The day after the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Donald Trump was convinced to put out a short video trying to turn the page on the efforts to overturn the election and move toward an orderly transition of power. In never-before-seen outtakes of that speech, Trump is seen refusing to actually acknowledge that the election was over.
In a one-minute, 44-secoiand-forty-four-second video that's about as revealing as anything about Trump's actual state of mind after Jan. 6, the former president is seen struggling to come to grips with the damage caused by the seditious riot. The clip was aired towards the end of Thursday night’s Jan. 6 committee dramatic hearing.
“I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday, and to those who broke the law, you will pay,” Trump declared in the video, reading a prepared speech. “You do not represent our movement. You do not represent our country. And if you broke the law—I can’t say that, I’m not – I already said, you will pay.”
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After arguing over that section with his daughter Ivanka off-screen, Trump continued, only to immediately push back against another line requiring him to acknowledge that he had lost to Biden.
“But this election is now over,” Trump said. “Congress has certified the results. I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election’s over, OK?”
Following a brief back-and-forth, the outgoing president then threw a small fit over the speech containing the word “yesterday” in it.
“I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday—yesterday. ‘Yesterday’ is hard—‘yesterday’ is a hard word for me. Take out the word ‘yesterday’ because it doesn’t work!”
The main focus of Thursday night’s hearing—the final one before the committee resumes public testimony in September—centered on Trump’s inaction as a MAGA-fueled mob ransacked the Capitol. After delivering his fiery speech on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, Trump refused to intervene as a MAGA-fueled mob ransacked the Capitol—instead sitting in the White House dining room watching Fox News.
