An image of former President Donald Trump appears on video screens before his speech to supporters from the Ellipse at the White House.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The January 6 Committee’s Thursday hearing will focus on Trump’s actions as the riot unfolded.
The panel will recreate that day and fill in gaps with records and testimony from former aides.
Here’s what we know about Trump’s actions and activities as his supporters breached the Capitol.
The January 6 Committee’s eighth primetime hearing on Thursday will zero in on President Donald Trump’s actions— and refusal to act — during the 187 minutes that his supporters violently breached the US Capitol before he recorded a video urging them to “go home.”
Details of how the riots played out from within the White House are fuzzy due to the White House’s shoddy record-keeping practices and the absence of Trump’s then-executive assistant Molly Michael on January 6. But the Committee is seeking to fill in the gaps with records and testimony from then-White House aides.
Two former White House officials, deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger and deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, will testify publicly. The panel will also feature clips of closed-door testimony from other aides.
White House phone records obtained by the Committee and reported on by the Washington Post and CBS also provide a detailed accounting of Trump’s many phone calls to aides, lawyers, and members of Congress before and after the riots.
But the phone records contain a nearly seven-hour gap between 11:17 a.m. and 6:54 p.m., a crucial period of time during which Trump spoke at a rally urging attendees to protest the certification of electoral votes, pressured Vice President Mike Pence, and watched the siege on the Capitol unfold on television from his private dining room off the Oval Office, according to aides.
Here’s a timeline of what we know about Trump’s actions as the riot unfolded, according to the White House daily diary from January 6 and the Trump Twitter Archive:
11:38 a.m.: Trump goes to the South Grounds of the White House. 11:39 a.m. to 11:41 a.m.: Trump travels to the Ellipse in his motorcade. 11:55 a.m.: Trump takes the stage at the “Save America Rally.” 12:oo p.m. to 1:12 p.m.: Trump speaks at the rally, where he repeats his lies about the 2020 election being stolen and urges his supporters to “fight like hell.” 1:19 p.m.: Trump returns to the White House from the Ellipse.1:21 p.m.: Trump meets with his valet. 2:24 p.m.: After rioters breach the Capitol, Trump tweets: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”2:38 p.m.: Trump tweets: “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”3:13 p.m.: Trump tweets: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”4:03 p.m.: Trump goes to the Rose Garden to film a video message again repeating his lies that the election was “stolen” and urging his supporters to “go home” saying, “we love you, you’re very special.” 4:07 p.m.: Trump returns to the Oval Office. 4:17 p.m.: Trump tweets out his video. Twitter subsequently takes down the video. 6:01 p.m.: Trump tweets: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”‘6:27 p.m.: Trump goes to the second-floor residence.