WASHINGTON (AP) — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection systemically made the case in its second hearing Monday that several of Trump's advisers warned him against making false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election that he lost. But the president would not listen.
The nine-member panel is trying to make the case that Trump, and those allies who helped him, were deliberately lying as he pushed those election falsehoods in the weeks ahead of the violent insurrection. The rioters who broke into the Capitol that day and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory were echoing Trump's lies that he, not Biden, had rightfully won the election.
Takeaways from Monday's hearing:
TRUMP’S 'MIND WAS MADE UP'
In a series of video clips from the committee's closed-door interviews, several of Trump’s advisers testified that they told him repeatedly he should not declare that there was widespread election fraud — and that those claims were false. But Trump increasingly relied on wild theories that were pushed by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, among others, according to the testimony.
In one clip, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told investigators that Giuliani was urging Trump to declare victory on election night, despite warnings from Stepien and others that it was “way too early” to make a prediction like that. Stepien was scheduled to testify in person on Monday, but pulled out at the last minute because his...
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