Bloomberg Editorial: Trump Knew Exactly What He Was Doing on January 6

Hutchinson described a president seething with rage that day. The crowd outside the Capitol — protesting the certification of an election that Donald Trump falsely claimed to have won — seemed too small for his liking.

When informed by police that many protesters had been detained because they were carrying weapons, Trump exploded. He demanded that officials remove the magnetometers at the security perimeter and let the armed mob inside. “They are not here to hurt me”Hutchinson recalled the president saying. “Let them march to the Capitol from here”.

No one who has observed the four years of the Trump Administration will be surprised by this perverse logic, in which it is worth putting members of Congress in danger of death to satisfy the vanities of the president. It’s remarkable anyway.

It was already clear that Trump had behaved appallingly that day. As Congress went through the pro forma process of certifying the election, Trump urged the assembled crowd to fight with all his might. He encouraged her to march to the Capitol and rebuffed repeated pleas to stop her when the situation spiraled out of control.

At a crucial moment, he further ignited the crowd by tweeting: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what was necessary”, that is, of illegally interfering in the certification process and declaring Trump the winner. the chants of “hang Mike Pence” they soon echoed through the halls of the Capitol.

In the end, the riots resulted in at least $30 million in damage, left more than 140 police officers injured, many seriously, and permanently tainted American democracy.

Some legal analysts have concluded that Trump’s actions on that day meet the elements necessary to bring a criminal charge. The represent liz cheney, the Republican vice chair of the select committee, also suggested that Trump and his allies may have tampered with witnesses and obstructed the panel’s work. Whether Trump broke the law, and whether it would be wise to indict a former president and likely candidate in the next election, will be a Justice Department matter.

For now, two points are worth emphasizing.

One is that Trump knew exactly what he was doing. For weeks after the election, he was warned by a host of his lawyers, advisers and even family members that his attempts to reverse the result were destabilizing and potentially illegal. On the day of the riots, numerous employees told him the same thing. According to Hutchinson, the White House counsel, Pat Cipollonewarned him that if Trump joined the crowd on Capitol Hill, as he wanted, “We will be charged with every conceivable crime”. The president did what he did deliberately and with full knowledge of the possible consequences.

Second, it is worth remembering those who acted decorously in those crucial post-election months, including on the day of the riots. At all levels, from local legislators and election officials to federal judges, senior members of the Justice Department and the vice president himself mike pence, there were men and women in important positions who simply did the right thing. Many of them were and still are Trump supporters. But his commitment to democracy and common decency ensured that the system persevered.

That’s a low bar, to be sure. But it is nonetheless a fitting retort to the most lawless and reckless presidency in living memory.