(The Hill) — Former President Donald Trump on Monday issued a 12-page rebuttal to testimony and evidence presented by a House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, accusing Democrats of seeking to distract from a series of domestic issues facing the country.
“Seventeen months after the events of January 6th, Democrats are unable to offer solutions,” Trump said in a statement released through his Save America PAC. “They are desperate to change the narrative of a failing nation, without even making mention of the havoc and death caused by the Radical Left just months earlier. Make no mistake, they control the government. They own this disaster. They are hoping that these hearings will somehow alter their failing prospects.”
The 12-page document underscores how Trump has yet to move on from his false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, and how the committee’s work may be central to a potential 2024 campaign.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has held two hearings thus far as it builds a case to show Trump was repeatedly informed by aides that the election was not stolen or rigged, but that he continued to claim publicly that it was for months, misleading his supporters up until the insurrection at the Capitol.
In the 12-page document, Trump repeats a handful of disproven claims to assert the 2020 election was stolen from him and rigged in favor of Democrats, including some that were brought up during testimony by former Trump campaign and administration officials.
One section of Trump’s statement focuses on ballot trafficking claims, for which he cites the Dinesh D’Souza documentary “2000 Mules.” In testimony shown earlier Monday, former Attorney General William Barr laughed at the mention of the film, saying he was “unimpressed with it” and dismissed the idea that it proved widespread fraud.
Another section asserts that Biden could not have won the states of Pennsylvania, Arizona or Georgia because Biden got more Black votes and Hispanic votes than former President Barack Obama. Each of those states has performed audits and recounts and found no evidence of widespread fraud.