ex-President Trump

Stop the Steal leaders also joined two “Million MAGA Marches” in Washington, D.C. on November14, 2020,and December12, 2020. Id.at ¶108. Again, as relevant to President Trump’s intent here, after the November rally turned violent, President Trump acknowledged the violence but justified it as self-defense against “ANTIFA SCUM.”Id.at ¶ 109. ¶202With full knowledge of these sometimes-violent events, President Trump sent the following tweet on December19, 2020, urging his supporters to travel to Washington, D.C. on January6:“Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January6. Be there, will be wild!” Id. at ¶ 112. ¶203At this point, the record established that President Trump’s “plan” was that when Congress met to certify the election results on January6, Vice President Pence could reject the true electors who voted for President Biden and certify a slate of fake electors supporting President Trump or he could return the slates to the states for further proceedings. Id. at ¶ 113. ¶204Far right extremists and militias such as the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and the Three Percenters viewed President Trump’s December19, 2020 tweet as a
109“call to arms,” and they began to plot activities to disrupt the January6 joint session of Congress. Id. at ¶ 117. In the meantime, President Trump repeated his invitation to come to Washington, D.C. on January6 at least twelve times. Id. at ¶118. ¶205OnDecember26, 2020, President Trump tweeted: If a Democrat Presidential Candidate had an Election Rigged& Stolen, with proof of such acts at a level never seen before, the Democrat Senators would consider it an act of war, and fight to the death. Mitch [McConnell]& the Republicans do NOTHING, just want to let it pass. NO FIGHT! Id. at ¶ 121. ¶206And on January1, 2021, President Trump retweeted a post from Kylie Jane Kremer, an organizer of the scheduled January 6 March for Trump, that stated, “The calvary [sic] is coming, Mr. President! JANUARY6|Washington, D.C.” President Trump added to his retweet, “A great honor!” Id.at ¶ 119.¶207The foregoing evidence established that President Trump’s messages were a call to his supporters to fight and that his supporters responded to that call. Further supporting such a conclusion was the fact that multiple federal agencies, including the Secret Service, identified significant threats of violence in the days leading up to January6.Id.at ¶ 123. These threats were made openly online, and they were widely reported in the press. Id. Agency threat assessments thus stated
110that domestic violent extremists planned for violence on January6, with weapons including firearms and enough ammunition to “win a small war.”Id.¶208Along the same lines, the Federal Bureau of Investigation received many tips regarding the potential for violence on January6. Id. at ¶ 124. One tip said: They think they will have a large enough group to march into DC armed and will outnumber the police so they can’t be stopped.... They believe that since the election was “stolen” it’s their constitutional right to overtake the government and during this coup no U.S. laws apply. Their plan is to literally kill. Please, please take this tip seriously and investigatefurther.Id.¶209The record reflects that President Trump had reason to know of the potential for violence on January6. As President, he oversaw the agencies reporting the foregoing threats. Id. at ¶ 123. In addition, Katrina Pierson, a senior advisor to both of President Trump’s presidential campaigns, testified, on behalf of President Trump, that at a January5, 2021 meeting, President Trump chose the speakers for the January6 event at which he, too, would speak (avoiding at least some extremist speakers) and that he knew that radical political extremists were going to be in Washington, D.C. on January6 and would likely attend his speech. Id. at ¶¶ 48,126. ¶210January6 arrived, and in the early morning, President Trump tweeted, “If Vice President @Mike_Pence comes through for us, we will win the Presidency. Many States want to decertify the mistake they made in certifying incorrect& even
111fraudulent numbers in a process NOT approved by their State Legislatures (which it must be). Mike can send it back! ”Id. at ¶ 127. He followed this tweet later that morning with another that said, “All Mike Pence has todo is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” Id. ¶211These tweets had the obvious effect of putting a significant target on Vice President Pence’s back, focusing President Trump’s supporters on the Vice President’s role in overseeing the counting of the electoral votes and certifying the 2020 presidential election to ensure the peaceful transfer of power.Id.at ¶¶128, 291.¶212At about this same time, tens of thousands of President Trump’s supporters began gathering around the Ellipse for his speech. Id.at ¶ 129. To enter the Ellipse itself, attendees were required to pass through magnetometers. Id.at ¶ 130.Notably, from the approximately 28,000 attendees who passed through these security checkpoints, the Secret Service confiscated hundreds of weapons and other prohibited items, including knives or blades, pepper spray, brass knuckles, tasers, body armor, gas masks, and batons or blunt instruments. Id.at ¶¶ 130–31. Approximately 25,000 additional attendees remained outside the Secret Service perimeter, thus avoiding the magnetometers.Id.at ¶ 132. ¶213President Trump then gave a speech in which he literally exhorted his supporters to fight at the Capitol. Among other things, he told the crowd:
112•“We’re gathered together in the heart of our nation’s capital for one very, very basic reason: to save our democracy.”Id.at ¶ 135. •“Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back. It’s like a boxer. And we want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. And we’re going to have to fight much harder. ”Id.• “Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you....”Id. •“[W]e’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. ”Id.•“ When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules. ”Id. •“This the most corrupt election in the history, maybe of the world.... This is not just a matter of domestic politics—this is a matter of national security. ”Id.• “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. ”Id. ¶214Unsurprisingly, the crowd at the Ellipse reacted to President Trump’s words with calls for violence. Indeed, after President Trump instructed his supporters to march to the Capitol, members of the crowd shouted, “[S]torm the capitol!”; “[I]nvade the Capitol Building!”; and “[T]ake the Capitol!”Id.at ¶ 141. And before he had even concluded his speech, President Trump’s supporters followed his instructions. Id.at ¶ 146. The crowd marched to the Capitol, many carrying
113Revolutionary War flags and Confederate battle flags; quickly breached the building; and immediately advanced to the House and Senate chambers to carry out their mission of blocking the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Id.at ¶¶146–53.¶215By 1:21 p.m., President Trump was informed that the Capitol was under attack. Id.at ¶ 169. Rather than taking action to end the siege, however, approximately one hour later, at 2:24 p.m., he tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”Id.at ¶ 170. ¶216This tweet was read over a bullhorn to the crowd at the Capitol, and produced further violence, necessitating the evacuation of Vice President Pence from his Senate office to a more secure location to ensure his physical safety. Id. at ¶¶171–75.¶217President Trump’s next public communications were two tweets sent at 2:38 p.m. and 3:13 p.m., encouraging the mob to “remain peaceful” and to “[s]tay peaceful” (obviously, the mob was not at all peaceful), but neither tweet condemned the violence nor asked the mob to disperse.Id.at ¶ 178(alteration in original).
114¶218Throughout these several hours, President Trump ignored pleas to intervene and instead called on Senators ,urging them to help delay the electoral count, which is what the mob, upon President Trump’s exhortations, was also trying to achieve. Id.at ¶ 180.And President Trump took no action to put an end to the violence. To the contrary, as mentioned above, when told that the mob was chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” President Trump responded that perhaps the Vice President deserved to be hanged. Id. President Trump also rejected pleas from House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, imploring him to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol, stating, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”Id.¶219Finally, at 4:17 p.m., President Trump released a video urging the mob “to go home now.” Id.at ¶ 186. Even then, he did not condemn the mob’s actions. Id.at ¶187.Instead, he sympathized with those who had violently overtaken the Capitol, telling them that he knew their pain. Id.at ¶¶ 186–87.He told them that he loved them and that they were “very special.” Id.at ¶ 186.And he repeated his false claim that the election had been stolen notwithstanding his “landslide” victory, thereby further endorsing the mob’s effort to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power.Id.at ¶¶ 186–87.¶220A short while later, President Trump reiterated this supportive message to the mob by justifying its actions, tweeting at 6:01 p.m., “These are the things and
115events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously& viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly& unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love& in peace.”Id.at ¶189.President Trump concluded by encouraging the country to “[r]emember this day forever!”Id.¶221We conclude that the foregoing evidence, the great bulk of which was undisputed at trial, established that President Trump engaged in insurrection. President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary. Moreover, the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook allthese actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power