In 5 profane words, Roger Stone summed up the coup plan a week before Trump put it into action
In 5 profane words, Roger Stone summed up the coup plan a week before Trump put it into action
And it may have worked had the election been closer.
Perhaps the most memorable new footage from what’s likely to go down as the final January 6 hearing was movie-like video showing Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer working hard on January 6 to try to pull together a law enforcement response to the violent ransacking of the Capitol — an effort that stands in stark contrast to then-President Trump, who by all accounts did nothing to get the situation under control.
“I’m going to call up the effin’ Secretary of DoD,” Schumer says at one point.
Watch the whole seven minutes of footage for yourself. It was shot by Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy’s daughter.
But for the purposes of this newsletter, I want to focus on a couple other clips played by the committee on Thursday that speak to the premeditated nature of Trump’s coup attempt. In fact, one video summed up the plan ahead of time in just five memorable words.
“No, we won. Fuck you.”
By January 6, Trump was clearly in desperation mode. His attempts to harass Republicans in states like Georgia and Arizona into doing everything possible (including breaking the law) to prevent Biden’s victory had failed, and courts had rejected his shambolic legal arguments. In this context, the storming of the Capitol represented a Hail Mary attempt.
Months earlier, however, influential people in Trump’s orbit weren’t at all shy about what the plan was to keep Biden from taking office.
The committee on Thursday displayed an October 31, 2020, email Judicial Watch president and frequent Fox News guest Tom Fitton sent to White House official Dan Scavino outlining that scheme, which basically amounted to Trump declaring victory on election night and daring someone to stop him.
“We had an election today — and I won,” Fitton wrote to Scavino, outlining the argument he apparently wanted Trump to make on election night. Fitton added: “The ballots counted by the Election Day deadline show the American people have bestowed upon me the great honor of reelection to President of the United States.”
Fitton was far from the only Trumpworld figure on that wavelength. An audio recording played by the committee shows that one day later, Steve Bannon held a meeting with Chinese associates and outlined basically the same plan.
"What Trump is gonna do is just declare victory,” Bannon said. “When you wake up Wednesday morning, it's gonna be a firestorm ... he's not going out easy. If Biden's winning, Trump is gonna do some crazy shit."