On Election night 2020, former President Donald Trump became angered and frustrated with Fox News after the network's political editor declared that Arizona was being won by Joe Biden, according to testimony from top Trump campaign officials who at the White House that evening.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection played snippets of video depositions from key Trump allies, including daughter Ivanka Trump, former campaign manager Bill Stepien, former Trump attorney Jason Miller and Rudy Giuliani, expressing surprise and disappointment inside the Trump camp over the Arizona call.
As aides worked to counsel Trump on what to do next, Stepien and Miller described Giuliani as being "intoxicated" and demanding that Trump declare victory, recalling the former mayor of New York City saying, "We won it. They are stealing it from us, we need to say that we won." Miller also alleged Giuliani threatened that "anyone who didn't believe in that position was weak."
Robert Costello, an attorney for Giuliani, told NBC News: “Mayor Giuliani denies that he was intoxicated and denies that he was drinking at all.”
Stepien said in his deposition that he did not think the president should declare victory on election night and recommended instead that Trump say the votes were still being counted and it’s too early to call the race. He said Trump disagreed with him.
Ivanka Trump testified that she didn’t know that she had a “firm view” of what Trump should say “in that circumstance.”
At about 2:20 a.m. on Nov. 4, Trump held a news conference at the White House to falsely declare himself the winner of the election.
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Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., opened the hearing saying Trump “betrayed the trust of the American people” and “tried to remain in office when people had voted him out.”
This is a live update. Click here for complete coverage of the Jan. 6 hearings.
