WASHINGTON (Washington Insider Magazine) – Former President Donald Trump responded to the House’s ongoing Jan. 6 committee hearings with a lengthy statement on Monday, blasting the committee as invalid and their presentation as one-sided — but instead of refuting their evidence, he repeated the same groundless claims about the 2020 presidential election that are at the center of the prosecution, as well as the group’s case that he attempted a “coup.”
Donald’s 12-page statement, which was distributed to the media on Monday night, arrives after the House select committee probing last year’s horrific Capitol assault held its second public hearing. He dubbed the proceedings “a smoke and mirrors show” that refused to invite “all exculpatory witnesses, and anyone who so easily points out the flaws in their story,” in a statement peppered with insults and exclamations.
However, the statement did not explicitly respond to the details laid out by the council to the general public so far, such as testimony from Trump’s close sanctum earlier Monday that he knew he had lost the last presidential election and had no lawful reason to purport election fraud, instead of that choosing to listen to Rudy Giuliani to falsely declare victory over Joe Biden.
Instead, most of Trump’s address was directed at President Joe Biden and the Democratic majority in Congress, bolstering Republican claims before the November midterm elections. Trump blames Democrats for a slew of problems facing the country, and characterized the investigation launched on Jan. 6 as an attempt to divert focus away from them.
Committee members, which includes 2 Republicans, have rebuffed accusations that their inquiry is partisan in nature. Instead, they claim that their investigation revealed how the former president attempted to undermine the democratic process in order to maintain power.
Through much of his statement, Trump repeated incorrect and baseless assertions made by him, his campaign, and sympathizers that the 2020 election was stolen in Biden’s favor through erroneous vote counts, stolen ballots, and other means.
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, several legal cases by Trump and others, as well as investigations and audits, found no evidence of widespread issues. Local election authorities across the nation, both Republicans and Democrats, claimed the allegations of fraud were unfounded.
According to ABC NEWS, Trump used his statement to make arguments against Biden and the Democratic Party’s alleged weaknesses with voters, such as higher inflation.
Trump claimed that the investigations and proceedings that began on Jan. 6 were designed to prevent him from running for president again.
Trump has hinted at a presidential run in 2024, but has yet to make a formal announcement. He has endorsed candidates in contests across the nation during the ongoing 2022 midterm election primaries, with mixed outcomes.
Witnesses who were close to Trump at the time of the election and on Jan. 6 were included in video depositions aired during the first two hearings, notably then-Attorney General Bill Barr and his daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump.
Barr, who has indicated that his team discovered no proof of widespread fraud, expressed his feelings about Trump’s increased attention on such charges, telling investigators, “He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff.”
The committee’s next open hearing, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, has been rescheduled for Thursday.
