Dramatic never-before-seen photos revealed in Jan 6 final report
Images come from January 6 committee’s final report, released late Thursday
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Your support makes all the difference.The January 6 committee’s final report on the Capitol riots contains numerous bombshells, from counting Donald Trump and his allies’ 200 attempts to overturn the election to recommending the former president be barred from holding office.
In addition to compiling new evidence, the 845-page behemoth also contains photos that show new scenes of one of the most chaotic days in US political history.
Perhaps the most revealing photo is of then-vice president Mike Pence, sitting against an armoured SUV, as he hides out in a secure Capitol parking garage, as rabid Trump supporters raced through Capitol Hill chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!”
The rioters were egged on by Mr Trump, who tweeted that day that Mr Pence "didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution” as the insurrection built force. The former vice president has said his Secret Service detail was urging him to flee the Capitol altogether, but he refused, worrying about what would happen, both legally and symbolically, in his absence.
“I’m not leaving,” he recalled telling his agents, he told NPR last month. “I’m not giving those people the sight of a 16 car motorcade speeding away from the Capitol."
The new photos also capture Mr Trump watching the events of January 6 in real time. The outgoing president reportedly spent hours watching the attack unfold on TV before asking his supporters to go home.
When he finally did address the rampaging mass of MAGA acolytes from the White House Rose Garden in a video speech, he continued to support them.
During the speech, another moment captured in the new release of photos, Mr Trump continued to make knowingly false claims about the 2020 election, telling supporters, “We hadan election that was stolen from us.”
He also added, “We love you. You’re very special.”
The January 6 report, and its accompanying photos, also captures Mr Trump and his allies in constant communication, where evidence suggests the outgoing president was aware of the potential for violence and didn’t seek to tamp it down.
“POTUS [the President of the United States], I’m sure, is loving this,” a speechwriter named Robert Gabriel wrote in one text message captured by the committee.
Another conversation captured by the committee noted that then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows had said Mr Trump planned to “call on everyone to march to the Capitol”.
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