The day after the violent attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump was convinced to release a short video trying to turn the page on efforts to nullify the election and move toward an orderly transition of power. In never-before-seen outtakes of that speech, Trump is seen refusing to acknowledge that “the election is over.”
In a one minute and forty-four second video that is as revealing as anything about Trump’s real mood after January 6, the former president is seen struggling to deal with the damage caused by the seditious riot. The clip was aired towards the end of Dramatic committee hearing on Thursday night, January 6.
“I would like to start by addressing yesterday’s heinous attack, and those who broke the law will pay,” Trump declared in the video, reading from a prepared speech. “You do not represent our movement. You do not represent our country. And if you broke the law, I can’t say that. I’m not, I already said it, you’ll pay.”
After arguing about that section with his off-screen daughter Ivanka, Trump continued, only to immediately reject another line that required him to admit he had lost to Biden.
“But this election is over,” Trump said. “Congress has certified the results. I do not want to say that the elections are over. I just want to say that Congress certified the results without saying the election is over, okay?
After a brief back-and-forth, the outgoing president threw a minor tantrum over the speech containing the word “yesterday.”
“I would like to start by talking about the heinous attack yesterday, yesterday. ‘Yesterday’ is difficult, ‘yesterday’ is a difficult word for me. Take out the word ‘yesterday’ because it doesn’t work!”
The main focus of Thursday night’s hearing, the last before the committee resumes public testimony in September, was on Trump’s inaction as a MAGA-powered mob ransacked Capitol Hill. After delivering his fiery speech on the Ellipse on January 6, Trump refused to intervene when a MAGA-powered mob ransacked the Capitol, instead sitting in the White House dining room watching Fox News.
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