What was Trump’s seven-part plan to overturn the 2020 election?

The US House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack convened for the first of six planned public hearings on 9 June and the proceedings were aired in primetime television. The select committee will investigate the events that took place in the first week of 2021, which culminated in a violent protest at the US Capitol that resulted in five deaths, directly and indirectly, over 700 arrests and criminal charges being brought against 225 people who took part in what then-President Elect Joe Biden described as “an insurrection.”

Cheney: “Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States”

Chief among the matters the select committee will be looking into is the role of former President Donald Trump, whose actions on 6 January shocked even some Republican politicians. Among those is US Representative Liz Cheney, who is also Vice-Chair of the January 6 Committee. During Thursday’s hearing, Cheney laid out Trump’s involvement in the Capitol riot, stating that “on the morning of January 6, President Donald Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States […] in violation of his Constitutional obligation to relinquish power.”

“President Trump believed his supporters at the Capitol, and I quote, were doing what they should be doing. This is what he told his staff as they pleaded with him to call off the mob,” Cheney said. “On this point, there is no room for debate. Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them: that the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.”

“As you will see in our hearings, the White House received specific reports in the days leading up to Jan. 6, including during President Trump’s Ellipse rally (near the White House), indicating that elements in the crowd were preparing for violence at the Capitol,” Cheney said.

“The White House staff knew the President Trump was willing to entertain and use conspiracy theories to achieve his ends. They knew the president needed to be cut off from all of those who had encouraged him. They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone, at least until he left office on January 20.”

Trump’s plan to cling to power

Cheney went on to say that Trump had drawn up a “sophisticated seven-point plan” to overturn the results of the November, 2020 presidential election in an attempt to remain in power despite Biden’s win, a plan that included falsifying election slates and pressurizing officials to election officials to alter results.

While Cheney did not go into the specifics of the plan during her statement, CNN subsequently obtained the details of Trump’s scheme from a committee source. According to CNN, the seven points in full were as follows: