This Monday morning’s public hearing of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot got off to an interesting start: among other pieces of serious evidence against Trump laid out by panel vice chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Cheney described Rudy Giuliani as “apparently inebriated” while presenting ideas for what Trump should do after the last presidential election.
Giuliani, of course, helped lead efforts around Trump to fight the duly documented outcome of the 2020 presidential race. Rudy traveled to states around the country to make the case to officials there, and he was even involved in a court case in Pennsylvania, where he argued in court on behalf of the Trump campaign. He also conducted a whole lot of what could be described as straightforward public relations work on behalf of Trump’s lies. And he was “apparently inebriated” during key moments. Cheney commented as follows:
‘You will hear firsthand testimony that the president’s campaign advisers urged him to await the counting of votes and not to declare victory on Election Night. The president understood, even before the election, that many more Biden voters had voted by mail, because President Trump ignored the advice of his campaign experts and told his supporters only to vote in person. Donald Trump knew before the election that the counting of those mail-in ballots in several states would not begin until late in the day and would not be complete for multiple days… You will also hear testimony that President Trump rejected the advice of his campaign experts on Election Night and instead followed the course recommended by an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani to just claim he won and insist that the vote-counting stop, to falsely claim everything was fraudulent.’
Evidence for Giuliani’s apparently Election Night intoxication came from Trump allies Jason Miller and Bill Stepien; the panel played clips from Miller and Stepien’s past testimony. Check out Cheney’s remarks below or over at this link:
The second January 6 hearing begins with Liz Cheney talking about how Trump listened to advice from "an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani" pic.twitter.com/u6WvTPCbHe
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2022
This argument against Trump was previewed in part the day before by committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who said on Sunday morning television that the panel could prove Trump knew he lost the presidential election while nonetheless claiming otherwise. Proving such a thing might, in theory, help with establishing corrupt intent on the former president’s part, which could be relevant to a hypothetical criminal case against Trump tied to his attempts at election meddling. Trump still insists the presidential election was plagued by systematic fraud and that there’s evidence for such a thing, which is nonsense.
Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Md.) also spoke as this Monday’s hearing started. He said:
‘[Trump] didn’t have the numbers. He went to court. He still didn’t have the numbers. He lost. But he betrayed the trust of the American people. He ignored the will of the voters. He lied to his supporters and the country. And he tried to remain in office after the people had voted him out, and the courts upheld the will of the people. This morning, we’ll tell the story of how Donald Trump lost an election and knew he lost an election and as a result of his loss decided to wage an attack on our democracy — an attack on the American people by trying to rob you of your voice in our democracy, and in doing so lit the fuse that led to the horrific violence of January 6.’
Thompson also described the rioters at the Capitol as “sent by Donald Trump.” Check out Thompson’s comments below:
This morning we’ll tell the story of how Donald Trump lost an election—and knew he lost an election—and as a result of his loss, decided to wage an attack on our democracy.
And in doing so, lit the fuse that led to the horrific violence of January 6th. pic.twitter.com/RAp8aVfjFf
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 13, 2022
