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Matthews testifies Trump tweet gave ‘green light’ to rioters

Sarah Matthews, the former deputy White House press secretary under President Trump who resigned hours after the Capitol riot, testified on Thursday that Trump’s tweet saying then-Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage” to reject the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021 gave “the green light” to rioters.

“It was obvious that the situation at the Capitol was violent and escalating quickly, and so I thought that the tweet about the vice president was the last thing that was needed in that moment, and I remember thinking that this was gonna be bad for him to tweet this because it was essentially him giving the green light to these people,” Matthews said at Thursday’s public hearing.

“Telling them that what they were doing at the steps of the Capitol and entering the Capitol was okay, that they were justified in their anger, and he shouldn’t have been doing that, he should’ve been telling these people to go home and to leave and to condemn the violence that we’re seeing,” she added.

Just before 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 6, Trump published a tweet criticizing Pence for not abiding by his request and rejecting the Electoral College vote for a number of states.

“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!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

Thursday’s hearing, the eighth the select committee has held this summer, focused on Trump’s inaction during the 187 minutes between him leaving the Ellipse following his speech and when he sent out a tweet urging his supporters to leave the Capitol.

Before Trump told his supporters to stop the violence, however, he sent out the tweet criticizing Pence.

Matthews on Thursday said she immediately thought the tweet about Pence “was the last thing that was needed at that moment,” arguing that it told the rioters “they were justified in their anger.”

“It was obvious that the situation at the Capitol was violent and escalating quickly, and so I thought that the tweet about the vice president was the last thing that was needed in that moment, and I remember thinking that this was gonna be bad for him to tweet this because it was essentially him giving the green light to these people,” Matthews said.

“Telling them that what they were doing at the steps of the Capitol and entering the Capitol was okay, that they were justified in their anger, and he shouldn’t have been doing that, he should’ve been telling these people to go home and to leave and to condemn the violence that we’re seeing,” she added.

The former deputy press secretary noted the strong effect Trump’s words have on his supporters, adding “so I think that in that moment for him to tweet out the message about Mike Pence it was him pouring gasoline on the fire and making it much worse.”

Matthew Pottinger, who served as deputy national security adviser to Trump and testified in-person alongside Matthews on Thursday, said he was “quite disturbed” by the tweet and “worried to see that the president was attacking Vice President Pence for doing his constitutional duty.”

Pottinger said he decided to resign from his post after reading Trump’s tweet criticizing Pence.

“The tweet looked to me like the opposite of what we really needed at that moment, which was a deescalation, and that’s why I had said earlier that it looked like fuel being poured on the fire,” Pottinger said.

“That was the moment that I decided that I was going to resign, that that would be my last day at the White House. I simply didn’t want to be associated with the events that were unfolding on the Capitol,” he added.

Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone sounded a similar note, telling the committee in previous closed-door testimony that his reaction to the tweet was “that’s a terrible tweet,” adding “I disagreed with the sentiment and I thought it was wrong,” according to a clip presented Thursday.

And former White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told the committee in prior testimony that Trump’s message on Twitter was “extremely unhelpful.”

“It wasn’t the message that we needed at that time… the scenes at the US capitol were only getting worse at that point. This was not going to help that,” he said, adding that he was “certainly” concerned it could make matters worse.

The committee also played clips of testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson saying she was frustrated, disappointed and disgusted by the tweet, which she called “unpatriotic.”

This story was updated at 9:43 p.m.

Source: TEST FEED1

DC police officer corroborates story that Trump got in ‘heated argument’ in vehicle on Jan. 6

A Washington, D.C. police officer corroborated previous testimony Thursday that former President Trump got into a “heated discussion” about going to the Capitol with his supporters after his speech on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Jan. 6 panel presented clips of testimony from Sgt. Mark Robinson (Ret.) of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, who was assigned to Trump’s motorcade on Jan. 6. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a member of the select committee, said Robinson was in the lead vehicle with the Secret Service agent overseeing the motorcade, known as the TS agent.

During previous testimony behind closed doors, Robinson, who said he had been part of the presidential motorcade more than 100 times, described what he was told about Trump’s conduct in the presidential vehicle.

“The only description I received was that the president was upset and that he was adamant about going to the Capitol and that there was a heated discussion about that,” Robinson told the committee.

He said the TS agent described it as “heated.”

“Meaning that the president was upset and he was saying there was a heated argument or discussion about going to the Capitol,” Robinson said.

During a public hearing last month, former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the Jan. 6 select committee about an altercation that had taken place with Trump in the presidential vehicle when the president was told he could not go to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse.

Hutchinson said she was told that Trump was “irate” and said something to the effect of “I’m the f’ing president, take me up to the Capitol now.”

“When Bobby had relayed to him we’re not, we don’t have the assets to do it, it’s not secure, we’re going back to the West Wing, the president had a very strong, a very angry response to that,” Hutchinson said, referring to Robert Engel, who led Trump’s security details and was in the presidential vehicle at the time of the episode.

Hutchinson said Trump then attempted to grab the steering wheel in his vehicle when he was told he would not be joining his supporters at the Capitol following his speech on the Ellipse.

Hutchinson said he heard about the incident from Engel and White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato.

Trump denied lunging at the Secret Service on Jan. 6 in an interview with Newsmax following Hutchinson’s hearing.

“She said I jumped from a car and started strangling — think of this — started strangling a Secret Service agent who I know very well,” Trump said. “Who would do that? I would grab a Secret Service person by the throat?”

Multiple outlets also reported after the hearing that Engel and the driver of the vehicle were willing to testify that they were not assaulted by Trump, and that the ex-president did not attempt to take hold of the steering wheel.

The committee also presented previous testimony on Thursday from a former Trump White House employee, who was with Ornato and Engel after the violence began unfolding on television.

The employee told the committee that Ornato “expressed to me that the president was irate” when Engel refused to take him to the Capitol, according to a transcript of the individual’s interview.

Source: TEST FEED1

Dramatic testimony: Pence security detail feared for lives during riot

The Jan. 6 committee on Thursday released previously unheard radio chatter among Secret Service officers on Mike Pence’s security detail as they frantically weighed whether they could safely move the then-vice president to a secure location as rioters invaded the capitol.

The audio, played over footage of rioters entering the Capitol, shed new light on how concerned Secret Service was about the vice president’s safety, as well as their own.

“If we lose any more time, we may … lose the ability to leave. So, if we’re going to leave, we need to do it now,” one Secret Service agent said in a radio transmission.

As other agents relayed the location of rioters, one official asked if they would encounter rioters if they tried to move Pence to a secure location in the Capitol.

The White House National Security Council was listening to the radio conversations in real time and commenting in a chat log. One national security official wrote at 2:24 p.m.: “Service at the capitol does not sound good right now.”

The committee interviewed an anonymous White House security official, who told the panel that the message was reflective of how panicked Secret Service appeared to be at the time, and that some were fearing for their lives.

“There was a lot of yelling. A lot of very personal calls over the radio, so it was disturbing. I don’t like talking about it, but there were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on, so forth,” the anonymous official said in audio played Thursday.

“I think there were discussions of reinforcements coming, but again, it was just chaos, they were just yelling,” the official continued. “If they’re running out of options and they’re getting nervous — it sounds like we came very close to either Service having to use lethal options or worse.”

The committee juxtaposed the sheer panic expressed by many Secret Service agents on the ground with a tweet former President Trump sent at 2:24 p.m. — the same time security officials said Secret Service were radioing goodbye messages to their families — condemning Pence for failing to reject the election results.

“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,” Trump wrote.

Source: TEST FEED1

House GOP Conference deletes tweet attacking Sarah Matthews for testifying to Jan. 6 panel

The House Republican Conference publicly attacked Sarah Matthews, former deputy press secretary in Trump White House, for testifying before the Jan. 6 Committee – despite the fact that she is currently working as a communications director for the Republican staff on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

“Just another liar and pawn in Pelosi’s witch-hunt,” House Republicans tweeted during Thursday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, quoting another tweet from Matthews on Jan. 20, 2021 thanking former President Trump and Vice President Pence for their service and saying that it was an honor to serve in their administration.

The tweet was quickly deleted after public blowback.

Matthews offered testimony to the panel about what she saw on Jan. 6. Matthews described one tweet sent by Trump as giving a “green light” to those attacking the Capitol.

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump's daily diary went blank during Jan. 6 riot

Former President Trump remained walled off in his personal dining room watching television for roughly 2 1/2 hours on Jan. 6, the House Select panel investigating the attack said during its Thursday hearing.

The president’s daily diary contained no information about Trump’s activities between 1:21 p.m. and 4:03 p.m. that day, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said.

And a White House photographer was told she could not document Trump’s behavior that afternoon.

“The chief White House photographer wanted to take pictures because it was, in her words, ‘very important for his archives and for history,’” Luria said. “But she was told ‘no photographs.’”

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Cheney said McCarthy, lawmakers were 'scared' by rioters

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) in her opening statement at a public hearing of the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot said lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), were “scared” by the rioters who breached the Capitol that day.

“Secret Service agents protecting the vice president were exceptionally concerned about his safety and their own,” Cheney said. “Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was scared, as were others in Congress. Even those who themselves helped to provoke the violence.”

Cheney and McCarthy have openly feuded over the past year, in large part because of Cheney’s vocal criticism of former President Trump and his conduct after the 2020 election.

Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who has also been openly critical of McCarthy, noted the GOP leader’s initial public statements placing blame on Trump.

“One week after the attack, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy acknowledged the simple truth: President Trump should have acted immediately to stop the violence,” Kinzinger said.

The committee played a clip of McCarthy speaking on the House floor on Jan. 13, 2021, saying that Trump bore responsibility for the Capitol attack and should have “immediately denounced the mob.”

Cheney also noted that almost no Republicans in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6 would defend President Trump, but that soon changed.

While McCarthy originally condemned Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 riots, he quickly made amends with the former president. In late January 2021, McCarthy traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump.

McCarthy is eyeing the Speaker’s gavel should Republicans retake the House majority.

Source: TEST FEED1

Woman who threatened to shoot Pelosi on Jan. 6 sentenced to 60 days

A rioter who threatened to shoot Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “in the friggin’ brain” during the 2021 insurrection was sentenced to 60 days behind bars on Thursday.

The Department of Justice said that Dawn Bancroft has been sentenced to 60 days incarceration, and will be on probation for three years.

Bancroft will also have to complete 100 hours community service and pay $500 in restitution fees.

She previously pleaded guilty in September 2021 to a misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

In the arrest warrant, the DOJ noted that Bancroft was arrested after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received a tip with a “selfie” video which showed Bancroft and her friend Diana Santos-Smith attempting to exit the U.S. Capitol building.

The video showed Bancroft saying, “We broke into the Capitol. … We got inside, we did our part.” She then continued, “We were looking for Nancy [Pelosi] to shoot her in the friggin’ brain but we didn’t find her.”

According to an FBI affidavit, Bancroft estimated that she stayed inside the Capitol Building for approximately 20-30 seconds before deciding to exit.

On the day of the riots, a group of former President Trump’s supporters broke into the building and broke windows, wandered the hallways and vandalized offices in the building. One man was photographed in a chair in Pelosi’s office, and another man was seen carrying the Speaker’s lectern in the building. 

As of July, the DOJ said it has arrested 855 people so far in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riots, with those arrested coming from nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The department added that in the 18 months since the insurrection, approximately 263 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 90 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.

Source: TEST FEED1

Cheney says Jan. 6 panel will hold more hearings in September

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) announced on Thursday that the Jan. 6 select committee will hold additional hearings in September.

Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, announced the additional upcoming presentations at Thursday’s prime-time hearing, asserting that the panel has “considerably more to do.”

“In the course of these hearings we have received new evidence, and new witnesses have bravely stepped forward. Efforts to litigate and overcome immunity and executive privilege claims have been successful, and those continue. Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued, and the dam has begun to break,” Cheney said.

“And now, even as we conduct our ninth hearing, we have considerably more to do. We have far more evidence to share with the American people, and more to gather. So our committee will spend August pursuing emerging information on multiple fronts before convening further hearings this September,” she added.

The announcement is not a surprise. The panel has said it is coming up with more information, and some had described the prime-time hearing on Thursday night as a season finale of sorts.

New hearings later in August or September would follow Cheney’s own primary contest in Wyoming, where she is an underdog to a Trump-backed GOP rival.

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump questions Pence’s Jan. 6 actions, electoral count reform bill ahead of dueling Arizona rallies

Former President Trump reiterated his view that former Vice President Mike Pence could have refused to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election as the pair are set to hold events backing opposing candidates in a contested GOP Arizona gubernatorial primary. 

Trump said in a statement from his Save America PAC that Pence told him he did not have the power to reject votes from the Electoral College. The former president questioned why, if that were the case, “Democrats and RINOs,” meaning Republicans in name only, are working to pass a bill to make clear that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in counting the results of a presidential election. 

A bipartisan group of senators unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would make clear that the vice president does not have the power to overturn election results, reforming the Electoral Count Act of 1887. 

The act was originally passed in the aftermath of the contested presidential election of 1876, during which several states submitted multiple slates of electors, signaling different winners in each state. A commission eventually selected a winner after Congress was deadlocked. 

Legislators have expressed concerns that the language of the Electoral Count Act is too vague, which allowed Trump to attempt to exploit the law to try to stop Biden from taking office.

“This was a major event, because everybody ganged up and said that Mike had no choice, he could not send the slates back to the States (which is all I suggested he do) for possible retabulation and correction based on largescale Voter Fraud and Irregularities,” Trump said. 

Trump said Pence sending certain electoral slates back to states could have been an “Election-changing event,” and the country “would have been a different place!” 

Trump has repeatedly criticized Pence for refusing to attempt to overturn the results of the election. 

His most recent attack comes ahead of dueling rallies from Trump and Pence scheduled for this weekend. Pence will be campaigning for Karrin Taylor Robson, whom he endorsed in the Arizona gubernatorial race, while Trump campaigns for his endorsed candidate, Kari Lake.

Source: TEST FEED1

Mississippi school board removes policy barring people with guns on school campuses

The Mississippi Board of Education voted Thursday to repeal a policy barring guns in state public schools in order to comply with the state’s enhanced-carry law.

The Board voted to repeal a 1990 policy prohibiting “the possession of pistols, firearms, or weapons in any form by any person other than duly authorized law enforcement officials on school premises or at school functions.”

The Board ruled that the policy, which last underwent revisions in December 2015, conflicted with Mississippi’s 2011 enhanced-carry law, which authorizes individuals with the enhanced license to enter areas where those with a standard license cannot, including “any elementary or secondary school facility” and “any school, college or professional athletic event not related to firearms.”

The temporary policy requires “each local school district (to) have a policy concerning weapons on school premises.”

The Mississippi Free Press was the first to report on the Board ruling.

General Counsel Erin Meyer referred to an opinion issued in 2013 by then-Attorney General Jim Hood (D), which said that an individual with an enhanced concealed carry permit may carry a concealed weapon on a Mississippi public school campus. He noted that schools “may restrict individuals to parts of the campus generally open to the public.”

During the Board meeting Thursday, Meyer said the 1990 policy “predates any notable school shootings or the adoption of our enhanced carry permits.”

“This rule currently conflicts with Mississippi’s enhanced carry statutes, so the enhanced carry statute authorizes individuals who have the proper certification to carry weapons in certain areas that are enumerated in statutes,” she said. “That includes elementary and secondary school facilities, so our policy is currently in conflict with that. State board policies can’t prohibit something that is authorized in law.”

When asked if educators would be allowed to have weapons on campus, Meyer said the revision puts the decision on restrictions related to weapons on campus into the hands of the local districts.

Brian McGarity, Director of the Department of Education Office of Safe and Orderly Schools, also spoke at the Board meeting. McGarity said he and other school officials have also held discussions to enhance school safety in the state, and aim to hold such discussions monthly. He said the talks will ensure that those allowed to carry weapons on campus “are held accountable.”

Source: TEST FEED1