By Canadian Press

Trump mulled seizing voting machines; Cippolone called it ‘terrible idea’ for U.S.

Jul 12, 2022 | 11:46 AM

WASHINGTON — The Jan. 6 committee is hearing how an “unhinged” White House meeting in December 2020 prompted Donald Trump to summon his Twitter followers to a protest that turned into the riots on Capitol Hill.

The infamous tweet urging supporters to “be there, will be wild” came in the early hours of Dec. 19, shortly after Trump’s unscheduled meeting with Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and retired general Michael Flynn.

Former White House counsel Pat Cippolone described how Powell, one of Trump’s campaign lawyers, lobbied to become a special counsel with the power to seize voting machines — something Cippolone decried as a “terrible idea.”

Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin also displayed a text message from White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson that described the West Wing meeting as “unhinged.”

The committee is portraying Trump’s tweet not only as the flame that lit the Jan. 6 fuse, but also as a last-ditch bid by a president desperate to stay in power who had just run out of options.

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Lawmakers are also expecting to hear later today from a former member of the Oath Keepers, one of the extremist groups who showed up on Jan. 6.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2022.

The Canadian Press