The former US president refused to say the scripted line “the election’s over” in his speech condemning the Capitol riot
A video of former US President Donald Trump recording an address to the nation on January 7, 2021, is displayed on a screen during a hearing by the House Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, DC, on July 21, 2022. © AFP / SAUL LOEB
Former US President Donald Trump refused to say the scripted line “the election’s over” in his January 7 speech in the aftermath of the Capitol riot, according to never-before-seen outtakes that were presented to the House Select Committee on Thursday.
The footage, which was recorded just over 24 hours after the January 6 Capitol riot, was played during what is now the ninth hearing from the panel investigating the unrest. In the clips, the 45th president could be heard objecting to scripted remarks that he was reading out from a teleprompter.
Trump began the statement by saying “I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday.”
“And 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 paused, shook his head and pointed out that he can’t say that because he “already said ‘you will pay.’”
At another point in the video, he said: “But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” before stopping once again to protest, “I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, okay?”
Trump’s daughter Ivanka could be heard off-screen confirming her father’s edits to the script.
In another take, Trump said, “I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday,” before going off-script once again: “Yesterday is a hard word for me.”
“Just take it out?” Ivanka asked.
“Ah, good, take the word ‘yesterday’ out because it doesn’t work with it,” Trump said.
As the former president was trying to read the line: “My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote” he again paused and, visibly frustrated, slammed the lectern.
The final cut of the address that was released on January 7, the day after the Capitol riot, ended up being less than three minutes long.
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The outtakes from Trump’s speech were presented to the January 6 committee as potential evidence that the former president had failed to sufficiently condemn the riots and had been unapologetic over what led to the unrest, namely his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Throughout the hearing, members of the House took turns arguing that Trump was unfit to hold office again after he teased a potential run for president in 2024.
Thousands of Trump supporters and election integrity advocates descended on Washington DC on January 6, 2021, to protest what they believed was a stolen election after Democrat Joe Biden claimed to have received the largest number of votes in US history. President Trump spoke to the crowd outside the White House before they marched on toward the Capitol. A group of protesters was able to enter the building while Congress was in session and the resulting chaos left several victims, including Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, who was shot dead by Capitol police.
The Select Committee on the January 6th Insurrection began holding hearings last July. Its leading lawmakers have attempted to portray the events of the day as “an attack on American democracy” orchestrated by Trump and his allies.
Meanwhile, Republicans still aligned with Trump have dismissed the January 6 investigation as an attempt to distract the American people from more crucial issues such as inflation and soaring gas prices. According to CNN, the GOP also reportedly plans to launch its own select committee to investigate matters such as voter fraud and the mistreatment of those jailed for their participation in the Capitol attack.
