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The Jan. 6 House Select Committee released nearly 50 transcripts of witness statements on Friday.
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A transcript details the commission’s interview with Hope Hicks, a former Trump ally.
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“I just think he felt… blaming him for everything that happened wasn’t fair,” she said.
In a flurry of testimonial transcripts released Friday by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 uprising, a transcript reveals that former White House communications director Hope Hicks told the committee that former President Donald Trump felt for him to be blamed for the Capitol Hill riot was unfair.
Hicks, 34, once one of Trump’s closest allies, voluntarily sat for testimony, video of which aired during the commission’s final hearing on Monday. She was one of the few people in Trump’s job to inform Trump that he had lost the 2020 election, according to the transcript released Friday.
Hicks spoke to Trump on January 11, 2021, days after the deadly uprising.
“He asked me if I thought it was really as bad as everyone made it out to be. And my answer was yes, I thought it was,” the transcript reads.
She added: “I think he felt it wasn’t fair – the reaction to it wasn’t fair.”
Hicks, who resigned from the White House on January 12, 2021, said she communicated to Trump that he needed to change his approach and appear more “rational” to observers.
“And I just told him, I think, you know, the more rational and restrained you are, the more extreme everyone will look, so things like getting you banned from social media I think will backfire, and that, you know, ‘If you you focus on the things that people really care about and not the election, I think things will get better for you soon, politically,” Hicks told the committee.
She said Trump also asked her if she believed the election was stolen, to which she objected.
“And then we just exchanged some pleasantries, you know, and that was it,” she added.
“I just think he felt it wasn’t fair to blame him for everything that happened,” Hicks continued.
The commission released a thorough report on Thursday outlining its findings during its investigation into the U.S. Capitol uprising and how Trump played a part in it. They also recommended that the Justice Department prosecute Trump for his role in the uprising.
Hicks was not immediately available for comment.
Read the original article on Business Insider
