Donald Trump’s actions had a profound influence on extremist groups focusing on Jan. 6, 2021, to overturn his election loss and the former president wanted the crowd to march to the Capitol, the House select committee investigating the attack contended Tuesday.
Far-right extremist groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, latched on to a tweet Trump sent at 1:42 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2020, that read in part: “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” The tweet followed a long, contentious White House meeting in which outside lawyers, such as Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, suggested Trump issue an executive order to seize voting machines and appoint Powell as a special counsel to probe the same false election fraud charges she was publicly pushing.
After Trump’s tweet, a cascade of movement to make Jan. 6 a large rally was set into motion. One of the two members who led Tuesday’s hearing, Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, contended Trump’s tweet resulted in “openly homicidal” online rhetoric.
