WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — In the second public hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the committee tried to prove how former president Donald Trump compelled his supporters to storm the building by knowingly spreading lies about the election.
Despite being told he had lost the election by his top aides, Trump continued to push the lie that he won the election with no evidence to back it up. Trump also allegedly used that lie to rip off his supporters.
The Jan. 6 Committee used testimony from Republican witnesses who said they told Trump there was no evidence of widespread election fraud. And in more than 60 court cases, Trump-appointed judges reached that same conclusion.
Former Attorney General William Barr said he left the administration because he couldn’t fight all the lies Trump was telling about the election.
“All the early claims that I understood were completely bogus and silly and usually based on complete misinformation,” Barr said. “It was like playing whack-a-mole.”
The committee members say from election night on, Trump aligned himself only with those who told him what he wanted to hear.
“(He) followed the course recommended by an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani to just claim he won,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
The committee also presented evidence showing the former president defrauded his supporters by receiving $250 million in donations for an “Election defense fund.” But the investigation found that the fund never existed.
According to the committee, instead of using the donations for election-related matters, the money the Trump campaign raised went to things such as Trump’s hotels.