5 takeaways from the Jan. 6 report
The House Jan. 6 committee released its final report on the “unimaginable” 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a mob assault by supporters of the defeated president, Donald Trump, that shook the nation and exposed the fragility of American democracy.
The 814-page account provides a gripping narrative of Trump's monthslong effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and spells out 11 recommendations for Congress and others to consider to bolster the nation's institutions against any future attempts to incite insurrection. Here are the takeaways:
1. Eight chapters
From the "Big Lie" of Trump's November 2020 election night claims of a stolen election to the bloody Jan. 6, 2021, siege, the report spells out the start and finish of the mob attack that played out for the world to see.
It details how Trump and his allies engaged in a "multi-part" scheme to overturn Joe Biden's presidential election victory — first through court challenges, then, when those failed, by compiling slates of electors to challenge Joe Biden's victory.
As Congress prepared to convene Jan. 6 to certify the election, Trump summoned a mob to Washington for his "Stop the Steal" rally at the White House.
"When Donald Trump pointed them toward the Capitol and told them to 'fight like hell,' that's exactly what they did," Thompson wrote. "Donald Trump lit that fire. But in the weeks beforehand, the kindling he ultimately ignited was amassed in plain sight."
2. New details, pressures
After blockbuster public hearings, the report and its accompanying materials are providing more detailed accounts of key aspects of the Trump team's plan to overturn the election, join the mob at the Capitol and, once the committee began investigating, pressure those who would testify against him.
Among dozens of new witness transcripts was Thursday's release of a previously unseen account from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson (pictured) detailing a stunning campaign by Trump's allies encouraging her to stay "loyal" as she testified before the panel.
The report said the committee estimates that in the two months between the November election and the Jan. 6 attack, "Trump or his inner circle engaged in at least 200 apparent acts of public or private outreach, pressure, or condemnation, targeting either State legislators or State or local election administrators, to overturn State election results."
3. Behind the scenes
The report also details Trump's inaction as his loyalists were violently storming the building.
One Secret Service employee testified to the committee that Trump's determination to go to the Capitol put agents on high alert.
"(We) all knew ... that this was going to move to something else if he physically walked to the Capitol," a unidentified employee said. "I don't know if you want to use the word 'insurrection,' 'coup,' whatever. We all knew that this would move from a normal democratic ... public event into something else."
Once the president arrived back at the White House after delivering a speech to his supporters, he asked an employee if they had seen his remarks on television.
"Sir, they cut it off because they're rioting down at the Capitol," the staffer said, according to the report.
Trump asked what that meant, and was given the same answer. "Oh really?" Trump then asked. "All right, let's go see."
4. Safeguarding democracy
The report makes 11 recommendations for Congress and others to safeguard American democracy and its tradition of the peaceful transfer of presidential power from one leader to the next.
The first, an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, is on its way to becoming law in the year-end spending bill heading toward final passage this week in Congress.
The committee also made recommendations to the Justice Department to prosecute Trump and others for conspiracy to commit fraud on the public, and other potential charges. It also referred the former president for prosecution for "assisting and providing aid and comfort to an insurrection."
Other changes may be within reach or prove more elusive. Among them, the report recommends beefing up security around key congressional events, overhauling oversight of the Capitol Police and enhancing federal penalties for certain types of threats against election workers.
One recommendation is for Congress to create a formal mechanism to consider barring individuals from public office if they engage in insurrection or rebellion under the Fourteenth Amendment. It holds that those who have taken an oath to support the Constitution can be disqualified from holding future federal or state office if they back an insurrection.
The 814-page account provides a gripping narrative of Donald Trump's monthslong effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and spells out 11 recommendations.
A Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury is expected to soon issue a final report detailing its findings on whether former President Donald Trump or his allies broke any state laws as they sought to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Sen. Patrick Leahy is wrapping up a 48-year career representing Vermont. The longest-serving Senate Democrat tells The Associated Press that he’s leaving with a mixture of resignation and resolve.
Just days before it disbands and loses control over the millions of pages of evidence it has gathered, the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has released transcripts of just a fraction of the more than 1,000 interviews it conducted.
Donald Trump began 2022 on a high. But the former president is facing a very different reality one year later as he runs again for the White House. He’s mired in criminal investigations. He’s been blamed for Republicans’ disappointing performance in the November elections. And the six weeks since his presidential announcement have been marked by self-inflicted crises.
Both political parties are opening the new year confronting critical questions about the people and policies they want to embrace as the next election speeds into view.
WASHINGTON — As members of the Proud Boys extremist group stormed past police lines and swarmed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, their leader cheered them on from afar, prosecutors say. "Do what must be done," Enrique Tarrio wrote on social media. "So what do we do now?" someone asked later that day in a Proud Boys encrypted group chat.
Washington has one specialty that has long endured — memorializing and coming together over a national trauma. But that unifying impulse has faded. On Friday's second anniversary of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, a moment of silence drew mostly Democrats.
The decision by Facebook's parent company to soon reinstate Donald Trump's account comes at a critical moment for the former president as he tries to build campaign momentum for a return to the White House.
A series of Jan. 6 defendants who — when up against possible prison time in court — expressed regret for joining the pro-Trump mob, struck a different tone or downplayed the riot after receiving their punishment.
The seditious conspiracy trial of five Proud Boys leaders charged in the Capitol riot has been going on for a month now in federal court in Washington, and bickering between lawyers and the judge has bogged things down.
Two years after former President Donald Trump's false claims about widespread election fraud sparked an attack on the U.S. Capitol, more evidence is piling up that those who spread the misinformation knew it was false.
A federal court case is testing Trump's legal vulnerability for his speech before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy granted Carlson access to more than 40,000 hours of the Capitol security footage from Jan. 6. McCarthy's office said it is still working out the process to make the footage "more widely available" but did not comment further.
A defamation lawsuit is revealing scornful behind-the-scenes opinions by Fox News figures about Donald Trump.
The remarks were the sharpest condemnation yet from the once-loyal Trump lieutenant.
One of the House Jan. 6 committee's most effective tools was its use of larger-than-life videos of its depositions. Congressional experts expect the work of that panel will change the dynamics of congressional committees this year and beyond.
Investigators found no wrongdoing from two election workers whose lives were upended when Trump falsely accused them of fraud.
The group includes Republican National Committeewoman Kathy Berden and Meshawn Maddock, former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
Donald Trump’s legal team is characterizing his indictment in the 2020 election interference investigation as an attack on the former president’s right to free speech. Experts say there’s little legal merit to the First Amendment claims.
Debate in court focused on whether those who ratified the 14th Amendment in 1868 would call the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot an insurrection.
Former President Donald Trump engaged in insurrection in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, a Colorado judge said in a ruling allowing him to stay on the ballot.
They're telling their stories at events in swing states to try to make sure voters don't forget what happened Jan. 6, 2021.
District of Columbia Officer Michael Fanone and the others who responded to the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, held the line in more ways than one. Sometimes that line can be convoluted and complicated and sometimes it is pretty straightforward.
