A new video from the Jan. 6 committee shows just how reluctant former President Donald Trump was to condemn the Capitol riot.
On Monday, committee member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) tweeted a video showing testimony from various Trump underlings ― including daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and White House lawyer Pat Cipollone ― about a speech his advisers wanted him to give on Jan. 7.
The video shows that Trump made multiple edits to the speech by hand.
For instance, Trump crossed out a line that would have told the Capitol rioters, “I want it to be very clear you do not represent me,” according to a draft of the speech shared by the committee. Kushner told the committee he did not know why the former president removed that line.
Trump also edited the remark “If you broke the law, you belong in jail” to the blander statement “If you broke the law, you will pay.”
The video ends with Trump aide John McEntee admitting he didn’t think Trump really wanted to give the Jan. 7 speech condemning the rioters.
“What did you base that on?” an investigator asked.
McEntee’s response: “The fact that someone has to tell me to nudge it along.”
You can see the complete video below.
As you might expect, lawmakers, journalists and Twitter users had strong reactions to the video: