Barr a 'RINO,' Ivanka

'checked out': Trump

tries to explain the Jan.
6 testimony against him

David Knowles · Senior Editor

Wed, June 29, 2022, 1:41 PM · 6 min read

In this article:

Donald Trump Ivanka Trump William Barr

45th President of th… Businesswoman 77th and 85th Unite…

Throughout the testimony presented in the Jan. 6 select committee hearings, former

President Donald Trump, who may yet face criminal charges stemming from the
emerging evidence, has sought to shape public perceptions about the Republican
witnesses who have appeared.

During some of the testimony, such as Tuesday’s blockbuster appearance by former

White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump offered real-time responses on social
media. During other parts, such as last Thursday’s appearance by former Justice
Department officials who testified that Trump had asked them to “just say the
election was corrupt,” the former president issued a series of statements attacking
what he calls “the UNSELECT committee” itself.

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Despite polls showing that a majority of Americans now believe Trump should be
prosecuted by the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election,
the former president continues to assert that he did nothing wrong in regard to the
riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Former President Donald Trump at a rally in Mendon, Ill., on Saturday. (Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)

“This is merely an attempt to stop a man that is leading in every poll, against both
Republicans and Democrats by wide margins, from running again for the
Presidency,” Trump said in a falsehood-laden, 12-page statement issued after the
second day of testimony earlier this month. In fundraising emails, Trump has also
repeatedly attacked the two Republican representatives on the committee as “Crazy
Liz Cheney” and “Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger.”

As he did during the two impeachment hearings that took place during his
presidency, Trump has gone after those who have offered testimony against him. In
doing so, he has sometimes drastically revised his own past statements on those
individuals, some of whom he had lavishly praised when they worked for him.

William Barr

Video images of former Attorney General William Barr are shown during the House select committee hearing on June
23. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

During his testimony to the select committee that was played during the first hearing
on June 9, former Trump Attorney General William Barr testified that his department
had investigated the former president's claims of voter fraud and told him there was
no evidence supporting Trump's assertions.

Barr then described how Trump had “become detached from reality” about his
election loss and had no “interest in what the actual facts were.” The idea that fraud
had cost Trump the election was “bullshit” and “complete nonsense,” Barr testified.

Before the 2020 election, Trump lavished praise on Barr, calling him “a very straight
shooter” and “a man with incredible integrity.”
Quickly responding to the June 9 hearing, during which portions of Barr’s testimony
were shown, Trump called him “a coward” and a “weak and frightened Attorney
General.”

Three days later, with Barr’s comments dominating news coverage, Trump used a
different phrase to describe his former AG, referring to him as a RINO, which stands
for "Republican in name only."

“Former A.G. Bill Barr, a RINO if there ever was one, didn’t have the courage or
stamina to go after voter fraud — Was afraid he was going to be impeached,” Trump
wrote in a statement posted to his social media platform, Truth Social. “NO GUTS,
NO GLORY!!!”

Ivanka Trump

Video testimony from former White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump is played for the House select committee on
June 13. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, also made a taped appearance during the first
select committee hearing. As with Barr, her testimony to the committee was played
for the country to see. The portion of her testimony that struck a nerve came when
she was asked for her response to Barr’s Dec. 1, 2020, statement that there was no
evidence of significant election fraud.

“It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he

was saying,” she said to the committee.

Trump has long praised Ivanka, who was the only child of his to formally join his
administration. In a 2019 interview with the Atlantic, Trump gushed over his
daughter, saying he had considered her for the role of president of the World Bank.
“She would’ve been great at that because she’s very good with numbers,” he said.

After seeing her during the select committee hearing, he quickly sought to downplay
his daughter's remarks.

“Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had
long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill
Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!),” Trump wrote on Truth
Social.

Rusty Bowers
Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Republican Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers testified in person before the
select committee on June 21, recounting how Trump and his allies waged a pressure
campaign to convince him to replace Arizona’s electors even though there was no
evidence that voter fraud resulted in Joe Biden’s win there.

In anticipation of Bowers’s testimony that Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani called
Bowers to try to convince him to overturn Arizona’s election results, the former
president released a statement attacking him.

“Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers is the latest RINO to play along with
the Unselect Committee,” Trump said in a statement.

Bowers testified that he told the then president and Giuliani, “You're asking me to do
something that is counter to my oath,” and said he refused to go along with the plot
because he “didn’t want to be used as a pawn.” However, he later told the
Associated Press that if Trump was the Republican nominee in 2024, he’d likely vote
for him again.

Cassidy Hutchinson

Cassidy Hutchinson testifying before the select committee on Tuesday. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters)

A former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson,

testified under oath and in person Tuesday that Trump knew some of his supporters
were armed before he directed them to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6; that she was told
about Trump wrestling with his Secret Service detail for control of his limousine; that
the former president threw dishes at the wall after learning Barr would not back his
conspiracy theories about a stolen election; and that Meadows and Giuliani had
inquired about presidential pardons.

As her testimony unfolded, Trump sought to downplay Hutchinson’s role in his

administration despite the fact that her office was just steps away from his.
“I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very
negative things about her (a total phony and ‘leaker’), and when she requested to go
with certain others of the team to Florida after my having served a full term in office,
I personally turned her request down,” Trump wrote in a statement.

“Why did she want to go with us if she felt we were so terrible? I understand that
she was very upset and angry that I didn’t want her to go, or be a member of the
team. She is bad news,” he wrote.