Harris speaks in the same place where Trump stoked anger on January 6, 2021. Here’s what happened

WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrat Kamala Harris will deliver her campaign’s “closing argument” on Tuesday from the same Washington venue where the GOP Donald Trump helped incite the mob that attacked the US Capitol January 6, 2021.

She chose the location to show the contrast between her vision for the country and Trump’s constant lies about the 2020 election and the risk she believes his return to the White House will pose to the nation.

In 2021, thousands of his supporters stood on a grassy ellipse just off Constitution Avenue, near the Washington Monument, as an angry Trump told his supporters that the election had been stolen from him.

“We won’t tolerate this anymore and that’s what this is all about,” Trump told the crowd. “And to use your favorite phrase, which you actually came up with: we will stop stealing. Today I will just present some of the evidence that we won this election and it was not a close election.”

” And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have a country anymore.”

Some details about why Trump appeared on the Ellipse on January 6 and what happened.

Trump’s speech has arrived after weeks of unsuccessful legal challenges in which Trump claimed there was widespread voter fraud. His lawyers advanced baseless conspiracy theories, including the idea that voting machines had been created Venezuela under the leadership of Hugo Chavez. The challenges have been roundly rejected, including by judges appointed by Trump himself or other Republicans.

Members of Trump’s cabinet have said there was no widespread fraud nevertheless, the ideas were adopted by supporters and persisted. Trump has since faced criminal charges for efforts to invalidate the elections.

Congress’ certification of presidential vote results is typically a routine part of the electoral process. But Trump, through failed lawsuits, tried and personal appeals to the election officials to invalidate the results.

On December 19, 2020, Trump tweeted: “Great protest in Washington on January 6th. Be there, it’s going to be wild!”

In his speech, Trump cataloged his failed legal arguments and told the crowd he hoped then-Vice President Mike Pence would refuse to certify the election results when he faced lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

I hope Mike does the right thing. I hope so. I hope so,” Trump said.

“Because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we will win the election… He has every right to do so. We are to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution and protect our Constitution.

Trump started blaming “fake news media” and “radical left Democrats” for rigging the election.

“All of us here today do not want our electoral victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats, which is exactly what they are doing. And stolen by fake media. This is what they did and what they do. We will never give up, we will never give up. This doesn’t happen. You don’t admit it when theft is involved.

That day, at the end of his speech, he told the crowd it was time to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol with rambling instructions to engage.

“I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we go to the Capitol and try to give… Democrats are hopeless – they never vote for anything. Not a single vote. But we will try to give to our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones do not need our help. We will try to give them the kind of pride and boldness they need to take back our country.”

“Then let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”

During congressional hearings on the events of January 6, 2021, White House adviser Cassidy Hutchinson told how Trump he reacted dismissively when told that some of his crowd at the Ellipse were armed.

“I was near the conversation where I heard the president say something like, ‘I don’t care if they have guns,’” ​​Hutchinson said. “They’re not here to hurt me. … Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.’”

She also described Trump’s anger when officials told him he could not accompany his supporters to the Capitol due to security concerns.

Instead, Trump returned to the White House. According to congressional testimony, when the violence at the Capitol broke out, he was sitting at the White House dining room table watching the events unfold on Fox News.

Pat Cipollone, Trump’s top White House lawyer, told congressional investigators that multiple advisers – including the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump – advised the president to say something to prevent violence.