For the past eighteen months, the January 6 Committee has been investigating former President Donald Trump’s responsibility in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Now the report compiled by the committee has come out. In addition to accusing Donald Trump of committing multiple crimes in connection with the election loss and storming of the Capitol, the committee concludes that the former president is largely responsible for the violence, according to the BBC.
It is also recommended that Trump should no longer be able to hold any official office in the future.
However, Trump contradicts the conclusions. In a five-minute clip, the former president says there is “not one shred of evidence” in the report and calls it “a witch hunt” against him, according to the U.S. ABC News.
Inciting rhetoric
The report also states that Trump’s rhetoric has been inflammatory and encouraged the rioters to “be wild”. Among other things, reference is made to a Twitter post that Trump made on December 20, 2020, where he wrote: “Big protests in DC on January 6. Be there, it’s going to be wild.”
Several rioters referred to this Tweet when they were questioned during their trials about the reasons why they came to Washington that day, writes the BBC.
The fact that Trump ignored both warnings from Congress and from the FBI that a serious attack on the capital and the Capitol was underway is also seen as a reason to hold him responsible for the uprising.
There are weaknesses with the investigation
Over 18 months, the January 6 Committee held ten open hearings and over 1,000 witness interviews. Among other things, Trump’s own administration, employees and family have been questioned.
However, there are obvious weaknesses in the committee’s investigation, something that SVT’s USA correspondent Stefan Åsberg has previously commented on.
– The committee consists of seven Democrats and two Trump-critical Republicans. This has given this committee, from the beginning, rather low credibility in the United States, he explains.