capitol riot

‘Detached From Reality': Top Video From the Second Hearing of the Jan. 6 Panel

The Jan. 6 House committee hearing presents testimony on video

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Attorney General William Barr worried that President Donald Trump had "become detached from reality," Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said Trump took advice from an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren accused the former president of raising money off election lies.

Monday's hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol unfolded largely through video. The committee is relying on taped testimony from Trump's circle and others to try to make a case that the former president conspired to overturn the election.

Here is a look at the hearing through the videos that were shown, among them of Barr and Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien, who did not appear in-person because his wife went into labor.

Election Night at the White House

Once Fox News called Arizona for Joe Biden on election night, the mood at the White House became anxious, Trump advisers said. Arizona was a state key to Trump's hopes for a win. But Trump declared the election a victory against the advice of his top aides and after speaking with an apparently intoxicated Rudy Giuliani, Cheney and those aides said.

Robert Costello, an attorney for Giuliani, told NBC News: “Mayor Giuliani denies that he was intoxicated and denies that he was drinking at all, and he suggests that you talk to other people who were there.” Costello added that in Giuliani’s nearly eight hour interview with the committee, no one asked him any questions about this.

During Monday’s House hearing on the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, video testimony by members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle, including Ivanka Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Jason Miller, detailed Trump’s reaction on election night.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said at Monday’s Jan. 6 hearing that former President Donald Trump was acting on the advice of an “apparently inebriated” Rudy Giuliani when he claimed victory on election night.

'Detached From Reality'

If Trump believed that the election had been stolen, he was becoming "detached from reality," Barr said. The claims of fraud were "bull---," he said.

In taped testimony to the House special committee on the U.S. Capitol Riot, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr expressed concerns he had over “how crazy” former President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims appeared.

No Evidence of Fraud

Barr said repeatedly that there was no evidence of fraud. And Cheney said that hundreds of Americans had marched on the U.S. Capitol at Trump's request even though he had been told by his campaign's legal team and others that there were no voting irregularities sufficient to overturn the election. "They believed what Donald Trump said about the election," she said.

During a deposition to the House special committee on the U.S. Capitol Riot, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr testified repeatedly that there was no election fraud in the 2020 Election.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., started Monday’s hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot by introducing the former president’s false claims about the 2020 election results.

'Wild' Fraud Claims

Stepien recalled a claim that thousands of illegal votes had been cast in Arizona. In reality, he said, the votes had come from legitimate citizens who were overseas.

In her closing statement at Monday’s Jan. 6 hearing, Rep. Zoe Lofgren said the Trump campaign misled small donors.

The Big 'Rip-off'

Donald Trump raised funds on what Lofgren called the "big ripoff." Trump misled supporters into believing that the election had been fraudulent and could be overturned, Lofgren said. The committee found evidence that the Trump campaign and surrogates misled donors about what the money would be used for, said Lofgren and a committee attorney. "Those donors deserve the truth about what those funds will be used for," Lofgren said.

In her closing statement at Monday’s Jan. 6 hearing, Rep. Zoe Lofgren said the Trump campaign misled small donors.

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