President Donald Trump refused to acknowledge his 2020 election loss in a video shot Jan. 7, 2021, one day after the Capitol insurrection, the committee investigating the attack revealed during a bombshell hearing on Thursday.
“I don’t want to say the election is over,” Trump says in the footage, a behind-the-scenes moment from a video he shot to address the violence at the U.S. Capitol the previous day.
Thursday’s prime-time hearing of the Jan. 6 House select committee marked the first time the footage of Trump had been publicly shown.
In the video, Trump can be seen workshopping his remarks, hesitating to comment on what would happen to protestors who broke the law.
“I can’t say that,” Trump says in the video. “I’m not gonna ― I already said, ‘You will pay.’”
He resisted explicitly acknowledging his election loss. Ivanka Trump, his daughter and former advisor, can be heard speaking from off-camera, helping the former president figure out how to note the certification of the 2020 election results.
Thursday’s hearing sought to detail what Trump did for more than three hours on Jan. 6 as a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 election. The hearing featured clips from the taped depositions of members of Trump’s inner circle and others who were present on Jan. 6, as well as in-person testimony from former deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews.
The Jan. 7 clip was not the only behind-the-scenes footage of the former president aired during the hearing. The committee also showed outtakes from a video Trump recorded on Jan. 6 as the riot was taking place.
Trump went off the official White House script while recording that video, the committee revealed.
Matthews spoke further about Trump’s messaging as the riot took place, claiming Trump had not wanted to mention “peace” in a tweet condemning the violence, and only put out a statement after Ivanka Trump suggested including the phrase “stay peaceful.”