The Craziest Details From the Trump January 6 Indictment

Three days before the attack on the Capitol, then-deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin tried to dissuade then–DOJ official Jeffrey Clark (co-conspirator 4 in the indictment) from assuming the role of acting attorney general, emphasizing that if Trump remained in office, there would be “riots in every major city in the United States.” Clark responded: “Well, [Deputy White House Counsel], that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”

Pence’s chief of staff was worried that Trump was putting the vice-president in physical danger with the continued push to get Pence to overturn the election results from Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania during his ceremonial duties at the Capitol.

Trump constantly browbeat Pence in hopes of enlisting him in the illegal attempt to hold onto power after losing the 2020 election — even on Christmas and New Year’s Day. Pence repeatedly told him the truth, that he had no legal power to overturn the election, and Trump allegedly told him he was “too honest.” It’s potentially an indication that Trump knew he was lying when he pressured Pence to reject electoral votes for Joe Biden.

After Pence rejected Trump on the morning of January 6, Trump reinserted language that had been taken out of his speech at the Stop the Steal rally preceding the Capitol riot.

Hours later, Trump tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the courage” to overturn the election as his own supporters stormed the Capitol and threatened to hang the vice-president.

As Trump pressured the vice-president to join the illegal attempt to keep him in power, Pence, the indictment states, was keeping “contemporaneous notes” of Trump’s refusal to accept the truth.

Co-conspirator 1, who is clearly identifiable as Rudy Giuliani, called a senator on the night of January 6 as part of a pressure campaign to slow down the election certification as the riot outside cooled.

That night, while Giuliani was lobbying senators, White House counsel Pat Cipollone asked Trump to “withdraw any objections and allow the certification,” according to the indictment. Trump refused.

Even after the president’s supporters stormed the Capitol, threatening to kill Pence, Trump adviser John Eastman (co-conspirator 2) was trying to get Pence to delay the election certification.

Much of the indictment concerns the Trump campaign’s efforts to contest the rightful vote in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. But with state officials constantly informing them that there was no fraud, his team in Georgia became frustrated with the lack of evidence provided by Trump and Rudy Giuliani (co-conspirator 1).

The campaign adviser then wrote in an email: “When our research and campaign legal team cant back up any of the claims made by our Elite Strike Force Legal Team, you can see why we’re 0-32 on our case. I’ll obviously hustle to help on all fronts, but it’s tough to own any of this when it’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.”