The House Jan. 6 committee on Thursday released transcripts of Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle testimonies on Thursday, along with those of several other witnesses who were called in the investigation into the 2021 incidents at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle — who were engaged — were advisers for former president Donald Trump and active in his campaign. Guilfoyle, a key witness, was with Trump the morning of Jan. 6 and was backstage with him and other family members during the then-president's "Stop the Steal" rally at the Ellipse.
They were interviewed in April and May, and some of the key points in the interviews have already been released during the select committee's hearings this past year, including information about how the president's son had reached out to his father's chief of staff Mark Meadows and urged him to convince the president to condemn the rioting.
In the transcript, Trump Jr. speaks about a message he sent Meadows at about 3 p.m.
In his text to Meadows, Trump Jr. wrote, according to the records that his father had to "condemn this s**t. Asap. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough."
Trump Jr. also told the committee members that he reached out to Meadows, rather than his father, because he was in a public place and didn't want to have a conversation in that manner.
"Walking around with a Secret Service detail and people, it’s not like there's anything subtle about it," he told the committee. "And if I was on a plane with WiFi, my father doesn't text, so I couldn't reach out to him directly, so reached out to his chief of staff."
Trump Jr. also told the committee that he had not been sure if the people in the crowd were all supporters of his father, as he had watched "violence for the prior 18 months all over the country, all of these things done by the other side, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were people in this group functioning as agitators, you know, et cetera.
"You know, again, when you've been through what I've been through, you can be a cynic on some of these things."
Guilfoyle testified that she did not solicit the $60,000 fee she was paid to speak at the rally, which took place before protesters appeared at the Capitol, but said she earned such fees, and often up to $75,000, for events she did through the Turning Point Action organization.
Transcripts released Thursday also included those for Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, aide Alyssa Farah Griffin, Doug Mastriano, who ran for governor of Pennsylvania; and Trump adviser Stephen Miller, among others.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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