The key 30 minutes that could result in incitement charges against Trump
CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Thursday explained the legal significance of a critical 30-minute period during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed Toobin following the latest televised hearing by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"How significant is it that Trump was repeatedly told that his plan to overturn the presidential election was illegal?" Blitzer asked.
"Not only that, but the -- the real issue, I think, in terms of the president's potential criminal liability goes to the issue of incitement of violence," he explained. "And the half-hour between 2:00 and 2:30 is critical. That is when the Capitol is breeched. That's when his aides go to him and say, you know, you got to do something to cool this out, this is -- this is dangerous and what is the president do? At 2:24, he sends the tweet that Kaitlin [Collins] mentioned, which doesn't cool things out. It does the opposite, it incites the crowd to -- to attack Mike Pence, to -- to hang Mike Pence and the jeopardy only gets worse."
"That, to me -- that 2:24 tweet -- is evidence of incitement. Now, will it is enough for a criminal case? I don't know. There is a lot more we have to know but that is a very dangerous moment," Toobin says.
Although Trump's Twitter account was deleted when he was permanently suspended from the social media platform for inciting violence, the American Presidency Project at the University of California Santa Barbara has a public archive of Trump's tweets on Jan. 6.
"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!" Trump tweeted at 2:24.
Trump's final tweet on Jan. 6 came after 11 p.m.
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"These are the things and events 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. Remember this day forever!" Trump urged.
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