Biden says Jan 6 hearings will ‘occupy the country’ as Trump calls it ‘unselect Committee of political thugs’
The Trump family, including the former president, have so far remained silent on social media during the first January 6 committee hearing. But that changed. Earlier on Thursday, June 9 ahead of the public hearing, Donald J Trump slammed the panel and said in a series of statements on his Truth Social account arguing the real investigation should have been on the "rigged and stolen" election and not on the riot at the Capitol.
"The Unselect Committee didn't spend one minute studying the reason that people went to Washington, D.C., in massive numbers, far greater than the Fake News Media is willing to report, or that the Unselects are willing to even mention, because January 6th was simply not a protest," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "It represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again." "It was about an Election that was Rigged and Stolen, and a country that was about to go to HELL...& look at our Country now!" the former president said. He was referencing the false claim that the 2020 election result was rigged.
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During the House select committee public hearing, unseen footage of members of the Proud Boys at the Capitol riot was played. The explicit footage included scenes of the January 6 US Capitol riot attack, including Trump's speech near the Capitol grounds and the certification of the 2020 election results by members of Congress that were happening that day. In Trump's speech, he is heard pressuring his then vice-president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify the election results. A tweet in which Trump pointedly criticizes Pence for failing to do so is played over a video of rioters chanting "hang Mike Pence".
Ahead of the public hearing Trump also claimed that he was willing to deploy the nation's strongest law enforcement resources but was declined by Democrat leaders. "The Unselect Committee has now learned that I, as President, suggested & offered up to 20,000 National Guard, or troops, be deployed in D.C. because it was felt that the crowd was going to be very large," Trump said on Truth Social.
"Crazy Nancy Pelosi turned down the offer, she didn't like the way it looked. Likewise, the Mayor of D.C. Had they taken up the offer, there would have been no January 6th," he said. The former president also undermined the investigation by linking it to the Robert Mueller probe—which did not find collusion between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.
"The Unselect Committee of political Thugs, essentially the same group who brought you the now fully debunked and discredited RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX (and many others!), refused to study and report on the massive amounts of irrefutable evidence, much of it recently produced, that shows the 2020 Presidential Election was Rigged and Stolen," Trump wrote. "They want NOTHING to do with that topic because they cannot win on the facts. CANCEL & DENY, call it 'THE BIG LIE,' is all they can do. Corrupt Politicians!" Trump said. "The Unselects have ruled Pelosi 'off limits, no questions.' The hearing is another political HOAX to counter inflation etc.," he wrote in another post.
President Joe Biden too had something to say about the Jan 6 hearings. During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the ninth annual Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, Biden said the Capitol riot on Jan 6, 2021, was “a flagrant violation of the Constitution”. “One of the things that will be occupying my country tonight, I suspect, is the first open hearings on January 6 and as I said when it was occurring and subsequent, I think it was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution", the president said.
“I think these guys and women broke the law and tried to turn around the result of the election,” he added. “There’s a lot of questions about who is responsible and who is involved. I’m not going to make a judgment on that." He further claimed that the hearing will be showcasing some details of the event to the public for the first time.
However, ahead of the hearing, Republicans appeared on the network to dismiss the panel's work. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, argued that the hearing "is about trying to blame President Trump in a fashion to change the outcome of midterms” - a reference to elections taking place in November that will determine control of Congress.