Trump Jr. deposition shows efforts to convince father to stop the Capitol crowd

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Donald Trump Jr.’s May deposition with the Jan. 6 committee was released on Thursday.
• The transcript revealed that he kept urging then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to convince his father to stop the Capitol rioters.
• Trump Jr. said that an Oval Office address, for example, would have been better than a series of tweets considering the “gravitas” of the situation.

The transcript of Donald Trump Jr.’s deposition with the Jan. 6 committee was released on Thursday, revealing details about his efforts to urge his father to issue a more forceful stand against the Capitol riot.

In his May deposition, Trump Jr. talked about telling Mark Meadows, who was White House chief of staff at the time, to convince his father to calm the crowd.

A text message from Trump Jr. to Meadows on the afternoon of Jan. 6 read, “He’s got to condemn this s—. Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough.”

The message, which was previously reported, referred to former President Donald Trump’s earlier message urging people to respect the Capitol Police. The officers eventually became overrun by the mob.

Trump Jr. told the committee that he did not believe that then-Vice President Mike Pence would block the certification despite Trump’s urgings.

The rest of his transcript mostly indicated him saying he does not recall certain statements or questions, including why he thought his father’s earlier message about the Capitol Police was not enough.

He said that he was at the airport leaving Washington, D.C., for New York when he first messaged Meadows. He explained that he contacted Meadows since his father doesn’t text and he didn’t want to have a conversation that could be heard by others.

When asked what he meant about a message saying that he had to “go to the mattresses”, Trump Jr. said it was a “Godfather” reference. He meant that Meadows had to go “all in” to convince Trump to issue a more powerful statement condemning the violence. He said that an Oval Office address, for example, would be better than a series of tweets, considering the “gravitas” of the situation.

Trump later shared a video from the White House, repeating his claims of a stolen election but telling people to go home because “we have to have peace.” 

Regarding his father’s leadership, Trump Jr. told the committee, “I’m not saying it didn’t come across as leadership. I think he needs to go further, you know. I wasn’t in the White House to help with that, I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what happened. But I did think we just needed to be more forward and move out there at that point.” 

Trump Jr. added that he did not know if there was a heated conversation between Trump and Pence on Jan. 6, as others have described. He only said, “I think, you know, by father’s default more is probably heated.”

Source: The Hill