Voices: Locked away in a room with Fox News, refusing to log his calls: Now we know where Trump really was on January 6

For 187 minutes, former president Donald Trump did nothing to stop the carnage he created. Indeed, why would he? He was watching the culmination of his months-long coup plot unfold.

Tonight’s hearing gave a minute-by-minute look at the January 6 insurrection, during which we found out some interesting new details about that day. For instance: Trump sat in the White House dining room for three hours watching the Capitol attack unfold on Fox News. He sent his 2:24 pm tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence with full knowledge he was in danger. And instead of calling the military or law enforcement to help stop the violence, he spent his time calling Republican Senators to pressure them to help him overturn the election. All of this happened while his aides, allies, and family members begged him to call off the violence.

The 187 minutes covered in tonight’s hearing comprised the period between 1:10 pm to 4:17 pm ET on January 6 — from the end of his incitement speech at a rally in DC until Trump finally released an outtake-plagued video telling his supporters to go home. What was outlined today was absolutely damning.

Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Elaine Luria (D-VA) led tonight’s hearing and helped outline the devastating timeline. Kinzinger cut right to the chase at the beginning of his opening statement, asserting: “President Trump did not fail to act... He chose not to act.”

At 1:10 pm, Trump ended his rally speech by calling for his supporters to march on the Capitol. Eleven minutes later, he had a photograph taken of him in the Oval Office. Rep. Luria says that within 15 minutes after his speech, Trump was told about the attack at the Capitol. Trump then went to the White House dining room from 1:25 pm to 4 pm, where he watched Fox News coverage of what was unfolding outside. During that time, he called Rudy Giuliani, tweeted a link to the “Save America” speech that incited the attack, and then called Giuliani again.

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone testified that almost immediately after the violence began, he repeatedly urged Trump to get out a statement condemning the Capitol riot. Ivanka Trump, Eric Herschmann, and even Mark Meadows also pushed the former president to publish a forceful statement. Trump refused.

Just after 2:13 pm, as extremist groups entered the Capitol building, Secret Service radio traffic showed officers discussing how little time they had to evacuate Pence. Pence was then pulled from the chamber. A White House Security Official said that Secret Service officers were in a state of shock and began saying goodbye to their families. The fear was real.

In spite of the fact that he was fully aware Pence was in danger, Trump still sent his 2:24 pm tweet claiming Pence didn’t “have the courage” to overturn the election. Former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger testified that the moment he read that tweet, he decided to resign.

At 2:26 pm, Pence had to be evacuated a second time and moved to safety elsewhere in the Capitol. He came within 40 feet of the rioters during that effort. Unfazed by all this, Trump went back to calling Senators to try and get them to decertify the election — though he recorded no official call logs. We also have no photographs of Trump in the White House dining room during this time because the White House photographer was told not to take pictures. This all indicates, of course, that Trump knew what he was doing was improper.

Between 2 pm and 4 pm, multiple Trump allies, including Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Laura Ingraham, Mick Mulvaney, Brian Kilmeade, and Sean Hannity all sent texts to Mark Meadows asking for Trump to call off the attack. It seems everyone realized the gravity of the situation except him.

Around 3 pm, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) spoke to Trump on the phone and said the same thing: call these people off. Trump reportedly responded, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”

For over three hours, the 45th president refused to call off the violence. Finally, he relented, but only after it was clear the violent attack had failed.

At 4:03 pm, as Trump was urged to stick to a script for a video that more forcefully called for peace, he went off-script. The January 6 Committee showed outtakes of the recording where he expressed sympathies with the rioters and talked about the election being stolen.

At 4:17 pm, Trump finally released the video that called for his supporters to go home and stopped short of condemnation of their actions. Former Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews called the video “disturbing,” and said that seeing the video convinced her to resign that evening.

At 6:01 pm, Trump tweeted that “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & peace. Remember this day forever!”

That night, Rudy Giuliani called Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Senator Tuberville, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). The Committee played a 7:02 pm voicemail Giuliani left for Senator Tuberville calling for him to continue to delay the certification.

Over the course of these hearings, all of which I analyzed in real-time here at The Independent, the January 6 Committee has presented a riveting and incredibly damning portrait of a president who sought to bring down American democracy so he could cling to power.

The committee has said that they will hold more hearings in September. Whether this first round of hearings has been effective depends on the metric you’re tracking. But one thing is for sure: the public has been listening. Tens of millions of Americans have tuned in to these hearings — especially those that, like tonight, happened during primetime TV slots — and polling indicates that the majority of Americans now believe Trump should be prosecuted for this role in the insurrection. Whether that will happen is up to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who just this week said “no person” is above the law.

I understand why this all feels so uncomfortable for a vast swathe of Americans. It’s unprecedented to prosecute a former president, never mind one who is likely about to run again. And I understand the arguments against it: how divisive it could be, the potential unrest it could cause, and the fact that it’s the DOJ of the opposing party. But if the DOJ clearly establishes crimes and chooses not to prosecute due to political considerations, wouldn’t that be a more politicized choice than actually prosecuting Trump?

Given the weight of the evidence, the more relevant question is becoming what would it mean for the country if we don’t hold Trump accountable. Can a president get away with literally anything? We’re about to find out.