Analysis: “How Trump Valet’s Testimony Supports DOJ’s Jan. 6 Case”

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“Nothing in the transcript is exculpatory for Trump.”

 Last week, The New York Times published a heavily redacted transcript of an interview with former President Donald Trump’s White House valet conducted by the House Jan. 6 Committee that was provided to The Times by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA).

“Loudermilk has falsely claimed the January 6th Committee hid evidence that would somehow absolve Trump of his responsibility for the attack on the Capitol,” Tom Joscelyn writes in an analysis in Just Security. “To set the record straight: the transcript of the valet’s testimony was not hidden by the Committee – it was kept by the White House, which has legitimate security concerns.”

In addition, Joscelyn points out, “nothing in the transcript is exculpatory for Trump.”

Joscelyn was a professional staff member on the House Jan. 6th Committee and a principal drafter of its final report.

While Loudermilk and his team “have desperately searched for a way to undermine the credibility of the January 6 Committee,” Joscelyn writes, “[t]hose efforts have failed.”

“[N]o part of the valet’s testimony exonerates Trump,” Joscelyn writes. “Indeed, the one way in which this interview might help the former President is if snippets of testimony are ripped from context to provide further grist for the disinformation mill.”

Joscelyn unpacks three key takeaways from the White House valet’s interview with the Jan. 6th Committee:

➤ 1 – Trump warned Vice President Pence it was a “political career killer” if he did not help steal the election.

➤ 2 – Trump’s “stay peaceful” tweet took “forever.”

➤ 3 – The valet testified that he did not recall hearing anything about deploying the National Guard prior to January 6th.

Read Joscelyn’s full analysis on Just Security.

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