[from]
Case No. 8:22-cv-00099-DOC-DFM
ORDER RE PRIVILEGE OF DOCUMENTS DATED JANUARY 4-7, 2021
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap ... .260.0.pdf
Attack on the Capitol
On January 6, 2021, tens of thousands of people gathered outside the White House to protest the lawful transition of power from President Trump to President Joseph Biden.
Both Dr. Eastman and President Trump gave speeches to relay the plan not just to the thousands gathered at the Ellipse but also to those watching at home. President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, introduced Dr. Eastman before he spoke as the “professor” who would “explain . . . what happened last night, how they cheated, and how it was exactly the same as what they did on November 3.”
Dr. Eastman declared to the crowd:
And all we are demanding of Vice President Pence is this afternoon at 1:00 he let the legislators of the state look into this so we get to the bottom of it, and the American people know whether we have control of the direction of our government, or not. We no longer live in a self-governing republic if we can’t get the answer to this question. This is bigger than President Trump. It is a very essence of our republican form of government, and it has to be done. And anybody that is not willing to stand up to do it, does not deserve to be in the office. It is that simple.
President Trump then took the podium. He began with praise for Dr. Eastman and his plan to have Vice President Pence disrupt the count:
Thank you very much, John. . . . John is one of the most brilliant lawyers in the country, and he looked at
this and he said, “What an absolute disgrace that this can be happening to our Constitution.” . . . Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. All he has to do, all this is, this is from the number one, or certainly one of the top, Constitutional lawyers in our country. He has the absolute right to do it.
Before the Joint Session of Congress began, Vice President Pence publicly rejected President Trump and Dr. Eastman’s plan:
“It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
At 1:00 pm, members of Congress began the Joint Session as required by the Twelfth Amendment and the Electoral Count Act.
Soon after, President Trump finished his speech by urging his supporters to walk with him to the Capitol:
Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down. . . . [W]e’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones because the strong ones don’t need any of our help. We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
After President Trump’s speech, several hundred protesters left the rally and stormed the Capitol building. As the D.C. Circuit described it:
Shortly after the speech, a large crowd of President Trump’s supporters—including some armed with weapons and wearing full tactical gear — marched to the Capitol and violently broke into the building to try and prevent Congress’s certification of the election results. The mob quickly overwhelmed law enforcement and scaled walls, smashed through barricades, and shattered windows to gain access to the interior of the Capitol. Police officers were attacked with chemical agents, beaten with flag poles and frozen water bottles, and crushed between doors and throngs of rioters.
President Trump returned to the White House after his speech. At 2:02 pm, Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff, was
informed about the violence unfolding at the Capitol. Mr. Meadows immediately went to relay that message to President Trump. Even as the rioters continued to break into the Capitol, President Trump tweeted at 2:24 pm: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
During the riot,
Vice President Pence, Members of Congress, and workers across the Capitol were
forced to flee for safety. Seeking shelter during the attack, Vice President Pence’s counsel
Greg Jacob emailed Dr. Eastman that the rioters “believed with all their hearts the theory they were sold about the powers that could legitimately be exercised at the Capitol on this day.”
Mr. Jacob continued, “[a]nd thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”
President Trump later published a video expressing support for the rioters but urging them to leave the Capitol: “We love you, you’re very special. You’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel.” At 6:00 pm, President Trump reiterated: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
As the attack progressed,
Dr. Eastman continued to urge Vice President Pence to reconsider his decision not to delay the count. In an email to Vice President Pence’s counsel Greg Jacob at 2:25 pm on January 6, Dr. Eastman wrote: “The ‘siege’ is because YOU and your boss did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so the American people can see for themselves what happened.” At 6:09 pm, Dr. Eastman “remain[ed] of the view” that “adjourn[ing] to allow the state legislatures to continue their work” was the “most prudent course.” At 11:44 pm, Dr. Eastman sent one final email to persuade Jacob to change his mind: “I implore you to consider one more relatively minor violation and adjourn for 10 days . . . .”
After the riot had subsided, the Joint Session of Congress reconvened. “It was not until 3:42 a.m. on January 7 that Congress officially certified Joseph Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.”
The rampage on January 6 “left multiple people dead, injured more than 140 people, and inflicted millions of dollars in damage to the Capitol.” As the House of Representatives later wrote,
January 6, 2021 was “one of the darkest days of our democracy.”