(Washington) A group of elected members of the United States Congress will demonstrate on Tuesday how far-right militias played a leading role in the storming of the Capitol after responding to a call from their hero Donald Trump.
Posted yesterday at 10:34 p.m.
Since the beginning of June, this parliamentary committee – seven Democrats and two Republicans repudiated by their party – has been unfolding during public hearings a story placing the former American president and his loyalists at the heart of an “attempted coup State “.
Supporting videos and testimonials, it meticulously details the pressure exerted by the billionaire to stay in power, from the 2020 presidential election to the assault on Capitol Hill by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
Tweet
During its seventh hearing on Tuesday, the committee intends to “examine how in the weeks leading up to the 6th (January), Donald Trump became increasingly desperate and summoned the crowd to Washington”, said a parliamentary source.
At the heart of the investigators’ presentation, a tweet from the ex-businessman dating from December 19, during which he called on the crowd to gather in the American capital on the day of the certification of the victory of Joe Biden.
“Big demonstration in Washington on January 6th. Be there, it will be crazy, ”wrote the tenant of the White House on Twitter, his favorite megaphone at the time.
Investigators intend to show how this tweet was perceived by several far-right militias, namely the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, as an invitation to take part in the procession. And triggered their first preparations.
“We will show how this was a crucial moment which caused a succession of events”, assured the parliamentary source.
“Sedition”
Thousands of Trumpists responded to the president’s call. Gathered in the freezing cold, a tide of red caps had listened to Donald Trump speak, before attacking the seat of the American Congress in an unnamed chaos.
Within this crowd, members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers who arrived in small groups and with paramilitary equipment suggesting some form of planning, quickly interested federal prosecutors.
Several of them have been charged with “sedition,” a very rare charge that involves conspiring against the government or one of its laws. Their direct connection to the White House has never been publicly established.
Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers, is expected to testify publicly before the parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
For nearly a year, these elected officials have heard more than 1,000 witnesses, including two children of the former president, and combed through 140,000 documents to shed light on the specific actions and gestures of Donald Trump before, during and after this event which shakes up American democracy.
The Republican billionaire, who openly flirts with the idea of running for president in 2024, vehemently denounces the work of the commission, castigating in turn a “travesty of justice” or a “witch hunt”.
His party, which he still controls with an iron fist, has already promised to bury the conclusions of this commission if he were to take control of the House of Representatives during the mid-term legislative elections. in November.