A United States House of Representatives select panel investigating the 6 January 2021 Capitol Hill Riots on Friday, 22 July, showed a never-before-seen video of then-President Donald Trump stating that he did not want to say the election was over.
Further, Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of the committee, released excerpts on Twitter from the testimonies from several White House aides who said that the former president had spent nearly three hours watching the attack unfold on television in his private dining room.
Kinzinger said that Trump had no interest in calling off the rioters. "The mob was accomplishing President Trump's purpose, so of course he didn't intervene," the Republican leader said.
The clips played during the eighth televised hearing of the panel show Trump unwilling to admit defeat even hours after his supporters violently sieged the Capitol to try to stop the electoral count in his name, reported news agency AP.
“I don’t want to say the election is over," Trump said in the clip, addressing a room full of supporters.
US Representative Bennie Thompson said during the hearing that there must be "accountability" for what he called an attack on democracy.
"Over the last month and a half, the select committee has told a story of a president who did everything in his power to overturn an election," Thompson was quoted as saying by news agency AFP. "He lied, he bullied, he betrayed his oath," he said.
On 6 January 2021, pro-Trump protesters had stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, after the-then president had alleged election fraud in the elections that led Joe Biden to victory. The investigating panel comprises of seven Democrats and two Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the violent insurrection.
The next set of hearings in the matter are scheduled for September.
(With inputs from AP and AFP)
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