One of the lingering implications of the House Democrats’ final report on the Jan. 6 riot is that Donald Trump planned and intended to walk immediately to the United States Capitol to join those protesting the certification of 2020 election results.
“The Committee’s principal concern was that the President actually intended to participate personally in the January 6th efforts at the Capitol, leading the attempt to overturn the election either from inside the House Chamber, from a stage outside the Capitol, or otherwise,” the committee wrote in its final report for the month of December, 2022.
“The Committee regarded those facts as important because they are relevant to President Trump’s intent on January 6th. There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent,” it added.
In the months leading up to and following the report’s release, lawmakers, pundits, and journalists all repeated the same message.
“I imagine that he thought that he would enter like Mussolini being carried on the shoulders of his supporters and enter the Capitol,” Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said, equating Trump to Italy’s fascist leader during World War II, even though Mussolini was the most famous Marxist in Europe of his day, while Trump drives communists in America nuts because he is the antithesis of Marxism.
President Joe Biden avoided repeating the assertion in his speech at Valley Forge on Friday, when he was resurrecting his argument that Trump and MAGA supporters pose a threat to democracy. In fact, he took the opposite approach, implying that Trump was a coward who refused to join his fans in storming the Capitol.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL“He promised he would right them — right them. Everything they did, he would be side by side with them. Then, as usual, he left the dirty work to others. He retreated to the White House,” Biden explained.
Such contrasting portrayals may confuse voters. That misconception stems from an undeniable fact: Trump never returned to the Capitol following his speech on the Ellipse.
The House Democrats’ allegations are based on two pieces of testimony. Some Trump advisers told the committee that during a meeting on January 4, 2021, the 45th president said that he might want to visit the Capitol.
Then, in a contested, hearsay-based narrative, former assistant Cassidy Hutchinson said that on the way back from his address, Trump grabbed at the driver of the presidential vehicle, attempting to commandeer it and take it to the Capitol. The Secret Service and Trump both deny that occurred, and no proof has emerged to support Hutchinson’s assertion. This did not prevent the account from making its way into the mainstream media.
Internal Secret Service papers acquired by Just the News undermine the Democratic Party’s narrative, revealing that there was no plan to escort Trump to the Capitol prior to the Jan. 6 event.
All presidential trips are heavily choreographed for security reasons. The Secret Service stationed assets in all sites where the president may travel. That did not occur at the Capitol, according to Secret Service records examined by Just the News, indicating that Trump’s claimed words to presidential advisors two days before did not result in a change of plan.
The final Secret Service plan approved for Trump at 5:35 a.m. on Jan. 6, dubbed “Mogul” in the paper, reads:
“1050 – Depart White House via motorcade en route the Ellipse …1055 – Arrive the Ellipse. 1135 – Depart the Ellipse via motorcade en route White House. 1140 – Arrive White House.”
The Secret Service developed an accompanying PowerPoint presentation outlining all of the event’s security precautions, and it, like the plan, made no mention of a stop at the Capitol.
The only Secret Service assets deployed to the Capitol under the plan were for Vice President Mike Pence, dubbed “Hoosier,” who went there to preside over the vote certification. When protesters became violent and rushed the Capitol, Pence’s security team was forced to temporarily relocate him to a safe area within the facility.
Secret Service and congressional sources verified to Just the News that the calendar and PowerPoint were delivered to the House Democrats’ committee on January 6.
The committee also obtained access to additional Secret Service documents proving there was no plan or intent for Trump to visit the Capitol on January 6. A long series of email conversations detail how Trump made an impromptu recommendation during his speech to proceed to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse, prompting the Secret Service to hustle to secure assets for such a journey.
“Mogul announced on live TV that he will head to the Capitol with the crowd,” a Secret Service supervisor wrote just after 1 p.m. “Per advisement of REDACTED will be the Response Team Leader comprising of the response team designated below to filter in with the crowds if Mogul decides to head to the capitol.”
A reserve team was also assembled, but approximately an hour later, all agents were instructed to stand down and return to the White House because Trump did not make the trip.
“For any Response Personnel IVO of Capitol, break from current position and move towards WH Zones,” a Secret Service commander wrote at the end of the email thread titled “Formation of Response Team for Mogul’s OTR walk/motorcade to the Capitol.”
