Then-Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia wrote a memo to President Trump after the Capitol riot asking if the cabinet could meet — a more formal request than previously known, and a hint at how Trump appointees tried to confront him after the election. violence .
On the morning of January 7, 2021, “The most constructive thing I could think of was to seek a cabinet meeting,” Scalia said in a taped interview played by the House selection committee. “I thought it would probably be worth more to work within the administration to keep the ship stable than to resign, after which I would have been powerless to really influence things within the administration.”
His memo to Trump was titled “Request for Cabinet Meeting,” the committee showed.
The documents said: “I think it’s important to know that, although President, you are no longer publicly questioning the election results – after Wednesday, no one can deny that this is harmful.”
“A cabinet meeting is also an opportunity for us to discuss how the cabinet and senior White House advisers, acting within our respective roles, can help make your administration’s remaining key decisions,” Scalia’s memo read.
Scalia also wrote that he believed that “private citizens” had “served” [Trump] bad with their advice,” the document said.
Former White House adviser Pat Cipollone also told the committee about the cabinet meeting discussion, and Mark Milley, the then chairman of the chiefs of staff, spoke in his own interview about cabinet members’ concerns about Trump’s well-being.
Scalia did not seem to raise the possibility that the cabinet might consider removing Trump from the presidency using the 25th Amendment, although that had been suggested by members of Congress at the time.
Still, a formal cabinet meeting and the cabinet making demands on Trump were serious steps within the executive branch.
