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In December 2020, after then-Attorney General William Barr publicly refuted President Donald Trump’s claims that the election was rigged, White House staffers drafted a press launch that may’ve referred to as for the firing of anybody who disagreed with Trump’s claims, in accordance with a brand new transcript from the House choose committee investigating January 6, 2021.
The draft assertion ended with, “Anybody that thinks there wasn’t massive fraud in 2020 election should be fired,” in accordance with the deposition.
The draft assertion – which was by no means despatched out, and hadn’t been revealed earlier than Friday – was introduced up in the course of the committee’s deposition of Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, in accordance with the transcript. Congressional investigators informed him that they probably obtained the assertion from the National Archives, which turned over paperwork from the Trump White House.
The committee additionally mentioned in the course of the Cipollone interview that White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson beforehand testified that Mark Meadows gave her the draft assertion – which was a handwritten word – after an Oval Office assembly on the identical day Barr made his public feedback refuting Trump. It seems that the assertion didn’t explicitly identify Barr.
The committee claimed that Hutchinson testified that she was instructed by Meadows to hunt Cipollone’s approval earlier than the assertion was posted on social media. The committee mentioned Hutchinson testified that Cipollone’s response was, “God, no.” Cipollone mentioned he had no recollection of the draft assertion or the episode.
“By the way, I wasn’t fired,” Cipollone quipped to the committee.
The Cipollone deposition is one in every of practically 50 extra transcripts launched Friday night time by the January 6 committee. The newest batch contained interviews with key witnesses, together with Trump White House insiders and legal professionals who labored for the Trump marketing campaign.
Elaine Chao, who served as Trump’s transportation secretary, mentioned she had no recollection of discussing the twenty fifth Amendment after the riot, in accordance with a transcript of her deposition with the January 6 committee launched Friday.
Asked by congressional investigators if she had considerations about Trump’s psychological health, Chao mentioned that she didn’t go to many White House conferences by the tip of Trump’s tenure. Chao was cautious to not be too crucial of Trump in her interview. She mentioned she had not met with him in a while.
“By that time, I did not have personal contact with him,” Chao mentioned. “I did not go to the White House, there were no meetings, so I hadn’t been in close proximity to him.”
Chao, who resigned on January 6, mentioned she stepped down as soon as she realized “the full ramifications of the actions that were taken by some people and the results that occurred.” Asked about Trump’s conduct that day, she mentioned: “I wish he had acted differently.”
Asked concerning the interior workings of the Trump White House, and who he trusted amongst his aides and advisers, Chao mentioned, “I’m not so sure he trusted anyone.”
Chao mentioned she doesn’t bear in mind speaking to different cupboard members that day – although Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia informed the committee he spoke together with her.
Ivanka Trump, who served as senior White House adviser to her father, handed over textual content messages to the January 6 committee, a newly launched transcript of her testimony reveals.
It wasn’t beforehand recognized that she supplied textual content messages to the panel, although video clips from her April deposition have been featured in the course of the committee’s public hearings this summer time.
The content material of the texts messages stays unclear.
The committee’s line of questioning didn’t delve into the contents of her texts, however as an alternative veered into her father’s mobile phone habits, together with whether or not he ever despatched and obtained textual content messages. Ivanka Trump mentioned she “never” exchanged texts together with her father on “any device.”
Still, that is the newest instance of how the committee obtained a wealth of proof, together with supplies that weren’t beforehand recognized.
Sidney Powell, a conspiracy-peddling legal professional who helped Trump’s makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, mentioned Trump and his allies believed he couldn’t have misplaced due to his giant “rallies” and “common sense,” in accordance with a transcript of her deposition to the January 6 committee launched Friday.
She mentioned that was the consensus within the room at a White House assembly that she attended with Trump, just some days after the election. She informed the committee that Trump’s then-attorney Rudy Giuliani was additionally there together with White House aides, in accordance with the transcript.
“He wanted to know the truth,” Powell mentioned, referring to Trump. “And our general consensus was that the vast majority of people had poured out in support of the President. The rallies indicated that. All the information that we had indicated that. And the numbers that we saw on election night simply didn’t jibe with common sense.”
She additionally claimed “math geniuses” reached out to her to inform her that Joe Biden’s victory was statistically not possible.
The testimony exhibits simply how paper-thin the fraud theories emanating from Trump’s orbit truly have been.
Despite her assertions, there is no such thing as a proof that the result of the 2020 election was tainted by widespread fraud or vote-rigging. Many of the conspiracies Powell has promoted concerning the election have been completely debunked.
During the presidential transition, Trump practically appointed Powell as a particular counsel to make use of the powers of the federal authorities to analyze her baseless voter fraud theories. Senior White House officers and attorneys vehemently opposed that concept and it by no means ended up taking place.
Cipollone informed the January 6 committee that it “would have been a disaster” if Trump made Powell a particular counsel, in accordance with a transcript of his deposition.