Page:Introductory Material to the Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/85

 disperse, though openly professing his “love” for the members of the mob and empathizing with their frustration at the “stolen” election. President Trump has since expressed a desire to pardon those involved in the attack.

Both the purpose and the effect of the President’s actions were to mobilize a large crowd to descend on the Capitol. Several defendants in pending criminal cases identified the President's allegations about the “stolen election” as the key motivation for their activities at the Capitol. Many of them specifically cited the President’s tweets asking his supporters to come to Washington, DC on January 6. For example, one defendant who later pleaded guilty to threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi texted a family member on January 6th to say: “[Trump] wants heads and I'm going to deliver.” Another defendant released a statement through his attorney, stating: “I was in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, because I believed I was following the instructions of former President Trump and he was my President and the commander-in-chief. His statements also had me believing the election was stolen from him.”

As the violence began to subside and law enforcement continued to secure the Capitol, President Trump tweeted again, at 6:01 pm to justify the actions of the rioters: “These are the things and events that happen,” he wrote, when his so-called victory was “so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away. . . .” When he wrote those words, he knew exactly what he was doing. Before President Trump issued the tweet, a White House staffer cautioned him that the statement would imply that he “had something to do with the events that happened at the Capitol”—but he tweeted it anyway. The final words of that tweet leave little doubt about President Trump’s sentiments toward those who invaded the Capitol: “Remember this day forever!”



Depending on evidence developed by the Department of Justice, the President’s actions with the knowledge of the risk of violence could also constitute a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 372 and § 2384, both of which require proof of a conspiracy. Section 372 prohibits a conspiracy between two or more persons “to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in the discharge of his official duties.” Oath Keepers Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Jessica Watkins were convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. 372 in connection with the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The Committee believes that former Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows (who refused to testify and was held in contempt of Congress) could have specific evidence relevant to such charges, as may witnesses who invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination before this Committee.

Section 2384, the seditious conspiracy statute, prohibits “conspir[acy] to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States. . . or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States. . . .” A jury has already determined beyond a reasonable doubt that a conspiracy existed under Section 2384, as the leader of the Oath Keepers and at least one other