that he was accordingly shocked and dismayed by the mayhem it caused—is squarely inconsistent with the facts.
That is evident, first and foremost, in how President Trump acted after the Capitol came under attack. While his supporters undertook a hostile occupation and ransacking of the Capitol—and after reports of gunshots and violence in the Capitol had become public on national television[1]—the President made no effort to quell the violence and destruction. Just minutes after the Sergeant at Arms announced that the Capitol had been reclaimed from the mob, and much of the destruction had occurred, he tweeted: “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.”[2] There was no denunciation of what had occurred, no urgent plea that his supporters lay down their arms, no national statement.[3] Instead, as Senator Sasse relayed from a conversation with senior White House officials, President Trump was “walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building.”[4] He was “delighted.”[5] And while the Senators were in lockdown, President Trump called one of them, not to check on his wellbeing or assess security risks, rather to encourage the Senator to object to the Electoral College vote.[6]
The President’s statements during the assault similarly confirm his intent. He tweeted multiple times, first to criticize the Vice President for not having “the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”[7] Next, still not calling for the mob to leave the Capitol, or for a massive deployment of force to retake the building, he issued two vague calls for his supporters to “stay peaceful” and “remain peaceful” despite overwhelming, public evidence that the mob was actively engaging in violence and destruction inside the Capitol.[8] And finally, well into the siege, he released a video in which he again reiterated his claims of election fraud and said that the election that was “stolen from us.” While this video included a weak call for “peace” and “law and order,” he also told his supporters—a band of whom
- ↑ CBS News (@CBSNews), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 3:56 PM), https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1346923577245896705; Rep. Elaine Luria (@RepElaineLuria), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 1:46 PM), https://twitter.com/RepElaineLuria/status/1346890833266683904.
- ↑ Twitter locks Trump’s account after he encouraged his supporters to ‘remember this day.’, N. Y. Times (Jan. 8, 2021).
- ↑ Michael Levenson, Today’s Rampage at the Capitol, as It Happened, N. Y. Times (Jan. 6, 2021).
- ↑ Andrew Prokop, Republican senator: White House aides say Trump was “delighted” as Capitol was stormed, Vox (Jan. 8, 2021).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Sunlen Serfaty et al., As riot raged at Capitol, Trump tried to call senators to overturn election, CNN (Jan. 8, 2021).
- ↑ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 2:24 PM) (online and searchable at http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/archive).
- ↑ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 2:38 PM); Id. at (Jan. 6, 2021, 3:13 PM) (online and searchable at http://www.trumptwitterarchive.com/archive).
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