Startling revelations on former President Donald Trump's 'dereliction of duty' have emerged, as the hearing of the January 6 attack draws closer.
CNN obtained a hoard of messages that were sent to the former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows by Congress Republicans, former members of the Trump administration, GOP activists, Fox personalities and shockingly, even the President's son.
Before Meadows stopped cooperating with the authorities over the insurrection attacks, he handed over the messages to the January 6 committee in December. These 2,319 text messages carry the same desperate pleas, for President Trump to denounce the violence at once and tell the mob to go home.
"He's got to condemn (sic) this shit. Asap," Donald Trump Jr. messaged at 2:53 p.m.
"POTUS needs to calm this shit down," GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina texted at 3:04 p.m.
"TELL THEM TO GO HOME !!!" former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus wrote at 3:09 p.m.
"Potus has to come out firmly and tell protesters to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed," Farah Griffin Trump's former director of strategic communications texted at 3:13 p.m.
"Mark: he needs to stop this, now. Can I do anything to help?" Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former acting White House chief of staff, also texted Meadows.
This text log does not only provide evidence of authorities pleading to stop the attacks but also presents a "road map" which will assist the Committee in determining how Meadows backed Trump's decision to sit tight and do nothing.
When each of these people who reached out to Meadows were asked to talk about their texts by CNN almost one and a half year after the attack, every single person reiterated that they stand by their words.
From Trump's allies to Meadow's local contacts, everyone reached out urging the President to at least address the rioters, a few of them even thought that their messages might encourage Meadow to stand up to Trump.
"Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn't the way to solve anything," Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote at 2:28 p.m.
"The president needs to stop this ASAP," GOP Rep. Will Timmons of South Carolina texted Meadows at 2:46 p.m.
Apart from these shocking texts, the January 6 Committee is also expected to focus on the time taken by the former president to tell the rioters to go home. The attack started after 1 p.m. when the rioters broke the police barriers and stormed the Capitol, still it took Trump more than 3 hours to release a video message on Twitter.
Meadows' involvement is also another factor that will be discussed at the hearing as the Committee noticed that he never once seemed worked up in the messages he sent on January 6 and even in the middle of all the chaos he did not confront the president, a source close to the committee told CNN.
The January 6 House Committee is expected to meet next Thursday for the first primetime hearing of the Capital attacks. The panel will take into account the happenings in Trump's inner circle before and during the insurrection, with the help of the massive evidence received in the past year.
