Trump did not want to tweet 'stay peaceful' during January 6 riot, key ...

(CNN) A former Trump White House official said then-President Donald Trump initially refused to tweet the words "stay peaceful" as the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was escalating.

As a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and sent lawmakers scrambling for their lives, Trump tweeted at 2:38 p.m. ET that day: "Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!" The tweet came 20 minutes after Trump supporters were smashing through windows and evacuations of lawmakers had begun.

The former official, who was working in the West Wing and was close to White House messaging during the insurrection, said Trump did not want to include the words "stay peaceful" and was "very reluctant to put out anything when it was unfolding." Trump was "letting it play out," the official said of the violence at the Capitol.

Top Trump aides -- including the then-President's daughter, Ivanka, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows -- were pleading with Trump to call off the mob, the ex-aide said. Those officials eventually convinced Trump to include the "stay peaceful" message in the tweet about the Capitol Police, the former aide added.

A Trump spokesperson denied that Trump resisted including the "stay peaceful" message in the tweet.

Read More

Replay: Jan. 6 committee on Donald Trump's response to capitol ...

WASHINGTON – The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol chronicled at its Thursday hearing what was happening in Congress and at the White House during the 187 minutes between then-President Donald Trump’s fiery speech and his video encouraging the mob to go home.

Committee members have argued that Trump’s lack of response was a dereliction of duty under the Constitution to protect Congress.

Here's what happened at tonight's hearing:

Trump outtakes: The committee showed a never-before-seen video of Trump's statement on the day after the Capitol riot, in which he refused to accept losing the 2020 election. "I don’t want to say the election’s over," he said.

The committee showed a never-before-seen video of Trump's statement on the day after the Capitol riot, in which he refused to accept losing the 2020 election. "I don’t want to say the election’s over," he said. Congress stood up: In never-before-seen photos and videos, the committee showed a congressional leaders, including then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, huddling in a secured location telling Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller how the building needed to be secured.

In never-before-seen photos and videos, the committee showed a congressional leaders, including then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, huddling in a secured location telling Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller how the building needed to be secured. McCarthy was 'scared': Jared Kushner, a special adviser to Trump and his son-in-law, told the committee how House Republican Leader McCarthy called and pleaded for help as his own aides were fleeing their office. "I got the sense that they were scared... that (McCarthy) was scared."

Jared Kushner, a special adviser to Trump and his son-in-law, told the committee how House Republican Leader McCarthy called and pleaded for help as his own aides were fleeing their office. "I got the sense that they were scared... that (McCarthy) was scared." Hawley fled: The committee spotlighted how lawmakers had to be evacuated to avoid the Jan. 6 mob, including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who had thrown a fist in the air in support of the protesters who were at the gates before they breached the Capitol.

The committee spotlighted how lawmakers had to be evacuated to avoid the Jan. 6 mob, including Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, who had thrown a fist in the air in support of the protesters who were at the gates before they breached the Capitol. Watching Fox News: The in-person and videotaped testimony detailed what President Trump was doing during the height of the Jan. 6 violence, and witnesses said he was mostly watching cable news, specifically Fox News, for more than two and half hours.

The in-person and videotaped testimony detailed what President Trump was doing during the height of the Jan. 6 violence, and witnesses said he was mostly watching cable news, specifically Fox News, for more than two and half hours. Thompson by remote: Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, who is the chairman of the committee, presided over Thursday’s hearing remotely after testing positive for Covid-19 this week.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi, who is the chairman of the committee, presided over Thursday’s hearing remotely after testing positive for Covid-19 this week. Witnesses back up Hutchinson: Two witnesses on Thursday supported previous testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, who said during a previous hearing how Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol with protesters. One national security aide, who was kept anonymous by the panel, said if the former president had been allowed join the rioters it would have turned into an “insurrection, coup".

Two witnesses on Thursday supported previous testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, who said during a previous hearing how Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol with protesters. One national security aide, who was kept anonymous by the panel, said if the former president had been allowed join the rioters it would have turned into an “insurrection, coup". 🏛 Why is this important?: While snippets of what happened behind-the-scenes have been revealed through testimony and evidence, there are still large gaps of the day we don't know abou.

While snippets of what happened behind-the-scenes have been revealed through testimony and evidence, there are still large gaps of the day we don't know abou. Taking the lead: The primetime hearing was led by two lawmakers who are military veterans — Democrat Elaine Luria, of Virginia, and Republican Adam Kinzinger, of Illinois — who are expected to focus in specific detail how former President Donald Trump did nothing as his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Live timeline of Trump's actions during the Capitol attack:On Jan. 6, Trump was out of public view as aides urged him to act. A breakdown of those 187 minutes.

Cheney: The Jan. 6 committee has ‘much work yet to do’

In the last remarks of Thursday’s Jan. 6 hearings, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., stressed the responsibility of the committee’s work is not lost on its members.

“Let me assure every one of you this: our committee understands the gravity of this moment. The consequences for our nation. We have much work yet to do,” Cheney said before adjourning the hearing.

“We will see you all in September,” Cheney concluded.

-- Mabinty Quarshie

Cheney: Our witnesses against Trump are all Republicans - and not delicate flowers

In her closing statement, Liz Cheney made the point that the witnesses criticizing Trump's behavior are all Republicans – and they would not change their stories even under cross-examination by the former president's backers.

Some Republicans have criticized the committee because there are no Trump defenders on it, but Cheney said that makes no difference when it comes to testimony from so many witnesses, especially the lawyers who advised the president he was acting improperly.

Former Attorney General William Barr, for example.

“Do you really think Bill Barr is such a delicate flower that he would wilt under cross examination?" Cheney said. "Pat Cipollone? Eric Herschmann? Jeff Rosen? Richard Donoghue?”

-- David Jackson

Steve Bannon predicted days before the election that Trump would declare victory no matter what

In her closing statement to the committee, Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., shared resurfaced audio of Trump ally Steve Bannon predicting Trump would say he stole the election no matter the outcome.

In audio from Oct. 31, Bannon said that “Trump’s just going to declare victory. That doesn’t mean he’s a winner.” Bannon said things would get even “crazier” if Trump lost.

“He’s gonna sit right there and say he stole it,” Bannon said. “Trump’s gonna do some crazy sh*t.”

– Katherine Swartz

Former Trump officials criticize his response to slain police officer

Two of former President Trump’s communication officials, Tim Murtaugh and Matthew Wolking, criticized his response to the attack on law enforcement, while also explaining why he didn’t condemn the violence more forcefully.

It was “sh**ty” not to have acknowledged the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, Wolking said. “That’s enraging to me. Everything he said about supporting law enforcement was a lie,” he said.

Murtaugh explained that if Trump had “acknowledged the dead cop, he’d be implicitly faulting the mob and he won’t do that because they’re his people.”

-- Candy Woodall

What they went through:Capitol police protected democracy on Jan. 6; their scars keep the day's memory ever-present

'I don't want to say the election is over:' Trump struggled to talk about Jan. 6

The committee showed outtakes of Trump rehearsing his public remarks about Jan. 6.

"I don't want to say the election is over," Trump told aides at one point, even as they urged him to do just that.

Trump has never conceded his loss to President Joe Biden.

The outtakes also showed Trump stumbling over certain words – "yesterday's a hard word for me" – and acting at times like he didn't want to give a speech at all.

-- David Jackson

Biden:Jan 6 'flagrant violation' of Constitution

Pottinger: Jan. 6 hurt America's image across the world

The attack on democracy gave countries like China, Russia, Iran, and others a unique opportunity to again criticize the United States as hypocrites, testified Matthew Pottinger, who resigned as Trump's deputy national security advisor over his behavior.

"It emboldened our enemies," Pottinger said.

-- David Jackson

What they saw:Police officers describe the Jan. 6 Capitol attack like 'a medieval battle'

Scalia urged Trump to hold Cabinet meeting following Jan. 6

Former United States Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in videotaped testimony that he had considered resigning like many other White House officials following the insurrection, but instead decided to stay on and made his top priority to urge former President Donald Trump to assemble the Cabinet.

In a memo to Trump, Scalia wrote that he believed “it is important to know that while President, you will no longer publicly question the election results.” He also urged Trump to limit the role of “certain private citizens” who he said served Trump “poorly” with their baseless stolen election claims.

While Scalia didn’t name who those private citizens were in his memo, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said in the hearing he was referencing Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and the “clown car” that had been advising him for weeks on overturning the election.

Mark Meadows did not wish to assemble the Cabinet immediately following Jan. 6 because he was concerned of how Trump would react. Meadows had told other White House officials that Trump was “very emotional, and in a bad place.”

– Katherine Swartz

Merrick Garland:Nothing to prevent investigating Trump or anyone else for Jan. 6 attack

Cipollone considered resigning but feared who would replace him

Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone considered resigning after Jan. 6 among a mass exodus of other members of the Trump administration, according to his recorded testimony.

“Did I consider it? Yes. Did I do it? No,” he said.

Cipollone said he was worried about who would replace him. “I had some concerns that it might be somebody who has been giving bad advice.”

“You know, I thought that trying to work with the administration to steady the ship was likely to have greater value than simply resigning,” he said.

-- Candy Woodall

More:Jan. 6 rioter apologizes to police officers who defended Capitol against insurrection

Trump said Pence let him down on Jan. 6

Former President Donald Trump told a White House employee former Vice President Pence “let him down” during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Trump did not say anything about the attacks going on.

The employee was the same employee who met the former president after he returned from the Ellipse, according to Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

The last tweet that Trump sent on Jan. 6 at 6:01 pm said: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide victory is so unceremoniously, viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love and peace. Remember this day forever.”

“He showed absolutely no remorse,” Kinzinger said of Trump’s tweet.

-- Mabinty Quarshie

Gallery:January 6 committee on Capitol riots: See photos from Congress' public hearings

Jan. 6 hearing shows McConnell, Schumer behind the scenes during attack

Though former President Trump refused to act during the attack, other federal leaders were working behind the scenes to secure the Capitol and proceed with the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

Never-before-seen photos and videos revealed a portion of a call from 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, between Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller and congressional leaders, including Sens. Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

They told Miller they needed to finish their business and they wanted clearance to return to the floor as soon as possible. Schumer said Capitol Police believed it would take several days to secure the building, and he asked Miller if he agreed with that analysis.

Miller said he did not agree with that and estimated it would take 4 to 5 hours.

Former Vice President Mike Pence also worked the phones after being evacuated, calling the Miller and other military leaders. Pence was “very animated” and “very explicit,” according to testimony.

Trump never called the president, vice president or anyone in the military or law enforcement, according to the committee.

-- Candy Woodall

Meadows controlling narrative that Trump was in charge, not Pence

After former President Donald Trump had retired for the day, former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was working to establish a narrative that Trump remained in charge of the situation, not former Vice President Mike Pence, who throughout the day was making calls to officials and handling security instead of Trump

“We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative that the president is still in charge and that things are steady or stable,” Meadows said to Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley told the Jan. 6 Committee that he refused to comply with Meadows’s request.

“I immediately interpreted that as politics, politics, politics, red flag for me personally, no action,” Milley testified. “But I remember distinctly, and I don’t do political narratives.”

– Katherine Swartz

Who is Mark Meadows?:Meet Trump's chief of staff who defied Jan. 6 committee subpoena

Trump’s call for rioters to go home was ‘off the cuff’

Aides to former President Donald Trump prepared a speech for him to give condemning the violence, and the president saw it, but when it came time to record his remarks, aide Nicholas Luna said he went “off the cuff.”

“I urge all of my supporters to do exactly as 99.9% of them have already been doing – express their passions and opinions PEACEFULLY,” the original script read. “My supporters have a right to have their voices heard, but make no mistake – NO ONE should be using violence or threats of violence to edpress themselves. Especially at the US Capitol. Let’s respect our institutions. Let’s all do better.”

The draft comments concluded: “I am asking you to leave the Capitol Hill region now and go home in a peaceful way.”

Instead, Trump repeated lies about the election outcome, saying it was “stolen,” “fraudulent” and that the other side knew “it was a landslide election.” He told them, “We can’t play into the hands of tese people.”

Eric Herschmann, a lawyer in the White House at the time, said there had been no discussion about recording a second video.

“When he finished his video, I think everyone was like ‘day’s over,’” Herschmann told the committee. “People were pretty drained.”

-- Erin Mansfield

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Jared Kushner for help on Jan. 6

During the Jan. 6 committee hearing Thursday night, testimonial video evidence showed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, asking for help.

Kushner said he could tell McCarthy was fearful during their conversation. “He told me it was getting really ugly over at the Capitol and said please, you know, anything you could do to help, I would appreciate it.,” Kushner said.

“He was scared,” Kushner added.

-- Mabinty Quarshie

Ketchup, regrets, blood and anger:A guide to the Jan. 6 hearings' witnesses and testimony

Concern from White House press office that condemning rioters would be “handing a win to the media”

Former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews said that she and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany urged former President Donald Trump to condemn the violence over Twitter, but that view wasn’t the consensus among the White House press office.

Matthews testified that another press staff member told her that Trump shouldn’t condemn the violence or tell the mob to go home because “we would be handing a win to the media if he condemned his supporters.”

Debate continued in the office and Matthews said she became “visibly frustrated” that they were arguing about Trump’s tweet when rioters were flooding into the Capitol.

“I motioned up at the TV, and I said, ‘Do you think it looks like we’re f–ing winning, because I don’t think it does,’” Matthews said to her colleague.”

– Katherine Swartz

White House officials wanted rioters to leave the Capitol, with one notable exception: Trump

Administration officials told the committee that they were pretty much unanimous in wanting to see the insurrectionists leave the Capitol building, but one kept balking at the idea: President Donald Trump.

Witnesses from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to press spokeswoman Sarah Matthews said Trump either ignored entreaties or argued about the wording of tweets or video statements he might make on the riot.

This for more than three hours, they said.

Cipollone said in a deposition that "I can't think of anybody, you know, who didn't want people to get out of the Capitol."

Trump "should have been telling them to leave and go home," Matthews told the committee.

-- David Jackson

Sign up for our newsletter:Keep up with the latest breaking politics news with On Politics

Trump avoided using the word 'peace' in tweet condemning rioters

Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews told the committee Trump avoided mentioning the word “peace” in a tweet to condemn the violent rioters who were already in the Capitol.

Matthews described a conversation between her and former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany about Trump’s refusal to tweet a stronger condemnation.

“She looked directly at me and in a hushed tone shared with me that the president did not want to include any sort of mention of peace in that tweet.”

There was back and forth between White House staff and Trump about what to exactly tweet, until Ivanka Trump “suggested the phrase ‘stay peaceful,'" according to Matthews.

- Kenneth Tran

Day 7 recap:Jan. 6 rioter blames his participation on Trump, false claims of election fraud

Don Jr. told Meadows Trump needed to go “all in” to stop the attack

Donald Trump Jr. reached out to his father’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the Capitol attack and implored him to get the former president to end the insurrection, warning Trump’s legacy was in jeopardy.

“This (is) one you go to the mattresses on,” he said. “They will try to (expletive) his entire legacy on this if it gets worse.”

Trump Jr. said in recorded testimony that “go to the mattresses” was a “Godfather” reference that he used to urge Meadows to go “all in” and persuade the former president to condemn the violence at the Capitol.

“The capitol police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. said in his texts to Meadows.

“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” Meadows replied.

-- Candy Woodall

Miss Day 6 of the Jan. 6 hearing?:Trump knew mob was armed and dangerous, bombshell witness says

Hearing room tense, frozen as committee replays Capitol breach

Security video of rioters besieging the Capitol on Jan. 6 and accessing the second floor of the building mere feet from where former Vice President Mike Pence sheltered shocked those in the hearing room.

There fear was palpable in radio communications between members of the White House Security Counsel who debated over when to get Pence out of the building.

The room was silent while the committee played imagery of the few officers facing down dozens of rioters and audio of Secret Service detail growing more and more frantic. Some attendees uttered “wow” as the evidence concluded.

-- Chelsey Cox

Miss Day 5 of the Jan. 6 hearing?:Trump's plan to topple the Justice Department and more

Trump tweet forced Pence back into hiding for second time

Vice President Mike Pence had to be evacuated a second time inside the Capitol at 2:26 p.m. on Jan. 6 after a tweet from Trump said Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

The committee showed surveillance footage of Pence and his security heading back to hiding inside the Capitol, coming within 40 feet of rioters.

“The attack escalated quickly right after the tweet,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va.

-- Joey Garrison

Miss Day 4 of the Jan. 6 hearing?:Fake electors, Trump pressuring state leaders and more.

Hawley ‘riled up’ the crowd, later fled

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., raised his fist in the air on the east side of the Capitol building in the early afternoon in a show of solidarity with protesters before the crowd stormed the building, according to a picture the Jan. 6 committee showed.

The audience in the committee room laughed as Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. showed a surveillance video of Hawley running down an empty hall in the Capitol building to get out. Then he made it to a set of stairs where other senators were also trying to evacuate.

Luria referenced testimony from an unnamed Capitol Police officer, who she said was upset that Hawley would rile up the crowd, because “he was doing it in a safe space, protected by the officers and the barriers.”

-- Erin Mansfield and Dylan Wells

Pottinger: Trump tweet attacking Pence ‘last thing that was needed in that moment’

Former Trump aide Matthew Pottinger said former President Donald Trump’s tweet on Jan. 6 attacking former Vice President Mike Pence for not having “the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution,” was the “the opposite of what we really needed at that moment.”

What was needed at the time according to Pottinger was a “de-escalation.”

Furthermore, Trump’s tweet was the moment he decided to resign from the White House.

“I simply didn't want to be associated with the events that were unfolding on the Capitol,” Pottinger said.

-- Mabinty Quarshie

Miss Day 3 of the Jan. 6 hearing?:Pence's role opposing insurrection takes center stage

'About to get very ugly:' National security officials expressed fears about Jan. 6 riot

Trump's national security staff was fully aware of the threats posed by the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and even that did not move the president to speak out, witnesses told the investigating committee.

"VP being pulled," said a National Security Council "chat log" during the breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Vice President Mike Pence's security detail "thought that this was about to get very ugly," a national security official told the committee in a deposition.

The committee also played radio chatter from Pence's Secret Service detail: "If we lose any time, we may lose the ability to leave."

In any event, Pence did not leave the Capitol, spending time in a secure location within the complex.

- David Jackson

Hearing Day Two:Bill Barr returns, election lies debunked and more

Secret Service called to say goodbye to family members

As rioters breached the Capitol, at one point getting 40 feet away from former Vice President Mike Pence, his Secret Service detail feared for their lives and told security to say goodbye to their families, an anonymous White House security member testified.

“There were calls to say goodbye to family members, so on and so forth. For whatever the reason was on the ground, the VP detail thought that this was about to get very ugly,” the security official said.

Over the radio, the official heard the vice president’s detail screaming, calling it “chaos,” and were concerned they would have to use “lethal options” to protect Pence.

– Katherine Swartz

Hearing Day One:Jan. 6 committee says probe shows Trump led and directed effort to overturn 2020 election: hearing recap

Secret Service agents “feared for their lives”

An anonymous White House Security Official told the Jan. 6 Committee in an interview that Vice President Pence’s Secret Service detail “started to fear for their own lives” as they organized an evacuation route for Pence while rioters were in the Capitol.

“At that point it was just reassurances,” the official said of the Secret Service radio chatter. “I think there were discussions of reinforcements coming but again, it was just chaos.”

The situation started to look so dire, Secret Service “became very close to either sort of having to use lethal options or worse," according to the official.

-- Kenneth Tran

Cipollone: Trump could have gone to the press briefing room at any moment to make a statement

Both former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and former Trump communications aide Sarah Matthews testified the former president could have gone to the press briefing room at any moment to make a statement that encouraged an end to the Capitol attack.

It would have taken about 60 seconds for Trump to walk from the White House Dining Room, where he was watching the insurrection live on Fox News, to the press briefing room to deliver a televised address to the nation, Matthews said.

He “could’ve been on camera almost instantly” to condemn the violence at the Capitol, she said.

The White House press corps could have probably been assembled “in a matter of minutes,” Matthews said.

“Although President Trump was aware of the ongoing rioting, he did not take any immediate action to address the lawlessness,” Rep. Elaine Luria said.

Instead, the former president called his personal counsel Rudy Giuliani for a second time during the riot. That call lasted 8 minutes, she said.

-Candy Woodall

Meadows told Cipollone people were trying to protect Pence

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said the chants to hang the vice president were “outrageous” and that he raised his concerns with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The nature of his response, without recalling exactly, was that he, you know, people were doing all they could,” Cipollone said in his interview. The interviewer then asked if Meadows indicated that the president “was doing all that he could to protect the vice president.”

Cipollone went silent for a few seconds before his lawyer instructed him that the information could not be disclosed under attorney-client privilege.

-- Erin Mansfield

Cipollone told Trump ‘forceful’ message needed to tell people to go home

Pat Cipollone, Trump’s White House Counsel, said he told the former president in a "forceful" manner to urge Jan. 6 rioters to go home.

“I think I was pretty clear there needs to be an immediate and forceful response, statement, public statement, that people need to leave the Capitol now,” Cipollone said during testimonial video.

Cipollone said he told the president this message “almost immediately after I found out people were getting into the Capitol or approaching the Capitol in a way that was violent.”

He also said that many people, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, suggested Trump call off the rioters.

“Many people suggested it and not just me. Many people felt the same way,” Cipollone said.

-- Mabinty Quarshie

Who is Mark Meadows?:Meet Trump's chief of staff who defied Jan. 6 committee subpoena

Trump ignored pleases to make ‘strong statement’ condemning attack

Former White House attorney Pat Cipollone said multiple advisers and family members of Trump advised the former president to make a “strong statement” condemning the attack but that he ignored their pleas.

“Many people suggested it,” he said. “Not just me. Many people felt the same way.”

He added: “White House Counsel's Office wanted there to be a strong statement out to condemn the rioters' violence. I'm confident that Ivanka Trump wanted him to give a strong statement to condemn the rioters.”

-- Joey Garrison

Two witnesses confirm heated discussion in Trump’s motorcade during Jan. 6 riot

Two separate witnesses, including a protected witness, corroborated there was a heated discussion in Trump’s motorcade during the Jan. 6 riot.

“After seeing the initial violence at the Capitol on TV, the individual went to see Tony Ornato, the deputy chief of staff in his office,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va, of the witnesses testimony.

Also in the room was Bobby Engel, Trump’s lead Secret Service agent, according to the witness' testimony.

“This employee told us that Mr. Ornato said that the president was quote, ‘irate’ when Mr. Engel refused to drive him to the Capitol,” Luria said. “Mr. Engel did not refute what Mr. Ornato said.”

Similarly. Sgt. Mark Robinson said Trump wanted to travel to the Capitol after he returned to the White House but the motorcade was placed on standby.

“We do know that while inside the limo the president was still adamant about going to the Capitol,” Robinson said. “However, the POTUS motorcade was placed on standby.”

-- Mabinty Quarshie

Previously:In 'combustible' testimony, Cassidy Hutchinson, surprise Jan. 6 witness, quietly drops bombshells

Secret Service agents have retained counsel, committee says

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., said the Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed further information from the Secret Service and that some agents who have been witnesses have retained legal counsel.

It comes as the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has launched a criminal investigation into the destruction of Secret Service text messages sought as part of investigations.

Bobby Engel, the former head of Trump's Secret Service security detail, and Anthony Ornato, who served as Trump's deputy chief of staff for operations, were named in prior testimony by former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson about an alleged outburst by Trump inside the presidential vehicle when he learned he would not be going to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“The committee is also aware that certain Secret Service witnesses have now retained new private counsel,” Luria said. “We anticipate further testimony under oath and other new information in the coming weeks.”

-- Joey Garrison

Related:Watchdog launches criminal inquiry into deleted Secret Service text messages

Committee: Trump didn't call law enforcement or the military about the insurrection

Luria and other committee members have listed a number of things Trump could have done during the Jan. 6 riot, but didn't – including calling law enforcement or the military to ask them to help stop the mayhem.

Trump didn't contact anybody "to offer assistance" or to "quell the attack," Luria said.

Noting that Trump did not reach out to the National Guard, the FBI, the Pentagon, the Justice Department, or homeland security, Luria said: "He did not call to issue orders or call for assistance."

During the hearing, the Jan. 6 committee tweeted out a statement on Trump's inactivity during the riot.

"We have confirmed in numerous interviews with senior law enforcement and military leaders, VP Pence’s staff, and D.C. government officials: None of them heard from President Trump during the attack on the Capitol," the committee statement said. "Trump did not call to issue orders or to offer assistance."

-- David Jackson

Trump spent close to three hours in dining room with Fox News playing

Former President Donald Trump spent more than two and a half hours in the presidential dining room sitting at the head of the table with the television tuned to Fox News, Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. said witnesses have told the committee.

During that time period from approximately 1:25 p.m. to about 4:00 p.m., official records at the White House do not document the former president’s actions, Luria said. The official call logs and the presidential diary do not contain entries from those times.

“There are also no photos of President between this critical period between 1:21 p.m. in the Oval Office and when he went outside to the Rose Garden” to record a message to the rioters, Luria said. The White House photographer wanted to take pictures for historical purposes but was not allowed, she said.

-- Erin Mansfield

Trump called senators to stop the vote count during the riot

While in the White House dining room watching the Capitol being breached, former President Donald Trump called multiple senators, encouraging them to delay the certification of electoral votes.

The Jan. 6 Committee isn’t aware of which senators Trump called because the White House call logs are empty for hours during the insurrection, Rep. Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., said in the hearing.

Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed that Trump wanted a list of senators to call, but was not aware of who Trump called that afternoon.

– Katherine Swartz

Trump ‘didn’t want anything done’

As the Capitol attack unfolded, the Pentagon had a pending call with the White House to coordinate a response to the riot. Former Senior Advisor Eric Herschmann told former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone that Trump “didn’t want anything done.”

Cipollone ended up having to take the call from the Pentagon himself, he said in video played Thursday.

-- Kenneth Tran

White House security “in a state of shock” long before Capitol was breached

A White House security official, who spoke anonymously to the Jan. 6 Committee out of fear of retribution, said security knew that the crowd gathered at Jan. 6 moved from being a “normal, democratic public event” into a security threat.

The security official said that White House security became concerned long before rioters breached the Capitol, as they were aware of multiple reports of weapons in the crowd at the Ellipse for former President Donald Trump’s rally.

“The President wanted to lead tens of thousands of people to the Capitol. I think that was enough grounds for us to be alarmed.”

– Katherine Swartz

Trump ‘chose not to act’ as violent rioters entered the Capitol

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Trump deliberately “chose not to act” as rioters breached the Capitol building because the mob was doing his bidding.

“Why did he not take immediate action in a time of crisis?” Kinzinger said. “Because President Trump’s plan for January 6 was to halt or delay Congress’ official proceedings to count the votes.”

When the mob of rioters entered the Capitol, both the House and Senate were evacuated, delaying the certification of the 2020 election, which Kinzinger said was Trump’s intent.

“The mob was accomplishing President Trump’s purpose. So of course he didn’t intervene,” said Kinzinger. “President Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes before leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home. He chose not to act.”

-- Kenneth Tran

Ketchup, regrets, blood and anger:A guide to the Jan. 6 hearings' witnesses and testimony

Luria: Trump did nothing about the insurrection for 187 minutes.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., stressed tonight's main theme: Trump did nothing to object to the insurrection for 187 minutes.

This even though aides urged him to speak out.

"President Trump was being advised, by nearly everyone, to immediately instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol, disperse, and halt the violence," Luria said.

He did not for more than three hours, she said.

-- David Jackson

Trump ‘refused to defend our nation’

The committee said the former president refused the advice of his closest aides and family members on Jan. 6, 2021, who urged him to call off the violent mob at the Capitol.

Trump “refused to defend our nation,” Vice Chair Liz Cheney said.

Luria said “virtually everyone told President Trump to condemn the violence in clear and unmistakable terms,” but he chose not to because of his desire to stay in power.

Instead, Luria said the hearing will show, Trump “sat in his dining room and watched the attack on television.”

-- Candy Woodall

Who are the Proud Boys?:Extremist group at the center of prime-time Jan. 6 committee hearings

Cheney: ‘The dam has begun to break’

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was optimistic about the status of the committee’s investigation, signaling that the committee continues to get more information and get through barriers in the legal system that have stood in the way for the past several months.

“In the course of these hearings, we’ve received new evidence, and new witnesses have bravely stepped forward,” Cheney said. “Efforts to litigate and overcome immunity and executive privilege claims have been successful, and those continue. Doors have opened. New subpoenas have been issued, and the dam has begun to break.”

-- Erin Mansfield

‘He could not be moved,’ committee chairman says of Trump as Jan. 6 attack unfolded

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., opened the hearing by saying that Trump “stopped for 187 minutes” as the attack on the U.S. Capitol happened, unable to be moved from his television to stop the riot he encouraged.

“This man of unbridled destructive energy could not be moved,” said Thompson, who was appearing by video as he recovers from COVID-19. “Not by his aides, not by his allies, not by the violent chants of rioters.”

Thompson said Trump even ignored the pleas of his own family, including his children Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, to call off the mob.

“He could not be moved to rise from his dining room table and walk a few steps down the White House hallway press briefing room, where cameras were anxiously and desperately waiting to carry his message.”

-- Joey Garrison

Was Trump's call witness tampering?:Jan. 6 hearing disclosure lacks crucial details, analysts say

Committee to hold more hearings in September

Committee Chair Bennie Thompson said there are more hearings to come in September.

“We will reconvene in September to continue laying out our findings to the American people,” he said.

The committee’s investigation ramped up in June, and the panel has continued to collect evidence to prompt the additional sessions.

Rep. Elaine Luria, who was one of the members to lead questioning Thursday night, told reporters earlier in the day that the committee’s investigation was ramping up in light of new evidence.

-- Candy Woodall

More:Capitol police protected democracy on Jan. 6; their scars keep the day's memory ever-present

Gallery Group members, Capitol Police widows in room for hearing

Several members of the “gallery group” of lawmakers who were trapped in the House chamber are back in the Cannon Caucus room to watch tonight’s proceedings, including Reps. Veronica Escobar of Texas, Lizzie Fletcher of Texas, Sara Jacobs of California, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Annie Kuster of New Hampshire and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico.

Kuster said a group went to dinner before coming to the hearing tonight and that they plan on supporting each other during what is expected to be an emotional evening. Kuster said she hopes the public sees just how close rioters came to the members on Jan. 6.

The Capitol and DC police who have attended each hearing are back again tonight, in addition to Serena Liebengood, the widow of Capitol Police Officer Howie Liebengood, and Sandra Garza, the longtime partner of Brian Sicknick, who died after suffering two strokes after fighting off the mob.

– Dylan Wells

Watchdog launches criminal inquiry into deleted Secret Service text messages

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has launched a criminal investigation into the destruction of Secret Service text messages sought as part of investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, an official with knowledge of the matter said Thursday.

A letter notifying the Secret Service of the probe was directed to Director James Murray Wednesday night, said the official who is not authorized to comment publicly on a pending investigation.

The existence of the criminal investigation was first disclosed by NBC News.

In a statement, the Secret Service acknowledged receipt of the inspector general's letter.

Read the whole story here:Watchdog launches criminal inquiry into deleted Secret Service text messages sought by Jan. 6 panel

Melania Trump says ‘unaware’ the Jan. 6 attack was happening

Former first lady Melania Trump said she was “unaware” the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol was happening because she was preoccupied with taking archival photos of White House renovations as part of her duties as first lady.

Trump gave her account in an interview Thursday with Fox News after her former chief of staff and onetime White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, released text messages last month showing the first lady not approving a drafted statement condemning the attack.

"On January 6, 2021, I was fulfilling one of my duties as First Lady of the United States of America, and accordingly, I was unaware of what was simultaneously transpiring at the U.S. Capitol Building," Trump said in the interview.

Trump said, “I always condemn violence” and that if she had been informed she would have “immediately denounced the violence that occurred at the Capitol Building.” She added, “And while Ms. Grisham’s behavior is disappointing, it is not surprising or an isolated incident."

-- Joey Garrison

Previously:Ex-White House press secretary's book likens Melania Trump to Marie Antoinette

The news comes to you:Keep up with the latest breaking politics news with On Politics

Committee to show Trump’s ‘dereliction of duty’

Rep. Elaine Luria, a former Navy commander, said she and other members of the select House committee will “detail Donald J. Trump’s dereliction of duty” on Jan. 6, 2021.

In the 8 p.m. hearing tonight, the panel will zero in on the 187 minutes from the end of his “Stop the Steal” speech at 1:10 p.m. to his video message at 4:17 p.m., when he told the rioters ransacking the Capitol to go home.

She emphasized Thursday afternoon he also told the violent mob “he loved them.”

Luria compared him to a captain abandoning a ship and said Thursday’s hearing will show in graphic detail his actions and inaction during those crucial three hours.

-- Candy Woodall

Who is Mark Meadows?:Meet Trump's chief of staff who defied Jan. 6 committee subpoena

Trump watched TV from White House dining room during attack, former aides say

Trump was glued to the television in the White House dining room as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to testimony previewed by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., one of the Jan. 6 committee's members.

“To the best of my recollection, he was always in the dining room,” former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told the committee.

Kinzinger released a short video Thursday teasing evidence to come during the eighth hearing from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Committee members are expected to zero in on the 187 minutes between Trump’s speech that morning and his tweet for rioters to go home.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s former national security advisor, and Molly Michael, former executive assistant to the president, both told the committee that Trump was watching television as the Capitol came under assault. Former White House attorney Pat Cipollone told the committee the violence from the attack was visible on the television as Trump watched.

– Joey Garrison

Sign up for our newsletter:Keep up with the latest breaking politics news with On Politics

Why look at these 187 minutes?

The committee will scrutinize events from 1:10 p.m. EDT, when Trump stopped speaking at his rally near the White House, until 4:17 p.m., when he posted a tweet with a video urging rioters to go home.

The committee pieced together testimony from more than 1,000 witnesses and 100,000 pages of documents. But gaps remain. For example, White House logs show no calls placed to or by Trump from 11:17 a.m. to 6:54 p.m. on Jan. 6.

“He was doing nothing to actually stop the riot,” a committee member, Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “We will go through pretty much minute by minute during that time frame, from the time he left the stage at the Ellipse, came back to the White House, and really sat in the White House, in the dining room, with his advisers urging him continuously to take action, to take more action.”

Who are Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, the witnesses expected to testify?

Two new witnesses expected to testify each resigned in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, along with cabinet secretaries and a special envoy to Northern Ireland.

Sarah Matthews was a deputy press secretary and Matthew Pottinger, who was a deputy national security adviser. Both were disturbed by Trump's tweet at 2:24 p.m. calling Vice President Mike Pence a coward. Pence had refused to single-handedly reject electoral votes for President Joe Biden, as Trump and his lawyers had urged.

"It was clear that it was escalating and escalating quickly," Matthews said in a videotaped deposition played at the June 16 hearing. "The situation was already bad, and so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that."

Big question for Jan. 6 committee:Did Trump aide Mark Meadows help stop – or fuel – the insurrection?

Bennie Thompson to lead hearing remotely. Adam Kinzinger, Elaine Luria to oversee evidence

The Jan. 6 committee chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., will lead the hearing remotely after announcing Tuesday he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He said in a statement he was experiencing mild symptoms despite being fully vaccinated.

Reps. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Elaine Luria, D-Va., will oversee the presentation of evidence. Members of the nine-member committee have taken turns during the eight hearings in June and July leading the questioning of witnesses or introducing videotaped depositions and documentary evidence.

Political organizations go on attack on Trump before Jan. 6 hearing

Political action committees and public interest groups are preparing for tonight's Jan. 6 hearing by releasing videos, reports, and statements seeking to promote their case against Donald Trump.

The Lincoln Project, the organization created by Republicans to oppose Trump's re-election campaign in 2020, released a video Thursday describing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as a Trump-directed effort to stay in power.

Just Security, an online forum for national security, foreign policy, and human rights issues, released an update of its "Criminal Evidence Tracker," summarizing testimony from previous hearings of the Jan. 6 committee. Said the report: "The House January 6th Select Committee hearings have presented powerful, compelling evidence that former President Donald Trump led a criminal conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election."

– David Jackson

What was the Secret Service doing?

The committee subpoenaed Secret Service texts Friday for Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, but the service replied the texts were deleted in a routine swap of staffers' phones.

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified she heard from Anthony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff for operations, that Trump tried to grab the wheel of his vehicle and lunged for an officer while trying to join the mob at the Capitol. Secret Service officials said witnesses have volunteered to testify, to challenge aspects of the testimony.

“I was shocked to hear that they didn't back up their data before they reset their iPhones. That's crazy,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the committee, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “But we need to get this information to get the full picture.”

Meanwhile, Steve Bannon is on trial for defying a Jan. 6 committee subpoena

The federal trial against Steve Bannon, a political strategist for Trump, began Monday. Bannon was charged with contempt after defying a House subpoena for documents and testimony. He faces 30 days in jail and a $100,000 fine on each of the two charges, if convicted.

The committee wants to ask Bannon about two calls he had with Trump on Jan. 5, 2021.

After the first call, Bannon said on his podcast, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.” The two spoke again for six minutes, but the contents of the call are unknown.

Steve Bannon on trial:Attorneys for Steve Bannon call no witnesses in contempt trial; final arguments set for Friday

Are more criminal charges possible?

The Justice Department has charged more than 850 people associated with the Capitol attack. But some lawmakers and advocacy groups have urged charges against people who financed and organized the attack, potentially including Trump. Rep. Elaine Luria, a member of the Jan. 6 committee, noted the president was “the only person in the Constitution whose duty is explicitly laid out to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed.”

“Well, I do think that there's a much broader plot here. I think that's pretty obvious,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, also a member of the committee. “I would not want to tell the attorney general how to conduct his investigations. But I will say this, they have subpoena power and they have a lot easier way to enforce their subpoenas than the Congress does.”

The committee simply gathers information, which it plans to pass along to the Justice Department, but the department must decide which charges to pursue. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said he would follow the facts and the law.

Capitol riot arrests:See who's been charged across the U.S.

What did the Jan. 6 committee cover in its first seven hearings on its findings?

During seven previous public hearings, the Jan. 6 committee sought to prove the former president oversaw and coordinated a plan to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.

The hearings covered:

Trump could have stopped the violence, Republicans who texted ...

Washington (CNN) Within minutes of the US Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, messages began pouring into the cell phone of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Among those texting were Republican members of Congress, former members of the Trump administration, GOP activists, Fox personalities -- even the President's son. Their texts all carried the same urgent plea: President Donald Trump needed to immediately denounce the violence and tell the mob to go home.

"He's got to condem (sic) this shit. Asap," Donald Trump Jr. texted at 2:53 p.m.

"POTUS needs to calm this shit down," GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina wrote at 3:04 p.m.

"TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!" former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus messaged at 3:09 p.m.

"POTUS should go on air and defuse this. Extremely important," Tom Price, former Trump health and human services secretary and a former GOP representative from Georgia, texted at 3:13 p.m.

One of the key questions the January 6 House committee is expected to raise in its June hearings is why Trump failed to publicly condemn the attack for hours, and whether that failure is proof of " dereliction of duty " and evidence that Trump tried to obstruct Congress' certification of the election.

The Meadows texts show that even those closest to the former President believed he had the power to stop the violence in real time.

CNN obtained the 2,319 text messages that Meadows selectively handed over to the January 6 committee in December before he stopped cooperating with the investigation. According to a source familiar with the committee's investigation, the texts provide a valuable "road map" and show how Meadows was an enabler of Trump, despite being told there was no widespread election fraud.

Seventeen months later, CNN spoke to more than a dozen people who had texted Meadows that day, including former White House officials, Republican members of Congress and political veterans. Without exception, each said they stood by their texts and that they believed Trump had the power and responsibility to try to stop the attack immediately.

"I thought the President could stop it and was the only person who could stop it," said Alyssa Farah Griffin, who was Trump's director of strategic communications until she left the White House in December 2020. Farah Griffin is now a CNN political commentator.

"When he finally tweeted something hours and hours later, there are reports of people inside the building saying, 'He's saying to go home.' They would have listened to him," she added.

Farah Griffin texted Meadows at 3:13 p.m. that day: "Potus has to come out firmly and tell protesters to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed."

Trump's former acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, also texted Meadows on January 6: "Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?"

Mulvaney told CNN he stands by his text. "I wish someone had responded to my outreach," he said.

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows departs the US Capitol following the first day of the second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump on February 9, 2021.

Most of the people who spoke to CNN about their texts on January 6 would be quoted only anonymously. Some said it was because of their jobs. Some said they were afraid Trump would be reelected. One said they just didn't want to go through "the misery of being targeted by Trump supporters."

Their words were blunt, emotional and damning, even those who remain staunch Trump allies.

"I thought there was only one person who could stop it and that was the President," said a senior Republican. "I don't know that I can think of another situation that was as grave for the nation, or as affecting for the nation, where the President didn't say something."

A Meadows associate said Trump had waited too long to act: "Two hours is just inexcusable ... when the safety of the federal government is in question you have the duty immediately to speak out. And Trump was derelict in that duty."

Another political veteran said Trump's silence made him complicit: "I think he knew he could stop it, which is why he remained silent."

And a former Trump administration official summed it up with this stark assessment: "He failed at being the president."

An attorney for Meadows did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the January 6 committee also did not respond to a request for comment.

'I'm very worried about the next 48 hours'

The Meadows text logs present a dramatic timeline of how friends, colleagues and Republican allies were pleading for help on January 6.

Rioters stormed police barriers around the Capitol just after 1 p.m. that day. The House and Senate fled their chambers around 2:20 p.m. Yet it took Trump until 4:17 p.m. to release a video on Twitter telling the rioters to go home.

The upcoming January 6 hearings are expected to focus on the gap of 187 minutes it took Trump to release the video -- as well as highlight some of the most notable texts that Meadows received and sent that day.

JUST WATCHED He helped decode texts from January 6th. What he found scared him Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH He helped decode texts from January 6th. What he found scared him 04:51

The logs are not a complete record of Meadows' texts -- he withheld more than 1,000 messages, claiming executive privilege, according to the committee . But the messages Meadows did hand over show his responses were often terse and emotionless, if he replied at all.

Two sources familiar with the committee's investigation said it was remarkable that Meadows never seemed alarmed in the messages he sent on January 6, and that even in the midst of the violence, he appeared unwilling to stand up to Trump. "Even Don Jr. knew the right thing to do," one source told CNN.

On January 5, the Meadows text logs show that the chief of staff was still actively involved with plans to object to the congressional certification of Joe Biden's election victory, encouraging Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to pass on evidence of voter fraud.

"Last night Sen Graham told me that if I found 100 names of dead voters in GA that he would object. I have 100 dead voters names!! Tell President Trump!" Greene, a Georgia Republican, texted Meadows at 2:30 p.m.

"Send them to him," Meadows responded, making sure she had Graham's cell phone number.

At 10:29 p.m., Fox's Sean Hannity chimed in with an apprehensive message over what was to come.

"I'm very worried about the next 48 hours," Hannity texted Meadows. "Pence pressure. WH counsel will leave."

Meadows did not reply directly, but he appeared to have called Hannity, who texted that he couldn't pick up the phone.

"On with boss," Hannity texted, an apparent reference to Trump.

The last message Meadows received on January 5 is from his close friend and Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. Shortly before midnight, Jordan forwarded a message making the case that Vice President Mike Pence "should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all."

'I have pushed for this'

The morning of January 6, Meadows woke up to three problems: logistics for that day's rally on the Ellipse, Pence's refusal to join Trump's attempts to subvert the election and the US Senate runoffs the day before in Georgia, where both Republicans were trailing.

At 7:30 a.m., Meadows responded to Jordan's message from the night before, acknowledging his support for Pence to reject the electoral votes. "I have pushed for this," Meadows wrote back. "Not sure it is going to happen."

Meadows then turned his attention to the January 6 rally, where Trump was slated to speak later that morning. Meadows had been involved with the fraught internal drama over the speaker's list in the days leading up to the event.

Crowds arrive for the "Stop the Steal" rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Trump supporters gathered in the nation's capital today to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election.

Meadows checked in to make sure one of the speakers, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama , knew he was supposed to appear.

"You are speaking this am. Are you aware," Meadows asked at 8:08 a.m.

Brooks, who gave one of the more incendiary speeches of the day, responded at 9:33 a.m., after leaving the stage: "Did it in 10m. Thanks! Crowd roaring."

Jordan and Brooks are two of five House Republicans who have been subpoenaed by the January 6 committee.

At 11 a.m., Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller shared a tweet with Meadows and other top Trump aides capturing the darkening mood inside Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's camp with Democrats poised to take control of the Senate.

"Emotions running high among McConnell-aligned Republicans early Wednesday am — after reality of what transpired in Georgia settled in," National Journal reporter Josh Kraushaar wrote in the tweet. "May be the heat of the moment, but mood is for declaring war on Team Trump."

'Someone is going to get killed'

At 1:05 p.m., while Trump was still addressing the crowd at the Ellipse, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled in the joint session inside the Capitol to begin certifying Biden's Electoral College win. Outside the Capitol, pro-Trump supporters were already breaking through police barriers

Roughly an hour later, rioters clashed with police and breached the Capitol doors, forcing the House and Senate to abruptly gavel out of session and evacuate the chambers.

Supporters of Donald Trump breeched security and entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification.

According to court filings , at 2:02 p.m. Meadows' deputy Ben Williamson sent his boss a text message about the violence unfolding at the Capitol. The text is not included in the logs Meadows turned over, but Williamson provided it to the committee.

"Would recommend POTUS put out a tweet about respecting the police over at the Capitol -- getting a little hairy over there," Williamson wrote.

Williamson said he had then spoken to Meadows in person and that Meadows had immediately gone toward the Oval Office to inform Trump, according to court documents.

Shortly afterward, Meadows began receiving messages about the mob at the door.

"Will potus say something to tamp things down?" wrote CNN's Jim Acosta at 2:12 p.m.

Despite Williamson's advice urging the President to send a message about respecting the police, Trump tweeted again at 2:24 p.m., attacking his vice president.

"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!" Trump tweeted.

Four minutes later, Trump's allies began imploring Meadows to convince the President to do something. The first message came from Greene.

"Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn't the way to solve anything," Greene wrote at 2:28 p.m.

Fox's Laura Ingraham texted Meadows at 2:32 p.m., "Hey Mark, The president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us."

Meadows heard from local contacts, too, including one who castigated the White House chief of staff for his role leading up to the insurrection.

At 2:34 p.m., North Carolina-based Republican strategist Carlton Huffman wrote, "You've earned a special place in infamy for the events of today. And if you're the Christian you claim to be in your heart you know that."

"It's really bad up here on the hill," texted Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia at 2:44 p.m.

At 2:46 p.m., GOP Rep. Will Timmons of South Carolina wrote to Meadows: "The president needs to stop this ASAP."

Several who texted Meadows told CNN they hoped their messages would convince the chief of staff to stand up to Trump and get him to stop the violence.

'We love you, you're very special'

At 2:48 p.m., Meadows responded to Loudermilk that "POTUS is engaging." But Trump would not tell the rioters to leave the Capitol for another hour and a half as messages continued to pour in from Trump allies, Meadows associates and reporters seeking a White House response.

Jonathan Karl of ABC News texted at 2:53 p.m., "What are you going to do to stop this? What is the president going to do?"

Karl said of his text to Meadows, "I was asking a question as a reporter who wanted to know what was happening inside the White House as the Capitol was being attacked. But I was also asking as an American horrified by what I was witnessing."

Meadows received more messages from contacts in his home state urging Trump to intervene.

At 3:42 p.m., North Carolina-based lobbyist Tom Cors wrote, "Pls have POTUS call this off at the Capitol. Urge rioters to disperse. I pray to you."

At 3:52 p.m., North Carolina lawyer Jay Leutze texted, "Mark, this assault in the Capitol is tragic for the country. Please call it off so the Congress can resume its peaceful debate."

Finally, at 4:17 p.m., Trump released a video message telling the rioters to leave the Capitol. The video he tweeted was just over a minute long.

JUST WATCHED President Trump tells rioters at Capitol to 'go home' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump tells rioters at Capitol to 'go home' 02:07

"I know your pain. I know you're hurt," Trump said. "We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt."

Trump concluded, "So go home. We love you, you're very special. You've seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace."

'Good that you made that video'

Trump's video helped ease some of the pressure being directed toward Meadows. Priebus, a former White House chief of staff, told Meadows at 4:20 p.m., "Good that you made that video."

The video also wasn't Trump's final word. At 6:01 p.m., he sent another tweet once again falsely claiming fraud. Trump's Twitter account was suspended a little over an hour later before he was ultimately banned from the platform.

"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," Trump tweeted. "Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!"

That evening, Meadows received numerous queries from reporters asking about the fallout of the insurrection, such as questions about whether Cabinet secretaries were resigning or considering invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. He was asked about Pence's situation, too, including by Hannity, who texted at 7:57 p.m., "Wth is happening with VPOTUS." Meadows does not appear to have responded.

Several reporters also texted Meadows asking whether he personally was considering resigning.

"Off the record. No," he responded at 10:21 p.m. to reporter Al Weaver of The Hill.

'Mrs. Trump has also signed off'

While rioters were still being cleared from the Capitol, there were questions about whether the House and Senate would reconvene to finish counting the electoral votes. Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers vowed to do so.

At 8:06 p.m., Pence gaveled the Senate back into session.

"Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol," he began from the Senate dais.

The vice president condemned the violence and said the reassembled lawmakers were there to defend and support the Constitution. "Let's get back to work," he concluded to loud cheers.

After two months of trying to overturn the 2020 election, the Meadows text logs show, Trump's team had prepared a draft statement once the certification was complete, which said there "will be an orderly transition on January 20th."

In a group text at 10:01 p.m., Trump campaign spokesman Miller reached out to Meadows, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump aide Dan Scavino. "Chief, Jared, Dan - below please find an approved statement from the President to go out right as they're finalizing the votes, which we're expecting to be 3am, though with some Members caving it could happen earlier," Miller texted. "Mrs. Trump has also signed off."

Kushner weighed in with a suggestion about how to release the statement. "Why don't we post on his Facebook page since he isn't locked out there," Kushner wrote, after Trump had been suspended from Twitter a few hours earlier.

"I'll be up," responded Scavino, "let me know when ok to drop, and it's official...just got off w/them."

Jamie Gangel
Jeremy Herb
Elizabeth Stuart

What we know about Donald Trump's inaction during the 187 ...

That's the period of a little more than three hours as the riot unfolded in the US Capitol that the House select committee has argued then-President Donald Trump was derelict in his duties. The committee says it plans to show, minute-by-minute, how Trump failed to make any effort to tell the rioters to leave the Capitol or to try to help lawmakers -- and then-Vice President Mike Pence -- as they were forced to flee the House and Senate chambers.

In the previous hearings, the committee has sought to tie Trump to the violence at the Capitol, showing how he was warned by his aides that his claims the election was stolen were baseless and that there was a risk of violence on January 6, 2021. The committee's final hearing in this series will attempt to illustrate how the former President "refused to act to defend the Capitol as a violent mob stormed the Capitol," according to committee aides.

Like past hearings, the committee is likely to rely on witness testimony of those who were around Trump on January 6 or nearby in the West Wing, in order to tell the narrative of what happened through the words of Trump's inner circle.

The committee has spoken with numerous individuals around Trump on January 6 -- including Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, former Pence national security adviser retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and former Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone.

Two witnesses are slated to testify in person on Thursday, and both resigned in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 attack: Former Trump deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger and former Trump deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews.

Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has not testified before the committee -- the House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena. But Meadows selectively turned over more than 2,300 text messages to the panel, which CNN obtained, and the texts provide key insights into the frantic messages the chief of staff was receiving from Republican allies in Congress and even Trump's son urging the President to act.

Here are some key questions and answers about the 187 minutes of January 6 ahead of the final hearing:

Supporters of President Trump storm the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

When do the 187 minutes begin and end?

The 187 minutes began at 1:10 p.m. ET on January 6, 2021, as Trump was wrapping up his speech at the Ellipse. This is when he told his supporters to march to the Capitol, so they could pressure lawmakers to overturn the election while they met for a joint session of Congress to formally certify President Joe Biden 's victory.

"So, we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue ... and we're going to the Capitol," Trump said. "We're going to try and give our Republicans -- the weak ones, because the strong ones don't need any of our help -- we're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So, let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue."

Exactly 187 minutes later, at 4:17 p.m. ET, Trump posted a video on Twitter. In the clip, he said for the first time that his supporters should leave the Capitol. He also heaped praise on the rioters and repeated his debunked lies about the election, which had spurred the riot in the first place.

"I know your pain. I know you're hurt," Trump said at the time. "We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt. It's a very tough period of time."

Protesters supporting then-President Donald Trump storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

Why do the 187 minutes matter to the committee?

This timeframe is central to the committee's mission. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee's GOP vice chair, has repeatedly said that the evidence obtained by the panel about these 187 minutes provides a clear example of Trump's "supreme dereliction of duty" throughout the insurrection.

The panel's Democratic chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said earlier this year , "The President was told, 'You need to say directly to your people to go home, leave the Capitol.' And so, it took over 187 minutes to make that simple statement. Something's wrong with that."

Thursday's hearing will be led by Rep. Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican. Luria said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the hearing would "go through pretty much minute-by-minute" of what went on during the 187 minutes of the Capitol insurrection.

"The President didn't do much but gleefully watch television during this time frame," Kinzinger said on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

JUST WATCHED Jan 6 member previews 'minute by minute' account of Trump's inaction on Jan. 6 Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Jan 6 member previews 'minute by minute' account of Trump's inaction on Jan. 6 05:57

What do we already know about the 187 minutes?

After leaving the stage at the Ellipse, Trump got into his motorcade and angrily tried to convince his drivers to take him to the Capitol, according to testimony from Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. The agents refused, telling him that the scene was too dangerous and unstable.

Trump then watched TV news coverage of the chaos unfolding at the Capitol, according to a book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, and according to then-White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who said Trump was "gleefully" watching the news.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told Trump's chief of staff that Trump needed to intervene, or else "people are going to die," according to Hutchinson's testimony. Meadows responded by telling Cipollone that Trump "doesn't want to do anything" and that he even agreed with the rioters who were seen chanting about hanging Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump posted three tweets during this critical timeframe. The first tweet criticized Pence for refusing to overturn the election. The second and third tweets told the rioters to "stay peaceful" and to "respect the law" -- but notably Trump did not instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol.

He also spoke by phone with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who pleaded with Trump to call off the mob. But during the call, Trump took the rioters' side and said they cared about the election more than McCarthy did, according to previous reporting.

During the 187 minutes, a wide array of Republican lawmakers, former Trump officials and conservative media personalities texted Meadows, saying Trump needed to intervene, CNN has previously reported. This included Donald Trump Jr., Fox hosts Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, former Trump administration officials Mick Mulvaney and Reince Priebus, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican.

Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows during the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump, is sworn in to testify last month.

Who was with Trump and what have they said about it?

The committee has taken video depositions from multiple people who were with Trump on January 6 and is likely to use those interviews to try to explain what the President was doing when rioters breached the Capitol.

In addition to Ivanka Trump, Kellogg, Cipollone and McEnany, the committee has played clips at previous hearings of video depositions from a long list of White House aides, including former Trump personal assistant Nick Luna, former White House staff secretary Derek Lyons, former Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, former Ivanka Trump chief of staff Julie Radford and former Meadows deputy Ben Williamson.

The testimony from many of those inside the White House are likely to be played in order to help tell the story of what Trump was doing during the afternoon of January 6.

The committee has previously played clips from both Pottinger and Matthews, the two in-person witnesses Thursday, reacting to Trump's tweet attacking Pence.

"I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed to be tweeted at that moment," Matthews said in a clip from her video deposition. "The situation was already bad. And so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that."

Pottinger told the panel that Trump's tweet was what prompted him to resign. "I read that tweet and made a decision at that moment to resign," he said in his video deposition. "That's where I knew that I was leaving that day once I read that tweet."

At the end of the committee's last hearing, Cheney previewed what the committee had planned for its upcoming session by playing a clip from Cipollone deposition, which the committee had just taken days beforehand.

"Was it necessary for you to continue to push for a statement directing people to leave all the way through that period of time until it was ultimately achieved?" Cipollone was asked in the video deposition.

"I felt it was my obligation to continue to push for that and others felt it was their obligation as well," the former White House counsel responded.

The committee's testimony -- along with reporting from CNN, other news organizations and several books about the Trump presidency -- have filled in key details about what was going on inside the West Wing. Kellogg told the committee, for instance, about how he encouraged Ivanka Trump to speak with her father on January 6 to act, and that she did so multiple times that day, according to committee documents

The committee has also spoken to numerous West Wing officials who didn't see Trump directly as the violence was unfolding but were reacting to what was happening on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Williamson, Meadows' top aide, told the committee how he texted Meadows encouraging Trump to tweet because things were "getting a little hairy" at the Capitol. Williamson told the panel that he went to speak to Meadows in person, and the White House chief then went toward the Oval Office, according to court filings.

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone is seen in a video interview during a House select committee hearing in the Cannon House Office Building earlier this month.

What are the big unanswered questions?

While lots of details about Trump's response on January 6 are already known, there are still lingering questions about what the former President was doing on January 6.

For instance, Trump spoke with at least two Republican lawmakers during the early stages of the insurrection: McCarthy and Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

While there has been previous reporting about McCarthy's heated phone call, including that Trump told him that the rioters were "more upset about the election than you are," McCarthy has not spoken at length about the conversation. The committee issued a subpoena to McCarthy and four other lawmakers in an unprecedented move earlier this year, though McCarthy has not agreed to testify or hand over documents.

Questions also remain about who else Trump spoke with by phone on January 6 during the period when the Capitol was breached. There are gaps in the White House call logs on January 6, providing incomplete public accounting of the conversations Trump had that day.

Another key question the committee is likely to dive into is how it was Pence -- and not Trump -- who ordered the National Guard to respond to the riot. At a hearing last month, the committee played testimony from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley saying it was Pence who gave him "very direct, unambiguous orders" to get the Guard to the Capitol.

But Milley testified that Meadows told him to say that it was Trump, not Pence, who gave the order. "He said: We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions," Milley said in his video deposition about what Meadows told him. "We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable, or words to that effect."

Trump impeachment trial: Timeline of Trump actions during Capitol riot

WASHINGTON – House impeachment managers on Thursday argued former President Donald Trump's actions not only fueled the violent assault on the Capitol in the months leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, but that he stood by as the riot raged and showed no remorse in aftermath, which left five people dead.

Through a series of audio and video clips from security footage – some of which were previously undisclosed – as well as rioters' social media accounts documenting the day, House impeachment managers prosecuting Trump argued that the former president failed to act as a mob forced their way inside the building and hunted for congressional leaders.

Rioters said at the time and later testified to authorities that they went to the Capitol at Trump's invitation.

“Their own statements before, during and after the attack make clear the attack was done for Donald Trump, at his instructions and to fulfill his wishes,” Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said Thursday. “Donald Trump had sent them there.”

Here's a look at what Trump was doing on the day the attack unfolded:

12:43 a.m.: Trump retweets a post suggesting that Republican legislators should "go to the wall" for the president, with the added comment: "Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!"

1:00 a.m.: Trump tweets about Pence's ceremonial role in presiding over the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory. He suggests Pence had the authority to reject electoral votes, which he did not.

“If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect & even fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be.) Mike can send it back!”

8:06 a.m.: Trump lashes out at NBC's Chuck Todd in a tweet.

"Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd is so happy with the fake voter tabulation process that he can’t even get the words out straight. Sad to watch!" he tweets.

8:17 a.m.: Trump again posts a tweet demanding Pence reject the electoral vote count, which he has no authority to do.

“States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

More:Live impeachment updates: Rep. Diana DeGette says rioters attacked because 'the president told them'

8:22 a.m.: Trump tweets: "THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, OUR COUNTRY, NEEDS THE PRESIDENCY MORE THAN EVER BEFORE - THE POWER OF THE VETO. STAY STRONG!"

9:00 a.m.: Trump tweets baseless claims about voter fraud.

"They just happened to find 50,000 ballots late last night. The USA is embarrassed by fools. Our Election Process is worse than that of third world countries!" he tweets.

9:15 a.m.: Trump again tweets about voter fraud:

"The States want to redo their votes. They found out they voted on a FRAUD. Legislatures never approved. Let them do it. BE STRONG!"

9:16 a.m.: Trump tweets "Even Mexico uses Voter I.D."

10:44 a.m.: Trump tweets about former Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, who lost his seat in a runoff election the day before.

"These scoundrels are only toying with the @sendavidperdue (a great guy) vote. Just didn’t want to announce quite yet. They’ve got as many ballots as are necessary. Rigged Election!" he tweeted.

11:57 a.m.: Trump takes the stage to deliver remarks at the "Save America Rally" at the White House Ellipse as "God Bless the U.S.A." plays in the background.

12:15 p.m.: Trump tells the crowd to march to the Capitol and that "you'll never take back our country with weakness." During his remarks, hundreds of people begin moving toward the Capitol.

More:Timeline: How the storming of the U.S. Capitol unfolded on Jan. 6

1:10 p.m.: After speaking for nearly an hour, Trump encourages supporters to "fight like hell" and march to the Capitol as rioters begin storming the Capitol steps around the same time.

“We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said. “So we are going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue – I love Pennsylvania Avenue – and we are going to the Capitol.”

After Trump said “We will not let them silence your voices,” a chant of “Fight For Trump” broke out.

1:11 p.m.: Trump concludes his remarks.

1:17 p.m.: POTUS left the Ellipse in a motorcade back to the White House.

2:00 p.m.: As a violent mob breached the Capitol building, Trump accidentally phoned Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, while trying to reach Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama. Lee reportedly handed the phone to the Alabama senator, according to CNN and Utah's Deseret News.

Tuberville revealed Thursday night that he spoke to Trump and informed him Pence had been evacuated from the Senate chamber, which happened at about 2:15 p.m., House impeachment managers said.

“I said ‘Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go,'” Tuberville told Politico on Wednesday.

The president reportedly told Tuberville to continue to object to the election results in order to buy more time, which House prosecutors pointed out in their opening argument. Lee dismissed that account as inaccurate, prompting House impeachment managers to withdraw the comments that were quoted from the news report.

2:24 p.m.: Minutes after it was reported Pence was escorted out of the Senate chamber and Trump reportedly spoke to Tuberville, the president attacks Pence in a tweet.

“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 expresses support for Capitol Police and members of law enforcement, who had been overrun by rioters at the Capitol. He appeared to send this from the Oval Office as a Marine was stationed outside the office at the time of the tweet, typically indicating the president is inside.

“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

3:13 p.m.: About 10 minutes after rioters are photographed on the Senate floor, Trump calls for peaceful protests.

"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!" he tweeted.

4:17 p.m.: Hours after the attack unfolded, Trump speaks publicly for the first time in a recorded video message posted on social media.

"I know your pain. I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now," Trump said in the minute-long video.

"We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. ... So go home. We love you, you’re very special. ... I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.”

6:01 p.m.: Trump tweets - and deletes - a post suggesting that the Capitol riot was the result of a fraudulent election, an unsubstantiated claim with no evidence to support it.

“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!”

Some of Trump's tweets addressing the riot were deleted. Twitter bans the president from tweeting for 12 hours. He is later permanently banned from the platform, as well as others.

Trump's potential liability for Capitol riot faces major test in court

(CNN) A federal judge in Washington, DC, questioned former President Donald Trump 's actions during his speech on January 6, 2021, as he considers for the first time whether Trump is immune from liability related to his supporters attacking the US Capitol .

During a court hearing Monday, Judge Amit Mehta pointed out repeatedly that Trump on January 6 asked the crowd to march to the Capitol, but that he didn't speak up for two hours asking people to stop the violence.

"The words are hard to walk back," Mehta said. "You have an almost two-hour window where the President does not say, 'Stop, get out of the Capitol. This is not what I wanted you to do.'"

"What do I do about the fact the President didn't denounce the conduct immediately ... and sent a tweet that arguably exacerbated things?" the judge asked. "Isn't that, from a plausibility standpoint, that the President plausibly agreed with the conduct of the people inside the Capitol that day?"

Mehta didn't rule at the end of the nearly five-hour hearing Monday, and rarely showed which way he was leaning. He noted to the dozen or so participants on the call, including several members of Congress, that it was not an easy case.

The major hearing is part of a trio of insurrection-related lawsuits seeking to hold Trump and other Republican figures like Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama accountable at a time when the House select committee probing January 6 has aggressively investigated the political leaders who inspired the attack, and as the Justice Department is prosecuting more than 700 rioters for criminal offenses.

Mehta's line of questioning is a foreboding sign for Trump, at least as people seek damages through civil litigation following the insurrection. Some of the lawsuits at issue use a civil rights law, commonly called the KKK Act, that allows for lawsuits when officials are intimidated from doing their public duties.

It is the first major test of whether civil litigation is a viable route to holding Trump accountable for the violence toward Congress, after he was acquitted by the Senate in his second impeachment trial last February.

If Trump's call to action at the rally was misinterpreted by the crowd, and they still became violent, "Wouldn't somebody who's a reasonable person say, 'That's not what I meant?'" Mehta asked a lawyer arguing against the insurrection lawsuits. The judge pointed out that even Donald Trump Jr., another defendant in court Monday, texted the White House chief of staff before Trump spoke up, asking for the President to condemn the violence.

Trump and his close supporters say they're protected by the First Amendment, that Trump and others were speaking on January 6 as public officials and that they weren't agreeing to be part of a conspiracy with the violent crowd under the law.

Trump's lawyer, Jesse Binnall, has argued everything Trump said while serving as President should be immune from liability -- including on January 6 as well as in a call to Georgia officials asking them to "find" votes in early 2021 and at campaign rallies -- and is protected from any lawsuits, because it was all part of his official actions as President.

Binnall also argued that Trump encouraged the crowd to act "peacefully and patriotically."

"You would have me ignore what [Trump] said in its entirety?" Mehta asked minutes into the hearing. The judge pointed to a Supreme Court case related to the Johnson and Nixon administrations that established the parameters of presidential immunity.

"To say that a speech before Congress is the equivalent to a campaign trail stump speech" doesn't appear to be what the Supreme Court had ruled on the boundaries of presidential immunity, Mehta said.

The lawmakers say they were threatened by Trump and others as part of a conspiracy to stop the congressional session that would certify the 2020 presidential election on January 6, according to the complaints. And they argue that Trump should bear responsibility for directing the assaults.

Swalwell, who described his position in the case in an interview on CNN on Sunday, said he expects Monday's hearing to be long. He noted, however, that he and others will not be permitted into the courtroom because of the recent surge in Covid-19 cases. Instead, the participants will speak to the judge over videoconference.

JUST WATCHED Watch President Biden's entire January 6th speech Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Watch President Biden's entire January 6th speech 24:34

If the judge rules in favor of Swalwell and others who have sued, the California Democrat said he expects "it's going to speed up, and hopefully we'll move to more depositions and evidence discovery very soon."

The police officers, in their lawsuit, say they were hit by chemical sprays and objects the crowd threw at them, like water bottles and signs, because Trump inspired the crowd.

"Defendant's followers, already primed by his months of inflammatory rhetoric, were spurred to direct action," the lawsuit from Blassingame and Hemby said. "Had Trump committed directly the conduct committed by his followers, it would have subjected Trump to direct liability."

Six additional lawsuits against Trump and others for their roles in the insurrection are also in front of the same court, but haven't reached the point of being argued yet.

In the three cases before Mehta on Monday, the defendants include Trump, Brooks, Donald Trump Jr., Rudy Giuliani and right-wing groups the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. In court, they are distancing themselves from the actions of the crowd on January 6 , and asking Mehta to dismiss the cases. According to Trump's arguments, allowing the lawsuits to go forward would "drastically" chill political speech and prompt dozens of lawsuits aimed at damaging electoral opponents.

Trump and his top advisers haven't been charged with any crimes. Several leaders in the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who have been criminally charged with conspiracy have pleaded not guilty.

Congressman defends himself

In an unusual situation for a court hearing, Brooks defended himself on Monday, saying he was acting in his job as a congressman when he warmed the pro-Trump crowd on January 6.

The Justice Department has argued that Brooks should be on his own as he's being sued -- not to be protected by the government, because his speech was at a campaign event and he was advocating for Trump.

When asked on Monday if Brooks had spoken as a way to campaign for Trump, he said he would "reject it." "Name the campaign," he added, echoing Trump's lawyers' claims that Trump's 2020 campaign ceased to exist when he lost the election in November and that he was speaking as President.

Brooks argues his speech on January 6 -- when he called for "kicking ass" of Congress --was generally about the Electoral College certification vote planned for that day.

Mehta seemed somewhat sympathetic to Brooks' position. If he rules in his favor, it could let Brooks off the hook from paying damages related to claims of injury Democratic members of Congress and police are pursuing.

The judge, questioning the Justice Department, quoted parts of Brooks' speech where he spoke about the congressional vote planned for that day.

It's typical for even outside lawyers to argue cases when their clients are suing or are sued, even if the clients themselves are lawyers.

Brooks appeared to be speaking from his office on the videoconference with the court. When he wasn't speaking, he wore a black mask to cover his nose and mouth, printed with two words in red: "Free speech."

Calls for combat

The Democratic representatives' cases specifically focus on the language Trump, Brooks and others used at the "Stop the Steal" rally on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, directly before the attack.

Trump told the crowd to "show strength" and "walk down Pennsylvania Avenue," for instance, while Brooks, in his speech, said, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass." Also at the rally, Giuliani told the crowd to have "trial by combat."

Following the speeches, hundreds of pro-Trump rally-goers marched to the Capitol, severely beating law enforcement officers guarding the building and breaking through barricades and windows to get inside. Many then ransacked congressional offices and some chanted "treason" as they overtook the Senate chamber, from which lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence had been evacuated minutes before.

JUST WATCHED Reporter explains why McConnell isn't talking about Trump Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Reporter explains why McConnell isn't talking about Trump 01:42

"The President has been very clear he was there at the Ellipse as President," Binnall said in court Friday "He was advocating for Congress to take or not take certain actions. ... We are dead center on immunity."

After the Senate voted not to convict Trump last February, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed to lawsuits as an avenue for retribution.

The Kentucky Republican said Trump was "still liable for everything he did while he was in office" and noted "we have civil litigation" from which a president would not be immune.

The lawsuits could take months or even years to see resolutions.

This story has been updated with details from the court hearing.

Jan. 6: Takeaways from the prime-time committee hearing on ...

(CNN) The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack held its first prime-time hearing Thursday evening, detailing the findings of the panel's investigation and playing new video from closed-door depositions of members of former President Donald Trump's team and depicting the violence at the Capitol.

Thursday's hearing was the first in a series this month that will highlight the findings of the panel's investigation, which included interviews with more than 1,000 people about how Trump and his team tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election on multiple fronts.

While many details have been reported by CNN and other media outlets, the committee's hearings will try to tell the story of January 6 to the American people.

Here are the key takeaways from the hearing:

Visceral footage revives January 6 horrors

The committee played a compilation of some of the most disturbing footage from the January 6 attack.

They included some never-before seen material, including birds-eye view footage from security cameras that showed the enormous pro-Trump mob as it started swarming the Capitol grounds.

The footage also showed how the crowd took its cues directly from Trump, with one rioter reading a Trump tweet on a megaphone for the other rioters to hear. In that tweet, Trump criticized Pence for announcing that he would not overturn the results of the 2020 election while presiding over the joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden's win.

JUST WATCHED Watch: The Jan. 6 committee plays never-before-seen video footage Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Watch: The Jan. 6 committee plays never-before-seen video footage 12:04

After that moment, the committee's montage showed a now-infamous clip of Trump supporters chanting, "Hang Mike Pence."

Then they showed a photograph of a makeshift noose and gallows that the rioters erected near the Capitol, as well as a haunting clip of other rioters shouting "Nancy! Nancy!" as they converged on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, searching for her.

These clips immediately harkened back the horrors of January 6, which can easily get lost amid the partisan bickering over the committee and its investigation. But underneath this probe, there was a violent and deadly attack, that injured more than 140 police officers and lead to several deaths. The visceral footage served as a frightening reminder of a dark day in US history.

Trump didn't want the riot to stop

The committee revealed testimony from Trump White House officials who said the former President did not want the US Capitol attack to stop, angrily resisted his own advisers who were urging him to call off the rioters and thought his own vice president "deserved" to be hanged.

It also offers a new window into Trump's demeanor during the riot -- something the committee has repeatedly suggested would be a key part of their public hearings.

Vice chair Liz Cheney described testimony from a witness who said Trump was aware of chants to "Hang Mike Pence" and seemed to approve of them.

"Aware of the rioters' chants to 'hang Mike Pence,' the President responded with this sentiment: [quote] 'Maybe our supporters have the right idea.' Mike Pence [quote] 'deserves' it," she said.

Cheney has previously characterized Trump's inaction on January 6 during those 187 minutes as a "dereliction of duty."

Proud Boys and Oath Keepers take center stage

The committee introduced the American public to two of the most militant far-right extremist groups in the country, which were present on January 6: The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

These groups were at the vanguard of the riot. They were among the first to breach the building, and are accused of planning violence. Documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who testified on Thursday, said he was with the Proud Boys when they converged on the Capitol before Trump's speech at the Ellipse, showing that they weren't interested in the rally and were eyeing the Capitol.

Thompson and Cheney sought to link Trump directly to these extremists, including his comment during a September 2020 debate that the Proud Boys should "stand back and stand by." They showed new testimony from Proud Boys leaders about how they viewed that as a call to arms.

Federal prosecutors at the Justice Department have charged 17 members of these groups with seditious conspiracy -- an extremely serious allegation that the committee highlighted Thursday.

Capitol Police officer's gripping testimony

US Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards was the first witness who testified, becoming the face of the violence against law enforcement that day.

The committee said that Edwards was the first officer injured by the rioters. She described her pride in her job to "protect America's symbol of democracy" -- and the vicious public scrutiny she endured after she was knocked unconscious and suffered a traumatic brain injury during the attack.

JUST WATCHED 'I was slipping in people's blood': Capitol police officer recalls graphic scene from Jan 6. Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 'I was slipping in people's blood': Capitol police officer recalls graphic scene from Jan 6. 02:43

"I was called a lot of things on January 6, 2021 and the days thereafter," said Edwards. "I was called Nancy Pelosi's dog, called incompetent, called a hero and a villain. I was called a traitor to my country, my home, and my Constitution. In actuality, I was none of those things."

"I was an American standing face to face with other Americans asking myself how many time -- many, many times -- how we had gotten here. I had been called names before, but never had my patriotism or duty been called into question," added Edwards.

Edwards called herself "the proud granddaughter" of a Marine veteran who fought in the Korean War.

"I am my grandfather's granddaughter, proud to put on a uniform and serve my country," said Edwards. "They dared to question my honor. They dared to question my loyalty. And they dared to question my duty. I am a proud American, and I will gladly sacrifice everything to make sure that the America my grandfather defended is here for many years to come."

US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman will testify during a hearing next week against two defendants who were part of the riot. Goodman, who steered a mob away from the Senate chamber during the insurrection just moments before it was secured with the members still inside, told CNN this week that it will be the first time he's given public testimony about the events of that day.

Trump's team and family turn against him

The committee's first hearing was bolstered with never-before-seen video clips showing members of Trump's White House and campaign -- as well as his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner -- speaking about how they didn't believe Trump's claims that the election was stolen.

JUST WATCHED Rep. Liz Cheney shows testimony from Ivanka Trump, Bill Barr and Jason Miller Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rep. Liz Cheney shows testimony from Ivanka Trump, Bill Barr and Jason Miller 06:05

Former Attorney General William Barr said that Trump's claims of voter fraud were "bullshit."

Ivanka Trump said that she respected Barr and "accepted what he was saying" about the election.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the campaign data person told Trump in "pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose."

And the committee cited testimony from Trump campaign lawyer Alex Cannon, who testified he told Meadows by "mid-to-late November" that the campaign had come up empty trying to find widespread fraud in key states that Trump lost. Cannon said Meadows responded to his assessment by saying, "So there's no there there."

Staffers fled top GOP Rep. McCarthy's office, but GOP turned back to Trump

One of the new videos the committee unveiled showed staffers in House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's office frantically rushing out after rioters had breached the Capitol.

The clip was notable because of McCarthy's role on January 6 -- and his opposition to the January 6 committee that he has shown ever since.

On January 6, McCarthy had a heated phone call with Trump as the riot was ongoing. The January 6 committee has subpoenaed McCarthy seeking information about the call. And in the days immediately after the insurrection, McCarthy said Trump "bears responsibility" for the attack.

But soon after January 6, McCarthy cozied back up to Trump. He opposed the creation of a commission to investigate the January 6 attack and has repeatedly criticized the committee throughout the course of its investigation.

Thursday's hearing showed how the committee -- and Cheney, who was ousted last year from her GOP leadership position by McCarthy -- are focused on the Republican leader.

In her opening statement Cheney said that leaders on Capitol Hill "begged the President" for help, including McCarthy. She said that McCarthy was "scared" and called multiple members of Trump's family after being unable to persuade Trump himself.

Pence -- not Trump -- called for help

The committee also showed new video from its interview with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley saying Pence was the one who ordered National Guard troops to respond to the violence on January 6, but that he was told by the White House to say it was Trump.

"Vice President Pence -- there were two or three calls with Vice President Pence. He was very animated, and he issued very explicit, very direct, unambiguous orders. There was no question about that," Milley says in the video.

"He was very animated, very direct, very firm to Secretary Miller. 'Get the military down here, get the guard down here. Put down this situation, et cetera,'" he added, referring to Pence.

Milley also described his interactions with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows that day, drawing a stark contrast between those conversations with Pence.

"He said: We have to kill the narrative that the vice president is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable, or words to that effect," Milley says in the video, referring to what Meadows told him.

"I immediately interpreted that as politics, politics, politics. Red flag for me, personally. No action. But I remember it distinctly," he added.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Jeremy Herb
Marshall Cohen
Zachary Cohen
Alex Rogers

What to expect on Day 3 of January 6: A focus on Mike Pence ...

(CNN) Thursday's hearing from the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection will be all about former Vice President Mike Pence , who was at the center of former President Donald Trump's last-ditch effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021.

Committee aides said the hearing would make the case that Trump's pressure campaign against Pence had "directly contributed" to the violence on January 6, which placed Pence's life in danger as rioters chanted, " Hang Mike Pence ."

Aides said the hearing would include new materials and documents about Pence's movements on January 6 and what he was doing when the Senate chamber was forced to evacuate after rioters breached the US Capitol.

The hearing will focus on Trump attorney John Eastman 's theory that Pence had the authority to overturn the election results when Congress certified Joe Biden's victory on January 6, 2021. It was a theory that was rejected by Trump's own White House attorneys, but Trump and his allies embraced it, pressuring Pence to help him subvert the election in the weeks leading up to January 6.

The committee teased testimony on Tuesday, with a clip showing Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann's angry reaction to Eastman continuing to push the case the day after January 6.

The January 6 committee has obtained a trove of emails Eastman sent related to his efforts to overturn the election that could shed new light on the Trump attorney's thinking in the days leading up to January 6. Eastman had tried to block the House from accessing many of his emails, claiming they're protected as confidential attorney-client communications, but a judge has disagreed with him repeatedly and ordered them turned over.

Two witnesses will testify at Thursday's hearing who advised Pence that he did not have the authority to subvert the election, former Pence attorney Greg Jacob and retired Republican judge J. Michael Luttig

The focus on both Eastman and Trump's effort to overturn the election and the ensuing violence on January 6 reiterates a theme the committee has emphasized in its first two June hearings: that Trump's scheme to stop his election loss led to the attack on the Capitol.

Pence will be the focus, but not there

One person who will be noticeably absent Thursday is the former vice president himself.

Earlier this year, the committee's chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, had suggested the committee would seek testimony from Pence. Still, the prospect of Pence appearing before the committee, particularly in public, has always been viewed as a long shot -- to say the least.

But as the committee makes its case that Trump was pushing his vice president to unilaterally overturn the election on January 6, Pence's absence will undoubtedly be felt.

Asked Wednesday if the committee is still interested in hearing from Pence himself, committee aides demurred, telling reporters the investigation is ongoing and therefore they cannot provide details about any engagement with a particular witness.

"Nothing new to share on that, other than we continue to search for facts and if there is more to share, we'll share it in the future," one of the aides said.

The fact that two of Pence's former advisers are scheduled to appear Thursday, and his former chief of staff Marc Short testified on camera behind closed doors , indicates that Pence was not actively seeking to block those around him from sharing information with the committee in his stead.

Pence is expected to travel to Ohio on Thursday for a roundtable discussion about energy.

A judge and a lawyer

The two witnesses appearing Thursday, Jacob and Luttig, each played a key role in helping Pence stand up to Trump's pressure campaign. And both can speak to how Trump and his allies were warned that his plan for Pence to throw out electoral votes on January 6 was illegal.

Jacob was a lawyer for Pence and helped the vice president's team articulate that the Constitution did not give Pence more than ceremonial authority when Congress certified Biden's victory. Luttig helped provide public cover for Pence, tweeting out a thread at the urging of Pence's team to explain why Pence could not do as Trump wished. Interestingly, Eastman is a former clerk for Luttig.

Pence cited Luttig's statement in the letter released January 6 explaining why he would not stop the certification of the election.

Jacob also played a role behind the scenes on January 6 while he was being evacuated from the Senate with Pence, exchanging heated emails over what was transpiring, which were revealed in court filings.

"Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege," Jacob wrote

Eastman responded: "The 'siege' is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so that the American people can see for themselves what happened."

Short, Pence's former top aide, spoke to the committee via deposition, and committee aides said they expect to use portions of his interview during Thursday's hearing. But there's no indication the committee will call him to testify during the public hearings.

It's not unlike how the committee featured former Attorney General William Barr's deposition during Monday's hearing but did not have him appear for public testimony.

'A great effing criminal defense lawyer'

The committee previewed its Thursday hearing by releasing a video clip from its deposition of Herschmann.

In the clip, Herschmann outlines how he warned Eastman to back off plans to file appeals in Georgia based on the election results after the events of January 6, 2021.

"He started to ask me about something dealing with Georgia and preserving something, potentially, for appeal," Herschmann says in the video. "And I said to him, 'Are you out of your effing mind? Because I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition.' I said, 'I don't want to hear any other effing words coming out of your mouth no matter what, other than 'orderly transition.' Repeat those words to me."

He then goes on to warn Eastman that his actions could potentially be against the law.

"Eventually he said, 'Orderly transition.' I said, 'Good, John. Now I'm gonna give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life: Get a great effing criminal defense lawyer. You're gonna need it.' And I hung up on him."

The video likely foreshadows what will be an underlying theme of Thursday's hearing as the committee plans to highlight how Trump continued to embrace Eastman's plan for overturning the election despite the insistence from his top lawyers that it was not sound legal advice.

And by attempting to carry out that plan, it is more likely than not that Trump and Eastman committed a crime, according to Herschmann and a federal judge in California who issued an opinion on the topic in a related case earlier this year.

Staff attorney will ask questions Thursday

The format of Thursday's hearing will have a new wrinkle, according to committee aides: Committee counsel John Wood will do some of the questioning of witnesses.

The inclusion of a staff attorney harkens back to House Democrats' impeachment hearings in 2019, when staff attorneys conducted lengthy questioning of witnesses before the more traditional five-minute rounds were used for House lawmakers.

The select committee has limited who has spoken at the hearings so far, with one member focused on leading each session. On Thursday, Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar in California will have that task.

The committee postponed its planned hearing on Wednesday, which was to have focused on the Justice Department. Now it will hold two hearings next week, and more are likely to come the following week, though the committee has yet to announce specific times or topics for those.

Jeremy Herb
Zachary Cohen
Annie Grayer
Ryan Nobles

January 6 hearings: 7 takeaways from day 6 - CNNPolitics

Hutchinson has cooperated extensively with the investigation, having sat for four closed-door depositions. She revealed how then-President Donald Trump and his inner circle were warned about the potential for violence on January 6, and how Trump wanted to join the throngs of his supporters at the US Capitol.

The testimony bolstered the narrative that the committee has been driving toward over the last few weeks: That Trump incited and supported the insurrection as part of a desperate power grab to steal a second term, and that many of his top advisers thought his schemes were illegal.

Here are takeaways from Hutchinson's key testimony.

Trump and his chief of staff were warned about violence -- including armed attendees of rally

Hutchinson really moved the ball forward in terms of establishing that Trump was personally aware of the potential for violence, yet forged ahead on January 6 with his attempts to rile up his supporters to interfere with the joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden's victory.

She said Trump was told that morning that weapons were being confiscated from some of his supporters who came for his rally. Later, when Trump and his team were at the Ellipse -- the large oval lawn on the south side of the White House -- and before his speech, Trump barked out orders to his staffers to "take the mags away" -- referring to the metal detectors -- because the people in the crowd, "they're not here to hurt me."

Trump also said, "I don't f**king care that they have weapons," according to Hutchinson. This is particularly shocking, because Trump then encouraged the same crowd to march to the Capitol while lawmakers were affirming Biden's win. (Hundreds of Trump's diehard supporters soon stormed the Capitol, many carrying knives, bear spray, metal poles, tasers and a few guns.)

JUST WATCHED Ex-aide was backstage with Trump at his Jan. 6 rally. Here's what she heard him say Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ex-aide was backstage with Trump at his Jan. 6 rally. Here's what she heard him say 02:52

When Hutchinson told her boss, Meadows, about early reports of weapons getting confiscated, Meadows didn't even look up from his phone, according to Hutchinson. Two days earlier, he told her that "things might get real, real, bad on January 6."

"The potential for violence was learned or known before the onset of the violence, early enough for President Trump to have taken steps to prevent it," said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the panel's GOP vice chair. She added that Trump could have urged his supporters not to march to the Capitol, or condemned the violence more quickly, but didn't, because he "had something else in mind."

Trump intended to go the Capitol and pushed to do so until the last minute

The select committee effectively proved as much on Tuesday by featuring a mix of damning witness testimony and White House records that show Trump intended to join his supporters at the Capitol and was pushing to do so just minutes before the violence began to escalate.

It was previously known that Trump wanted to go to the Capitol, but Hutchinson's testimony established for the first time that people around Trump had advance knowledge of this plan.

The reality of Trump's intentions became clear to national security officials in real time as they learned the Secret Service was scrambling to find a way for the former President to travel to the Capitol while he was on stage urging his followers to march, according to National Security Council chat logs from that day that were revealed for the first time during Tuesday's hearing.

The NSC chat logs provide a minute-by-minute accounting of how the situation evolved from the perspective of top White House national security officials on January 6 and, along with witness testimony delivered on Tuesday, contradict an account by Meadows in his book where he says Trump never intended to march to the Capitol.

"MOGUL's going to the Capital ... they are clearing a route now," a message sent to the chat log at 12:29 p.m. ET on January 6 reads -- referring to the former President's secret service code name.

"MilAide has confirmed that he wants to walk," a 12:32 p.m. message reads. "They are begging him to reconsider."

"So this is happening," a message sent at 12:47 p.m. states.

Hutchinson also testified that some in Trump's orbit had made clear days before January 6 that Trump wanted to travel to the US Capitol.

She told the committee Tuesday that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani told her on January 2 -- four days before the US Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters -- that "we're going to the Capitol" on January 6, and that Trump himself was also planning to be there.

JUST WATCHED 'This was obscene': Tapper reacts to ex-White House aide's Jan. 6 testimony Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 'This was obscene': Tapper reacts to ex-White House aide's Jan. 6 testimony 05:28

Aide recounts secondhand incident where Trump reached for steering wheel

Hutchinson testified Tuesday that she heard a secondhand account of how Trump was so enraged at his Secret Service detail for blocking him from going to the Capitol on January 6 that he lunged to the front of his presidential limo and tried to turn the wheel.

She said that Tony Ornato, then-White House deputy chief of staff, said that Robert Engel, who was the Secret Service agent in charge on January 6, repeatedly told Trump on their way back to the White House after Trump's Ellipse speech that it wasn't safe to go to the Capitol.

According to Hutchinson, Ornato recounted Trump screaming, "I'm the f**king President. Take me up to the Capitol now." Trump then "reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel," Hutchinson remembered learning. She added that, according to Ornato, Trump used his other hand "lunge" at Engel.

Engel and Ornato have both testified to the committee behind closed doors, but their statements were not used in the hearing Tuesday.

After the testimony, a Secret Service official familiar with the matter told CNN that Ornato denies telling Hutchinson that the former President grabbed the wheel or an agent on his detail.

The Secret Service, through the Department of Homeland Security Office of Legislative Affairs, notified the committee Tuesday afternoon that it will make the agents involved available to testify under oath, the official said. The agents are also prepared to say under oath that the incident itself did not occur.

The lead agent, Engel, previously testified before the committee and described the interactions with Trump on January 6, including the former President's desire to travel to the Capitol, but he was not asked about an altercation or being assaulted, the official said.

Asked about the Secret Service disputing the testimony, a committee spokesman said, "The committee trusts the creditability of a witness who is willing to testify under oath and in public but is also willing to hear any and all information that others may have that would aid in their investigation."

JUST WATCHED Secret Service officials: Agents willing to dispute Trump SUV incident under oath Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Secret Service officials: Agents willing to dispute Trump SUV incident under oath 03:21

Hutchinson also recounted a separate Trump tantrum after then-Attorney General William Barr told the Associated Press in December 2020 there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

"I remember hearing noise coming from down the hallway," Hutchinson began. She saw the President's valet in the dining room, changing the tablecloth, ketchup dripping down the wall, and a porcelain plate shattered on the floor.

"The President was extremely angry at the attorney general's ... interview and had thrown his lunch against the wall," Hutchinson said. "I grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup off the wall."

The anecdote came up as the committee questioned Hutchinson about Trump's state of mind after losing the election.

Cipollone warned: 'People are going to die and the blood's gonna be on your f**king hands'

Trump defended the rioters chanting for the hanging of then-Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, according to Hutchinson.

Hutchinson relayed a conversation she observed between White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Meadows after they discussed with Trump the chants to inflict violence on Pence.

"I remember Pat saying something to the effect of 'Mark, we need to do something more. They're literally calling for the vice president to be f**king hung,'" Hutchinson recalled.

Meadows replied, "You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong," according to Hutchinson.

Cipollone responded, "This is f**king crazy. We need to be doing something more."

Hutchinson testified that Cipollone had previously rushed into Meadows' office after rioters breached the Capitol and told Meadows what had happened, and said they needed to go meet with Trump.

"Mark, something needs to be done, or people are going to die and the blood's gonna be on your f**king hands," Cipollone told Meadows, according to Hutchinson. "This is getting out of control."

JUST WATCHED Hear John Dean's direct message to ex-Trump White House lawyer Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Hear John Dean's direct message to ex-Trump White House lawyer 01:48

'There was a large concern' in White House of the 25th Amendment being invoked after riot

Trump delivered a speech on January 7, 2021, finally acknowledging that Biden would be inaugurated in part because there was a "large concern" by the White House that Pence and the Cabinet could invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from power, according to Cassidy's testimony.

Hutchinson also testified that Trump did not want to include references in the speech to prosecuting the pro-Trump rioters, but instead wanted to float pardons for them. After the White House Counsel's office pushed back, Trump did not mention pardons in that speech.

If the 25th Amendment had been invoked, Trump could've put his presidency up for a vote before Congress, where two-thirds would have been necessary to kick him out.

"There was a large concern of the 25th Amendment potentially being invoked, and there were concerns about what would happen in the Senate if it was," Hutchinson testified.

The thinking at the time was that Trump needed the speech "as cover" to protect himself from the threat of his Cabinet trying to oust him from power, Hutchinson said. She said that was a "secondary reason" for Trump to give the speech; the first was that Trump needed to condemn the violent attack to try and prevent it from becoming his legacy.

While Trump gave the speech effectively conceding the election, he wanted to remove calls for "prosecuting the rioters or calling them violent" from early drafts of his January 7 speech, according to Hutchinson, but wanted to float pardons to his supporters.

"He didn't want that in there," Hutchinson said. "He wanted to put in that he wanted to potentially pardon them."

"He didn't think that they did anything wrong," said Hutchinson, referring to the pro-Trump rioters. "The people who did something wrong that day-or-the person who did something wrong that day was Mike Pence, by not standing with him."

Trump's conduct on January 6 was 'un-American' and 'unpatriotic,' Hutchinson says

In emotional and powerful testimony, Hutchinson said Trump's behavior on January 6 was "unpatriotic" and "un-American."

The committee asked Hutchinson to describe her real-time reaction from January 6, when Trump attacked Pence in a tweet at 2:24 p.m. ET, which was after his supporters invaded the Capitol, forcing Pence, lawmakers, and staffers to run for their lives.

"As a staffer ... I remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really, it felt personal. It was really sad," Hutchinson said. "As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We're watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie. And it was something that was really hard in that moment to digest. ... I still struggle to work through the emotions of that."

Her condemnation of Trump's behavior may shed some light on her motivations for coming forward with so much damaging information about January 6. Committee members have heaped praise on Hutchinson and other Republicans who have testified, calling them patriots.

JUST WATCHED See how close rioters got to Pence as they breached the Capitol Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH See how close rioters got to Pence as they breached the Capitol 03:07

Committee teases evidence of witness tampering

The committee has secured testimony from some major witnesses members of Trump's inner circle, even members of his family. But Cheney suggested during the hearing that there might be a Trump-imposed blockade of sorts, and that the panel has evidence of witness tampering.

She said one witness -- whom the committee did not identify -- testified that: "What they said to me is, as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I'm on the team, I'm doing the right thing, I'm protecting who I need to protect, you know, I'll continue to stay in good graces in Trump world."

Another unidentified witness said they were told by someone in Trump's orbit that Trump was "thinking about you" and that "he knows you're loyal" and hopes that "you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition."

Cheney said the committee takes this "seriously" and will be considering "next steps," potentially hinting at a criminal referral, for possible witness tampering or obstruction. Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee chairman, issued a public plea for more cooperation, saying to potential witnesses that if "you discovered some courage you had hidden away somewhere, our doors remain open."

Trump has denied all wrongdoing regarding January 6 and the related investigations.

This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.

CORRECTION: This story has been corrected to note that Trump did not mention pardons for rioters in his January 7, 2021, speech.

Biden condemns Trump as a threat to democracy in speech marking ...

(CNN) President Joe Biden on Thursday marked the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection by forcefully calling out former President Donald Trump for attempting to undo American democracy, saying such an insurrection must never happen again.

Biden vowed to defend the nation's founding ideals from the threats posed by the violent mob that stormed the Capitol one year ago and the prevailing lies that Trump and his allies continue to repeat about the 2020 election. An animated Biden made one of the most passionate addresses of his still-young presidency as he harkened back to critical moments from the nation's past, casting the assault as a living symbol of the inflection point in American history he so often speaks about.

"For the first time in our history, a President had not just lost an election. He tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob reached the Capitol," Biden said in a speech from the US Capitol that lasted just under 30 minutes. "But they failed. They failed. And on this day of remembrance, we must make sure that such an attack never, never happens again."

In a direct shot at Trump, Biden added, "His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution, he can't accept he lost."

Biden has typically avoided speaking directly about his predecessor since taking office, and pointedly did not say his name on Thursday -- instead making more than a dozen references to "the former President."

But the President's blistering speech nonetheless confronted Trump's election lies and post-presidency behavior, accusing him of spreading falsehoods about the 2020 election, refusing to accept defeat and holding him accountable for inciting a violent mob of his supporters to storm the US Capitol.

"A former President of the United States of America has created and spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He's done so because he values power over principle, because he sees his own interest as more important than his country's interest and America's interest," Biden said.

Biden again emphasized the core message of his 2020 presidential campaign and the reason why he ran against Trump: "We are in a battle for the soul of America."

The President warned democracy and the "promise of America" is at risk and called on the American public to "stand for the rule of law, to preserve the flame of democracy."

He called for protecting voting rights across the nation and blasted Trump and his supporters for attempting to "suppress your vote and subvert our elections."

"It's wrong. It's undemocratic. And frankly it's un-American," Biden said.

On Capitol Hill, congressional Democrats took part in a series of events following Biden's speech to commemorate the January 6 anniversary, including moments of silence on the House and Senate floors and speeches from lawmakers describing their personal experiences of the harrowing attack.

Biden's comments come as Democrats make a renewed push to get two voting rights bills -- the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act -- passed in the Senate. The two pieces of legislation were introduced in response to Republicans enacting laws across the country making it harder for people to vote following record turnout in the 2020 election. Virtually every Republican in Congress opposes the legislation and it is unclear whether Democrats will be able to pass the bills.

"Now let's step up, write the next chapter in American history, for January 6 marks not the end of democracy, but the beginning of a renaissance of liberty and fair play," Biden said.

After his speech, Biden defended calling out Trump in such a direct way when asked by a reporter if he believed going after the former President would "divide more than it heals."

The President responded: "The way you have to heal, you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can't pretend. This is serious stuff."

"You've got to face it. That's what great nations do. They face the truth, deal with it and move on," Biden said.

A day of remembrance

The events of January 6, 2021, led to Trump's second impeachment by the House of Representatives. The insurrection launched the largest investigation in FBI history, with 700 people arrested and hundreds more offenders still at large. And a House select committee continues to investigate the events leading up to the riots. Two Trump allies -- Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon -- have been held in criminal contempt for declining to cooperate with committee investigators after being subpoenaed.

The events of the insurrection took place just two weeks before Biden's inauguration, casting a shadow on the new President's administration. And despite the slew of tossed out court cases, failed state election audits and countless debunked conspiracy claims, many Trump supporters have continued to doubt the legitimacy of Biden's presidency.

In his remarks, Biden said he did not ask to be president at a time when America's founding principles were under attack, but he was up for the fight.

"I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation. And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy," Biden said.

The President also praised the police officers who stood against the attack for upholding the nation's way of life.

"One year ago today in this sacred place, democracy was attacked -- simply attacked. The will of the people was under assault, the Constitution -- our Constitution -- faced the gravest of threats. Outnumbered in the face of a brutal attack, the Capitol police, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, the National Guard and other brave law enforcement officials saved the rule of law. Our democracy held. We the people endured. We the people prevailed.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke before Biden , saying: "On January 6, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful: The lawlessness, the violence, the chaos."

"When I meet with young people, they often ask about the state of our democracy. About January 6. What I tell them is: January 6 reflects the dual nature of democracy. Its fragility and its strength," Harris added. "You see, the strength of democracy is the rule of law."

While Trump was expected to hold a news conference scheduled for the anniversary of the insurrection, it was abruptly canceled. Allies had warned it would cause unnecessary problems for Republicans and himself.

Instead of his news conference on Thursday, Trump is expected to air his grievances at a campaign-style rally in Arizona next week.

Democrats pay tribute to Capitol police and condemn Trump

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both spoke on Capitol Hill in remembrance of the January 6 anniversary.

Pelosi paid tribute to police officers and staff who helped protect the Capitol before leading a moment of silence on the House floor.

The speaker acknowledged "the heroism of so many, particularly US Capitol Police" and "fallen heroes of that day."

"In the face of extreme danger, they all risked our safety for our democracy by protecting the Capitol complex."

"Because of them, and our members, the insurrection failed," she said.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was on the House floor with his daughter GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Pelosi spoke with the Cheneys after her remarks and the moment of silence.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in his own speech, warned of ever-present dangers to democracy and condemned former President Donald Trump for inciting the insurrection.

"The warnings of history are clear: When democracies are in danger, it often starts with a mob. That's what happened a year ago, here in this building, a mob attack," he said.

"Donald Trump today continues to spread his poisonous vile about the big lie," he said. "It was Donald Trump's big lie that soaked our political landscape in kerosene. It was Donald Trump's rally ... that struck the match, and then came the fire."

Democrats share personal experiences of the attack

Democratic lawmakers recounted haunting memories of the attack in speeches throughout the day.

They described feelings of terror, disbelief and anger as the attack unfolded. They recalled horrifying sounds: breaking glass, rioters pounding on doors and walls, a gunshot. They remembered frightening directives: how they had been told to put on gas masks and run for their lives. They told stories of heart-wrenching calls to loved ones not knowing what would happen next or if they would make it out alive.

Schumer described how close he had come to the pro-Trump mob that day.

"I was within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists," he said. He added, "I was told later that one of them reportedly said, 'There's the big Jew, let's get him.'"

Schumer said a police officer grabbed him by the collar at one point, and that it was a moment he would never forget.

"Senator, we got to get out of here, you're in danger," he recalled the officer telling him.

Many Senate Democrats delivered speeches on the Senate floor beginning in the morning and lasting through the afternoon to commemorate the anniversary.

Separately, a group of House Democrats also gave testimonials about their experiences of the insurrection. Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, one of the lawmakers trapped inside the House chamber during the attack, presided over the event.

In addition to speeches from lawmakers, a moderated conversation took place in the afternoon featuring historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham.

Later, in the evening, a candlelit prayer vigil was held on the center steps of the Capitol where House and Senate Democrats, including Pelosi and Schumer, participated.

Lawmakers' staff also received calls from Biden; the President wrote on Instagram Thursday evening that he telephoned Senate and House staff to hear their stories from the insurrection and thank them for their courage.

"In the face of a violent mob on January 6, House and Senate staff sprang into action to defend the Capitol and our democracy. I called some of them today to hear their stories and thank them for their courage. They are just a few of the unsung heroes of that day," Biden wrote.

Republicans reluctant to talk about Trump

GOP leaders weren't in the Capitol on Thursday with the House out of session and a number of Republican senators traveling to Georgia to attend a memorial service for the late Sen. Johnny Isakson.

While congressional Democrats put together a full day of events to bring attention to what happened during the insurrection, congressional Republicans, in contrast, have seemed reluctant to talk much about it and especially resistant to address Trump's role.

In a letter to House Republicans at the start of the new year, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy briefly mentioned the January 6 anniversary, but did not include any mention of the former President.

"The actions of that day were lawless and as wrong as wrong can be. Our Capitol should never be compromised and those who broke the law deserve to face legal repercussions and full accountability," he wrote.

McCarthy then pivoted to criticizing Democrats.

"Unfortunately, one year later, the majority party seems no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared and what must be done to ensure it never happens again. Instead, they are using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country," he said.

This story has been updated with additional developments Thursday.

Maegan Vazquez
Clare Foran
Kate Sullivan