Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Jan. 6 Panel Is Told Trump Was 'Detached From Reality' of Defeat
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 years ago on
June 14, 2022

Share

 

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s closest campaign advisers, top government officials, and even his family were dismantling his false claims of 2020 election fraud ahead of Jan. 6, but the defeated president seemed “detached from reality” and kept clinging to outlandish theories to stay in power, the committee investigating the Capitol attack was told Monday.

Son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to steer Trump away from Giuliani and his far-flung theories of voter fraud. The president would have none of it.

With gripping testimony, the panel is laying out in step-by-step fashion how Trump ignored his own campaign team’s data as one state after another flipped to Joe Biden, and instead latched on to conspiracy theories, court cases, and his own declarations of victory rather than having to admit defeat.

Trump’s “big lie” of election fraud escalated and transformed into marching orders that summoned supporters to Washington and then sent them to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to block Biden’s victory.

“He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff,” former Attorney General William Barr testified in his interview with the committee.

Barr called the voter fraud claims “bull——,” “bogus” and “idiotic,” and resigned in the aftermath. “I didn’t want to be a part of it.”

The Giuliani Factor

The House 1/6 committee spent the morning hearing delving into Trump’s claims of election fraud and the countless ways those around him tried to convince the defeated Republican president they were not true, and he had simply lost the election.

The witnesses Monday, mostly Republicans and many testifying in prerecorded videos, described in blunt terms and sometimes exasperated detail how Trump refused to take the advice of those closest to him, including his family members. As the people around him splintered into a “team normal” headed by former campaign manager Bill Stepien and others led by Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani, the president chose his side.

On election night, Stepien said, Trump was “growing increasingly unhappy” and refusing to accept the grim outlook for his presidency.

Son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to steer Trump away from Giuliani and his far-flung theories of voter fraud. The president would have none of it.

The back-and-forth intensified in the run-up to Jan. 6. Former Justice Department official Richard Donoghue recalled breaking down one claim after another — from a truckload of ballots in Pennsylvania to a missing suitcase of ballots in Georgia —- and telling Trump “much of the info you’re getting is false.”

Still, he pressed on with his false claims even after dozens of court cases collapsed.

Trump Blasts the Hearings

On Monday an unrepentant Trump blasted the hearings in his familiar language as “ridiculous and treasonous” and repeated his claims.

The former president, mulling another run for the White House, defended the Capitol attack as merely Americans seeking “to hold their elected officials accountable.”

Nine people died in the riot and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol police. More than 800 people have been arrested, and members of two extremist groups have been indicted on rare sedition charges over their roles in leading the charge into the Capitol.

During the hearing, the panel also provided new information about how Trump’s fundraising machine collected some $250 million with his campaigns to “Stop the Steal” and others in the aftermath of the November election, mostly from small-dollar donations from Americans. One plea for cash went out 30 minutes before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

“Not only was there the big lie, there was the big ripoff,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., opened Monday’s hearing saying Trump “betrayed the trust of the American people” and “tried to remain in office when people had voted him out.”

What Will the Attorney General Do?

As the hearings play out for the public, they are also being watched by one of the most important viewers, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. No sitting or former president has ever faced such an indictment.

“I am watching,” Garland said Monday at a press briefing at the Justice Department, even if he may not watch all the hearings live. “And I can assure you the Jan. 6 prosecutors are watching all of the hearings as well.”

Biden was getting updates but not watching “blow by blow,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Stepien was to be a key in-person witness Monday but abruptly backed out of appearing live because his wife went into labor. Stepien, who is still close to Trump, had been subpoenaed to appear. He is now a top campaign adviser to Trump-endorsed House candidate Harriet Hageman, who is challenging committee vice-chair Rep. Liz Cheney in the Wyoming Republican primary.

The panel marched ahead after a morning scramble and delay, with witness after witness saying Trump embraced and repeated his claims about the election although those closest told him the theories of stolen ballots or rigged voting machines were simply not true.

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

San Diego Added to Southwest’s Nonstop Destinations From Fresno Airport

DON'T MISS

Clovis Man Gets 27 Years to Life for Attempted Murder of Estranged Wife

DON'T MISS

$3 Million Gift Will Mean Laptops, Solar Panels, Larger Chapel for This Fresno University

DON'T MISS

Ohtani’s Ex-Interpreter Is Sentenced to 4 Years and 9 Months in Sports Betting Case

DON'T MISS

NCAA Changes Transgender Policy to Limit Women’s Competition to Athletes Assigned Female at Birth

DON'T MISS

Israel Starts Planning for Palestinians to Leave Gaza Despite International Rejection

DON'T MISS

Mayor Says Fresno Needs High-Speed Rail Despite Cost Overruns

DON'T MISS

12 States to Sue Over DOGE Access to Government Payment Systems Containing Personal Data

DON'T MISS

Irv Gotti, Music Executive Who Created Murder Inc. Records, Dies at 54

DON'T MISS

ABC30 Has a New News Director. She’s a Familiar TV Face.

UP NEXT

Clovis Man Gets 27 Years to Life for Attempted Murder of Estranged Wife

UP NEXT

$3 Million Gift Will Mean Laptops, Solar Panels, Larger Chapel for This Fresno University

UP NEXT

Ohtani’s Ex-Interpreter Is Sentenced to 4 Years and 9 Months in Sports Betting Case

UP NEXT

NCAA Changes Transgender Policy to Limit Women’s Competition to Athletes Assigned Female at Birth

UP NEXT

Israel Starts Planning for Palestinians to Leave Gaza Despite International Rejection

UP NEXT

Mayor Says Fresno Needs High-Speed Rail Despite Cost Overruns

UP NEXT

12 States to Sue Over DOGE Access to Government Payment Systems Containing Personal Data

UP NEXT

Irv Gotti, Music Executive Who Created Murder Inc. Records, Dies at 54

UP NEXT

ABC30 Has a New News Director. She’s a Familiar TV Face.

UP NEXT

California’s EV Sales Stall. So What Happens to Landmark Mandate?

Ohtani’s Ex-Interpreter Is Sentenced to 4 Years and 9 Months in Sports Betting Case

2 hours ago

NCAA Changes Transgender Policy to Limit Women’s Competition to Athletes Assigned Female at Birth

3 hours ago

Israel Starts Planning for Palestinians to Leave Gaza Despite International Rejection

3 hours ago

Mayor Says Fresno Needs High-Speed Rail Despite Cost Overruns

3 hours ago

12 States to Sue Over DOGE Access to Government Payment Systems Containing Personal Data

3 hours ago

Irv Gotti, Music Executive Who Created Murder Inc. Records, Dies at 54

3 hours ago

ABC30 Has a New News Director. She’s a Familiar TV Face.

4 hours ago

California’s EV Sales Stall. So What Happens to Landmark Mandate?

4 hours ago

31 Arrested in Fresno Human Trafficking Operation

4 hours ago

Find Your Next Career Opportunity Today at FUSD Expo

5 hours ago

San Diego Added to Southwest’s Nonstop Destinations From Fresno Airport

Southwest Airlines added a fourth nonstop destination to routes to and from Fresno Yosemite International Airport. Beginning Oct. 2, travele...

56 minutes ago

56 minutes ago

San Diego Added to Southwest’s Nonstop Destinations From Fresno Airport

1 hour ago

Clovis Man Gets 27 Years to Life for Attempted Murder of Estranged Wife

1 hour ago

$3 Million Gift Will Mean Laptops, Solar Panels, Larger Chapel for This Fresno University

Ippei Mizuhara, former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers baseball star Shohei Ohtani arrives at federal court for bank and tax fraud sentencing on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Santa Ana, Calif. (AP/Damian Dovarganes)
2 hours ago

Ohtani’s Ex-Interpreter Is Sentenced to 4 Years and 9 Months in Sports Betting Case

The San Jose State University Spartans line up for the playing of the national anthem and player introductions for their NCAA Mountain West women's volleyball game against the Colorado State University Rams in Fort Collins, Colo., on Oct. 3, 2024. (AP File)
3 hours ago

NCAA Changes Transgender Policy to Limit Women’s Competition to Athletes Assigned Female at Birth

3 hours ago

Israel Starts Planning for Palestinians to Leave Gaza Despite International Rejection

3 hours ago

Mayor Says Fresno Needs High-Speed Rail Despite Cost Overruns

3 hours ago

12 States to Sue Over DOGE Access to Government Payment Systems Containing Personal Data

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend