7.4 “We’re Going to Try to Get the President to Put Out a Statement”

7.4 “We’re Going to Try to Get the President to Put Out a Statement”

¶Minutes after arriving back at the White House, the President ran into a member of the White House staff and asked whether he or she watched his speech on television.¹²²¹²² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), p. 27.

¶“Sir, they cut it off because they’re rioting down at the Capitol,” the employee said.

¶The President asked what he or she meant by that.

¶“[T]hey’re rioting down there at the Capitol,” the employee repeated.

¶“Oh really?” the President asked. “All right, let’s go see.”¹²³¹²³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), p. 27.

¶A photograph taken by the White House photographer—the last one permitted until later in the day—captures the moment the President heard the news from the employee at 1:21 p.m.¹²⁴¹²⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), Photo file 40a8_hi_j0087_0bea. By that time, if not sooner, he had been made aware of the violent riot at the Capitol.

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¶President Trump walked through the corridor from the Oval Office into the Presidential Dining Room and sat down at the table with the television remote and a Diet Coke close at hand.¹²⁵¹²⁵ Select Committee Interview Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), pp. 27–28. For the rest of the afternoon—as his country faced an hours-long attack—he hunkered down in or around the dining room, watching television.¹²⁶¹²⁶ 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). He left only for a few minutes—from 4:03 p.m. to 4:07 p.m.—to film a video in the Rose Garden, only a few steps away, after hours of arm-twisting.¹²⁷¹²⁷ 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). But otherwise, the President remained in the dining room until 6:27 p.m., when he returned to his private residence.¹²⁸¹²⁸ 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).

¶What happened during the 187 minutes from 1:10 p.m. to 4:17 p.m., when President Trump finally told the rioters to go home, is—from an official standpoint—undocumented.

¶For instance, the Presidential Daily Diary—the schedule that tracks every meeting and phone call in which the President partakes—is inexplicably blank between 1:21 p.m. and 4:03 p.m.¹²⁹¹²⁹ 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). See also Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R000028 (Memorandum from White House Diarist confirming that “[t]he Oval Log for January 6, 2021 was not received”).Show full note When asked to explain the gap in record-keeping on and around January 6th, White House officials in charge of its maintenance provided no credible explanation, including: “I don’t recall a specific reason.”¹³⁰¹³⁰ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Molly Michael, (Mar. 24, 2022), p 29 (“Why did that change, that you were not taking any records?” “I don’t recall a specific reason.”); Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), p. 111–12 (attributing the lack of recordkeeping to Michael’s absence in the White House, though she was present in the Outer Oval during the afternoon); Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Austin Ferrer Piran Basualdo, (Apr. 8, 2022), p. 86.Show full note

¶The men who spent most of the afternoon in that room with the President, Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, both refused to comply with lawful subpoenas from the Select Committee.¹³¹¹³¹ H. Rept. 117-216, Resolution Recommending that the House of Representatives Find Mark Randall Meadows in Contempt of Congress for Refusal to Comply with a Subpoena Duly Issued by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, 117th Cong., 1st Ssess. (2021), available at https://www.congress.gov/117/crpt/hrpt216/CRPT-117hrpt216.pdf; H. Rept. 117-284, Resolution Recommending that the House of Representatives Find Peter K. Navarro and Daniel Scavino, Jr., in Contempt of Congress for Refusal to Comply with a Subpoena Duly Issued by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, 117th Cong., 2d sess. (2022), available at https://www.congress.gov/117/crpt/hrpt284/CRPT-117hrpt284.pdf.Show full note Others in the dining room appeared before the Select Committee but cited executive privilege to avoid answering questions about their direct communications with President Trump.¹³²¹³² 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. 118; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), pp. 155–57. Others who worked just outside of the Oval Office, like the President’s personal secretaries Molly Michael and Austin Ferrer Piran Basauldo, claimed not to remember nearly anything from one of the most memorable days in recent American history.¹³³¹³³ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Molly Michael, (Mar. 24, 2022), p. 136 (“The phones were ringing. A lot was happening. I don’t recall.”); Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Austin Ferrer Piran Basualdo, (Apr. 8, 2022), pp. 109–10 (“I don’t remember where I was that afternoon.” “Do you remember being at the White House that afternoon, even if you don’t remember where exactly you were in the White House?” “No, I do not.” “Do you remember being home, wherever home is for you, on the afternoon of January 6th, as opposed to being at the White House?” “No, I don’t.” “So you don’t remember whether you were at home or at the White House in the afternoon of January 6th, 2021?” “Again, that day was very blurry.”).Show full note

¶The White House photographer, Shealah Craighead, had been granted access to photograph the President during his January 6th speech, but once she got to the White House—and it became clear that an attack was unfolding on the Capitol’s steps—she was turned away.¹³⁴¹³⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Shealah Craighead, (June 8, 2022), p. 46.

¶“The President [didn’t] want any photos,” she was told.¹³⁵¹³⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Shealah Craighead, (June 8, 2022), p. 46. It is the standard practice of the White House photographers to cover the President from the moment he steps out of the residence until he returns there at the end of the day. Id. at 7. Craighead pushed back, telling Michael that the White House would want to document the day for historical purposes, but Michael did not relent. Id. at p. 28.Show full note

¶Here’s what President Trump did during the 187 minutes between the end of his speech and when he finally told rioters to go home: For hours, he watched the attack from his TV screen.¹³⁶¹³⁶ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Keith Kellogg, Jr., (Dec. 14, 2021), p. 115 (“Well, I saw the President watching TV.”). His channel of choice was Fox News.¹³⁷¹³⁷ Select Committee Interview Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), p. 23. He issued a few tweets, some on his own inclination and some only at the repeated behest of his daughter and other trusted advisors.¹³⁸¹³⁸ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Ivanka Trump, (Apr. 5, 2022), p. 64 (“I recall walking in and saying, ‘You have to put out a strong statement condemning violence and asking for peace to be restored.”). He made several phone calls, some to his personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, some to Members of Congress about continuing their objections to the electoral certification, even though the attack was well underway.¹³⁹¹³⁹ See, e.g., Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (AT&T Production, Feb. 9, 2022); See also Jonathan Karl, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, (New York: Dutton, 2021), p. 287.

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¶Here’s what President Trump did not do: He did not call any relevant law enforcement agency to ensure they were working to quell the violence. He did not call the Secretary of Defense; he did not call the Attorney General; he did not call the Secretary of Homeland Security.¹⁴⁰¹⁴⁰ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Pasquale Anthony “Pat” Cipollone, (July 8, 2022), p. 174; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Keith Kellogg, Jr., (Dec. 14, 2021), pp. 126–27. And for hours on end, he refused the repeated requests—from nearly everyone who talked to him—to simply tell the mob to go home.¹⁴¹¹⁴¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 129.

¶Throughout the afternoon, senior staff regularly entered the room to give him updates on what was happening at the Capitol.¹⁴²¹⁴² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Kayleigh McEnany, (Jan. 12, 2022), pp. 169–70. And, of course, President Trump used Twitter, where information is shared on an instantaneous basis.

¶Shortly after President Trump entered the dining room, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany swung by to “check in with him” about the letter Vice President Pence released around 1:00 p.m. announcing that he would not, in fact, overturn the will of the voters.

¶The President, once again, brought up going to the Capitol.¹⁴³¹⁴³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Kayleigh McEnany, (Jan. 12, 2022), pp. 159–60. McEnany recorded what he said in her notes, certain of which she later produced to the Select Committee: “POTUS wanted to walk to [sic] capital. Physically walk. He said fine ride beast,” referring to the nickname for the presidential vehicle. “Meadows said not safe enough[.]”¹⁴⁴¹⁴⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Kayleigh McEnany Production), KMC_000000724 (Jan. 6, 2021, Kayleigh McEnany notes).

¶Meadows told Hutchinson at some point in the day that “the President wasn’t happy that Bobby [Engel] didn’t pull it off for him,” meaning the trip to the Capitol, “and that Mark didn’t work hard enough to get the movement on the books.”¹⁴⁵¹⁴⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Continued Interview of Cassidy Hutchinson, (June 20, 2022), p. 8.

¶Despite the turmoil just outside its walls, the proceedings in the joint session—which had begun at 1:00 p.m.—were still ongoing, and the President was watching them on the television.¹⁴⁶¹⁴⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Kayleigh McEnany, (Jan. 12, 2022), p. 164. He was eager to know which senators were lodging objections on his behalf.¹⁴⁷¹⁴⁷ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Kayleigh McEnany, (Jan. 12, 2022), p. 164. “Back there and he wants list of senators,” McEnany’s notes read. “Who [sic] objecting to what. He’s calling them one by one.”¹⁴⁸¹⁴⁸ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Kayleigh McEnany Production), KMC_000000724 (Jan. 6, 2021, Kayleigh McEnany notes).

¶The Select Committee subpoenaed several Members of Congress who reportedly spoke with President Trump during the afternoon.¹⁴⁹¹⁴⁹ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoena to Honorable Kevin McCarthy, (May 12, 2022), available at https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/2022-05-12-Subpoena-for%20OGC-McCarthy%20Kevin%20%28002%29.pdf; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoena to Representative Jim Jordan, (May 12, 2022), available at https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/2022-05-12-Subpoena-for%20OGC-Jordan%20Jim%20%28002%29.pdf.Show full note None of them complied.¹⁵⁰¹⁵⁰ See, e.g., Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoena to Honorable Kevin McCarthy, (May 12, 2022), available at https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/2022-05-12-Subpoena-for%20OGC-McCarthy%20Kevin%20%28002%29.pdf; Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Subpoena to Representative Jim Jordan, (May 12, 2022), available at https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/2022-05-12-Subpoena-for%20OGC-Jordan%20Jim%20%28002%29.pdf.Show full note

¶Cellular records obtained by the Select Committee suggest that President Trump was on the phone with his lawyer Rudolph Giuliani at least twice during this period. Giuliani’s phone connected with the White House switchboard for 3 minutes and 53 seconds at 1:39 p.m. and again for more than 8 minutes at 2:03 p.m.¹⁵¹¹⁵¹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (AT&T Production, Feb. 9, 2022). Between the two calls, at 1:49 p.m., President Trump tweeted a link to a video of his speech from the Ellipse.¹⁵²¹⁵² Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 6, 2020 1:49 p.m. ET, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FizItBeFE6G%22 (archived).

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¶Before 1:57 p.m., Herschmann phoned Senior Advisor to the President Jared Kushner—who was on a plane travelling home from overseas—advising him that “people are trying to break into the Capitol” and that “this is getting pretty ugly.”¹⁵³¹⁵³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Jared Kushner, (Mar. 31, 2022), p. 144.

¶“We’re going to see what we can do here,” Herschmann said. “We’re going to try to get the President to put out a statement.”¹⁵⁴¹⁵⁴ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Jared Kushner, (Mar. 31, 2022), p. 145.