Two key takeaways from Thursday’s Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot hearing

By Moira Warburton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump held a hearing on its latest findings on Thursday. Here are two key takeaways.

TRUMP PLANNED TO INSIST HE WON

Months ahead of Election Day 2020, Trump made plans to insist that he won regardless of the results, evidence presented by the committee showed.

Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to Trump’s campaign, told the committee that as early as July the then-president said he intended to declare victory regardless of the result, Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren said.

“He’s not going out easy. If Biden’s winning, Trump’s gonna do some crazy shit,” Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to Trump, said in audio played by the committee from days before the election.

SECRET SERVICE KNEW ABOUT PLANNED ATTACK

New evidence from the Secret Service obtained by the committee shows the agency knew about the high likelihood of an attack on the Capitol days ahead of Jan 6, 2021.

Democratic Representative Adam Schiff said senior advisers received an intelligence summary that included material indicating that certain people would be traveling to Washington, D.C., making plans to attack the Capitol building.

“They think that they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed and will outnumber the police so they can’t be stopped,” an email from the Secret Service sent on Dec. 26, 2020, read. “Their plan is to literally kill people. Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further.”

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