In December 2020, after then-Attorney General William Barr publicly refuted President Donald Trump\u2019s claims that the election was rigged, White House staffers drafted a press release that would\u2019ve called for the firing of anyone who disagreed with Trump\u2019s claims, according to a new transcript from the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021.<\/p>\n
The draft statement ended with, \u201cAnybody that thinks there wasn\u2019t massive fraud in 2020 election should be fired,\u201d according to the deposition.<\/p>\n
The draft statement \u2013 which was never sent out, and hadn\u2019t been revealed before Friday \u2013 was brought up during the committee\u2019s deposition of Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, according to the transcript. Congressional investigators told him that they likely obtained the statement from the National Archives, which turned over documents from the Trump White House.<\/p>\n
The committee also said during the Cipollone interview that White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson previously testified that Mark Meadows gave her the draft statement \u2013 which was a handwritten note \u2013 after an Oval Office meeting on the same day Barr made his public comments refuting Trump. It appears that the statement didn\u2019t explicitly name Barr.<\/p>\n
The committee claimed that Hutchinson testified that she was instructed by Meadows to seek Cipollone\u2019s approval before the statement was posted on social media. The committee said Hutchinson testified that Cipollone\u2019s response was, \u201cGod, no.\u201d Cipollone said he had no recollection of the draft statement or the episode.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the way, I wasn\u2019t fired,\u201d Cipollone quipped to the committee.
\nTrump\u2019s transportation secretary: \u201cI wish he had acted differently\u201d on January 6
\nElaine Chao, who served as Trump\u2019s transportation secretary, said she had no recollection of discussing the 25th Amendment after the insurrection, according to a transcript of her deposition with the January 6 committee released Friday.<\/p>\n
Asked by congressional investigators if she had concerns about Trump\u2019s mental fitness, Chao said that she didn\u2019t go to many White House meetings by the end of Trump\u2019s tenure. Chao was careful not to be too critical of Trump in her interview. She said she had not met with him in some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy that time, I did not have personal contact with him,\u201d Chao said. \u201cI did not go to the White House, there were no meetings, so I hadn\u2019t been in close proximity to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chao, who resigned on January 6, said she stepped down once she realized \u201cthe full ramifications of the actions that were taken by some people and the results that occurred.\u201d Asked about Trump\u2019s conduct that day, she said: \u201cI wish he had acted differently.\u201d
\nAsked about the inner workings of the Trump White House, and who he trusted among his aides and advisers, Chao said, \u201cI\u2019m not so sure he trusted anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chao said she does not remember talking to other cabinet members that day \u2013 even though Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia told the committee he spoke with her.<\/p>\n
Ivanka Trump turned over texts to Jan. 6 panel, transcript reveals
\nIvanka Trump, who served as senior White House adviser to her father, handed over text messages to the January 6 committee, a newly released transcript of her testimony reveals.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t previously known that she provided text messages to the panel, though video clips from her April deposition were featured during the committee\u2019s public hearings this summer.<\/p>\n
The content of the texts messages remains unclear.<\/p>\n
The committee\u2019s line of questioning did not delve into the contents of her texts, but instead veered into her father\u2019s cell phone habits, including whether he ever sent and received text messages. Ivanka Trump said she \u201cnever\u201d exchanged texts with her father on \u201cany device.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, this is the latest example of how the committee obtained a wealth of evidence, including materials that weren\u2019t previously known.<\/p>\n
Trump and allies thought he couldn\u2019t have lost because of his large rallies, transcript shows
\nSidney Powell, a conspiracy-peddling attorney who helped Trump\u2019s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, said Trump and his allies believed he couldn\u2019t have lost because of his large \u201crallies\u201d and \u201ccommon sense,\u201d according to a transcript of her deposition to the January 6 committee released Friday.<\/p>\n
She said that was the consensus in the room at a White House meeting that she attended with Trump, just a few days after the election. She told the committee that Trump\u2019s then-attorney Rudy Giuliani was also there along with White House aides, according to the transcript.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to know the truth,\u201d Powell said, referring to Trump. \u201cAnd our general consensus was that the vast majority of people had poured out in support of the President. The rallies indicated that. All the information that we had indicated that. And the numbers that we saw on election night simply didn\u2019t jibe with common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also claimed \u201cmath geniuses\u201d reached out to her to tell her that Joe Biden\u2019s victory was statistically impossible.<\/p>\n
The testimony shows just how paper-thin the fraud theories emanating from Trump\u2019s orbit actually were.<\/p>\n
Despite her assertions, there is no evidence that the outcome of the 2020 election was tainted by widespread fraud or vote-rigging. Many of the conspiracies Powell has promoted about the election have been thoroughly debunked.<\/p>\n
During the presidential transition, Trump nearly appointed Powell as a special counsel to use the powers of the federal government to investigate her baseless voter fraud theories. Senior White House officials and attorneys vehemently opposed that idea and it never ended up happening.<\/p>\n
Cipollone told the January 6 committee that it \u201cwould have been a disaster\u201d if Trump made Powell a special counsel, according to a transcript of his deposition.<\/p>\n