We’ve now seen eight televised hearings that have made abundantly clear that the deadly insurrection that took place on 6th January 2021 was not a “tourist visit” that got out of hand.
It was not “legitimate political discourse.”
It was a premeditated “self-coup,” orchestrated and incited by Trump himself in a desperate attempt to cling to power after being comprehensively beaten by Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
It’s also clear that, beyond the heavily armed and highly organized members of the “seditious conspiracy” itself, the majority of the mob were simply deluded rats going wherever their Pied Piper led them.
The testimony of convicted rioter Stephen Ayres sums up the cult-like mindset of Trump’s mob.
In his own words:
Before January 6th: “I was hanging on every word he was saying. Every word he was putting out, I was following it.”
On January 6th: “We didn’t actually plan to go down (to the Capitol). You know, we went basically to see the Stop the Steal rally and that was it…. the President got everybody riled up and told everybody to head on down. So we basically was just following what he said.”
During the riot: “As soon as (Trump’s 4:17 PM video) come out, everybody started talking about it. And that’s—it seemed like it started to disperse.”
The painstaking work of the January 6th Committee has brought the timeline of Trump’s attempted coup into sharp focus.
Trump attacked Mike Pence on Twitter at 2:24 PM
Much has been made of Trump’s decision to “pour gasoline on the fire” by attacking his Vice President Mike Pence by tweet.
As the mob pushed forward and smoke was seen within the Capitol, Pence’s own Secret Service detail feared for their lives.
Two minutes after Trump’s tweet, Pence and his terrified family made a hurried escape.
Twenty minutes after Trump’s tweet, Ashli Babbitt was shot dead
We know Trump incited the Capitol invasion. He got excited watching it on television. He told the White House photographer to stop taking pictures so he could enjoy the show. And, even though his advisers begged him to call off his mob, he refused.
As NPR reports:
Kinzinger noted that between 1:49 and 2:24… “staff repeatedly came into the room to see him and plead that he make a strong public statement condemning the violence and instructing the mob to leave the Capitol.”
The panel shared video testimony from top advisers and his children imploring Trump to call off the attack.
The hearings have definitively explained how Trump’s 2:24 PM tweet increased the mortal danger Mike Pence faced.
But it wasn’t until I saw this from @RSchooley yesterday that it truly sunk in: Trump’s tweet didn’t just put Mike Pence in jeopardy. It caused Ashli Babbitt’s death.
Of course, Trump knew from the moment Ashli Babbitt was killed that he was responsible for her death. He couldn’t have been any more responsible if he had taken out a gun on Fifth Avenue and shot her himself.
That’s why, in typical deflection mode, the psychopath Trump repeatedly smeared the Capitol Police officer who shot Babbitt as a “murderer” and a “disgrace.”
It’s why he’s elevated Babbitt’s status as a “MAGA martyr” and even recorded a video for what would have been her 36th birthday.
Trump’s “complete dereliction of duty” killed Ashli Babbitt
Trump’s duty as America’s President—his sworn oath of office—compelled him to act the moment domestic terrorists attacked the US Capitol.
Yet, for 187 minutes:
White House counsel and White House officials testified that Trump did not make any calls to the secretary of defense, the attorney general or the secretary of homeland security.
As Rep. Adam Kinzinger said in his closing statement on July 21: “Donald Trump’s conduct on January 6 was a supreme violation of his oath of office and a complete dereliction of his duty to our nation.”
As President Biden said this week: “You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-cop. You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-democracy. You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-American.”
The cop who shot Ashli Babbitt while defending the US Capitol from the Trump mob has been fully exonerated.
The man who brainwashed Ashli Babbitt with lies and conspiracy theories—the arsonist who set the fire that killed her and poured additional gasoline on that fire as it raged—he’s still at large.
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