Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/493

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
“A COUP IN SEARCH OF A LEGAL THEORY”
467

A non-free image has been removed from this page.


Photo provided to the Select Committee by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Of course, that was President Trump’s and John Eastman’s plan all along—to convince people that the election had been stolen, and that Vice President Pence could take action to change the outcome during the joint session on January 6th.

Jacob was writing an email to Eastman when the Capitol was breached.[313] At 2:14 p.m., just before being evacuated, Jacob hurriedly hit send on his email, but not before adding the following: “thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”[314]

Eastman quickly replied to Jacob’s email and, incredibly, blamed Vice President Pence and Jacob for the attack. “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,” Eastman wrote.[315] Naturally, Jacob was “somewhere between aghast and livid.”[316] It was “ridiculous” to blame Vice President Pence for the attack, when he simply followed the law.[317]


THE JOINT SESSION RECONVENES: “LET’S GET BACK TO WORK.”

The Senate reconvened at approximately 8:06 p.m.[318] Congressional leadership and the Vice President insisted on finishing the work of the people. "Today was a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol," Vice President Pence said. "But thanks to the swift efforts of U.S. Capitol Police,