The House Jan. 6 committee plans to show late Thursday outtakes of former President Donald Trump struggling to complete a recorded speech to the nation on the day after the U.S. Capitol riot.
Advisers urged Mr. Trump to make the speech, but it did not go well. He wanted to call the Capitol rioters patriots, did not want to hold them to account and refused to say the election was over, according to The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the footage.
“The president displayed extreme difficulty in completing his remarks,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat and Jan. 6 panel member, said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”
The Jan. 6 committee is holding a prime-time session Thursday to conclude its summer series of blockbuster hearings.
Mr. Trump says the committee is a witch hunt designed to blunt his political fortunes. He is considering an early entrance into the 2024 race to combat the panel’s narrative.
Reps. Elaine Luria, Virginia Democrat, and Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Republican, are expected to outline, minute by minute, Mr. Trump’s actions on the day of the Capitol riot.
The testimony will be designed to highlight his inaction and, through the outtakes, argue Mr. Trump reluctantly condemned their actions on Jan. 7, 2021.
Former press aide Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, a top official on Mr. Trump’s National Security Council, are expected to testify and provide an insider’s account of activities at the White House as the Capitol riot unfolded.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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