Extract from ABC News
Key points:
- Committee members say they have uncovered enough evidence to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against Donald Trump
- The panel says that Mr Trump decided to claim the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him, even though many of his staffers said that Democrat Joe Biden had won more votes
- Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and has repeatedly insisted that he did not lose, dismissing the Select Committee investigation as a political witch-hunt
Those claims were made during video testimony that aired on Monday by the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
The committee also was told that Mr Trump's closest campaign advisers, top government officials and even his family were dismantling his false claims of 2020 voting fraud on election night, but the defeated president was becoming "detached from reality", clinging to outlandish theories to stay in power, several said.
His former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, testified that Mr Trump was "growing increasingly unhappy" at the election results as the night wore on.
Son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to steer Mr Trump away from attorney Rudy Giuliani and his far-flung theories of voter fraud that advisers believed were not true.
Former Justice Department official Richard Donoghue recalls breaking down one claim after another — from a truckload of ballots in Pennsylvania to a missing suitcase of ballots in Georgia — and telling Mr Trump "much of the info you're getting is false".
"He was becoming detached from reality," said former attorney-general William Barr, who resigned. "I didn't want to be a part of it."
This committee has interviewed some 1,000 witnesses and compiled 140,000 documents, and some members say they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against the former president.
The Democratic-led House of Representatives panel made the case that Mr Trump decided to claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him, even though many of his staffers said that Democrat Joe Biden had won more votes.
"He, and his closest advisors, knew those claims were false, but they continued to peddle them anyway, right up until the moments before a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol," Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren told the panel in its second hearing.
Mr Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and has repeatedly insisted that he did not lose, dismissing the Select Committee's investigation as a political witch-hunt.
'No legitimate argument'
The panel is holding hearings to discuss the initial findings of its nearly year-long investigation into the events of January 6, when thousands of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol as then-vice-president Mike Pence and lawmakers met to certify Mr Biden's victory.
Monday's session followed a blockbuster hearing on Thursday night, featuring testimony showing that close allies of Mr Trump — even his daughter, Ivanka — rejected his false claims of voting fraud.
Nearly 20 million Americans watched the unusual initial hearing that aired in the prime-time peak television viewing hours. This second hearing aired during the daytime.
Reuters/AP
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