The Jan. 6 select committee has obtained a draft of an executive order written by former President Donald Trump during his time in office.
The draft, titled “Remarks on National Healing,” which was never issued in any form, would have seized voting machines and appointed special personnel to investigate the 2020 election. The draft, dated Dec. 16, 2020, also said that the defense secretary would perform an assessment 60 days after the investigation began, which may have been a ploy to keep Trump in office past Jan. 20, 2021, the end of his term.
The author of the draft document is unknown, but it repeats some arguments made by lawyer Sidney Powell in a December 18, 2020, White House meeting. Powell had tried to convince Trump to take control of voting machines and appoint her as the special counsel.
Another document seems like a draft of Trump’s Oval Office address, given after the attack.
“We must send a message – not with mercy but with justice. To those who engaged in acts of violence and destruction, I want to be very clear: you do not represent me,” the document reads. “You do not represent our movement. You do not represent our country. And if you broke the law, you belong in jail.”
The document’s remarks on the rioters are strikingly different from the message Trump sent at the time.
“We have to have peace,” Trump said in a video posted during the attack. “So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel.”
The document was among those that Trump had tried to stop the select committee from obtaining, but the Supreme Court blocked his request last week.
