It would have been something never quite before seen in America — a defeated president, Donald Trump, standing at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with a mob of supporters, some armed, contesting the election outcome. Trump intended to go there that day. His allies had been planning for the moment, envisioning the president delivering a speech outside the building or even entering the House chamber amid objections to Congress certifying the 2020 election results for Democrat Joe Biden. “He’s going to look powerful,” mused Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to a young White House aide four days earlier. But White House lawyers thought it was a “terrible” idea. Counsel Pat Cipollone warned that Trump could be charged with “every crime imaginable” if he joined mob on Capitol Hill trying to interfere with the certification. In the end, Trump never made it to the Capitol on Jan. 6. His security refused to take him as rioters, some with weapons, laid siege to the building. Furious, and stuck at the White House, Trump watched the insurrection on television. The Jan. 6 hearings are providing dramatic new insight about Trump’s intentions as he told loyalists he would join them on a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to “fight like hell” for his presidency. This account is drawn largely from the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. Her recollections from her close proximity to the president and his inner circle suggest Trump’s demands were not the brash desires of an impulsive commander in chief but part of his last-ditch plan for stopping Biden’s victory. Trump and his allies quickly disputed Hutchinson’s account, and the former president conducted his own interview days later disparaging her with derisive commentary and nicknames. This coming week, the committee is set to focus on Trump’s own actions and those of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in allegedly leading the Capitol attack. A look at what’s known about Trump’s plans to join the mob on Jan. 6: ___ JAN. 2 It was a Saturday night. Giuliani had been meeting at the White House with Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and others.   The White House and Meadows had placed some 18 calls that day to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, before Trump finally got the elections official on the phone. Trump had been disputing the election results in Georgia, which he narrowly lost. He was demanding that Raffensperger “find 11,780 votes,” exactly enough to tip the balance from Biden’s victory. The engineer-turned-civil servant declined. As Giuliani left the White House that night, he walked out with Meadows’ young aide, Hutchinson, a senior adviser. “Cass, are you excited for the 6th?” Giuliani asked, as Hutchinson recalled in testimony before the Jan. 6 committee. “It’s going to be a great day.” Hutchinson had heard discussions about Jan. 6 and the rally being planned outside the White House as Congress was set to certify the election results. She also had heard, when Giuliani was around, mentions of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, two extremist groups. She looked at Giuliani and asked him to explain. “We’re going to the Capitol,” Giuliani told her. “It’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there. He’s going to look powerful.” ___ JAN. 3 On Sunday, Cipollone privately raised concerns […]

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