Members of Congress on Tuesday accused Donald Trump of inciting a mob of followers to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a last-ditch bid to remain in power fueled by a chaotic meeting with some of his most ardent supporters. A House committee produced evidence that aides and outside agitators knew before the riot that Trump would urge thousands of his supporters to march on the Capitol that day. The panel's seven Democrats and two Republicans have used the hearings to build a case that Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election constitute illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics, Reuters reports.
As a three-hour hearing ended, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY( said Trump had tried to phone a potential committee witness, raising the possibility he might have illegally tried to influence witness testimony.
In video testimony shown during the hearing, witnesses described a loud late-night six-hour meeting on Dec. 18, 2020, where Trump disregarded White House staffers who urged him to concede the November 2020 election to Joe Biden. Instead, Trump sided with outside advisers who urged him to keep pressing his baseless claims of election fraud. Committee members said Trump ultimately was responsible for the chaos that followed. They said Trump incited the riot through his refusal to admit he lost the election and through comments like his Dec. 19, 2020, Twitter post asking supporters to flock to Washington for a "big protest," saying, "Be there, will be wild." Trump, who has hinted he will seek the White House again in 2024, denies wrongdoing and has falsely asserted that he lost because of widespread fraud that benefited Biden.