WATERLOO - Donald Trump complained in a well-known litany of concerns about a "Show Trial" and a "Witch Hunt" in a 14-page memo to the House committee looking into the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, but he didn't address the subpoena the panel approved on Thursday.
Highlights from the committee hearing and Trump's memo include:
Trump lamented in the message that despite having more votes than in 2016, he still fell short. President Joe Biden won the Electoral College with 306 votes to 232, the same margin by which Trump won in 2016. Biden garnered 81 million votes to Trump's 74 million votes.
Pages of unsupported allegations of election fraud in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia were repeated in the report. However, the committee obtained sworn statements from legislators and election officials in those states who looked into the accusations but did not discover any widespread fraud. Trump's "avalanche" of assertions, according to former attorney general Bill Barr, are "nonsense," "total garbage," and "bulls—-."
Without providing any proof, Trump said he offered to send thousands of troops to the Capitol on January 6. The committee showed footage of congressional leaders pleading with the Defense Department to send additional National Guard troops while rioters ransacked the building for hours.
Trump claimed that because there was no cross-examining of witnesses and no "real" Republican members, the committee was ineligible and conducted a "Show Trial." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, appointed seven Democrats and two Republicans to the committee despite House Republicans' refusal to nominate candidates.
Trump has been summoned by the committee to give testimony and provide documents. His memo made no mention of his possible testimony.
