While the panel highlighted the 45th president’s inaction for more than three hours as his supporters besieged Congress on January 6, 2021, Trump accused the panel of spreading “lies.” “The Unselects are ashamed of their ‘performance’ tonight!” the former president wrote shortly after the hearing adjourned. Throughout his posts, Trump repeated his frequent claim that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) had rejected his proposal to send 10,000 National Guard troops to Washington in anticipation of the uprising and asked why the “non-select committee” — the his name for the panel — he had not addressed the issue. Former President Donald Trump comes under fire during the Jan. 6 hearings.AP Other than Trump’s word, there is no indication that such an offer or request for troops was made by the White House. “The non-select committee refuses to do this because it ends its bogus case,” Trump wrote. “Will there be any report or study by the Unelected on how the election was rigged and stolen? There’s so much evidence, but the Unselects don’t want to be seen in any way, shape or form – and for good reason – it would ruin their latest con!” “It’s Nancy Pelosi’s fault, she rejected the troops! Maybe she was detached – maybe she was looking for her husband!” he said in another post. At one point, Trump attempted to discredit former White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews, one of two in-person witnesses Thursday night. Trump took to alternative social media platform Truth Social to express his disdain for the alleged wiretapping revelations. Truth Social/Donald Trump “But wasn’t it Sarah Matthews herself, whom I don’t know, who said such nice things about me on the 20th of January – or was it long after the 6th of January?” he wrote, referring to a tweet from Matthews on Trump’s last day in office, in which she said: “Thank you President Trump and Vice President Pence for your service to the American people. It has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life to serve this great nation.” During the hearing, however, Matthews said she decided to resign from her post on Jan. 6 after Trump tweeted that then-Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the guts” to stop the certification of Joe’s election victory. Biden — who the former White House spokesman said was “throwing gasoline on the fire and making it [the riot] much worse.” Trump also sought to downplay alleged video evidence produced by the committee that showed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and the Pentagon to cleared the building, as well as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) saying that Trump admitted that he bears responsibility for what happened during the riot. Trump also personally fired the committee members and their witnesses.AP “Is this the same Mitch McConnell who was losing big in Kentucky and came to the White House to beg me for support and help? Without me he would have lost in a landslide,” Trump wrote. “An unfaithful bag!” And he continued: “1. But the crooks Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams and many others, contested their elections – and for much longer than I did. 2. How do they know I was watching on TV? 3. I never told Kevin McCarthy, who came to Mar-a-Lago to say hi too early (Unselects don’t say that),” he wrote in another rant. “So many lies and misrepresentations by the corrupt and highly partisan Unselect Committee!” Trump then complemented committee Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), calling her a “lost holy grail.” The former president also rejected the commission’s video evidence. AFP via Getty Images “The Great State of Wyoming is wise with her,” he said. “Why not show the tapes or the interviews, the ones that, with evidence, question the election?” Throughout this summer’s series of hearings, Trump has repeatedly blasted the proceedings and witnesses, most notably former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. During her testimony, Hutchinson claimed the former president threw food at a wall in the White House after then-Attorney General Bill Barr said in December 2020 that the Justice Department found no evidence of massive voter fraud. He also claimed that Trump tried to overpower his Secret Service elements and drive himself to Capitol Hill to join his supporters on January 6. “Why haven’t the Unchosen sought Secret Service confirmation of the so-called ‘choke?’ Because they know the answer and they don’t like it,” he said. “A kangaroo court!” Thursday’s hearing also included excerpts from a speech Trump gave the day after the riot, in which he refused to say the 2020 presidential election was over. “This election is now over,” Trump says in the video. “Congress has certified the results.” He then paused to tell his aides: “I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say that Congress ratified the results without saying the election is over, okay?” In response to the hearing, Trump continued to insist that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him, saying, “I had an election rigged and stolen from me and our country. USA is going to hell. Should I be happy?’
