Day 8 of the January 6th terrorist insurrection hearings by the House laid out in prime time why Donald Trump should be prosecuted for crimes against the country: as Rep. Adam Kinzinger put it, Trump didn't fail to act to stop the attack, he chose not to do so.
The committee used Thursday's hearing to show how former President Donald Trump not only failed to act, but chose not to as he watched the violent assault on the US Capitol unfold.
Several witnesses with first-hand knowledge of what was happening inside the White House on January 6 told the committee that Trump did not place a single call to any of his law enforcement or national security officials as the Capitol attack was unfolding, according to previously unseen video testimony played during Thursday's hearing.
The panel said it "confirmed in numerous interviews with senior law enforcement and military leaders, Vice President Mike Pence's staff, and DC government officials: None of them -- not one -- heard from President Trump that day," Luria said.
The committee used that testimony to make the case that Trump's refusal to intervene amounted to a dereliction of duty.
Former officials who were with Trump as he watched the riot unfold on television, including then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump's body man Nick Luna, told the committee they had no knowledge of the former President making a single call to the heads of various agencies who could have responded to the violence, including the secretary of defense or attorney general.
Keith Kellogg, Pence's national security adviser who was also with Trump that day, testified that he never heard the former President ask for the National Guard or a law enforcement response.
Kellogg also reaffirmed that he would have been aware if Trump had made such an ask.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told the House select committee that he was astonished by the fact that he never heard from Trump as the Capitol attack was unfolding -- suggesting his failure to act amounted to an abdication of his duties as Commander in Chief, according to previously unseen video from his close-door deposition.
"You know, you're the Commander in Chief. You've got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America and there's nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?" he said in the clip.
On top of that, the missing US Secret Service texts from that day are now being treated as a criminal investigation.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of Secret Service text messages that may have been relevant to inquiries about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The results of the investigation could be referred to federal prosecutors, the sources said, depending on the results.
The DHS Inspector General informed the Secret Service on Wednesday evening that the investigation is now criminal and that it should halt all internal investigations on the missing text messages, according to a letter detailed to NBC News.
“To ensure the integrity of our investigation, the USSS must not engage in any further investigative activities regarding the collection and preservation of the evidence referenced above,” DHS Deputy Inspector General Gladys Ayala wrote in a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray on Wednesday evening. “This includes immediately refraining from interviewing potential witnesses, collecting devices or taking any other action that would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.”
The information the Committee does have, and that it revealed tonight, was shocking. Former VP Mike Pence's detail left calls for their family to say goodbye, because they didn't believe they would survive the day.
Former Vice President Mike Pence's security detail was so concerned for safety inside the Capitol as rioters broke into the building, that they "were starting to fear for their own lives," one committee witness said.
The moments were so tense, "there were calls to say goodbye to family members," an unidentified national security professional told the committee in a recorded interview played on Thursday.
He said it appeared that the agents were realizing they were running out of options and may have considered using lethal force.
"Is the VP compromised? Like, I don't know. We didn't have visibility, but if they're screaming and saying things, like, say goodbye to family....this is going to a whole other level soon," the national security official said. The committee shielded the identity of the official and obscured his voice.
Mike Pence was a target. If he couldn't fulfill his duty to count the electoral votes, Trump would have muddied the waters with Pence's blood and almost certainly triggered a Constitutional emergency.
We came that close to losing the country.
Trump has to be held accountable or we will lose it in the very near future.
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