Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the Capitol riot, said on Monday that the panel hasn't yet decided whether to seek testimony from former President Donald Trump.
When asked during a press conference with Reuters, National Public Radio and The Guardian what he has learned from the panel's probe, Raskin said: "This was a coup organized by the president against the vice president and against the Congress in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election."
Reuters notes that it's unclear whether Raskin was speaking only for himself, or if his views represent the thinking of the rest of the committee's members.
The Maryland Democrat went on to say, "We're going to tell the whole story of everything that happened. There was a violent insurrection and an attempted coup, and we were saved by [then-Vice President] Mike Pence's refusal to go along with that plan."
Raskin went on to say that Trump "was prepared to seize the presidency" and would have likely declared martial law. He added that the panel has not decided if they will seek testimony from either Trump or Pence.
"We don't have a lot of experience with coups in our own country, and we think of a coup as something that takes place against a president," Raskin said, adding, "It's what the political scientists call a self-coup ... it's a president fearful of defeat, overthrowing the constitutional process."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.