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The much anticipated congressional hearings into the January 6, 2021 Capitol Riot moved stark images and testimonies of the violence of that day back into the public consciousness.
While Republicans dismissed the hearings and conservative news networks like Fox News glanced over them, former President Donald Trump made it clear he was watching and he was not happy.
Taking to his accounts on his social network Truth Social, Trump railed against the hearings. In a series of posts, the former president lambasted what he characterized as an unfair focus on the violence of his supporters and for ignoring his own debunked claims of election fraud in the 2020 race.
But Trump also took particular umbrage with the testimony of officials within his own administration where they rebuked his election fraud conspiracies. Among those who rejected Trump’s allegations of mass fraud was his former Attorney General Bill Barr.
In a post, Trump assailed Barr as a “weak and frightened Attorney General” and even rebuked his eldest daughter Ivanka, who told the committee in an interview that she saw no reason to doubt Barr’s assessment of the election results.
“Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!),” Trump wrote.
In a clip of his testimony to staffers of the Jan. 6 select committee, Barr dismissed Trump’s claims as “nonsense” with no evidence to support them. After the election, Barr resigned on Dec. 23, 2020 after continuing to withhold any endorsement for charges of systemic election fraud that cost Trump his presidency.
The former president also took the moment to rebuke reports cited by the committee that he approved of his followers chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” for refusing to commit to “de-certifying” now-President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.
“I NEVER said, or even thought of saying, ‘Hang Mike Pence.’ This is either a made up story by somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!” Trump fumed on Friday morning in another post.
Pence was spirited away from the Capitol when the mob attacked and quickly ordered reinforcements to confront the mob, according to Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The general added that Trump aides later ordered him to push back against a narrative that “the Vice President is making all the decisions”.
The next hearings for the select committee will take place live on Monday at 10:00 EST.
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