State and local officials to undo the will of the people. His campaign convened fake electors on the baseless pretense that former Vice President Biden won several States due to fraud or other malfeasance. The President tried to subvert the Department of Justice by browbeating its leadership to endorse his election lies. And when the DOJ's senior personnel did not acquiesce, President Trump sought to install a loyalist who would.
When all those efforts failed, President Trump betrayed his own Vice President. He pressured Vice President Pence to obstruct the joint session of Congress on January 6th, falsely claiming that he had the power to refuse to count certain electoral votes. President Trump knew this was illegal but attempted to justify it with lies about the election.
On December 19, 2020, President Trump summoned a mob to Washington, DC on the same day that Congress was set to certify former Vice President Biden's victory by claiming the election was stolen and promising a "wild" protest.[315]
And the bogus stolen election claim was the focus of President Trump's speech on January 6th. The litany of lies he told riled up a mob that would march to the U.S. Capitol to intimidate Vice President Pence and Members of Congress.
"And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," President Trump told the crowd.[316] He incited them with these words just after praising his own election night lie—the Big Lie.
President Trump told his followers to "fight" to "save" their country from a bogus specter of supposed election fraud.[317] And many of them did.
ENDNOTES
- ↑ “Donald Trump 2020 Election Night Speech Transcript,” Rev, (Nov. 4, 2020), available at https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-2020-election-night-speechtranscript.
- ↑ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Transcribed Interview of William Stepien, (Feb. 10, 2022), pp. 54, 60.
- ↑ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Jason Miller, (Feb. 3, 2022), pp. 74-75.
- ↑ Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Deposition of Jason Miller, (Feb. 3, 2022), pp. 75, 78.
- ↑ Documents on file with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol (National Archives Production), 076P-R000010020_0001 (Email chain between Tom Fitton and Molly Michael, starting on October 31, 2020, and ending on November 3, 2020, discussing a draft victory statement for President Trump).
- ↑ We note that Bannon refused to testify and has been convicted of criminal contempt by a jury of his peers. See "Stephen K. Bannon Sentenced to Four Months in Prison on Two Counts of Contempt of Congress," Department of Justice, (Oct. 21, 2022), available at
