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jan 6 hearings

The biggest takeaways from the second January 6 hearing

The biggest takeaways from the second January 6 hearing
January 6 Hearing: Philadelphia election official describes threats after Trump tweet
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On Monday morning, the public heard findings from the House Select Committee regarding the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in the second of six hearings.

During the first hearing last week, the committee made it clear that many people on Trump's team understood he did not win the election and did not believe it was stolen, despite Trump's claims.

They also emphasized how violent the attack was on the Capitol and hinted at alleged premeditation from far-right groups like The Proud Boys.

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During the second hearing, the committee emphasized the stolen election lie. Here are three key takeaways from the second hearing.

Two teams emerged from Trump's lie: 'Team Normal' vs. Team Rudy

Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien offered insight into the two 'teams' that emerged following election results in November 2020 in pre-recorded testimony.

He referred to the people on his team who did not believe the election was stolen as "Team Normal" and the team Trump preferred as "Rudy's Team". The preferred team, consisting of Giuliani, former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, and more, continued to proliferate the stolen election lie.


Barr describes Trump as "detached from reality"

The committee showed more testimony, including closed-door testimony, from Former Attorney General William "Bill" Barr who said he informed Trump countless times there was no evidence of election fraud.

"There was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were," Barr said in a video of his deposition. "I was somewhat demoralized, because I thought, 'Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact with -- he's become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff'".

Barr made it clear in his testimony he tried to inform the president multiple times his claims were "bulls***" and "bogus" however the President refused to accept or believe him.

Eventually, Barr told Associated Press that the election was not stolen from Trump in an attempt to combat the lies, but it only angered the former president.

The Election Defense Fund was a "big rip-off"

Following the election, Trump and his team sent emails to supporters asking to donate money to the "Election Defense Fund" in order to help overturn the election. According to the committee, Trump supporters donated $250 million.
However, a senior investigative counsellor for the House Select Committee said in a pre-recorded video they found no evidence the fund ever existed.
Audio testimony from former campaign staffers confirmed that the fund was a marketing tactic.

Eventually, Trump created the Save America PAC which the committee says successfully raised millions of dollars but no donations went toward election fraud litigation.

Instead, money was allocated for other Trump support groups like Event Strategies Inc. which helped run the January 6th Trump rally, a charitable foundation ran by Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, and more.

"Throughout the committee's investigation we found evidence that the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where their funds where would go and what they would be used for," Chairperson Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said. "So not only was there the big lie there was the big rip off."

The next hearing was set to take place on Wednesday but has been postponed until Thursday.

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