Trump deleted criticism of Capitol invaders in speech, testimony indicates

Former US President Donald Trump struck out phrases that distanced him from the invaders who attacked the Capitol and refused to ask that they be charged in an early draft of a speech that was given the next day, testimony to Congress showed this week. Monday (25th).

The former Republican president erased the lines that said: “I want to be very clear: you do not represent me. You do not represent our movement,” according to an image of the draft posted on Twitter by US congresswoman Elaine Luria, a member of the parliamentary committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack.

Trump also removed an excerpt that subpoenaed the “Department of Justice to ensure that all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent. We need to send a clear message – not of mercy, but of justice. The consequences need to be swift and firm.”

At a prime-time hearing last week, the congressional committee investigating the attack showed behind-the-scenes footage of the January 7 speech that showed Trump refusing to admit that the election was over and that he had lost.

“I don’t want to say that the election is over”, pointed out the former president in the images recorded while he rehearsed his speech.

In the attack, Republican supporters stormed Capitol Hill in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory for president.

Excerpts from videos Luria posted, which had not previously been made public, include testimonies from the former president’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, and White House lawyers and aides who described Trump as reluctant to do so. a conciliatory pronouncement after the attack on the Capitol.