By Richard Cowan, Patricia Zengerle and Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Thursday’s congressional committee hearing into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot by supporters of Donald Trump featured nearly minute-by-minute accountings of the then-president’s actions — and inaction — as his supporters launched a violent attack.
Here are two takeaways from the opening portion of the hearing:
TRUMP ‘CHOSE’ NOT TO STOP THE RIOT
Representative Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the House’s select committee, portrayed a president who was satisfied with the violence he watched unfolding at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“The mob was accomplishing President Trump’s purpose, so of course he didn’t intervene” to stop the violence until more than three hours after it had begun, Kinzinger said.
“President Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home. He chose not to act.”
TRUMP MADE NO CALLS TO TOP OFFICIALS
High-ranking officials, including then-White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, testified on pre-recorded videotape that the president watched television for hours during the Capitol riot in the White House dining room.
They said that they were not aware of Trump making phone calls to Cabinet heads, including the secretaries of defense and homeland security, the attorney general or the National Guard, all of whom could have aided in stopping the violence on Capitol Hill.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Moira Warburton, Doina Chiacu and Rose Horowitch; Editing by Scott Malone and Daniel Wallis)