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Former President Donald Trump issued his latest attack against the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, just one day after the panel held its final public hearing before the midterm elections.
In a 14-page statement issued Friday, the former president denounced the panel as being made up of “highly partisan political Hacks and Thugs” and criticized Congress for funding the investigation into the Capitol riot despite being what he calls a “Charade and Witch Hunt.” The statement also comes after the Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena Trump to offer testimony to the panel as part of its investigation.
READ IN FULL: TRUMP'S RESPONSE TO JAN. 6 COMMITTEE'S SUBPOENA VOTE
“The double standard of the Unselects between what has taken place on the ‘RIGHT,’ and what has taken place with Radical Left, lawless groups such as Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and others, is startling and will never be acceptable, even to those who will be writing the history of what you have done to America,” Trump said in a statement.
Trump went on to repeat his baseless claims the 2020 election was “rigged and stolen,” accusing lawmakers of burying reports of election fraud that he says led to President Joe Biden’s victory. The claims come even as several battleground states conducted numerous audits and recounts, with none finding widespread fraud that would’ve altered the outcome of the 2020 election.
The former president also lamented the panel has not interviewed him regarding “a shadow campaign that was launched to rig the 2020 Presidential Election.” Trump cited an article from Time magazine that referred to a behind-the-scenes effort from business owners and Democrats who banded together to call on the former president to concede the race.
“To the President, something felt amiss,” Trump quoted from the article in his statement. “[Trump said,] ‘Within days after the election, we witnessed an orchestrated effort to anoint the winner, even while many key states were still being counted.’ In a way, Trump was right. There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes.”
However, the Time story Trump referenced went on to say the “conspiracy” was merely an “informal alliance” between left-wing activists and business titans who were seeking to ensure the election “would be free and fair, credible and uncorrupted.” Part of these efforts included lobbying states to change election laws to expand ballot access and urging social media sites to crack down on misinformation.
The 2-½-hour meeting on Thursday capped off a series of hearings the committee held as lawmakers sought to make the case that “Trump had a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before Election Day, before he knew the election results," Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney said in her opening statement on Thursday. The meeting ended with a unanimous vote to subpoena the former president in a bid to learn new information from the person at the center of the investigation.
Trump will likely not comply and could be legally protected under presidential confidentiality privileges. However, in his statement released Friday, Trump accused the panel of “no Due Process, no Cross-Examination, [and] no ‘real’ Republican members” — which could contradict the former president if he chooses not to cooperate.
"He tried to take away the voice of the American people ... and replaced the will of the voters with his will to remain in power," said Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) during the hearing. "He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6. So, you want to hear from him. The committee needs to do everything in our power to tell the most complete story possible and provide recommendations to help ensure that nothing like Jan. 6 ever happens again."
