he, referring to president trump, really should tweet something about being nonviolent. i m not there, hicks replied, i suggested it several times monday and tuesday and he refused. when miss hicks came in to provide testimony to the committee, we asked her about this exchange. her explanation is that the he in this text wasn t the president, but rather it was eric herschmann. take a listen to her testimony. when you wrote i suggested it several times and it presumably means that the president say something about being nonviolent, you wrote i suggested it several times monday and tuesday and he refused. tell us what happened. sure, i didn t speak to the president about this directly, but i communicated to people like eric herschmann that it was my view that it was important that the president put out some kind of message in advance of the event.
institutions held after the 2020 election. but that did not stop president trump. instead, he turned to his supporters, those who believed his lies about a stolen election. he summoned a crowd to the nation s capital on january 6th, hoping that they would pressure congress to do what he could not do on his own. select committee has made the following findings on this issue. two years ago today, in the early morning hours of december 19th, donald trump sent a tweet urging his supporters to travel to washington for a protest on january 6th. be there, will be wild, he tweeted. between december 19th and january 6th, the president repeatedly encouraged his supporters to come to washington. the president s december 19th tweet galvanized domestic violent extremists including members of the oath keepers, the proud boys, and organized militia groups. these individuals began
incendiary speech, declaring without basis that the election had been stolen, and encouraging his supporters to fight like hell. and during the speech and immediately thereafter, president trump stated his intention to travel to the capitol with his supporters, in an effort to influence the joint session. the select committee has developed evidence indicating that president trump did in fact intend to go to the capitol on the afternoon of january 6th, and that he repeatedly expressed that intention during the afternoon, and in the days prior. mr. chairman, i yield back. the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from virginia, mrs. luria for an opening statement. thank you, mr. chairman. all of president trump s efforts came to a head on the afternoon of january 6th. standing on the stage of the ellipse, president trump told tens of thousands of angry supporters that the election was stolen, that they had the power
provided to aid in their work. and for those of you who have followed this committee s work, i hope we have helped make clear that there is a broader kind of accountability, accountability to all of you, the american people. the future of our democracy rests in your hands. it s up to the people of this country to decide who deserves the public trust, who put fidelity to the constitution and democracy above all else. who will abide by the rule of law, no matter the outcome. i m grateful to the millions of you who followed this committee s work. i hope we lived up to our commitment to present the facts and let the facts speak for themselves. let me say in closing, the women and men seated around me on this dias are public servants in the most genuine sense. they put aside politics and
investigate and prosecute purported election fraud and to help him convince the public that the election was stolen. the select committee has made the following findings with respect to the department of justice. in the weeks immediately following the 2020 election, attorney general bill barr advised president trump the department of justice had not seen any evidence to support trump s theory that the election was stolen by fraud. no evidence. over the course of the three meetings in this post-election period, attorney general barr assured president trump that the justice department was properly investigating claims of election fraud. he debunked numerous election fraud claims, many of which the president would go to on repeat publicly. and he made clear that president trump was doing, quote, a great, great disservice to the country by pursuing them. after attorney general barr s