WASHINGTON — Even after the 187-minute assault on the Capitol resulted in more than 800 arrests and $1.5 million in damages, and even after Congress certified that Joe Biden had won the election, by the next day, former President Donald Trump still could not admit defeat.
In a video shown for the first time at Thursday night's House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Trump was shown rehearsing for a speech he was about to give, condemning the violence.
"The election is now over. Congress has certified the results. I don't want to say the election's over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, ok?" he said.
The committee laid out a timeline showing that Trump watched the carnage unfold on the 6th, yet did nothing to stop it for more than three hours.
"And his inaction was in fact an action of itself. He allowed this to play out," said committee member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Virginia, 2nd District) in an interview Friday on "The View."
Virginia Wesleyan University Associate Professor of Political Science Leslie Caughell said she agrees, after having watched the hearing, that Trump is guilty of dereliction of duty.
"I mean, you can't imagine any president being so off the radar. The absence of leadership there is shocking," she said.
But, Caughell questions if the presentation moved the needle among the 73 million people who voted for Trump.
"I think, for the most part, die-hard President Trump supporters were not watching the hearings, and the information they got from the hearings was not likely to be information that was going to undermine their support in the president," she said.
Still, Caughell said the hearings are a vital civic exercise for setting the record straight on the events before, during and after the attack.
"I think history is going to look upon this moment as a meaningful one in American history and American political history, regardless of what happens next," she said.
Trump's response to Thursday's testimony targeted witness and former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews.
In a statement, Trump said: "'15 minutes of fame Matthews,' who I didn't know, is clearly lying."