including those closest to him: The President could have called off the rioters far earlier and at any point that day.²⁸⁴²⁸⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6h Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 12, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th (“Basically, when President Trump put his tweet out. We literally left right after that [had] come out.”). But he chose not to do so.²⁸⁵²⁸⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (July 12, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. (“[I]f he would have done that earlier in the day, 1:30, I—you know, we wouldn’t be in this—maybe we wouldn’t be in this bad of a situation or something.”).

¶It was not until it was obvious that the riot would fail to stop the certification of the vote that the President finally relented and released a video statement made public at 4:17 p.m.²⁸⁶²⁸⁶ “Bill Hemmer Reports,” Fox News, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20210106_200000_Bill_Hemmer_Reports/start/780/end/840.

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7.11 “Remember This Day Forever!”

¶After leaving the Rose Garden, the President returned to the dining room. At 6:01 p.m., he issued another tweet, the last of the day:

These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!²⁸⁷²⁸⁷ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 6, 2020 6:01 p.m. ET, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22these+are+the+things+and+events%22 (archived).

¶He retired to his residence for the evening at 6:27 p.m.²⁸⁸²⁸⁸ A White House photographer captured the President walking back to the residence with an employee in tow, carrying personal items President Trump wished to bring home with him for the night.²⁸⁹²⁸⁹ See Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), p. 53. In the employee’s hands are the gloves the President was wearing while addressing the crowd at the Ellipse.²⁹⁰²⁹⁰ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives production), Photo file 364c_hi_j0246_2fa8.

¶The President had one parting comment to the employee—the thing that was evidently occupying his mind even after an afternoon of violence—before he retired to his home.

¶“Mike Pence let me down,” the President concluded.²⁹¹²⁹¹ See Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), p. 53.

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