Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/81



related matters during a highly charged White House meeting on December 18, 2020. White House lawyers vehemently opposed Powell's appointment, and it also was not ultimately made formal.

In the early morning hours of December 19th, shortly after the contentious December 18th White House meeting with Sidney Powell and others, Donald Trump sent a tweet urging his supporters to travel to Washington for January 6th. In that tweet, President Trump attached false allegations that the election was stolen and promised a "wild" time on January 6th. This Twitter invitation was followed by over a dozen other instances in which he used Twitter to encourage supporters to rally for him in Washington, DC on January 6th.

The Committee has assembled detailed material demonstrating the effects of these communications on members of far-right extremist groups, like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and others, and on individuals looking to respond to their president's call to action. President Trump's supporters believed the election was stolen because they listened to his words, and they knew what he had called them to do; stop the certification of the electoral count.

For example, one supporter, Charles Bradford Smith, noted on December 22, 2020, that "Trump is asking everyone to go" to Washington, DC on