View source for January 6th Insurrection (Obsidian Notes)

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== Undermining The Electoral Process ==

Donald Trump made statements about the election being rigged even prior to his 2016 election, and continually called for the complete and total ban on mail-in ballots. ABC News catalogued a lot of the false election claims, and I've included some below.

=== Foreknowledge of Disparate Attitudes Towards Mail-in Voting ===

10 states allowed early voting via mail as early as September for the 2020 election. Donald Trump was making multiple claims of voter fraud via mail-in ballots, which Democrats were known to utilize in greater numbers than Republicans, despite Trump having absolutely no evidence of said voter fraud and despite counting having not even yet begun and no numbers being published.
<!---
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
{{blockquote
|name=
|quote=
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{{blockquote
|name=Dominion v Fox News pages 18-19
|quote=Not surprisingly, given these trends, the head of the Fox News Decision Desk correctly predicted that “on election night, we may be looking at states where it seems that President Trump is in the lead, but there’s still 20 or 30 percent of the vote outstanding … so we’re not [going to be] able to make the call in those states." He correctly recognized—and Fox widely and repeatedly reported before the election—that this would occur because President Trump had criticized mail-in voting and encouraged Republicans to vote in person whereas Democrats had encouraged their supporters to vote by mail. In fact, Maria Bartiromo discussed this very phenomenon with President Trump in an October 11, 2020 interview, with President Trump lamenting that mail-in votes would likely be counted “two weeks after the vote comes in,” and stating that “Republicans are going out to vote—they don’t want to do the [mail-in] ballot thing, they don’t trust it. Republicans are going out to vote.”
}}

Fox News was also complicit in the process, helping Trump fabricate and prepare to push lies in the event that he lost the election.

{{blockquote
|name=The Daily Beast, Fox News Pushes ‘Brain Room’ to Find Evidence for Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims, Insiders Say on October 31st, 2020
|quote=“Officially, it looks like an attempt to report on election irregularities. What it feels like is an attempt to push more baseless conspiracy theories and scare the viewers into thinking the election is being ‘stolen.’ It isn’t,” one Fox News veteran with direct knowledge of the Election Integrity Project, told The Daily Beast. “It’s alarming that the Brain Room is a part of this, like it’s an attempt to give it an air of legitimacy. I don’t recall ever seeing anything like this before.”

This person added: “It feels like an attempt to use the Brain Room to try to lend credibility to something that isn’t credible. It feels like a stunt to support Trump’s baseless allegations that the Democrats are trying to ‘steal’ the election. If it is a collection or database of alleged voter fraud examples, I could see it being used to support Trump’s efforts to contest the election results, if Biden wins.”

A second Fox News staffer—who, like other current employees quoted in this story, asked not to be further identified for fear of retaliation—said the Election Integrity Project “seems a logical effort to collect information about mail-in ballots that could skew the results… Fox clearly wants to portray mailed-in ballots in the most negative light, since Democrats favor it and Trump’s re-election, if polls are to be believed this time around, is not at all a foregone conclusion. He and GOP leaders are promoting doubt about the system, which arguably has its flaws, and of course Fox serves as a force multiplier to their narratives.”
}}

Some politicians, like Bernie Sanders, literally predicted (on October 23rd, 2020) the exact outcome of election night because it was already known that mail-in ballots might take a bit longer to count and they would likely dramatically favor Democrats. Sanders even predicted Trump trying to end the voting early.

=== 2012 Election ===

* On November 6th, 2012, Donald Trump tweeted that people should "march on Washington" to protest the election results. A few minutes later, he claimed that America "is not a democracy."

=== 2016 Election ===

* In February 2016, Donald Trump claimed that Ted Cruz's campaign rigged the Iowa Caucus.
* On April 16th, 2016, Donald Trump tweeted that the Republican primaries were rigged and boss controlled. On that appearance that he references, he goes on to speak about how delegates are just bribed and paid off to vote for certain candidates.
* On August 1st, 2016, Donald Trump claimed the last election in 2012 was rigged, and claims with certainty that the 2016 election on November 8th is going to be rigged, and that Republicans "better be careful."
* In October 2016, Donald Trump claimed they were trying to rig the election at the polling booths, saying dead people were voting, illegal immigrants were voting, and that they were fighting in a rigged election.
* On November 27th, 2016, Donald Trump tweeted that he would have won the popular vote against Hillary "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
From May 11th, 2017 to January 3rd, 2018, Trump created the Presidential Advisory commission on Election Integrity, also known as the Voter Fraud Commission. It requested an unusually invasive amount of voter data from the states, but all 50 states refused to comply. After Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap filed a lawsuit against the Republican members of the Commission for not sharing documents or scheduling information, the commission was disbanded by Trump. The Commission was not able to find any evidence of voter fraud.

=== 2020 Election ===

* On April 7th, 2020, Donald Trump claims that there is voter fraud in the form of people filling out multiple ballots and dumping ballots for Trump, after claiming mail-in voting was okay when he did it, but not when other people do it.
* On May 20th, 2024, Donald Trump answered in a press briefing that "thousands and thousands" of mail-in ballots were fraudulently filled out.
* On May 24th, 2020, Donald Trump tweeted that the United States "cannot have Mail in Ballots," saying it would be the "greatest Rigged Election in history."
* On August 24th, 2020, Donald trump states that the only way they can lose the election is if it's rigged and someone takes it from us.
* On September 23rd, 2020, Donald Trump would not commit to a peaceful transfer of power, claiming that the mail-in ballots were fraudulent and out of control.
* On September 29th, 2020, Donald Trump claimed that mail-in ballots being sent out pre-emptively were all fraudulently done by the Democrats, and that Americans were going to see a "fraud like you've never seen." He also claims that "we won't know for months" for the counting of the mail-in ballots.

Trump fluidly switched between definitions when he claimed the election was "rigged," meaning it could be officials rigging polls, ballot boxes being stuffed, ballots being not counted, boxes being tossed, vote totals being changed, etc...

It's important to note that while Donald Trump claims ahead of time that voter fraud would be rampant in 2020, he never actually gives a way to make mail-in ballots more secure, he simply advocates for the elimination of them altogether, repeatedly, because he knows they will favor Democratic voters.

Donald Trump attempted to call the election early, on the night of, despite everyone across the nation knowing it would take some time to count the incoming mail-in ballots. He also falsely claimed he won many states by margins that were impossible to be overcome, despite it having been completely untrue, and continues to call the mail-in ballots fraudulent, claiming that he already won the election. On November 5th, the next morning, he went as far as to tweet "STOP THE COUNT!" so he wouldn't lose his majority.

A leaked audio recording from October 31st, 2020, of Steve Bannon shows him speaking about Trump's plan to call the election early. Multiple recordings of Rodger Stone affirm the same.

=== Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network ===
In June of 2021, Dominion filed a complaint against Fox News, alleging that the company engaged in a widespread campaign of defamatory behavior towards Dominion in order to salvage its reputation among conservative media listeners. Dominion's lawsuit accused Fox of lying on four separate claims:
# Dominion committed election fraud by rigging the 2020 Presidential Election
# Dominion’s software and algorithms manipulated vote counts in the 2020 Presidential Election
# Dominion is owned by a company founded in Venezuela to rig elections for the dictator Hugo Chávez; and
# Dominion paid kickbacks to government officials who used its machines in the 2020 Presidential Election.

==== Factual Allegations ====

* Dominion was established in 2002 by CEO John Poulos and procured its first contract with New York state in July 2009.
* After it became clear that Trump would lose into the election, on November 6th, Donald Trump began to complain that his lead had "mysteriously disappeared."
* On November 7th, Fox projected Trump had lost the election.
* On November 8th, Fox invited Sidney Powell onto the Sunday Morning Futures show to discuss Dominion voting fraud.
* Powell declared that there was “a massive and coordinated effort to steal this election from We the People of the United States of America, to delegitimize and destroy votes for Donald Trump, to manufacture votes for Joe Biden.”

Dominion's motion for summary judgement contains many damming emails showing that Fox News was knowingly capitalizing on fraudulent election claims to win back their audience after election night. Page 125 shows a perfectly through-line of how the misinformation was knowingly propagated by Fox News hosts.

{{blockquote
|name='''Dominion v. Fox''', Death Threat 1
|quote=RUN

I don’t need to do that we are already watching you.

Come clean and you will live.

What is the penalty for TREASON?

FUCK ANTIFA, FUCK ANTIFA, FUCK ANTIFA, FUCK ANTIFA, FUCK ANTIFA, FUCK ANTIFA. Does that chant sound familiar. PB have you and there is nowhere you can run.
}}

{{blockquote
|name='''Dominion v. Fox''', Death Threat 2
|quote=You’re all fucking dead, You’re all fucking dead. We’re bringing back the firing squad and you fuckers are all dead, everybody involved up against the wall you motherfuckers. We’re gonna have a fucking lottery to fucking give people a chance to shoot you motherfuckers you fucking wait you cock suckers you commie pieces of shit. We’re going to fucking kill you all you motherfuckers. After a fair trial of course you pieces of shit. The American people are fucking coming for you this is the end of your fucking line guys your fucking days are numbered you better enjoy your Thanksgiving because you’ll never see another one you fucking cock suckers. You will be gone soon. Happy Thanksgiving. Cock suckers. You’re almost done just watch and see what happens. Check out the executive order from September 12, 2018. You’ll see whats going to happen. You’ll own nothing. You’ll be on the fucking 2030 plan because you’ll own nothing you fucking cock suckers. It’s coming. Buckle your fucking seatbelts. Watch what’s going to happen next.
}}

{{blockquote
|name='''Dominion v. Fox''', Death Threat 3
|quote=Yeah, good afternoon. Fuck you, fucking scumbags. We’re gonna blow your fucking building up. Piece of fucking shit.
}}

== Election Night ==

The election occurred on November 3rd and went as everyone predicted, with Donald Trump initially having a large lead and then slowly losing it as mail-in ballots were counted as the night progressed.

At 11:20 PM, Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden, sending Donald Trump and his team into a fury. Jason Miller tweeted out, admonishing Fox News for calling the election early. Jared Kushner was also in contact with Rupert Murdoch as the night went on. At 2:30 AM the following morning, Trump told supporters "this is a fraud on the American public." Trump said he wanted to go to the Supreme Court to stop the counting of ballots, then declared himself the winner of the election. Pence went up on stage afterwards, contradicting Trump and saying that, while he was sure they'd won the election, he would wait until every vote was counted.

== Legal Challenges ==
In July of 2022, a collection of 8 different conservative judges, politicians and analysts published a report called "LOST, NOT STOLEN: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election." In the report, they go through all 64 cases that the Trump campaign put forth to Judges, claiming that every case was without merit and affirming the results of the 2020 election.

{{blockquote
|name='''LOST, NOT STOLEN''', page 4
|quote="We therefore have undertaken an examination of every claim of fraud and miscount put forward by former President Trump and his advocates, and now put the results of those investigations before the American people, and especially before fellow conservatives who may be uncertain about what and whom to believe. Our conclusion is unequivocal: Joe Biden was the choice of a majority of the Electors, who themselves were the choice of the majority of voters in their states."
}}

=== The Trump Campaign's Court Cases ===
Quoting from LOST, NOT STOLEN:

"Of the 64 cases brought by Trump and his supporters, twenty were dismissed before a hearing on the merits, fourteen were voluntarily dismissed by Trump and his supporters before a hearing on the merits, and 30 cases included a hearing on the merits. Only in one Pennsylvania case involving far too few votes to overturn the results did Trump and his supporters prevail."

=== Other Court Cases ===
==== 2000 Mules ====
On May 20th, 2022, well known far right conspiracy theorist Dinesh D'Souza published a film called "2000 Mules," where they alleged, with no solid evidence, that Democrats had organized a sophisticated system of ballot harvesting across several states.

In October of 2022, Atlanta citizen Mark Andrews filed lawsuits for defamation, conspiracy and intrusion on seclusion. A state investigation found that he had not committed any of the crimes alleged about him in the film, and on May 31st, 2024, Salem Media Group settled with Andrews, releasing a public apology and taking down the film and book.

== Trump's Calls States to Change Votes ==
=== Donald Trump's January 2nd, 2021 call to Brad Raffensperger ===
{{small|''(Trump made a phone call to the Election Investigator Frances Watson on December 23, 2020, repeating a lot of the false claims he'll go on to repeat to Raffensperger later on.)''}}

On January 2nd, 2024, Donald Trump (joined by trade advisor Peter Navarro, Justice Department official John Lott, law professor John C. Eastman, and attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Cleta Mitchell, Alex Kaufman, Kurt Hilbert, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows) called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (joined by Raffensperger's chief of staff Jordan Fuchs and general counsel Ryan Germany) to discuss finding enough votes to win the election.

Trump claimed, with no evidence, that:
# There were hundreds of thousands of signature forgeries
# That 50's of thousands of people had already been voted for
# 4,502 people voted who were not on the voter registration roll
# 18,000 people voted with vacant addresses
# 900 voters who used a PO Box number
# At least 18,000 voters counted multiple times by Ruby Freeman
# The water main breaking disrupted the vote process for malfeasance
# That boxes of faked votes were brought in to be counted
# More and more dumb claims with absolutely zero evidence cited.
Trump continued to make accusations during the call, dismissing claims that he was simply getting these accusations from social media by countering that they were actually coming from "Trump media." He also accuses Raffensperger of being criminally liable for not finding enough votes for Trump because they must have known about the voter fraud, and says that it would be a "big risk" for both of them if they weren't able to flip the election in favor of Trump.

Trump says to Raffensperger: "I think it's very dangerous for you to say that [there's no criminality]." and alludes to him engaging in criminal behavior many times during the call.

Multiple times on the call Donald Trump implies that he will refuse to help in the future elections if Raffensperger won't acquiesce to his demands for 11,000 votes. "I need 11,000 votes give me a break."

Trump's campaign launched lawsuits against the state to contest the results, but ended up voluntarily dismissing it the day before court.

== Trump Pushing Knowingly False Claims ==
=== Propagating Knowingly False Claims ===
All of these are taken from the January 6th report, starting on page 48:

{| class="wikitable"
! Being informed of the false claim || Continuing to spread the false claim
|-

|'''Then-Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen'''<br>{{small|15 DEC 2020}}
“And so he said, ‘Well, what about this? I saw it on the videotape, somebody delivering a suitcase of ballots.’ And we said, ‘It wasn’t a suitcase. It was a bin. That’s what they use when they’re counting ballots. It’s benign.’”

||'''President Trump one week later'''<br>{{small|22 DEC 2020}}
“There is even security camera footage from Georgia that shows officials telling poll watchers to leave the room before pulling suitcases of ballots out from under the tables and continuing to count for hours.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue'''<br>{{small|27 & 31 DEC 2020}}
“I told the President myself that several times, in several conversations, that these allegations about ballots being smuggled in in a suitcase and run through the machine several times, it was not true, that we looked at it, we looked at the video, we interviewed the witnesses, that it was not true . . . . I believe it was in the phone call on December 27th. It was also in a meeting in the Oval Office on December 31st.”

||'''President Trump later that week'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
“[S]he stuffed the machine. She stuffed the ballot. Each ballot went three times, they were showing: Here’s ballot number one. Here it is a second time, third time, next ballot.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''GA Sec. State Brad Raffensperger'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
“You’re talking about the State Farm video. And I think it’s extremely unfortunate that Rudy Giuliani or his people, they sliced and diced that video and took it out of context.” . . . “[W]e did an audit of that and we proved conclusively that they were not scanned three times. . . . Yes, Mr. President, we’ll send you the link from WSB.” [Trump]: “I don’t care about a link. I don’t need it.”

||'''President Trump one day later'''<br>{{small|03 JAN 2021}}
“I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Attorney General Barr'''<br>{{small|01 DEC 2020}}
“Then he raised the ‘big vote dump,’ as he called it, in Detroit. And, you know, he said, people saw boxes coming into the counting station at all hours of the morning and so forth…. I said, ‘Mr. President, there are 630 precincts in Detroit, and unlike elsewhere in the State, they centralize the counting process, so they’re not counted in each precinct, they’re moved to counting stations, and so the normal process would involve boxes coming in at all different hours.’ And I said, ‘Did anyone point out to you—did all the people complaining about it point out to you, you actually did better in Detroit than you did last time? I mean, there’s no indication of fraud in Detroit.’”

||'''President Trump one day later'''<br>{{small|02 DEC 2020}}
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong, voter fraud. Here’s an example. This is Michigan. At 6:31 in the morning, a vote dump of 149,772 votes came in unexpectedly. We were winning by a lot. That batch was received in horror. . . . In Detroit everybody saw the tremendous conflict . . . there were more votes than there were voters.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue'''<br>{{small|27 DEC 2020}}
“The President then continued, there are ‘more votes than voters…’. But I was aware of that allegation, and I said, you know, that was just a matter of them ‘comparing the 2020 votes cast to 2016 registration numbers.’ That is ‘not a valid complaint.’”

||'''President Trump ten days later'''<br>{{small|06 JAN 2021}}
“More votes than they had voters. And many other States also.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue'''<br>{{small|03 JAN 2021}}
“[W]e would say to him, you know, ‘We checked that out, and there’s nothing to it. . . And we would cite to certain allegations. And so—like such as Pennsylvania, right. ‘No, there were not 250,000 more votes reported than were actually cast. That’s not true.’ So we would say things like that.”

||'''President Trump three days later'''<br>{{small|06 JAN 2021}} 
“In Pennsylvania, you had 205,000 more votes than you had voters. And the number is actually much greater than that now. That was as of a week ago. And this is a mathematical impossibility unless you want to say it’s a total fraud.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''GA Sec. State Brad Raffensperger'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
[Trump]: “[I]t’s 4,502 who voted, but they weren’t on the voter registration roll, which they had to be. You had 18,325 vacant address voters. The address was vacant, and they’re not allowed to be counted. That’s 18,325.”. . . [Raffensperger]: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.”

||'''President Trump two days later'''<br>{{small|04 JAN 2021}} 
“4,502 illegal ballots were cast by individuals who do not appear on the state’s voter rolls. Well, that’s sort of strange. 18,325 illegal ballots were cast by individuals who registered to vote using an address listed as vacant according to the postal service.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
[Trump]: “So dead people voted, and I think the number is close to 5,000 people. And they went to obituaries. They went to all sorts of methods to come up with an accurate number, and a minimum is close to about 5,000 voters.” . . . [Raffensperger]: “The actual number were two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted. So that’s wrong.”

||'''President Trump four days later'''<br>{{small|06 JAN 2021}}
“[T]he number of fraudulent ballots that we've identified across the state is staggering. Over 10,300 ballots in Georgia were cast by individuals whose names and dates of birth match Georgia residents who died in 2020 and prior to the election.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''GA Sec. State General Counsel Ryan Germany'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
[Trump]: “You had out-of-state voters. They voted in Georgia, but they were from out of state, of 4,925.” . . . [Germany]: “Every one we’ve been through are people that lived in Georgia, moved to a different state, but then moved back to Georgia legitimately.”. . . “They moved back in years ago. This was not like something just before the election. So there’s something about that data that, it’s just not accurate.”

||'''President Trump four days later'''<br>{{small|06 JAN 2021}} 
“And at least 15,000 ballots were cast by individuals who moved out of the state prior to November 3rd election. They say they moved right back.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany'''
“[T]he one specific I remember referencing was I don’t agree with the Dominion track.” . . . “I specifically referenced waving him off of the Dominion theory earlier in my testimony.”. . . [Q] “Are you saying you think he still continued to tweet that after you waved him off of it?” [A] “Yeah . . .”

||'''President Trump'''
Between mid-November and January 5, 2021, President Trump tweeted or retweeted conspiracy theories about Dominion nearly three dozen times.

|-<!--- --->

|'''Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Jason Miller'''
“…the international allegations for Dominion were not valid.” [Q] “Okay. Did anybody communicate that to the President?” [A]: “I know that that was—I know that was communicated. I know I communicated it”

||'''President Trump'''
“You have Dominion, which is very, very suspect to start off with. Nobody knows the ownership. People say the votes are counted in foreign countries and much worse…”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Attorney General Barr'''<br>{{small|23 NOV 2020}}
“I specifically raised the Dominion voting machines, which I found to be one of the most disturbing allegations— ‘disturbing’ in the sense that I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations . . . I told him that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that and it was doing great, great disservice to the country.”

||'''President Trump three days later'''<br>{{small|26 NOV 2020}}
“[T]hose machines are fixed, they’re rigged. You can press Trump and the vote goes to Biden. . . . All you have to do is play with a chip, and they played with a chip, especially in Wayne County and Detroit.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Attorney General Barr'''<br>{{small|01 DEC 2020}}
“I explained, I said, look, if you have a machine and it counts 500 votes for Biden and 500 votes for Trump, and then you go back later and you have a—you will have the 1,000 pieces of paper put through that machine, and you can see if there’s any discrepancy . . . there has been no discrepancy.”

||'''President Trump one day later'''<br>{{small|02 DEC 2020}}
“In one Michigan County, as an example, that used Dominion systems, they found that nearly 6,000 votes had been wrongly switched from Trump to Biden, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is what we caught. How many didn’t we catch?”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Attorney General Barr'''<br>{{small|14 DEC 2020}}
“‘I will, Mr. President. But there are a couple of things,’ I responded. ‘My understanding is that our experts have looked at the Antrim situation and are sure it was a human error that did not occur anywhere else. And, in any event, Antrim is doing a hand recount of the paper ballots, so we should know in a couple of days whether there is any real problem with the machines.’”

||'''President Trump one day later'''<br>{{small|15 DEC 2020}}
“This is BIG NEWS. Dominion Voting Machines are a disaster all over the Country. Changed the results of a landslide election. Can’t let this happen. . . .”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Then-Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen'''<br>{{small|15 DEC 2020}}
“[O]ther people were telling him there was fraud, you know, corruption in the election. The voting machines were no good. And we were telling him that is inconsistent, by ‘we,’ I mean Richard Donoghue and myself, that that was not what we were seeing.” . . . “There was this open issue as to the Michigan report. And—I think it was Mr. Cuccinelli, not certain, but had indicated that there was a hand recount. And I think he said, ‘That's the gold standard.’”

||'''President Trump one day later'''<br>{{small|16 DEC 2020}}
“‘Study: Dominion Machines shifted 2-3% of Trump Votes to Biden. Far more votes than needed to sway election.’ Florida, Ohio, Texas and many other states were won by even greater margins than projected. Did just as well with Swing States, but bad things happened. @OANN”

|-<!--- --->

|'''National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien'''<br>{{small|18 DEC 2020}}
“I got a call from, I think, Molly Michael in outer oval, the President’s assistant, and she said, ‘I’m connecting you to the Oval’ . . . somebody asked me, was there—did I have any evidence of election fraud in the voting machines or foreign interference in our voting machines. And I said, no, we’ve looked into that and there’s no evidence of it.”

||'''President Trump one day later'''<br>{{small|19 DEC 2020}}
“. . . There could also have been a hit on our ridiculous voting machines during the election, which is now obvious that I won big, making it an even more corrupted embarrassment for the USA. @DNI-_Ratcliffe @SecPompeo”

|-<!--- --->

|'''Acting Deputy AG Richard Donoghue'''<br>{{small|31 DEC 2020}}
“We definitely talked about Antrim County again. That was sort of done at that point, because the hand recount had been done and all of that. But we cited back to that to say, you know, this is an example of what people are telling you and what’s being filed in some of these court filings that are just not supported by the evidence.”

||'''President Trump two days later'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
“Well, Brad. Not that there’s not an issue, because we have a big issue with Dominion in other states and perhaps in yours. . . . in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines, but we’ll have to see.” . . . “I won’t give Dominion a pass because we found too many bad things.”

|-<!--- --->

|'''GA Sec. State Brad Raffensperger'''<br>{{small|02 JAN 2021}}
“I don’t believe that you’re really questioning the Dominion machines. Because we did a hand re-tally, a 100 percent re-tally of all the ballots, and compared them to what the machines said and came up with virtually the same result. Then we did the recount, and we got virtually the same result.”

||'''President Trump four days later'''<br>{{small|06 JAN 2021}}
“In addition, there is the highly troubling matter of Dominion Voting Systems. In one Michigan county alone, 6,000 votes were switched from Trump to Biden and the same systems are used in the majority of states in our country.” . . . “There is clear evidence that tens of thousands of votes were switched from President Trump to former Vice President Biden in several counties in Georgia.”

|-<!--- --->
|}

A District Court declared that Trump and Eastman knowingly filed bogus court cases in order to further fight over the certification of the election and to obstruct the January 6th Committee from obtaining evidence of any conspiracy.

{{blockquote
|name='''UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SOUTHERN DIVISION''', [https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.372.0_9.pdf Case No. 8:22-cv-00099-DOC-DFM], filed October 19th, 2022
|quote=There are four documents, however, in which Dr. Eastman and other attorneys suggest that—irrespective of the merits—the primary goal of filing is to delay or otherwise disrupt the January 6 vote. In one email, for example, President Trump’s attorneys state that “[m]erely having this case pending in the Supreme Court, not ruled on, might be enough to delay consideration of Georgia.” This email, read in context with other documents in this review, make clear that President Trump filed certain lawsuits not to obtain legal relief, but to disrupt or delay the January 6 congressional proceedings through the courts. The Court finds that these four documents are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of the obstruction crime. Accordingly, the crime-fraud exception applies, and the Court ORDERS Dr. Eastman to disclose the four documents...

On December 4, 2020, President Trump and his attorneys alleged in a Georgia state court action that Fulton County improperly counted a number of votes including 10,315 deceased people, 2,560 felons, and 2,423 unregistered voters.69 President Trump and his attorneys then decided to contest the state court proceeding in federal court, and discussed incorporating by reference the voter fraud numbers alleged in the state petition. On December 30, 2020, Dr. Eastman relayed “concerns” from President Trump’s team “about including specific numbers in the paragraph dealing with felons, deceased, moved, etc.” The attorneys continued to discuss the President’s resistance to signing “when specific numbers were included.” As Dr. Eastman explained the next day:

"Although the President signed a verification for [the state court filing] back on Dec. 1, he has since been made aware that some of the allegations (and evidence proffered by the experts) has been inaccurate. For him to sign a new verification with that knowledge (and incorporation by reference) would not be accurate."

President Trump and his attorneys ultimately filed the complaint with the same inaccurate numbers without rectifying, clarifying, or otherwise changing them. President Trump, moreover, signed a verification swearing under oath that the incorporated, inaccurate numbers “are true and correct” or “believed to be true and correct” to the best of his knowledge and belief.

The emails show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public. The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States.
}}

=== People Who Told Trump he Lost ===
All of these people were trusted by Trump to investigate claims of election fraud:
# Bill Stepien, Trump's National Field Director for his campaign, a lifelong Republican, who also worked on Giuliana's presidential campaign in 2007-2008, told Trump he had lost on election night.
# Chris Miller, Trump's Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, attested that Matt Oczkowski, Trump's campaign's top data scientist, told him on election night that he was going to lose.
# William Barr, Trump's Attorney General of the Department of Justice, told Trump repeatedly that he'd investigated and found absolutely no signs of voter fraud.
# Jeffry Rosen, Trump's acting Attorney General of the Department of Justice, called or met with Trump almost every day to tell him there was no election fraud.
# Richard Donoghue, Trump's acting deputy attorney general, told Trump the information he was getting was false.
# Chris Stirewalt, former Fox New political editor, said that Trump had no chance of winning the election after the votes were counted.
# Jason Miller, the Trump Campaign Senior Advisor, informed Trump several times that there wasn't enough evidence of fraud to overturn the election.
#: "When our research and campaign legal team can't back up any of the claims made by our Elite Strike Force Legal Team, you can see why we're 0-32 on our cases. I'll obviously hustle to help on all fronts, but it's tough to own any of this when it's all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership."
# Mike Pence, Trump's Vice President, said there was never evidence of widespread fraud, and that he believed there was no good evidence of enough fraud to overturn the election.
# Matthew Morgan, the General Counsel of Trump's campaign, claimed that the Trump staff, including him and Marc Short and Greg Jacob, didn't believe there was sufficient evidence of voter fraud.
# Brad Raffensperger, the Republican Georgia Secretary of State, denied every single claim that Trump made about election Fraud.
# Brian Kemp, the Republican Governor of Georgia, denied that the election was stolen in Georgia.
# A group of prominent Republicans (4 Federal Judges, 2 former Senators, a lawyer and someone who worked on Capitol Hill for 20 years) published a conservative report, titled Lost, Not Stolen, which claimed
#: The report concludes “that Donald Trump and his supporters had their day in court and failed to produce substantive evidence to make their case.” President Trump and his legal allies “failed because of a lack of evidence and not because of erroneous rulings or unfair judges . . . . In many cases, after making extravagant claims of wrongdoing, Trump’s legal representatives showed up in court or state proceedings empty-handed, and then returned to their rallies and media campaigns to repeat the same unsupported claims.”
# Eleven of the judges who ruled against Trump were Trump federal judiciary appointments.
#: One of those Trump nominees, Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, rejected an appeal by the Trump Campaign claiming that Pennsylvania officials “did not undertake any meaningful effort” to fight illegal absentee ballots and uneven treatment of voters across counties. Judge Bibas wrote in his decision that “calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.” Another Trump nominee, Judge Brett Ludwig of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, ruled against President Trump’s lawsuit alleging that the result was skewed by illegal procedures that governed drop boxes, ballot address information, and individuals who claimed“ indefinitely confined” status to vote from home. Judge Ludwig wrote in his decision, that “this Court has allowed plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits” because the procedures used “do not remotely rise to the level” of breaking Wisconsin’s election rules.
# Ivanka and Kushner, Trump's daughter and son-in-law, prepared to move right after the election, with Ivanka stating she believed Barr's testimony.
# Alex Cannon, Trump's campaign lawyer, said he told advisers that there was no election fraud.
# Kellyanne Conway, Trump's counselor, wrote in her published memoir that she had told Trump he lost.
#: “The team had failed on November 3, and they failed again afterward. By not confronting the candidate with the grim reality of his situation, that the proof had not surfaced to support the claims, they denied him the evidence he sought and the respect he was due. Instead supplicant after sycophant after showman genuflected in front of the Resolute Desk and promised the president goods they could not deliver.”
#: Ken Block, a data mining firm hired by Donald Trump to find evidence of voter fraud, said they found very little evidence of voter fraud, and that it was equal on the Democratic and Republican side.

=== "Black Box" Votes Hidden Under Table in Georgia ===

Rudy Giuliani tweeted a heavily cut up video propagated by OAN that claimed boxes of illegitimately filled ballot boxes were being counted after election officials told counters to go home. Election officials investigated and released additional video and explanations showing that these claims were fabricated. Giuliani would later admit to lying in court about this case, claiming it was his 1st amendment right to lie. He would lose that case to the tune $148,000,000, and then have a bankruptcy case dismissed that he filed to avoid paying this debt due to lying about his assets.

== False Elector Scheme ==

=== Kenneth Chesebro's Initial Memos ===
Kenneth Chesebro was an attorney from Wisconsin who began working with the Trump campaign at the behest of Jim Troupis, another lawyer for Trump's campaign, around November 9th, 2020. He was responsible for the creation of the first few memos outlining a potential scheme that Trump could utilize to challenge the certification of the electoral vote on January 6th.

Chesebro believed that if people gathered and falsely attested to being legitimate state electors and transmitted said votes on December 14th to Congress (and NARA) that it would keep Trump's chances alive to win the election should a court rule in his favor from between December 14th, the date that the electors in all 50 states certified their votes for president, and January 6th, the date that Congress was scheduled to count the electorate slates.

Ultimately there were 7 different states whom were selected to send false slates of electorates out from, here are those states and the accompanying state laws that dictate how slates of electors are legally supposed to be chosen:

==== Arizona ====

Arizona law [https://www.azleg.gov/viewdocument/?docName=https://www.azleg.gov/ars/16/00212.htm states]:
: A. On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1956, and quadrennially thereafter, there shall be elected a number of presidential electors equal to the number of United States senators and representatives in Congress from this state.
: B. After the secretary of state issues the statewide canvass containing the results of a presidential election, the presidential electors of this state shall cast their electoral college votes for the candidate for president and the candidate for vice president who jointly received the highest number of votes in this state as prescribed in the canvass.
The false Arizona slate of electors were not elected and did not cast their ballots in concordance with the popular vote reported by the state.

==== Georgia ====

Georgia laws states:
: The presidential electors chosen pursuant to Code Section 21-2-10 shall assemble at the seat of government of this state at 12:00 Noon of the day which is, or may be, directed by the Congress of the United States and shall then and there perform the duties required of them by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
The false electors did not meat in the seat of government, and were not chosen by the state legislature.

==== Michigan ====

Michigan law states:
: The electors of President and Vice President shall convene in the senate chamber at the capitol of this state at 2 p.m., eastern standard time, on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December following the elector's election. At any time before receiving the certificate of ascertainment of appointment of electors from the governor or within 48 hours thereafter, an elector may resign by submitting the elector's written and verified resignation to the governor...
The false slates didn't meet in the senate chambers in the capitol.

==== Nevada ====

Nevada law states:
: The Secretary of State shall preside at the meeting of presidential electors held pursuant to 3 U.S.C. § 7. Except as otherwise provided in this section and NRS 298.075, the nominees for presidential elector whose candidates for President and Vice President receive the highest number of votes in this State at the general election are the presidential electors.
The Secretary of State was obviously not present when the Nevada false electors certified and transmitted their vote.

==== Pennsylvania ====

Pennsylvania law states:
: The electors chosen, as aforesaid, shall assemble at the seat of government of this Commonwealth, at 12 o'clock noon of the day which is, or may be, directed by the Congress of the United States, and shall then and there perform the duties enjoined upon them by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
The false slates didn't meet at the seat of government.

==== Wisconsin ====

Wisconsin law states:
: The electors for president and vice president shall meet at the state capitol following the presidential election at 12:00 noon the first Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December.
The false electors were not able to meet in the state capitol.

==== New Mexico ====
New Mexico law states:
: B. The presidential electors shall be nominated by the state convention according to the rules of that party on file with the secretary of state.
: C. Upon the nomination of presidential electors, the chair and secretary of the convention shall certify the names and addresses of the nominees not less than sixty-three days prior to the election to the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall record the nominees' names in the secretary's office as the presidential elector nominees of that party.
The false electors were not nominated by the state convention, nor did the chair or secretary of the convention certify the names and addresses of the nominees.

{{blockquote
|name= January 6th Select Committee, page 378
|quote= On December 14th, using instructions provided by Chesebro, the fake Trump electors gathered and participated in signing ceremonies in all seven States. In five of these States—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin—the certificates they signed used the language that falsely declared themselves to be “the duly elected and qualified Electors” from their State. This declaration was false because none of the signatories had been granted that official status by their State government in the form of a certificate of ascertainment.

The paperwork signed by the fake Trump electors in two other States contained partial caveats. In New Mexico, the document they signed made clear that they were participating “on the Understanding that it might later be determined that we are the duly elected and qualified Electors. . . .” In Pennsylvania, the document they signed indicated that they were participating “on the understanding that if, as a result of a final non-appealable Court Order or other proceeding prescribed by law, we are ultimately recognized as being the duly elected and qualified Electors. . . .”
}}

Even Chesebro admitted his plan was dicey at best in his December 9th Memo:

{{blockquote
|name=
|quote= "In conclusion, it appears that voting by an alternate slate of electors is unproblematic in Arizona and Wisconsin; slightly problematic in Michigan (requiring access to the senate chamber); somewhat dicey in Georgia and Pennsylvania in the event that one or more electors don't attend (require gubernatorial ratification of alternates); and very problematic in Nevada (given the role accorded to the Secretary of State)."
}}

On December 13th, Chesebro lays out to Eastman how Pence could declare the ECA unconstitutional and disrupt the expected electoral vote count proceeding to allow Trump to win the election. He says that Pence should break from the stated procedures of the Electoral Count Act, claiming it to be unconstitutional (in violation of the 12th amendment). Once Pence has recused himself from his role in the senate, some other Republican leader will take over and act "confused" about how to read which slate of electors is legitimate.

"He then opens the two envelopes from Arizona, and announces that he cannot and will not, at least as of that date, count any electoral votes from Arizona because there are two slates of votes, and it is clear that the Arizona courts did not give a full and fair opportunity for review of election irregularities, in violation of due process."

Chesebro would then go on to outline ways in which the states contesting their electoral votes being counted could recertify new electoral slates in the future, either by "rerunning the election, or engaging in adequate judicial review, or having its legislature appoint electors."

{{blockquote
|name= Chesebro's December 13th Memo
|quote= If the Court were to dodge, then we would have a situation similar to 1877, in which the parties would realize that if they remained at loggerheads, with the President of the Senate perhaps refusing to open the votes of the contested states as long as his authority to count the votes was being challenged, and Pelosi refusing to hold an election for president in the House, and with January 20 looming, political leaders would face a choice. Either Pelosi would become acting president on January 20 (after resigning as Speaker) or the Senate would reelect Pence as Vice President, who would then become acting president on Jan. 20.

In this situation, which would seem messy and unpalatable to many,with renewed attention on the election abuses, and with several states controlled by Republican legislators faced with perhaps not being counted in the Electoral College, it doesn't seem fanciful to think that Trump and Pence would end up winning the vote after some legislatures appoint electors, or else that there might be a negotiated solution in which the Senate elects Pence Vice President, and Trump agrees to drop his bid to be elected in the House, so that Biden and Harris are defeated, even though Trump isn't reelected.

Any of the outcomes sketched above seems preferable to allowing the Electoral Count Act to operate by its terms, with Vice President Pence being forced to preside over a charade in which Biden and Harris are declared the winner of an election in which none of the serious abuses that occurred were ever examined with due deliberation.
}}

Chesebro's secret Twitter account was leaked in which he'd made multiple tweets detailing how Trump could win the election via Pence overturning the vote while the electoral votes were being counted.

=== Donald Trump's Direct Involvement ===
On December 6th, Mark Meadows forwarded the November 18th Memo from Chesebro to Trump Campaign Senior Advisor Jason Miller. Meadows and Miller began to work to gather the 79 needed Republican electors on the November ballot in the 7 states they planned to have transmit false elector votes to Congress.

Trump Campaign Associate General Counsel Joshua Findlay told the January 6th Select Committee "“it was my understanding that the President made this decision" to pursue the electorate scheme by December 7th or 8th. Findlay claimed that the campaign's general counsel, Matthew Morgan directed the campaign lawyers to “look into electors in these potential litigation States."

In deposition testimony provided to the Jan 6th Committee, RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said that on or around December 12th, Trump, along with Eastman, called her to stress the importance of gathering alternate slates of electors.

{{blockquote
|name=RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney, J6 Report deposition, page 9
|quote=So to the best of my recollection, and again it's a long time ago, he introduced me to John Eastman, I was not familiar with him at the time. So I vaguely remember him mentioning that he was a professor, and then essentially he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the States. And so, that would fulfill the requirement for the electors meeting if it went to the Supreme Court.
}}

Testimony from Special Assistant to the President, Cassidy Hutchinson, also confirms that Trump knew of the legal dubiousness of this elector plot, especially after most of the lawsuit had failed by mid December and his legal staff on his campaign began to quit and distance themselves from the campaign:

{{blockquote
|quote="Committee Staff: [T]o be clear, did you hear the White House Counsel’s Office say that this plan to have alternate electors meet and cast votes for Donald Trump in States that he had lost was not legally sound?

Hutchinson: Yes, sir."
}}

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey ignored a phone call from Donald Trump while certifying the vote.

=== Many Doubted Alternate Electors Legitimacy ===

{{blockquote
|name= From the J6 Committee Report, page 378:
|quote="Even so, 14 of the original Republicans who had been listed as electoral college nominees on the November ballot bowed out when the fake Trump electors gathered in December. Former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land declined to attend, which the State’s GOP chair, Laura Cox, told the Select Committee was because “I think she just said she was uncomfortable with the whole thing” and that she “has her own beliefs.” A senior advisor for the Pennsylvania GOP said that Chairman Tabas “did not serve as an elector because Joe Biden won the election and it was Biden’s electors that were certified.” Former U.S. Representative Tom Marino (R-PA) said he backed out because “I’m a constitutionalist,” and “as a former prosecutor, when the attorney general says that he’s not finding anything there, that’s good enough for me.” The other eleven dropouts included a Georgia State lawmaker, a former State party chair from New Mexico, two former State party chairs from Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania’s RNC national committeewoman.

Other participants asserted that they would have had much greater concerns if the Trump team had been more forthcoming about how the fake electoral votes would be used. The Trump Campaign’s director of election day operations in Georgia told the Select Committee that “I absolutely would not have” wanted to participate in organizing the Trump team’s fake electors in Georgia “had I known that the three main lawyers for the campaign that I’d spoken to in the past and were leading up were not on board.” He said he felt “angry” because “no one really cared if—if people were potentially putting themselves in jeopardy” by doing this, and “we were just . . .useful idiots or rubes at that point.”"
}}

=== The "Coup" Memos from Eastman ===
Eastman sent out two memos, one on December 23rd, and another one "war gaming the alternatives" on January 3, detailing how to get Pence to contradict the Electoral Count Act and either choose to count the false electors or force the house delegation, where the Republicans held a majority, to cast a vote for president (ideally choosing to reseat Donald Trump).

=== Pressuring Mike Pence ===
On January 2nd, Pence went over the procedures of the certification of the election, as set out in the Electoral Count Act, with his counsel, Greg Jacob, Chief of Staff Marc Short, and the Trump Campaign's General Counsel Matt Morgan. Marc gave a statement to CNN intending to clarify that the Vice President does not have the power to unilaterally change the election outcome, attempting to clarify as concisely as possible to the public as to the role of the Vice President on January 6th, and that only lawful objections to the election should be entertained.

On that same day, Steve Bannon's show, "Bannon's War Room," went live with an episode featuring Rudy Giuliani, Trump Campaign Strategic Advisor Boris Epshteyn , and John Eastman. They repeated many of the same false claims, both about voter fraud existing across multiple states, and Eastman continued to falsely assert that Pence has the authority to contravene the Electoral Count Act and subvert the expected process on January 6th to certify the election. He also claims that Congress can make a decision on their own about which slates of electors to accept, hoping that the states will accept all of the Republican slates due to the false claims that were continuing to be pushed concerning voter fraud. Eastman said that the outcome of the election comes down to the "courage and spine" of Mike Pence.

In his January 3rd Memo, where Eastman goes over several ways for Trump to remain president, he makes it clear that the only way Trump can possibly steal the election is if Pence acts in a way contrary to the ECA.

On January 4th, Trump and Eastman hold a meeting with Pence to pressure him to throw out the election. During the meeting, Eastman acknowledges that there are several foundational problems with the plan: the plan violates the Electoral Count Act which calls for all vote certificates to be "acted upon," with objections being "finally disposed of," whereas Eastman wanted Pence to set these aside and not resolve them. Secondly, the plot called for an extended break, when the ECA only specified two very short breaks to verify the submitted votes. Third and finally, the alternate slates of electors were not legitimate, as they had received no certificates of ascertainments from any state governors and no state legislatures were willing to go along with their plot. Pence found the arguments unconvincing, and was steadfast in his adherence to his proper role for January 6th.

On the night of January 4th, Trump began to ramp up the public pressure against Pence, calling for him to "come through for us" in a Georgia rally.

Donald Trump in a January 4th, 2021 Georgia Rally
On January 5th, another meeting was between Eastman and Greg Jacob and Marc Short. Jacob recorded Eastman's request that the Vice President needed to unilaterally reject the electors. Trump made multiple tweets that morning, one claiming that two senators would join in his plot in the senate to "#stopthesteal", and another claiming that "The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors," applying more pressure to Pence.

At Trump's request, him and Pence had another meeting that same day. Although the J6 Committee was unable to inquire about the exact details of the meeting, Marc Short seems to suggest that it was concerning Trump requesting Pence once again toss the votes during the certification. That night, in response to a NYT article leaking the earlier conversation, Donald Trump put out a statement containing multiple lies, the principle one being that him and Pence were "in total agreement" about what Pence could do on January 6th.

Mike Pence on Fox News, August 2nd, 2023
The same night, Steven Bannon went live with another episode of the War Room, applying even greater pressure to Pence while claiming "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this: All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It’s going to be quick . . . It’s the fog of war.” Bannon also discussed putting Sen. Grassley’s number on the screen, and suggested they encourage users at TheDonald.win to contact the Senator.

Pence ultimately carried out his Constitutional duty as Vice President and certified the vote for Biden on January 6th.

== Pressuring Acting A.G. for False Election Claims ==

=== Barr's Final Days ===
President Trump began making claims of voter fraud on the same night of the election before all of the ballots had even been counted. On November 9th, two days after Biden was declared the winner, Barr authorized widespread investigations by the DoJ and FBI into allegations of voter fraud. On November 23rd, Trump had a meeting with Barr, trying to figure out why the DoJ didn't have any strong cases yet for voter fraud, with Barr explaining that all of the accusations that had been made were without merit. On November 29th, Trump [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szStcNBIL68 falsely claimed] on Fox News that the FBI and DoJ were "missing in action" and that he would "stay out of it" despite him interfering at multiple levels of federal and state government in investigations into voter fraud.

On December 1st, Barr invited an AP reporter for [https://apnews.com/article/barr-no-widespread-election-fraud-b1f1488796c9a98c4b1a9061a6c7f49d an interview] about the ongoing DoJ and FBI investigations, stating that they'd found absolutely nothing credible up to that point. Trump fought with Barr over the following two weeks, desperately attempting to get him to substantiate any kind of voter fraud. Repeating the same false claims to Barr that he had been over the last month, nothing was ever substantiated, with Barr eventually turning in his resignation on December 14th.

{{blockquote
|name=Bill Barr, [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000083860/pdf/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000083860.pdf January 6th Committee Deposition]
|quote=And, in that context, I made clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I told the President was bullshit. And, you know, I didn’t want to be part of it. And that’s one of the reasons that went into me deciding to leave when I did.

I observed, I think it was on December 1st, that—you know, I believe you can’t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence, that the election—that there was fraud in the election.
}}

=== Clark Introduced to Donald Trump ===

On December 15th, Trump had a meeting with his new Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, Pat Cipollone, Mark Meadows, Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli, and Acting General Counsel of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Mizelle. This meeting was largely focused on a report on [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000915111/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000915111.pdf Dominion machine] fraud by the Allied Security Operations Group (ASOG), which Barr had had the DoJ investigate and found no evidence supporting.

On December 22nd, Representative Scott Perry introduced Donald Trump to Jeffery Clark Acting Head of the Civil Division and Head of the Environmental and Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. On December 24th, Trump mentioned Clark's name to Rosen, which Rosen felt was strange because he had no idea why Trump would be communicating with Clark, and Clark communicating with Trump would be against DoJ policies.

On the 27th, President Trump had another phone call with Rosen and Donoghue in which he continued to make false claim after false claim, with Donoghue debunking each and every claim. The Georgia claims about Ruby, the Pennsylvania claims of the 205,000 supposed additional votes, the ASOG report, etc... Eventually during this phone call, Rosen said to Trump that he needed to understand "understand that the DOJ can’t and won’t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. It doesn’t work that way."

Trump responded to Rosen, saying “I don’t expect you to do that, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.” Donoghue explained in his deposition that this was "an exact quote from the President."

{{blockquote
|name=Richard Donoghue, Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2023)
|quote=Q: Okay. So, in the middle of this call where he's ranting about election issues, he mentions the special counsel, he mentions the explosion in Tennessee, he mentions FBI -- allegations that the FBI doesn't like him, and he mentions Hunter Biden. All of that --

A: Yes.

Q: -- just are part of the tangents that you referenced in terms of his manner of speaking?

A: Correct.

Q: And any response by you or Mr. Rosen to any of those specific --

A: So, throughout this -- the President, obviously, does the great majority of the talking. But, throughout this, both DAG Rosen and I are just trying to respond very specifically to what he's saying and saying things like, "Okay, that's fine, sir." This thing about Pennsylvania having more votes than ballots actually cast, "We can look at that, we'll figure that out." You know, as far as some of this other stuff, we were saying, "We're aware of it. We've looked at it. We've got it," or, "There's nothing there." I can't remember if we were at the point -- I think we were at the point in Georgia to be able to say that we had looked at that and did not believe that to be the case.

Q: Yeah. That's the next section of your notes, where you say "Georgia legislature" -- or he talks about the Georgia legislature. Can you pick up from there?

A: Right. So it says, "Georgia legislature is on our side. They want to bring a case, but the Governor won't let them," meaning they want to file some sort of civil case. The Governor won't let them. He then goes back to the statistics. He says, "Statistically impossible for me to lose. Bookies had me at 100 percent on election night. It dropped to 32 percent in 4 or 5 hours. That's never happened before." So now this is an example of DAG Rosen responding. And he said essentially, "We'll look at whether we have more ballots in Pennsylvania than registered voters. Should be able to check that out quickly. But understand that the DOJ can't and won't snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election. It doesn't work that way."

Q: So DAG Rosen directly says, "We cannot snap our fingers and change the outcome of the election. It doesn't work that way." Clear pushback to the President looking for some sort of Department of Justice finger snap to delay the results of the election.

A: Yes, that's what he said. And he was, to some extent, pushing back and -

Q: - Yeah.

A: -- trying to make the President understand the Department's role.

Q: Yeah. So what does the President say in response to that pushback from Mr. Rosen?

A: He says, "I don't expect you to do that. Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen."

Q: Tell me more about that. What you did you interpret that to mean?

A: So I put it in quotes. It is an exact quote from the President. I took that to mean that he and his campaign, I suppose, were going to be pursuing a political effort on the Hill to challenge electoral college votes. And we knew that was the case already. There was already public reporting on this. So I think the President and some of his supporters were talking about challenging electoral college votes when they made it to the Senate. And so that didn't surprise me, that he had this avenue that he intended to pursue with what he called the "Republican Congressmen."
}}

Trump brought up that people had told him that "Jeff Clark is great," and that he "should put him in," laying the groundwork for the events to come.

=== Clark's Letter ===

On December 28th, 2020, Clark had Ken Klukowski, a senior counsel under Clark in the Department of Justice's (DoJ) Civil Division, draft [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014544_00012/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014544_00012.pdf a letter] to the Georgia Governor and Legislature alleging the DoJ had "identified significant concerns
that may a have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia." Everything in the letter, however, was a lie; the DoJ had zero reason to suspect any voter fraud at this point in time, and every investigation thus far has been a dead end.

Clark [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014544_00011/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014544_00011.pdf emailed] Rosen and Donoghue, asking for a promotion so his title would look more authoritative on the letter, as well as requesting both of them to sign the letter.

{{blockquote
|name=Jeffrey Clark, in [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014544_00011/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014544_00011.pdf an email] to Rosen and Donoghue, December 28th, 2020
|quote=Attached is a draft letter concerning the broader topic of election irregularities of any kind. The concept is to send it to the Governor, Speaker, and President pro temp of each relevant state to indicate that in light of time urgency and sworn evidence of election irregularities presented to courts and to legislative committees, the legislatures thereof should each assemble and make a decision about elector appointment in light of their deliberations. I set it up for signature by the three of us. I think we should get it out as soon as possible. Personally, I see no valid downsides to sending out the letter. I put it together quickly and would want to do a formal cite check before sending but I don't think we should let unnecessary moss grow on this

(As a small matter, I left open me signing as AAG Civil - after an order from Jeff as Acting AG designating me as actual AAG of Civil under the Ted Olson OLC opinion and thus freeing up the Acting AAG spot in ENRD for Jon Brightbill to assume. But that is a comparatively small matter. I wouldn't want to hold up the letter for that. But I continue to think there is no downside with as few as 23 days left in the President's term to give Jon and I that added boost in DOJ titles.)
}}

Donoghue [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014545_00007/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000014545_00007.pdf responded], saying "there is no chance that I would sign this letter or anything remotely like this," with Rosen agreeing in a follow-up email.

Over the following days, Clark continues to speak with Trump, as well as Donoghue and Rosen, eventually making it clear that Trump wants appoint him to being the Acting Attorney General, replacing Rosen as Rosen was unwilling to cosign Trump's fraud while Clark was willing to play ball.

=== The January 3rd Oval Office Meeting ===
With tensions building in the White House between Trump and his DoJ, events would finally culminate in a dramatic meeting in the Oval Office on January 3rd.

Rosen requested a meeting at 6:15 PM with Donald Trump through Mark Meadows on the 3rd. Before the meeting, Rosen and Donoghue discussed the potential leadership change in the DoJ with Cipollone and Pat Philbin, who both opposed the change in leadership. Rosen and Donoghue had previously had a conference call where almost every Assistant Attorney General agreed they would resign if Rosen were removed from office and replaced with Clark.

Clark made an impassioned argument for why he should be made the new Attorney General, but every person present in the room confirmed to Trump that they would resign (along with hundreds of others in the DoJ) if Trump actually appointed him to the role.

Ultimately, Trump was too scared by the threat of mass resignations to push through with Clark's appointment, despite Clark's pleas otherwise.

== The January 6th Rally ==

=== Motivation and Purpose of the Protest ===

Donald Trump hyped his supporters up for a large protest on January 6th, the day that the electoral vote would be certified, weeks before the actual event itself. The purpose of the protest was clearly aimed at protesting the certification of the election, with the goal of halting (or at least delaying) the certification. Trump continued to deny the results of the election and accused the media and political establishment of fighting against him. He tweeted for weeks to apply pressure as well to news networks and lawmakers to back his coup attempt in Congress.

It was plainly obvious in the weeks leading up to the January 6th event that the primary purpose of the protest was to protest the outcome of the election and to apply pressure to leaders to change the electoral vote.

==== December 19th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340185773220515840 tweets] out a 36-page report alleging election fraud that would "swing victory to Trump," and tells people that there will be a "Big Protest in D.C.' that "will be wild!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340333618691002368 tweets] out that Russia and China may have been involved in hacking the voting machines during the election.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340386251866828802 tweets] out "the lie of the year is that Joe Biden won!"

==== December 20th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340529063799246848 tweets] out "GREATEST ELECTION FRAUD IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY!!!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340696207560220678 retweeted] a tweet about GA Senator David Perdue about "fighting for Donald Trump" to challenge the Electoral College on January 6th.
* Trump [https://x.com/lawindsor/status/1339580775566602240 retweeted] a tweet claiming Senator-elect Tuberville "will challenge Electoral College" on January 6th.

==== December 21st, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341138407460925440 tweets] out his disappointment in Brian Hagedorn, a Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice, and expresses his anger at his ruling against him in a case despite Trump endorsing him in his election.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341169419259531265 tweets] out a call for Conservatives to "call on state legislators to appoint new electors."

==== December 22nd, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341405487057821698 tweets] out another lie, "THE DEMOCRATS DUMPED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF BALLOTS IN THE SWING STATES LATE IN THE EVENING. IT WAS A RIGGED ELECTION!!!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341547750710800385 tweets] out attacking John Thune over his [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-22/thune-says-challenge-to-biden-win-to-go-down-like-a-shot-dog recent statements] that the Senate shouldn't try to overturn the election, and pressuring the Republicans in the Senate to follow through on January 6th with the plan to overturn the election.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341553610996543494 tweets] out a video from OAN of Newt Gingrich saying he won't accept Joe Biden as president, exclaiming "Newt Gingrich gets it, we are going to WIN!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341565405509394440 tweets] out a video he recorded where he repeats many fraudulent election claims, claiming he "won big."

==== December 23rd, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1341948764068704256 uploads a video] describing how China is secretly controlling movies, the media and the Democratic party. The video also alleges that the only trustworthy media is OAN, Newsmax and the Epoch Times, far right, alternative media news outlets that had all uniformly helped Trump push false claims of voter fraud.
* Trump [https://web.archive.org/web/20201224004034/https://twitter.com/Raiklin/status/1341520753984942081 retweeted] a tweet with an attached image called "Operation "PENCE" Card", which contained false information about how Pence could reject "fraudulent" electors.

==== December 24th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1342209260026023940 tweets] out and reminds 8 Senators that he helped them win their elections, encouraging them to "fight" over the stolen election.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1342212651447967744 tweets] out "VOTER FRAUD IS NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY, IT IS A FACT!!!"

==== December 26th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://web.archive.org/web/20201226125138/https://twitter.com/ali/status/1340396533888417792 retweets] a video from Ali Alexander with Congressman Andy Biggs as he talks about fighting on January 6th with the hashtags "DoNotCertify" and "JAN6."
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1342821189077622792 tweets] out that the "2020 Presidential Election Voter Fraud [was] the biggest SCAM in our nation's history," saying he'll "see everyone in D.C. on January 6th."
* Trump [https://x.com/gregkellyusa/status/1342509619634176000 retweets] Greg Kelly who claims "A COUP was waged against" Donald Trump, and then implores several senators to "STEP FORWARD at the MOMENT OF TRUTH."
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1342974370822692867 tweets] out that it's "Time for Republican Senators to step up and fight for the Presidency."

==== December 27th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1343328708963299338 tweets] out that he'll "see you in Washington, DC, on January 6th."

==== December 29th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1343919653068943361 tweets] out to remind Republicans in Congress once again that he helped many of them win their elections.

==== December 30th, 2020 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1344359312878149634 tweets] out "JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1344451507060617216 tweets] out an article by Mark Levin about Congress contesting the election results on January 6th.

==== December 31st, 2020 ====

* Trump tweets ([https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1344867566456627201 1] | [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1344867453915029504 2]) out two different OAN videos, making more false claims about election fraud, with one explicitly referencing the electorate plot to overthrow the election, including the plan to steal the election in the House.

==== January 1st, 2021 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/KylieJaneKremer/status/1340399063875895296 retweets] an account exclaiming "The calvary is coming" on "JANUARY 6TH", with the hashtags "MarchForTrump" and "StopTheSteal" with the slogan "Be there, will be wild"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345095714687377418 tweets] out that a "BIG Protest Rally" in D.C. will take place on January 6th with the attached slogan "StopTheSteal!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345155760490164225 tweets] out a thank you to Madison Cawthorn, a Representative who claims he will object to the 2020 election results.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1344867566456627201 retweets] the same OAN video falsely claiming that multiple slates of electors are available to choose from on January 6th and that Republicans should steal the election in the House.

==== January 2nd, 2021 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345501585628155910 tweets] out more threatening messages against politicians who oppose him, focusing once more on Georgia.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345503150745247746 tweets] out his thanks for the 11 senators (Cruz, Johnson, Lankford, Daines, Kennedy, Blackburn, Braun, Lummis, Marshall, Hagerty, Tuberville and Hawley) who have agreed to help him oppose the election on January 6th.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345508977031974918 tweets] out that the election was "An attempt to steal a landslide win. Can’t let it happen!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345551634907209730 tweets] out a video, saying "This could be the biggest event in Washington D.C. History" to encourage people to join the January 6th protest.

==== January 3rd, 2021 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345604625345490944 tweets] a Fox News video where Judge Jeanine details how the Republicans could steal the election by rejecting the electoral vote. "With 3% of the population fighting against tyranny [under Washington]...to many January 6th is such a moment."
* Trump [https://x.com/CodeMonkeyZ/status/1345666127171489793 retweets] an account falsely claiming that Pence can delay the inauguration date.
* Trump [https://x.com/BurgessOwens/status/1345570919587008514 retweets] Congress Owens statement "If you only do what's easy, you will seldom do what's right."
* Trump [https://x.com/TheRISEofROD/status/1345610514047627267 retweets] an account, exclaiming "We The People Refuse To Concede To A Fraudulent Election!!".
* Trump [https://x.com/AmyKremer/status/1345724133028601856 retweets] another endorsement of the January 6th protest with the hashtags "SaveAmerica" "DoNotCertify" "MillionMagaMarch" and "StopTheSteal."
* Trump [https://web.archive.org/web/20210103152421/https://twitter.com/realMikeLindell/status/1345547185836978176 retweets] Mike Lindell, who is "honored to be invited to speak at the biggest event in DC history!" and who believes that Donald Trump "will be our President for the next 4 years!!!"
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345778965064130563 tweets] out a Breitbart article of a call he made encouraging State Legislators to decertify their electors.

==== January 4th, 2021 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346110956078817280 tweets] out "How can you certify an election when the numbers being certified are verifiably WRONG. You will see the real numbers tonight during my speech, but especially on JANUARY 6th."
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1345753534168506370 retweets] a tweet for the January 6th march that uses the hashtags "MarchForTrump" "StopTheSteal" and "DoNotCertify".
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346115128719245313 tweets] out a quote from Senator Ron Johnson "We are not acting to thwart the Democratic process, we are acting to protect it."
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346120645613150208 tweets] out "The “Surrender Caucus” within the Republican Party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective “guardians” of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!"

==== January 5th, 2021 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346469204740902915 tweets] out "Pleased to announce that @KLoeffler & @sendavidperdue have just joined our great #StopTheSteal group of Senators. They will fight the ridiculous Electoral College Certification of Biden. How do you certify numbers that have now proven to be wrong and, in many cases, fraudulent!""
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346488314157797389 tweets] out "The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors." This is not within the powers of the Vice President.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346580318745206785 tweets] out "I hope the Democrats, and even more importantly, the weak and ineffective RINO section of the Republican Party, are looking at the thousands of people pouring into D.C. They won’t stand for a landslide election victory to be stolen."

==== January 6th, 2021 ====

* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346698217304584192 tweets] out "If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back!"" None of this is true, Pence did not have the power to reject the vote.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346808075626426371 tweets] out "States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!" None of this is true, Pence did not have the power to reject the vote.
* Trump [https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346809349214248962 tweets] out "THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, OUR COUNTRY, NEEDS THE PRESIDENCY MORE THAN EVER BEFORE - THE POWER OF THE VETO. STAY STRONG!"

== Events ==

=== Speech at the Ellipse ===

Trump's team chose {{wiki|The_Ellipse|the Ellipse}} for the location of the rally on January 6th. It was about a mile's walk from there to the Capitol. It featured a variety of speakers, many of them continuing to make the same false assertions of voter fraud and rigged Dominion voting machines. Many of the speakers also reiterated the same pressure for lawmakers and Pence to overturn the electoral vote results.

The event was set to begin at 9 AM, with Trump finishing his speech at 12:16 PM. According to the SS-OIG report, about 28,000 people had entered the secured area of the rally, with many more staying outside.

==== Speakers Before Trump ====
The speaker line-up and a full recording of the rally:
# {{wiki|Paula_White|Paula White}}
#: She lead the group in prayer at the start of the rally.
# Kylie Jane Kremer
#: She was listed as the person in charge of the rally, she worked for "Women for America First," which was the organization that procured the permit for the rally.
# {{wiki|Mo_Brooks|Mo Brooks}}
#: U.S. Representative from Alabama
#: Gave a speech to fire up the crowd to tell them to "start taking down names and kicking ass" while making constant comparisons to 1776 and the fight to establish early America. He also challenged Republicans in Congress to stand up and challenge the election certification.
#: It was later reported that he admitted to wearing body armor at this speech, saying he was tipped off by the FBI of potential risks beforehand.
# {{wiki|Katrina_Pierson|Katrina Pierson}}
#: Former National Campaign spokesperson and Trump media surrogate
#: In her speech she also applies more pressure to Republican lawmakers to flip the vote in Congress during the certification, saying "we are going to fight for our president" and that every politician who turns their back on Trump will "lose their seats" in 2022. She also reasserts the false voter fraud allegations.
# {{wiki|Amy_Kremer|Amy Kremer}}
#: WFAF founder/chair, teapartypatriots.org National Coordinator; co founder, Women for Trump
#: She was listed as the person in charge of the rally, she worked for "Women for America First," which was the organization that procured the permit for the rally.
#: She spoke about how foreign influence was stealing the election for the American public, including Russia and Ukraine, and that Georgia was a corrupt state for refusing to investigate their voter fraud claims. She also alleged the same false Pennsylvania/Georgia and other voter fraud claims again to the crowd.
#: She fires up the crowd, telling them that the election was stolen from Trump and that they "are here to save the Republic."
# {{wiki|Vernon_Jones|Vernon Jones}}
#: State representative from Georgia
#: He encouraged the people to fight once more in the rally and to "take our country back."
# Texas Attorney General {{wiki|Ken_Paxton|Ken Paxton}} and Senator {{wiki|Angela_Paxton|Angela Paxton}}
#: The Senator reminds the audience that they're fighters in a short speech.
# {{wiki|Eric_Trump|Eric Trump}} and {{wiki|Lara_Trump|his wife}}
#: Comes out to fire up the crowd, reinforcing that Trump called them on to "descend on DC" and that Biden clearly lost the election. His wife also comes on to say "we are in this fight to the bitter end, we are gonna take our country back."
#: Trump Jr. also applies more pressure to Congress, saying that lawmakers "need to stand up" while they march on the capitol.
# {{wiki|Kimberly_Guilfoyle|Kimberly Guilfoyle}}
#: Trump Jr.'s fiancée, former Fox News host/pundit and Trump campaign adviser; Gavin Newsom ex
# {{wiki|Donald_Trump_Jr.|Donald Trump Jr.}}
#: "You can be a hero or you can be a zero," "choose wisely" and "fight" were repeated by Trump Jr. at the event, again encouraging lawmakers to refuse to certify the election. He says if the lawmakers don't fight, "we're coming for you."
#: It's interesting to note that Trump Jr. opens the speech saying they're not protesting like Democrats and burning down buildings, then a few minutes later says they need to act more like Democrats when they protest later.
# {{wiki|Madison_Cawthorn|Madison Cawthorn}}
#: U.S. Representative from North Carolina
#: He claims that the lawmakers in Congress at the Capitol are weak, and reminds the audience that he plans to contest the election at 12 noon.
#: He also mentions "state legislatures" and the "constitution", alluding to the idea that the legislatures should choose (or should have chosen) a different elector slate.
# {{wiki|Rudy_Giuliani|Rudy Giuliani}} and {{wiki|John_Eastman|John Eastman}}
#: Giuliani begins by outlining that "the plan for today is perfectly legal." He says that the "vice president can cast [the election] aside" and "decide on the validity of these crooked ballots or send it back to the legislators." "Let's have trial by combat!" "This election was stolen." "We're gonna fight to the very end to make sure that doesn't happen."
#: Eastman came on stage and asserted once more that Pence had the power to delay the certification of the vote.

==== Donald Trump's Speech ====
Donald Trump spoke at the Ellipse for about an hour and ten minutes, starting at 11:57 AM. While he does, at one point in this speech, say "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard," he spends the rest of the speech repeating three essential points to set the agenda for the day:

# He diligently recounts every single accusation of voter/election fraud, with almost every single claim at this point having been debunked or shot down by his own administration.
# He reminds his supporters that they are close to losing their country due to an illegitimate election.
# He calls out several times that Mike Pence is the only person who can save the Republicans.
# He constantly reminds those in Congress whom he helped run for election that they would lose their elections in the 2022 midterms.

'''Notable quotes from his speech ([https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial transcript]):'''
* "We took them by surprise and this year they rigged an election. They rigged it like they've never rigged an election before."
* "All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they're doing. And stolen by the fake news media. That's what they've done and what they're doing. We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved."
* "And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with: We will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election."
* "We didn't lose."
* "We will not let them silence your voices. We're not going to let it happen, I'm not going to let it happen."
* (Audience chants: "Fight for Trump.") "Thank you."
* "And Rudy, you did a great job. He's got guts. You know what? He's got guts, unlike a lot of people in the Republican Party. He's got guts. He fights, he fights."
* "And he looked at Mike Pence, and I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so. Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do, all this is, this is from the number one, or certainly one of the top, Constitutional lawyers in our country. He has the absolute right to do it. We're supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution, and protect our constitution."
* "States want to revote. The states got defrauded. They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they want to recertify. They want it back. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people."
* "And I actually, I just spoke to Mike. I said: "Mike, that doesn't take courage. What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage." And then we're stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot and we have to live with that for four more years. We're just not going to let that happen."
* "We're gathered together in the heart of our nation's capital for one very, very basic and simple reason: To save our democracy."
* "For years, Democrats have gotten away with election fraud and weak Republicans. And that's what they are. There's so many weak Republicans. And we have great ones. Jim Jordan and some of these guys, they're out there fighting. The House guys are fighting. But it's, it's incredible. Many of the Republicans, I helped them get in, I helped them get elected. I helped Mitch get elected. I helped.
* "And you have to get your people to fight. And if they don't fight, we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don't fight. You primary them. We're going to. We're going to let you know who they are. I can already tell you, frankly."
* "But this year, using the pretext of the China virus and the scam of mail-in ballots, Democrats attempted the most brazen and outrageous election theft and there's never been anything like this. So pure theft in American history. Everybody knows it."
* "But we look at the facts and our election was so corrupt that in the history of this country we've never seen anything like it. You can go all the way back."
* "Republicans are, Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It's like a boxer. And we want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. And we're going to have to fight much harder."
* "And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn't, that will be a, a sad day for our country because you're sworn to uphold our Constitution."
* "Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down, we're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them."
* "Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated."
* "But we've done it quickly and we were going to sit home and watch a big victory and everybody had us down for a victory. It was going to be great and now we're out here fighting."
* "Today we see a very important event though. Because right over there, right there, we see the event going to take place. And I'm going to be watching. Because history is going to be made. We're going to see whether or not we have great and courageous leaders, or whether or not we have leaders that should be ashamed of themselves throughout history, throughout eternity they'll be ashamed."
* "We will not be intimidated into accepting the hoaxes and the lies that we've been forced to believe. Over the past several weeks, we've amassed overwhelming evidence about a fake election."
* "By the way, Pennsylvania has now seen all of this. They didn't know because it was so quick. They had a vote. They voted. But now they see all this stuff, it's all come to light. Doesn't happen that fast. And they want to recertify their votes. They want to recertify. But the only way that can happen is if Mike Pence agrees to send it back. Mike Pence has to agree to send it back." (Audience chants: "Send it back.")
* "You will have an illegitimate president. That's what you'll have. And we can't let that happen."
* "The radical left knows exactly what they're doing. They're ruthless and it's time that somebody did something about it. And Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I'm not hearing good stories."
* "So when you hear, when you hear, while there is no evidence to prove any wrongdoing, this is the most fraudulent thing anybody has, this is a criminal enterprise. This is a criminal enterprise."
* "The Republicans have to get tougher. You're not going to have a Republican Party if you don't get tougher. They want to play so straight. They want to play so, sir, yes, the United States. The Constitution doesn't allow me to send them back to the States. Well, I say, yes it does, because the Constitution says you have to protect our country and you have to protect our Constitution, and you can't vote on fraud. And fraud breaks up everything, doesn't it? When you catch somebody in a fraud, you're allowed to go by very different rules."
* "So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do. And I hope he doesn't listen to the RINOs and the stupid people that he's listening to."
* "We won in a landslide. This was a landslide. They said it's not American to challenge the election. This the most corrupt election in the history, maybe of the world."
* "So today, in addition to challenging the certification of the election, I'm calling on Congress and the state legislatures to quickly pass sweeping election reforms, and you better do it before we have no country left."
* "If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country because it's illegal when the votes are illegal when the way they got there is illegal when the states that vote are given false and fraudulent information."
* "We have overwhelming pride in this great country and we have it deep in our souls. Together, we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people."
* "But I said something's wrong here, something is really wrong, can have happened. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
* "So we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol, and we're going to try and give. The Democrats are hopeless — they never vote for anything. Not even one vote. But we're going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help. We're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue."

== Riot at the Capitol ==

=== Proud Boys ===
The Proud Boys was founded in 2016 by [[Gavin McInnes]]. They gained national notoriety after their presence during the Charlottesville "{{wiki|Unite_the_Right_rally|Unite the Right|"}} rally, which resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and sparked national outrage. McInnes distanced himself from the movement after they became increasingly radical and violent. From 2018 to 2021, {{wiki|Enrique_Tarrio|Enrique Tarrio}} was the chairman of the Proud Boys. For a similar period, {{wiki|Joe_Biggs|Joe Biggs}} was the leader.

During one of the 2020 presidential debates, {{wiki|Chris_Wallace |Chris Wallace}} asked Donald Trump if he would denounce the Proud Boys and other far right groups, but Donald Trump's reply was for the Proud Boys to "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIHhB1ZMV_o stand back and stand by]" instead.

On Parler, [https://x.com/ByMikeBaker/status/1311130735584051201/photo/1 Enrique's response to Trump's statement] was that he was "Standing by sir." Joe Biggs posted "President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA...well sir! we're ready!!"

From November 5th afterwards, different Proud Boys members were posting inflammatory statements ([https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1510791/dl?inline page 4 of the indictment for Tarrio]) across their social media accounts.
* On November 6, 2020, TARRIO posted a message that read, "The media constantly accuses us of wanting to start a civil war. Careful what the fuck you ask for we don't want to start one ... but we will sure as fuck finish one."
* On November 12, 2020, TARRIO posted a message that read, "Fuck Unity. No quarter. Raise the black flag."
* On November 16, 2020, TARRIO posted a message that read, "If Biden steals this election, [the Proud Boys] will be political prisoners. We won't go quietly ... I promise."
* On November 25, 2020, TARRIO reposted a social media post by Joe Biden that stated, "We need to remember: We're at war with a virus - not with each other." TARRIO then posted, "No, YOU need to remember the American people are at war with YOU. No Trump ... No peace. No quarter."

From at least in or around November 2020, {{wiki|Ethan_Nordean|NORDEAN|,}} BIGGS, and REHL used their platform as regional leaders of the Proud Boys to publicly post statements in response to the projected results of the 2020 Presidential Election, e.g.:
* On November 5, 2020, BIGGS posted on social media, "It's time for fucking War if they steal this shit," referring to the Presidential election.
* On November 24, 2020, BIGGS, in response to a social media post calling for unity in response to the results of the presidential election, posted, "No bitch. This is war."
* On November 27, 2020, NORDEAN posted on social media, "We tried playing nice and by the rules, now you will deal with the monster you created. The spirit of 1776 has resurfaced and has created groups like the Proudboys and we will not be extinguished. We will grow like the flame that fuels us and spread like love that guides us. We are unstoppable, unrelenting and now .. .unforgiving. Good luck to all you traitors of this country we so deeply love ... you're going to need it."
* On November 27, 2020, REHL posted on social media, "Hopefully the firing squads are for the traitors that are trying to steal the election from the American people."

In December of 2020, Enrique Tarrio created a new chapter of the Proud Boys called the "Ministry of Self Defense." In the following Signal groups and chats, Enrique Tarrio and other members would plan for the day of January 6th and how they would execute their role in the insurrection. An early blueprint for this, called "[https://www.scribd.com/document/578483989/1776-Returns 1776 Returns]," was given to Enrique Tarrio on December 30th and used to outline the events that would follow from January 1st to January 6th.

Enrique Tarrio was notified that he was [https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/enrique-tarrio-stay-away-order.pdf ordered] to leave D.C. within 24 hours on January 5th. He and Stewart Rhodes met on the night of January 5th to speak about what would happen the next day, referring to the event the next day as an "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMr1GKhC5bY insurrection]."

The New York Times [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DfLbrUa5Ng put together a video] that follows the Proud Boys during the January 6th Insurrection.

=== Oath Keepers ===

The {{wiki|Oath_Keepers|Oath Keepers}} were founded in 2009 by {{wiki|Stewart_Rhodes|Elmer Stewart Rhodes|.}} While it's hard to know their exact numbers, law enforcement estimates they have around 5,000 numbers, with many in their group being former military or law enforcement.

After the election, Rhodes began to amp up the rhetoric, calling for some sort of organized resistance to the outcome of the presidential election. In a [https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/GoToMeeting%20Transcript.pdf November 9th meeting], including other prominent Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs and William Todd Wilson, Stewart encouraged people to step up their actions in defending Trump: "You could stand there saying, we're going to
defend the President, the duly-elected President, and we call on him to do what needs to be done to save our country. And if you don't, guys, you're going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war, and a bloody — you can call it an insurrection or you can call it a guerilla fight."

The Oath Keepers began to post more and more aggressively on their website, calling for violent confrontation in the Capitol to oppose the outcome of the election.
* [https://archive.md/ZRvMC Advertisement for November 14th rally]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20201217171530/https://oathkeepers.org/2020/12/open-letter-to-president-trump-you-must-use-insurrection-act-to-stop-the-steal-and-defeat-the-coup/ December 12th call to violently overturn the election]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20210106073741/https://oathkeepers.org/2021/01/oath-keepers-deploying-to-dc-to-protect-events-speakers-attendees-on-jan-5-6-time-to-stand/ January 5th advertisement for Capitol "defense"]

Oath Keepers began [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUq_ZVZTpEI training] ([https://www.instagram.com/p/CFhdWdeBuUp/ IG post]) their members to coordinate for combat and support roles during January 6th. They organized several different "QRF"s (Quick Reaction Forces) to resupply fighters during the insurrection if active fighting began. The day before, for example, Edward Vallejo had [https://youtu.be/Koo1DRdfFGs?t=74 wheeled in weapons and equipment] into a hotel nearby to be ready to resupply.

==== [https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/case-multi-defendant/file/1514876/dl Notes for the Indictment for Stewart Rhodes III] ====
* Oath Keepers preparation for January 6th
** The "Stack One" group, involving Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, and other members broke through the Rotunda Doors at 2:38 PM.
** They tried to break into the Senate Chambers but were repelled by Capitol Police. Afterwards, half of them went to the House searching for Pelosi.
** At 3:15 PM, "Stack Two", including Joshua James, Roberto Minuta, and Brian Ulrich breached the same Rotunda Doors and violently pushed past officers.
** Outside the Capitol, "Quick Response Force" Teams were stationed and prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into D.C.
** On November 5th, Rhodes sent a message in a group chat titled "Leadership intel sharing secured" saying "We aren't getting through this without a civil war. Too late for that. prepare your mind, body, spirit."
** On November 7th, Rhodes wrote "We must now do what the people of Serbia did when Milosevic stole their election. - Refuse to accept it and march en-mass on the nation's Capitol."
** On November 9th, Rhodes held a private meeting where he outlined a violent plan of action for January 6th.
** On November 9th, Caldwall reached out to Rhodes to debrief him about a recon trip he had taken to D.C.
** On December 11th, Rhodes sent a message in a Signal group chat "Dec 12 DC Security/Leadership" where he started if Biden assumed the presidency "It will be a bloody and desperate fight. We are going to have a fight. That can't be avoided."
** On December 22nd, 2020, Rhodes said in an interview if Biden were to assume the presidency, "We will have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them. That's what's going to have to happen."
** On December 25th, 2020, Meggs messaged the OKFL Hangout Chat and said "We need to make those senators very uncomfortable with all of us being a few hundred feet away." Rhodes followed up with "I think Congress will screw him [President Trump] over. The only chance we/he has is if we scare the shit out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks time is they don't do the right thing. But I don't think they will listen."
** On December 31st, Rhodes wrote in the Leadership Intel Chat "There is no standard political or legal way out of this."
** There was a ton of ammo/weapons nearby ready to be delivered to the capitol from Quick Response Teams.
** Ed Vallejo wheeling in weapons before January 6th to a hotel, includes Vallejo interview where he's essentially talking about shooting people.
* On January 6th
** In a podcast "Declare your Independence" with Ernest Hancock, Vallejo and an Arizona QRF team member, Todd Kandaris, mention that people who can "do more than taunt" are available to save the election from Biden being certified.
** Before 1:30 PM on the Leadership Intel Chat, an Oath Keeper affiliate claimed that Antifa had breached the Capitol. Rhodes replied, "Nope. I'm right here. These are Patriots." He then messaged the Leadership Chat saying "Pence is doing nothing. As I predicted. All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything. So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They've had enough."
** At 1:30, Rhodes messages to the Leadership chat: "Hey, the founding generation stormed the governors mansion in MA and tarred and feathered his tax collectors. And they seized and dumped tea in water. They didn't fire on them, but they street fought. That's where we are now. Next comes our 'Lexington'. It's coming."
** 2:12 PM, Rhodes enters the Capitol grounds on the northeast side of the Capitol.
** 2:39 PM, "Stack One" enters the building through the Rotunda Doors.
** Stack One breaches the building and tries to get to the Senate chambers, but is repelled by police.
** From 2:30 onwards, Minuta live-streamed Stack Two heading to the Capitol on a golf cart.
** Full video showing multiple Oath Keepers on the day of the Insurrection
** At 3:17 PM, Stack Two enters the Capitol via the Rotunda and confront a group of police officers but are ultimately repelled.
** At 3:30 PM, Rhodes sends a message to the Leadership Signal Chat and everyone exit the Capitol and meet just outside the Capitol.
** They continued to message each other and make plans immediately after January 6th.
** On January 20th, Inauguration Day, Joshua James messaged another individual "After this...if nothing happens...its war...Civil War 2.0."

=== Timeline ===

The insurrection on January 6th would see the attempted culmination of multiple parties plotting multiple things all running concurrently with each other.

Donald Trump would encourage and then utilize the violence of the day in an attempt to pressure lawmakers to refuse the certification of the election results. He would repeatedly ignore requests throughout the day to tell his supporters to stop the rioting, only sending out a tweet to encourage them to go home 3 hours after the rioting began.

Giuliani and other members around Trump would continue to further actions in order to refuse certification of the vote in Congress.

The Proud Boys would meet as planned in the morning, then head to the Capitol building to lead the initial violent break-ins past cop lines and into the locked building via breaking through a window.

The Oath Keepers, after spending the prior days stationing multiple stockpiles of arms, ammunition and other equipment with Quick Reaction Teams nearby, would make their way in and out of the Capitol waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

Donald Trump's Actions
A complete and total abdication of responsibilities to ensure the safety of the capitol.
A willingness to take advantage of the violence in furtherance of the attempted coup.
In Furtherance of the Coup
Lawmakers, Trump campaign staff and other staff, and his lawyers attempting to pressure people to go along with the coup.
The Proud Boys Operations
The actions on January 6th, especially the initial gathering + breach of the Capitol Grounds.
The Oath Keepers Operations
The actions on January 6th, especially the QRF staged with hundreds of firearms nearby and ready for action.

==== January 6th ====

* 6:00 AM - People begin to construct a gallows outside of the Capitol.
* 6:27 AM - Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader, messaged the Oath Keepers Leadership Signal Chat and informed them that they would have several well-equipped QRFs (Quick Reaction Force, or people ready to supply weapons, ammunition and other combat gear) right outside of DC.
* 7:30 AM - Mark Meadows texts Representative Jim Jordan: "I have pushed for this. Not sure it is going to happen"
* 8:17 AM - Trump tweets "States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!"
* 8:22 AM - Trump tweets "THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, OUR COUNTRY, NEEDS THE PRESIDENCY MORE THAN EVER BEFORE - THE POWER OF THE VETO. STAY STRONG!"
* 8:30 AM - Rhodes and others departed a hotel in Virginia for D.C.
* 9:00 AM - Start time for the "March to Save America" rally at The Ellipse.
* 10:00 AM - A group of ~100 Proud Boys begin gathering near the Washington Monument, none of them wearing the ordinary Proud Boys uniforms, with leadership equipped with radios and bullhorns to direct the group movements, consistent with plans made prior by Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
* 10:15 AM - White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato informs Mark Meadows, Trump's White House Chief of Staff, that authorities at the Ellipse encountered attendees with weapons, including pistols, rifles, bear spray and spears, according to Hutchinson's testimony to the January 6th committee.
* 10:30 AM - 200-300 Proud Boys begin marching towards the Capitol.
* 10:47 AM - Giuliani begins his speech (starting at 2:19:10) at the Ellipse event, reiterating with Eastman that everything outlined by the plan today "is perfectly legal" and "perfectly appropriate," and goes on to call for "trial by combat."
* 11:58 AM - Trump begins his speech (starting at ~3:32:00) at the Ellipse. In this speech, he pressures Republicans in Congress to challenge the vote certification, Pence to refuse to certify the vote, and reiterates tons of different false election fraud allegations and riles the crowd up to "fight like hell" or else they're not going to have a country anymore.
* 12:30 PM - Senator Ron Johnson's aide attempts to get fake elector slates from Michigan and Wisconsin to the Vice President but is refused by Pence's aide, Chris Hodgson.
* 12:45 PM - FBI, Capitol Police and the ATF respond to a pipe bomb found outside the RNC headquarters.
* 12:53 PM - The Proud Boys break through the outer perimeter and engage USCP officers. This is the first breakthrough of any restricted area at the Capitol on January 6th.
* 1:00 PM - The Joint Session to certify the election begins in Congress.
* 1:02 PM - Pence's Twitter account Tweets a letter, including the statement "It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not."
* 1:07 PM - A pipe bomb is found outside the DNC headquarters. Later reports confirm that Kamala Harris was within 20 feet of this pipe bomb earlier that morning.
* 1:10 PM - Trump's speech ends, with him sending his audience to the Capitol.
** Trump's ending words: "And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. Our exciting adventures and boldest endeavors have not yet begun. My fellow Americans, for our movement, for our children, and for our beloved country. And I say this despite all that's happened. The best is yet to come. So we're going to, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol, and we're going to try and give. The Democrats are hopeless — they never vote for anything. Not even one vote. But we're going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help. We're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God Bless America. Thank you all for being here. This is incredible. Thank you very much. Thank you.""
** The protestors from Trump's speech were sent to the Capitol about 20 minutes after the first breach of the Capitol Grounds by the Proud Boys.
* 1:10 PM - Stop the Steal lead organizer Ali Alexander texts to Thomas Van Flein, Representative Gosar's Chief of Staff, "I think you and your staff should maybe leave" "This is hell out here"
* 1:19 PM - Despite protests from Trump to attend the Capitol protest, the motorcade takes him back to the White House.
* 1:25 PM - Trump begins watching TV for 187 minutes during the riot. During this time, Trump would watch Fox News, make a few tweets, and make several phone calls to Giuliani and some members of Congress to encourage lawmakers to continue to fight the certification. He never made any calls to law enforcement or the National Guard to issue orders to stop the riots and repeatedly refused calls to do so from those that would go in and talk to him. In a later interview, Trump claimed he "wanted to go back" to "stop the problem [himself]" but was refused. There is no evidence of this ever happening.
* 1:35 PM - In the Senate, McConnell warns senators that rejecting the electoral vote could send American democracy into a "death spiral."
* 2:12 PM - Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, entered the restricted Capitol Grounds on the northeast side of the Capitol.
* 2:13 PM - Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola breaches the Capitol building with a stolen riot shield. Michael Sparks, a 46 year old man from Kentucky, was the first rioter to enter the Capitol building through the broken window.
** This is the very first time during the day that the actual Capitol building itself is breached by any rioter.
* 2:13 PM - The Senate is gaveled into recess and Pence is removed from the Senate Chambers, delaying the certification of the electoral vote.
* 2:14 PM - Rioters outside are chanting "Hang Mike Pence." When Trump was informed of this, Hutchinson testified that Trump said "Mike deserves it."
* 2:15 PM - The rioters reached the second floor, where USCP officer Eugene Goodman lured insurrectionists away from the open Senate Chamber doors leading to the Vice President's Office where Pence and his family were being held by the Secret Service.
** Pence refused to leave the capitol because he didn't want the world to see the US Vice President fleeing the Capitol, according to testimony from Mr. Jacob to the January 6th Committee.
* 2:24 PM - Donald Trump tweets "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!"
** This Tweet was made 1 hour and 30 minutes after the initial breach through the secured area onto the Capitol grounds and 10 minutes after the rioters had breached the actual Capitol building.
** This tweet was made after aides had been "unsuccessfully trying for up to 20 minutes" to get him to release a calming tweet.
* 2:25 PM - The Rotunda Doors are breached by rioters.
* 2:26 PM - 3:06 PM (sometime between) - In a conversation to Representative McCarthy and others, Trump tells McCarthy that the people outside "must be more upset" than he is about the election results. He also calls other lawmakers to see if they can further delay the election certification.
* 2:26 PM - Trump calls Senator Mike Lee by accident, trying to get a hold of Senator Tuberville. Mike passes the phone over to Tuberville, where him and Trump chat for a few minutes.
* 2:28 PM - Mark Meadows begins receiving text messages begging him to ask Trump to send the people home. (Contained in the January 6th Report)
* 2:28 PM - Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene: “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.”
* 2:32 PM - Laura Ingraham: “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.”
* 2:35 PM - Mick Mulvaney: “Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?”
* 2:44 PM - Representative Barry Loudermilk: “It’s really bad up here on the hill.” “They have breached the Capitol.” At 2:48 PM, Meadows responded: “POTUS is engaging.” At 2:49 PM, Loudermilk responded: “Thanks. This doesn’t help our cause.”
* 2:46 PM - Representative William Timmons: “The president needs to stop this ASAP.” At 2:49 PM, Meadows responded: “We are doing it.”
* 2:53 PM - Donald Trump, Jr.: “He’s got to condem [sic] this shit. Asap. The captiol [sic] police tweet is not enough.” Meadows responded: “I am pushing it hard. I agree.” 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.”
* 3:04 PM - Unknown: “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?”
* 3:09 PM - Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: “TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!”
* 3:13 PM - Unknown: “POTUS should go on air and defuse this. Extremely important.”
* 3:13 PM - Former Trump White House Strategic Communications Director Alyssa Farah: “Potus has to come out firmly and tell protestors to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed . . .”
* 3:25 PM - Representative Chip Roy: “Fix this now.” Meadows responded: “We are.”
* 3:31 PM - Sean Hannity: “Can he make a statement. I saw the tweet. Ask people to peacefully leave the capital [sic].” Meadows responded: “On it.”
* 3:42 PM - Unknown: “Pls have POTUS call this off at the Capitol. Urge rioters to disperse. I pray to you.”
* 3:57 PM - Unknown: “Is he coming out?” “He has to right?”
* 3:58 PM - Fox News Host Brian Kilmead: “Please get him on tv. Destroying every thing you guys have accomplished.”
* 4:05 PM - Donald Trump, Jr.: “We need an oval address. He has to lead now. It’s gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
* 2:38 PM - Donald Trump tweets: "Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!"
** This tweet was 1 hour and 25 minutes after the initial breach of the Capitol grounds and 25 minutes after the breach of the Capitol building itself. This Tweet wasn't even written by Trump, but was written and posted by Scavino, his aide.
* 2:40 PM - "Stack One" of the Oath Keepers, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, enters the breached Rotunda Doors on the east steps of the Capitol.
* 2:42 PM - Pelosi, in a secure area, ponders how to maintain some sense of security and confidence in the American presidential vote after the rioters have managed to delay the certification of the election.
* 2:44 PM - Ashli Babbitt is shot by Capitol Police after attempting to force her way into a broken door window into the Speaker's Lobby.
* 3:13 PM - Donald Trump tweets : "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!"
** This Tweet is sent out 2 hours and 20 minutes after the restricted grounds were breached by the Proud Boys, 1 hour after the Capitol building was broken into, and 30 minutes after Ashli Babbitt has been shot in the Capitol,
* 3:14 PM - "Stack Two" of the Oath Keepers, including Joshua James, Roberto Minuta, and Brian Ulrich enter through the same Rotunda Doors and violently pushed past officers.
* 4:17 PM - Donald Trump tweets out a video: “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. We’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know you how feel. But go home, and go home in peace.”
** Three takes were done of this video, according to aides, with them choosing the most palatable version for Twitter.
** This was tweeted out about 3 hours after the initial break-in to the Capitol restricted grounds.
* 4:32 PM - After hours of requests from multiple parties, Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller finally authorizes the National Guard to deploy to the Capitol.
* 5:07 PM - After 12 attempts over the hour to get through, Giuliani finally reaches Trump by phone. After a 12 minute call with Trump, Giuliani over the next 3 hours calls Senators Marsha Blackburn, Mike Lee, Bill Hagerty, Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Dan Sullivan, as well as Representative Jim Jordan in an effort to get them to delay the certification of the election.
* 6:00 PM - The USCP declares the Capitol clear of protestors and a curfew in D.C. comes into effect.
* 6:01 PM - Trump tweets: "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!"
* 7:02 PM - Giuliani tries calling numerous members of Congress in the hour before the joint session resumed. He left a voicemail for Senator Tuberville: " Sen. Tuberville? Or I should say Coach Tuberville. This is Rudy Giuliani, the President’s lawyer. I’m calling you because I want to discuss with you how they’re trying to rush this hearing and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you." He continues in this call to push the alternate electors slates, claiming state legislatures will eventually flip their electoral vote.
* 8:05 PM - Mike Pence enters the Senate chambers to resume the count.
* 9:00 PM - Nancy Pelosi reopens the House.

==== January 7th ====

* 3:32 AM - Congress completes the counting of the electoral votes, with Vice President Pence affirming the results of the election.
* 7:10 PM - Trump tweets a video where he lies about calling the National Guard immediately. He still refuses to acknowledge that the election was lost.
Alternate Timeline of events/statements made by people at the Capitol on January 6th

=== Ashli Babbitt ===

Ashli Babbitt was the only person fatally wounded on January 6th. She was an avid believer in a multitude of conservative conspiracies, including QAnon and other conspiracies relating to Epstein and Satan-worshipping, posting videos to her Facebook account angrily ranting into the camera. Her Twitter feed was full of conspiratorial retweets from well-known faces in the MAGA community in the days leading up to her death after attempting to climb through a broken window during the insurrection.

=== Ray Epps ===

There is a singular video of an old man known as Ray Epps telling people to "go inside the Capitol" on January 5th. Every other video of Ray Epps on January 6th is of him discouraging violence from protestors. While many will assert several conspiracies about Epps being an instigator or an undercover federal agent trying to incite violence, there is absolutely no credible evidence to even debunk on this topic.

=== Embedded Intelligence ===

Many also bring up that federal agents were embedded and inciting the violence on January 6th. As with the Epps story, this is offered with absolutely no evidence, and, likewise, can be dismissed with absolutely no evidence.

=== Police Let Them In ===

The first insurrectionists are the Proud Boys, and they are on video breaking into the building. There is plenty of footage of police fighting with protestors to debunk this baseless conspiracy:
# Body camera footage of officer fighting with rioters.
# Officer getting grabbed out of the line and tased by rioters.
# Officer getting nearly crushed during the Capitol riots.
# Testimony from the three officers about what they encountered on the day of January 6th.
# Man charging an officer and trying to gouge his eyes during the early stages of the riot.

== Motivations of Rioters ==
There are a plethora of media reports, social media posts and court documents that show many of the rioters there on January 6th claimed to have been directly inspired by Trump to be there.

Citizens for Ethics report of statements made by defendants who were charged with a crime in association with January 6th.

Video Compilation of different rioters who were in D.C. on January 6th.

In the Dominion lawsuit vs Fox News, Joe Dorrego, CFO and COO of Fox News admitted while explaining an email from Rupert Murdoch that January 6th was driven entirely by Trump's rhetoric.

Dominion v Fox News page 176

== Outcome ==
Deaths Connected to January 6th
Caused by
Ashli Babbitt
Shot and killed by Capitol police during the riot.
Rosanne Boyland
Crushed in a stampede by rioters, collapsed and died possibly due to amphetamine overdose.
Officer Jeffrey Smith
3. He committed suicide with his service weapon in his car 9 days after the insurrection, the day he was supposed to return to duty.
Officer Howard S. Liebengood
He committed suicide three days after the insurrection.
Questionable?
Officer Brian D. Sicknick
Capitol Police officer who died on January 7th possibly due to mace or other injuries sustained the prior day. The Washington chief medical examiner said that he suffered two strokes at the base of his brain stem after the riots and that he died of "natural causes," though he also said that "all that transpired played a role in his condition" as well.
Officer Gunther Hashida
Committed suicide in July, it's difficult to say if this was causally related to the events of January 6th due to the time lapse between the two events.
Officer Kyle DeFreytag
Committed suicide in July, it's difficult to say if this was causally related to the events of January 6th due to the time lapse between the two events.
Incidental
Kevin D. Greeson
Died of a heart attack during the protest.
Benjamin Philips
Died of a stroke during the protest.
Rewriting of January 6th
On the day of January 6th, the vast majority of coverage was showing the atrocities happening as the day unfolded. When conservatives and more far-right commentators thought they were on the winning side of the insurrection, they were exuberant, constantly referring to the rioters as "patriots" and talking about the repercussions that lawmakers should face due to allowing the fraudulent election to stand. The tone changed sharply after the shooting of Babbitt and once the National Guard showed up, with many started to claim instead that it was Antifa or federal officers inciting the violence of the day, despite direct video evidence to the contrary and a lack of substantiation of any federal agency involvement.

People downplaying what was going to happen
Krystal Ball on Breaking Points claiming Trump was never going to attempt an insurrection. "I had been promised a fascist, authoritarian coup."
People encouraging the overthrow attempt
Charlie Kirk tweeting that Pence can reject the electors.
Alex Jones, Tim Pool, Matt Bracken and "Salty Cracker" all calling for participation in the January 6th event.
Coverage on the day of
Elijah Schaffer tweeting about "patriots" storming the Capitol building. "Never seen anything like this. Insane."
Live Coverage of January 6th on The Alex Jones Show
56:50 - "It's your duty to save this election from being stolen."
61:40 - "It looks like patriots are threatening to overwhelm the security of the capitol and break in."
69:48 - "And here you see them pulling the barriers, and police struggling to pull it back. This is not Black Lives Matter folks, this is not Antifa, these are Patriots, and perhaps they've finally boiled over."
70:00 - "You see the air filled with the mist of mace, the stinging gas that the police will be implementing and that is also being implemented against the police as patriots - wow - receiving blows to the head from billy clubs...We expect this situation to become ever more dire."
120:38 - "The revolution will be televised."
120:50 - Elijah Shaffer Tweet: "BREAKING: I am inside Nancy Pelosi’s office with the thousands of revolutionaries who have stormed the building. To put into perspective how quickly staff evacuated, emails are still on the screen along side a federal alert warning members of the current revolution"
126:00 - "We've tried to work within the system...but now the revolution upon which our country was founded is not dead yet, and rears its powerful head."
130:49 - "The rioters, the protestors, the patriots, the Americans, the Trump Supporters, the Revolutionaries have taken the Capitol! The US Capitol has fallen to the American people! This day will go down in history." "The Capitol has fallen to the forces of the Trump supporting patriots."
141:51 - Alex Jones claims that Antifa, dressed up like "patriots" attacked police officers to stage the initial event.
142:46 - Owen Shroyer reporting - "Here's the deal, we're not violent revolutionaries, but they've taken our country. Our country is occupied, and you can debate all day long what the appropriate response is, the point is, we finally have a response. We haven't had any fight in Congress, we haven't had any fight in our legislatures, so this is what's gonna happen. We the people are gonna have to fight, again, we didn't come here as violent revolutionaries, but, the history is definitely being made right now. I don't know if today is the turning point that will change the course of American history or if this is just the nexus of the beginning of we the people taking our country back."
1:44:40 - "At least one woman has been shot, she may be the first casualty of the second American Revolution."
1:48:36 - After reading Trump's tweet requesting people remain peaceful: "The problem with that, Mister President, is that we have. We have for 4 years. We've been abused for 4 years. We've tried to remain peaceful, we've tried to remain law-abiding, for the last years our cities were burned around us as we were locked inside of our own homes, as criminals were given complete abandon as time after time Antifa and BLM protestors were arrested in violent acts and then released the next day to perform them again. Time and time again we've tried to be the party of Law and Order, we've tried to respect the status quo, the laws, the system as we wish to uphold it. Instead, we've been disappointed, we've been betrayed, we've been stabbed in the back literally many times. Now, perhaps, the patience has run out."
Several times during this hour of broadcast, a JFK quote is displayed on the screen which reads "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable."
168:43 - "Trump encouraging his supporters to stay peaceful, which they absolute have."
174:29 - Owen Shroyer reporting - "It looks like there were agent provocateurs who actually started the breaching procedure, but because there were so many Trump supporters around it was just like a flood of momentum, "oh somebody's comin' in, oh the barrier went down, oh now we're just all goin' in" lead to at least one person getting shot and then just all hell breaking loose."
181:45 - "[Imagine if we were the Democrat media] and we could just sit here and go "well a small, peaceful gathering of Trump supporters occurred earlier today and no one was hurt, nothing really happened, it was just regular Americans expressing their right to protest, and if you dare to oppose this, and all of this talk of sending in the national guard is clear evidence of tyranny and the fascism that is slowly gripping our entire country, and if you don't support this you are a racist and you want innocent people to be murdered by the police." We don't have the luxury of being able to ignore reality here, we have to face it as it comes."
189:55 - "People are now looking into the people who have broken in and some are seeing tattoos that look suspiciously like communists."
Lady who got maced being interviewed at the Capitol in January 6th. "We're storming the capital, it's a revolution."
Protestors outside wearing Civil War shirts.
Man walking through the Capitol with a Confederate Flag
Michael Malice Tweet saying "every politician should be huddled in their home in fear."
Ali Alexander, official organizer of the "StopTheSteal" movement, tweets "First official day of the rebellion."
Lauren Chen Tweeting that "secession is the answer."
Ben Shapiro calling it an insurrection the day after January 6th.
The Switch-up
Matt Binder show-casing Kevin Sorbo switching his position in real-time.
Lauren Chen changing from "secession is the answer" to "Violent rioting is not an actionable plan for political change."
Lauren Chen also later on claimed Trump wanted people to "peacefully protest" and they just "broke some windows."
Tucker Carlson showing the January 6th insurrection as just police officers leading people through the Capitol.
Chansley was one of the first people into the Capitol building after Dominic Pezzola broke through the window.
January 6th Convictions, Injuries and Damages
The United States Department of Justice published a summary of all the charges, convictions and damages resulting from January 6th have been:

Criminal Charges

More than 1,488 defendants charged in nearly all 50 states and D.C.
~547 people charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees.
163 of these individuals have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.
~1,417 defendants have been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds.
Of those, 171 defendants have been charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
259 defendants were charged with corruptly obstructing, influencing or impeding an official proceeding.
Pleas

894 people have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges.
288 pleaded guilty to felonies.
606 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.
Four of those pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy.
Approximate Damages

$2,881,360.20
Injuries

Approximately 140 police officers were assaulted on January 6th.
14 different January 6th convictions for seditious conspiracy(?)

Infowars Owen Shroyer gets 2 months in prison for January 6th involvement

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, The Secret Service's Preparation for, and Response to, the Events of January 6th, 2021

140 police officers were injured, $3m in damage, three USCP officers died following the attack.
The Secret Service observed at the Ellipse rally a number of individuals wearing body armor, communicating via radios, climbing trees, and avoiding entry through the magnetometers into the secure area.
A pipe bomb was discovered by USCP officers on January 6th outside of the DNC, which Kamala passed by within 20 feet of about 2 hours earlier.
At the Ellipse security checkpoint, the Secret Service confiscated 269 knives/blades, 242 pepper sprays, and 94 "miscellaneous" items.
The Secret Service denied Trump's request to go to the Capitol.
The Secret Service considered evacuating Pence from the Capitol, but he did not want to leave.
According to the FBI, the pipe bomb found was "viable" and "could have detonated."
The OIG reported several significant issues when it came to obtaining evidence from the Secret Service, including wiped phones, redacted documents, and refusal to turn over emails without being allowed to internally review first, all in violation of the law establishing the OIG.
The Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, responded to these accusations, claiming that it was actually the OIG that was delayed in responses and operating in such a way that was causing unnecessary delays or confusion for making available appropriate information to the OIG.

== Important Notes ==

== Sources ==

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2020-12-20, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-20, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-21, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-22, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-22, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-22, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-23, Accessed 2024-08-05.
@realDonaldTrump retweet of an account saying Pence needs to reject the electoral vote.
2020-12-23, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-24, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-24, Accessed 2024-08-05.
@realDonaldTrump retweet of congressmen Andy Biggs about StopTheSteal.
2020-12-24, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-26, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-26, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-26, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-27, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-29, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-30, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-30, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-31, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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2020-12-31, Accessed 2024-08-05.
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