According to newly-released testimony transcripts from the January 6th House Select Committee, as they bring their long-running investigation to a close and release their final report, White House aides apparently floated the idea of putting then-President Trump inside a “glass box” onstage, just outside of the Capitol building, where they said he would be able to “peacefully protest” alongside him violent mob of rabid supporters who stormed the Capitol building on that fateful day and quite literally cost multiple human lives in the process.
The revelation came from testimony delivered to investigators by scandal-ridden former Secret Service agent and White House aide Tony Ornato in late November. Ornato told the Committee that two Trump White House aides — Bobby Peede and Max Miller — approached him and asked if it would be possible for Donald Trump, who was still president at the time, to join his mob of supporters and openly protest Congress’ official count and certification of the Electoral College vote that secured Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
Ornato told the Panel, “I thought this was a ridiculous idea.”
The then-Secret Service agent attempted to question what Trump would even do outside of the Capitol building, to which the aides responded with the suggestion of encasing the then-president in a glass box on the stage.
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Tony said of the aides, “They said… they would build maybe a small stage, and the service can glass him in, and he could peacefully protest with people near the Capitol grounds.” Ornato testified that he doubled down on telling the aides that it was a “ridiculous” idea.
Multiple testimonies over the course of this investigation have confirmed that Trump was more than eager to join his mob of supporters in some way during the “protest” — i.e. violent attack and insurrection. Trump even told his supporters during his infamous “Stop The Steal” speech on the Ellipses, before the riot, that he would be joining them in their march to the Capitol. However, Trump’s team would not allow this movement to take place and instead took Trump back to the White House following his speech — a move that Cassidy Hutchinson has testified infuriated the then-outgoing president.
In released transcripts this week, it was revealed that many of Trump’s aides didn’t believe that Trump joining the physical march to the Capitol wasn’t even a real possibility, due to his physique and the fact that they had ” never seen the man walk across a golf course without a golf cart. I can’t imagine him walking up Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
