Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
What specific texts, emails, or messages showed Trump's encouragement to supporters in the Jan. 6 hearings?
Executive summary
The Jan. 6 Select Committee presented testimony, videos and documentary evidence that it said showed former President Donald Trump repeatedly encouraged and sustained his supporters’ belief that the 2020 election was stolen, and that he refused for hours to tell the mob to leave the Capitol (committee timeline: 187 minutes) [1] [2]. Witnesses produced texts and message records—most notably Hope Hicks’s January 6 text records and referenced exchanges highlighted by committee members—that the committee used to describe Trump’s role in mobilizing and not disavowing the crowd [3] [4].
1. What the committee emphasized: Trump kept the narrative alive
The committee’s public hearings framed much of the evidence around the claim that Trump “purposely disseminated false allegations of fraud” to sustain his base and motivate action on Jan. 6; that narrative was central to the committee’s video, witness testimony and the 154-page summary released with the final hearing [1] [5]. The Hill’s reporting on the committee noted a 12‑page rebuttal from Trump in response to testimony and evidence that the committee said showed he continued to promote baseless fraud claims even after aides told him the election was not stolen [1].
2. Specific texts and messages the committee cited publicly
Committee evidence included text-message records produced by White House staff. The committee played or referenced text records from Hope Hicks, who provided her January 6 text-message records to investigators; the committee used those records to show conversations among staff about the events and what Trump was told [3]. The hearings also highlighted a text exchange involving Fox host Sean Hannity and then‑White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany as “emblematic” of the inner circle’s communications, as Vice Chair Liz Cheney pointed out [6].
3. Testimony describing Trump’s words and inaction during the riot
The hearings placed heavy emphasis on the 187 minutes between the breach of the Capitol and Trump’s recorded public statement telling rioters to go home; lawmakers argued that during that interval aides urged him to publicize a plea for peace and to tell supporters to leave, but he refused [2]. The committee played witness testimony and recorded calls alleging Trump berated Vice President Pence on Jan. 6 and that aides repeatedly asked him to act; Rev’s hearing transcript cites witnesses who said advisers told him to encourage supporters to be peaceful, and he “refused” [3].
4. Other documentary threads the committee sought
The committee subpoenaed a large range of communications—emails, texts and documents—from Trump and associates to identify how his messaging reached supporters, including communications with allies and organizers the panel said helped channel people to D.C. [7]. Reuters noted the committee’s subpoena asked for documents and deposition testimony aimed at showing communications over months that culminated in the Jan. 6 mobilization [7].
5. What the public hearings did not publish (limitations)
Available sources in this search do not list — and the committee did not make public in these sources — a single, fully transcribed set of messages from Trump directly instructing the crowd to “go to the Capitol” or to “fight” that are quoted as his text or email; rather, the publicly aired evidence combined staff text records, witness testimony and videos to show he cultivated the narrative that mobilized supporters (not found in current reporting). The public hearings emphasized patterns and contemporaneous staff communications rather than producing a single incriminating Trump-authored text message in the cited summaries [3] [5].
6. Competing perspectives and official responses
Trump and his allies disputed the committee’s interpretation — Trump issued a 12‑page rebuttal criticizing the hearings as political and repeating his view that the committee was distracting from other issues [1]. The committee, by contrast, said its assembled evidence and witness accounts amounted to “overwhelming evidence” that he orchestrated efforts to overturn the election [7]. PBS summarized the committee’s final report as finding a “multi-part conspiracy” and urging DOJ action; the Hill and Reuters coverage cite the committee’s demand for documents and testimony—while also noting Trump’s denial and rebuttal filings [5] [1] [7].
7. Takeaway: documentation vs. narrative in public hearings
The hearings combined direct records (staff text messages like Hope Hicks’s) and witness testimony to construct a timeline and causal narrative linking Trump’s repeated election-fraud claims to the Jan. 6 mobilization; the committee emphasized his sustained messaging and his hourslong delay in telling rioters to go home [3] [2]. If you are looking for explicit, direct messages from Trump to supporters in the form of his own emails or texts published in the hearings, the searched sources don’t present a single such item as the centerpiece; they show instead a mosaic of staff messages, public statements and witness accounts the committee used to support its conclusions [3] [5].
Sources cited in this report: The Hill (Trump response) [1]; Rev transcript of final public hearing [3]; NBC/PBS coverage of hearings and highlighted messages [6] [5]; Reuters on subpoenas and evidence requests [7]; CNBC and related summaries on the 187‑minute timeline and Rose Garden statement [2].