7.9 “The President Needs to Stop This ASAP”

¶President Trump’s 2:38 p.m. tweet did not condemn the violence at the Capitol. It did not tell rioters to leave the building.

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¶In the minutes before the tweet, Fox News—on the President’s screen—relayed that the Capitol was on lockdown;²²⁰²²⁰ Fox News, “U.S. Capitol on Lockdown as Protests Threaten Security,” YouTube, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFWGBnJ0rQA. that Capitol police officers were injured; that rioters were in the building and “just feet from the House chamber.”²²¹²²¹ Fox News, “Breaking News: Protestors Now inside U.S. Capitol,” YouTube, at 2:40, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.fox29.com/video/887421. In the minutes afterward, networks would report there was tear gas in the Capitol, forcing Members of Congress to evacuate in protective masks.²²²²²² Fox News, “Pro-Trump Protestors Storm U.S. Capitol,” YouTube, Jan. 6, 2021, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVPSYr-xG6s. At 2:39 p.m., Secret Service agents reported that “[m]ore just got in.”²²³²²³ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Secret Service Production), CTRL0000095389.

¶“I don’t know how they’re gonna retake the Capitol building back at this point,” one agent wrote to others two minutes later.²²⁴²²⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Secret Service Production), CTRL0000095393 (Jan. 6, 2021, text between Secret Service agents at 2:41 p.m. EST).

¶At 2:44 p.m., a Capitol police officer shot a rioter named Ashli Babbitt.²²⁵²²⁵ Marshall Cohen and Avery Lotz, “The January 6 Insurrection: Minute-by-Minute,” CNN, (July 29, 2022), available at https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/10/politics/jan-6-us-capitol-riot-timeline/index.html. A handwritten note—dashed off onto a White House pocket card and preserved by the National Archives—read: “1x civilian gunshot wound to chest @ door of House cha[m]ber.”²²⁶²²⁶ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R000241 (Jan. 6, 2021, note to President Trump). One White House employee saw the note on the dining table in front of President Trump.²²⁷²²⁷ Select Committee Interview Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of White House Employee, (June 10, 2022), pp. 46–47.

¶A barrage of text messages inundated Meadows’s phone with a consistent plea.²²⁸²²⁸ See, e.g., Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014921, MM014923, MM014926. Everyone from conservative media personalities to Republican allies in Congress—and even the President’s own family—urged the President to do more:

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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, 2:28 p.m.: “Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people[.] This isn’t the way to solve anything.”²²⁹²²⁹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014906. Recently, Representative Greene has qualified her stance on armed rioters at the Capitol. At a Young Republicans event in New York, she said: “I got to tell you something, if Steve Bannon and I had oganized [January 6th], we would have won. Not to mention, it would’ve been armed.” She claims she was joking. Aaron Blake, “Analysis: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Jan. 6 ‘Joke’ Has Been Building for a Long Time,” Washington Post, (Dec. 12, 2022), available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/12/greene-january-6-punchline/.Show full note

Laura Ingraham, 2:32 p.m.: “Hey Mark, The [sic] president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home.” “This is hurting all of us.” “He is destroying his legacy and playing into every stereotype . . . we lose all credibility against the BLM/Antifa crowd if things go South.” “You can tell him I said this.”²³⁰²³⁰ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014907, MM014908, MM014909, (Jan. 6, 2021, Laura Ingraham text message to Mark Meadows at 2:32 pm); Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014911 (Jan. 6, 2021, Laura Ingraham text message to Mark Meadows at 2:32 p.m.).Show full note

Mick Mulvaney, 2:35 p.m.: “Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?”²³¹²³¹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014912.

Representative Barry Loudermilk, 2:44 p.m.: “It’s really bad up here on the hill.” “They have breached the Capitol.”²³²²³² Documents on File with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014914, MM014915. At 2:48 p.m., Meadows responded: “POTUS is engaging.”²³³²³³ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014921. At 2:49 p.m., Loudermilk responded: “Thanks. This doesn’t help our cause.”²³⁴²³⁴ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014922.

Representative William Timmons, 2:46 p.m.: “The president needs to stop this ASAP.”²³⁵²³⁵ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014919. At 2:49 p.m., Meadows responded: “We are doing it.”²³⁶²³⁶ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014923.

Donald Trump, Jr., 2:53 p.m.: “He’s got to condem [sic] this shit. Asap. The captiol [sic] police tweet is not enough.”²³⁷²³⁷ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014925. Meadows responded: “I am pushing it hard. I agree.”²³⁸²³⁸ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014926. Later, Trump, Jr., continued: “This his [sic] one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to fuck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse.”²³⁹²³⁹ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (Mark Meadows Production), MM014928.

¶White House staff discussed issuing yet another, stronger statement to address the ongoing—and escalating—violence. Around 3:00 p.m., one proposal was written in block capital letters on a pocket card from the chief of staff’s office:

ANYONE WHO ENTERED THE CAPITOL ~~ILLEGALLY~~ WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORITY SHOULD LEAVE IMMEDIATELY[.]²⁴⁰²⁴⁰ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), P-R000240 (January 6, 2021 proposed statement).

¶The handwriting appears to have been scrawled quickly and somewhat messily. Hutchinson recalled Meadows returning from the dining room with the note in hand and placing it on her desk.²⁴¹²⁴¹ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 28, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th. The word “illegally” had been newly crossed out.²⁴²²⁴² Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 28, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.

¶But there would be no further action, Meadows told her.²⁴³²⁴³ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Hearing on the January 6th Investigation, 117th Cong., 2d sess., (June 28, 2022), available at https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th.

¶At 3:13 p.m., 35 minutes after his last tweet, the President issued another tweet. Rather than coming out with a stronger statement, the 3:13 p.m. tweet largely parroted the one preceding it:

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I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order—respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!²⁴⁴²⁴⁴ Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, Jan. 6, 2021 3:13 p.m. EST, available at https://www.thetrumparchive.com/?searchbox=%22remain+peaceful%22 (archived).

¶Ivanka Trump—who was in the room when her father published the message—told the Select Committee that “the gravity of the situation” made her feel “that it would be helpful to tweet again.”²⁴⁵²⁴⁵ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Ivanka Trump, (Apr. 5, 2022), p. 119. “The [earlier] tweet didn’t stop the violence,” Herschmann said.²⁴⁶²⁴⁶ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack at the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of Eric Herschmann, (Apr. 6, 2022), p. 88.

¶This tweet—like the last one—didn’t tell the rioters to go home. It suggested that they “remain” at the Capitol, albeit peacefully.