further obstruct the Electoral College vote count.[1] In fact, there is no evidence that President Trump called Vice President Pence, Speaker Pelosi or Senator Chuck Grassley—the first three in the line of succession—or anyone else in the Capitol to check on their safety during the attack.
Recognizing President Trump’s singular responsibility for the assault, as well as his unique ability to both provoke and quell the riotous mob, Members of the House and Senate from both parties urged the President to intervene.[2] This occurred both publicly and privately. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy confirmed that he had “talked to the President” on the telephone and said: “I think we need to make a statement. Make sure that we can calm individuals down.”[3] Republican Representative Mike Gallagher tweeted, “Mr. President. You have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off.”[4] Mick Mulvaney, the President’s former Acting Chief of Staff, tweeted that President Trump “can stop this now and needs to do exactly that. Tell these folks to go home.”[5] Even the President’s own Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, was prompted to speak to him after aides bluntly insisted on it: “They are going to kill people.”[6]
But the President did not take any action at all in response to the attack until 2:38 PM, when he issued his first tweet, and 3:13 PM, when he issued a second. These tweets told his followers to “support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement … Stay peaceful!”[7] and “ask[ed] everyone at the
- ↑ Sunlen Serfaty et al., As Riot Raged at Capitol, Trump Tried to Call Senators to Overturn Election, CNN (Jan. 8,2021).
- ↑ See e.g., Ashley Parker et al., Six Hours of Paralysis: Inside Trump’s Failure to Act after a Mob Stormed the Capitol, Wash. Post (Jan. 11, 2021); Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 3:55 PM).
- ↑ Associated Press, Trump Doesn’t Ask Backers to Disperse after Storming Capitol, PBS (Jan. 6, 2021); see also Chris Christie says Trump Should Tell Protesters to Leave Capitol, ABC News (Jan. 6, 2021).
- ↑ Editorial, Mike Gallagher Is Right: ‘Call It Off, Mr. President’, Wisconsin State Journal (Jan. 6, 2021).
- ↑ Mick Mulvaney (@MickMulvaney), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 3:01 PM).
- ↑ Ashley Parker et al., Six Hours of Paralysis: Inside Trump’s Failure to Act after a Mob Stormed the Capitol, Wash. Post (Jan. 11, 2021).
- ↑ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 2:38 PM).
