Then-President Trump crossed out “you do not represent me” in a draft statement his staff prepared for his video address on Jan. 7, urging him to condemn the mob of his supporters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6.
That’s all according to a new video just released on Twitter by Jan. 6 Select Committee member Elaine Luria (D-VA).
The video, which Luria posted Monday morning, just days after the committee’s eighth public hearing, included a series of taped depositions from figures in Trump’s inner circle.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and then-senior adviser, recalled asking then-White House spokesperson Jason Miller about putting together a draft statement for Trump to deliver on Jan. 7.
There were allegedly concerns that the 25th Amendment could potentially be invoked unless Trump issued a stronger statement condemning the insurrectionists, Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, recalled in the recently released video testimony.
The video displays what appears to be a draft of remarks for Trump to deliver publicly, with parts of it crossed out. Ivanka Trump confirms that it is her father’s handwriting seen on the draft.
Former White House legal counsel Pat Cipollone testified that at the time he felt Trump needed to convey to insurrectionists that they did not represent him and should be prosecuted and arrested.
“You do not represent me,” is a line that Trump appeared to have crossed out in the draft statement, referring to the mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol.
Asked why the then-President crossed the line out, Kushner said he was unsure.
The video concludes with former White House aide John McEntee testifying that Kushner asked him to nudge Trump to deliver remarks days after Jan. 6. McEntee recalled that Trump was reluctant to give the speech. When asked by committee interviewers why McEntee knew Trump was reluctant to deliver it, he said because of “the fact someone has to tell me to nudge it along.”
The new video adds to the footage the committee aired during its public hearing on Thursday night, showing outtakes of the video statement Trump’s staff prepared for him to read on Jan. 7.
The then-President struggled to follow the script.
Trump said “I don’t want to say the election’s over” as he recorded the prepared statement on Jan. 7.
“I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over,” Trump said amid his refusal to concede the election.
