Jan. 6 hearings highlights: Committee examines Trump's actions during riot

Democrats responded to Thursday's hearing by highlighting Trump's inaction on Jan. 6 and the opportunities he had during that 187 minutes to put an end to the insurrection at the Capitol.

"Within 15 minutes of leaving his rally, Trump knew the Capitol was under attack. But what did he do? He went to his dining room, turned on the TV, and watched the deadly insurrection he incited in real time as entertainment," Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., tweeted.

The committee continued to reveal that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Fox News hosts, among others, pleaded with Trump to put an end to his followers' invasion. Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif, and Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., called for legal action.

"Prosecute Donald Trump. That's the tweet," Torres wrote.

The Republican response was scant, but for the House Republican caucus' account tweeting "All hearsay." The same account tweeted criticism of former White House press aide Sarah Matthews, who testified Thursday, but the post was deleted.

Numerous Democratic lawmakers posted the now-viral video of Sen. Josh Hawley fleeing the halls of the Capitol to escape the rioters hours after he was photographed raising a fist toward Trump supporters, in a move Rep. Luria said "riled up" the mob.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., posted both the photo of Hawley's fist bump and a video screenshot of him fleeing with the simple caption "Sowing. Reaping."

Throughout the evening, the committee showed disturbing footage of lawmakers in the gallery who were present on Jan 6. putting on gas masks or finding cover, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wa.

"These hearings are incredibly difficult to watch, to relive that horrifying day when I didn’t know if I’d make it out of the Capitol alive," Jayapal tweeted. But we all must bear witness to protect our democracy from the Big Lie."

Jayapal was present at tonight's hearing and was visibly emotional when the committee showed the footage.

Trump made a purposeful choice to violate his oath of office, Cheney said in her closing remarks, "There was no ambiguity. No nuance."

"You saw an American president faced with a stark, unmistakable choice between right and wrong," she said. "To ignore ongoing violence against law enforcement. To threaten our constitutional order. There is no way to excuse that behavior. It was indefensible."

She urged Americans to ask themselves if Trump could ever be trusted with "any position of authority" again after the evidence that was presented during this series of eight hearings.

"In this room, in 1918, the Committee on Women’s Suffrage convened to discuss and debate whether women should be granted the right to vote. This room is full of history, and we know we have a solemn obligation not to idly squander what so many Americans have fought and died for," she continued.

"This committee understands the gravity of this moment and the consequences for our nation. We have much work yet to do, and will see you all again in September."

The committee played additional, never-before-seen footage of Trump struggling to refine a taped message to the country a day after the riot. The outtakes show the then-president having a hard time with using the word "yesterday" and refusing to say that the "election is over."

"To those who broke the law, you will pay. You do not represent our movement, you do not represent our country, and if you broke the law ..." Trump said, pausing. "I can't say that — I'm not — I already said, 'You will pay.'"

"But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results," Trump continued later in the video, before interrupting himself again. "I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, OK?”

The footage also showed Trump stumbling over some parts of the script. “The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defied the seat of desk — it’s defiled, right? See, I can’t see it very well. I’ll do this. I’m going to do this. Let’s go.”

At another point he began, “I like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday — yesterday is a hard word for me.”

In closing remarks, Cheney thanked Matthews and Pottinger for their testimony, saying they would be remembered for their "bravery and honor."

Cheney also acknowledged Cassidy Hutchinson, who has faced an onslaught of criticism and scrutiny over damning testimony that detailed a physical altercation between Trump and his security detail after leaving the Ellipse.

"She sat here alone, took the oath and testified before millions of Americans," Cheney said of Hutchinson. "She knew all along she would be attacked by President Trump and by the 50-, 60- and 70-year-old men who hide themselves behind executive privilege."

She added that the committee's case against Trump was "not made by witnesses who were his political enemies," but by people in his own party, citing the many Republicans who have come forward to testify.

"It is instead a series of confessions by Donald Trump’s own appointees, his own friends, his own campaign officials, people who worked for him for years, and his own family," Cheney said. "They have come forward and they have told the American people the truth."

As rioters were still at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and police scrambled to defend it, Herschmann said of the day that fellow Trump aides and advisers "were pretty drained."

"I’d have to go back and look, but I believe law enforcement was either there or moving in, or going to take charge. I don’t think there was anything else to do," Herschmann said in video testimony that the committee showed.

But video footage showed the insurrection was far from over. And Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, a U.S. Capitol police officer who defended the Lower West Terrace, tweeted an exasperated message following Herschmann's statements.

"They were emotional[ly] drained from watching us fighting. Are you serious?" he wrote. When Gonell testified before the committee, he compared the Capitol that day to a medieval battleground.

Luria said in her closing statement that the insurrection on Jan. 6 was personal to her because she first "swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic" when she entered the U.S. Naval Academy at age 17.

"I spent two decades serving on ships at sea, defending our nation from known and identifiable foreign enemies who sought to do us harm," she said. 

"I never imagined that that enemy would come from within," Luria continued. "I was not as prescient as Abraham Lincoln, who 23 years before the Civil War said, 'If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.'"

In his closing statement, Kinzinger said Trump's conduct on Jan. 6 was a "supreme violation of his oath of office."

Trump sent tweets that "inflamed" and "expressed support for the desire of some to literally kill Vice President Mike Pence," Kinzinger said.

"For three hours he refused to call off the attack," Kinzinger continued, adding that Trump refused to take the advice of his family, friends, staff and advisers to call off the mob.

Kinzinger said that "it was only once" Pence and lawmakers were in secure locations and officers "began to turn the tide" that Trump "engaged in the political theater of telling the mob to go home. And even then, he said they were 'special' and that he 'loved' them."

"Whatever your politics, whatever you think about the outcome of the election, we as Americans must all agree on this: Donald Trump’s conduct on January 6th was a supreme violation of his oath of office and a complete dereliction of his duty to our nation," he said. "It is a stain on our history. It is a dishonor to all those who have sacrificed and died in service of our democracy."

The panel displayed portions of text messages between Trump campaign official Tim Murtaugh and one of his deputies, Matthew Wolking, which appeared to show the pair criticizing Trump's failure to acknowledge a Capitol Police officer's death following the riot.

"Everything he said about supporting law enforcement was a lie," Wolking wrote, according to the text displayed.

Murtaugh, who also criticized the inaction, further suggested that by Trump acknowledging a cop's death, he would be "implicitly faulting the mob."

"[H]e won’t do that, because they’re his people. And he would also be close to acknowledging that what he lit at the rally got out of control," the text attributed to Murtaugh said. "No way he acknowledges something that could ultimately be called his fault. No way."

Matt Pottinger said in live testimony that the events of Jan. 6 harmed U.S. national security because it "emboldened" the country's enemies.

"It, I think, emboldened our enemies by helping give them ammunition to feed a narrative that our system of government doesn’t work — that the United States is in decline," he said during the hearing.

Pottinger said China, Russia and Iran are fond of pushing those narratives.

"The other part, I think, is simply our allies. I heard from a lot of friends in Europe, in Asia, allies, close friends and supporters of the United States that they were concerned about the health of our democracy," he continued. "And so I think it’s incumbent upon us to put their minds at ease, to put our own hearts at ease by investigating what happened on the 6th, and making sure that it never happens again."