Page:Trial Memorandum of the United States House of Representatives in the Second Impeachment Trial of President Donald John Trump.pdf/21

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explicit warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and start a “war.”[1] District of Columbia police made several protest-related arrests on January 4 and 5, including for weapons charges and assaulting a police officer. The arrests were widely publicized and included the leader of the Proud Boys, who was arrested with high capacity firearms magazines, which he claimed were meant to be supplied to another rally attendant.[2]

In all these ways—and more, as we will show at trial—President Trump created a powder keg on January 6. Hundreds were prepared for violence at his direction. They were prepared to do whatever it took to keep him in power. All they needed to hear was that their President needed them to “fight like hell.” All they needed was for President Trump to strike a match.

C. Vice President Pence Refuses to Overturn the Election Results

By the time the rally began, President Trump had nearly run out of options. He had only one card left to play: his Vice President. But in an act that President Trump saw as an unforgivable betrayal, Vice President Pence refused to violate his oath and constitutional duty—and, just hours later, had to be rushed from the Senate chamber to escape an armed mob seeking vengeance.

In the weeks leading up to the rally, President Trump had furiously lobbied Vice President Pence to refuse to count electoral votes for President Biden from any of the swing states.[3] These demands ignored the reality that the Vice President has no constitutional or statutory authority to take that step. Over and over again, President Trump publicly declared that if Vice President Pence refused to block the Joint Session from finalizing President Biden’s victory, then the election, the


  1. ↑ Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky, FBI Report Warned Of ‘War’ At Capitol, Contradicting Claims There Was No Indication Of Looming Violence, Washington Post (Jan. 12, 2021).
  2. ↑ Jennifer Steinhauer et al., Leader of Proud Boys, a Far-Right Group, Is Arrested as D.C. Braces for Protests, N.Y. Times (Jan. 4, 2021); Peter Hermann & Keith Alexander, Proud Boys Leader Barred From District By Judge Following His Arrest, Wash. Post (Jan. 5, 2021).
  3. ↑ Jonathan Swan, Zachary Basu, Off the Rails Episode 7: Trump Turns on Pence, Axios (Jan. 20, 2021).
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