On Friday, a four-part appendix containing additional information regarding the purported criminal effort by former President Donald Trump to void the outcomes of the 2020 election was made public.
After Trump requested for weeks to keep the appendix private, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan approved its public release late on Thursday in the federal criminal docket in Washington, D.C.
On October 10, Trump informed the judge that he would require further time to consider his “litigation options” in the event that she chose to admit the source materials in public, claiming that doing so may harm the jury and the case’s credibility. Chutkan consented to give him a week to react and present his case for preventing the release. He requested extra time in a desperate move that he filed early on Thursday, but it was turned down.
The appendix has been divided into four sections, with sensitive data redacted in each. Over 1,800 pages are contained in the four volumes.
The majority of Volume I consists of transcripts from witness testimonies given before the House committee looking into the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
However, one fresh element in this first book that really sticks out is the White House valet’s testimony before the committee on January 6.
The valet said before the committee that, on January 6, just before violence broke out, Trump asked him whether his “speech was cut off” as he was getting ready to watch a replay of his speech. The committee was informed by the valet that he attempted to clarify to Trump that it had been.
When the valet is testifying about Trump’s response, the record indicates that he appears to be going over pictures with the investigating counsel for the committee on January 6.
And that’s essentially the expression I received the entire time, and it seemed as though he was asking me, Really? The valet replied, “Yes, sir,” to which I replied.
Republicans in the House have previously made this transcript with the valet public. However, Smith’s version reveals what they omitted.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), the chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, released a version of the document in March that omitted a section in which the valet informs investigators that after Trump says, “let’s go see,” the valet removes his outer coat, prepares a television for him, and hands him a remote.
“And he begins to observe it. According to Smith’s account, the valet testified, “And I stepped out to get him a Diet Coke, came back in, and that’s pretty much it for me as he’s watching it and like, seeing it for himself.”
The next question the valet was asked by congressional investigators was, “So, you set up the TV?” This was likewise censored in the Republican version of the transcript. Did you arrange for him to view his speech or the live coverage of the Capitol proceedings?
“Usually, that’s — he spends a lot of time in that back dining room,” the valet remarked.
The transcript, which was interrupted by the valet when investigators questioned him about whether Trump was actually observing the events at the Capitol, is included in Smith’s appendix.
Volume I also includes a transcript that was made public earlier, in which investigators from the Jan. 6 committee question a witness about whether Trump’s team classified the speech draft he gave on Jan. 6 as “political” or “official.”
Notably, the witness first admitted to committee investigators that they couldn’t recall if anyone had informed them that day whether or not Trump’s speech at the Ellipse was political.
However, the witness claimed that “later on,” they became aware that Trump’s speech transcriptions had been distributed via text and were “styled ‘internal transcript.'”
The witness stated, “And my memory is that internal transcripts were political speeches.”