Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol: Summary & Key Insights

In November 2020, the American people cast their votes in one of the most scrutinized elections in U.S. history. Dozens of courts, bipartisan election officials, and the Department of Justice all confirmed there was no evidence of widespread fraud. Yet, despite these facts, false claims about a ‘stolen election’ began to proliferate from within the very heart of government.

From the start, President Donald Trump rejected results that showed Joe Biden as the winner. His advisors, legal teams, and allies across media channels repeatedly amplified unverified claims. This deliberate misinformation campaign eroded public trust in the electoral process. The Committee traced these falsehoods from their inception in late 2020 through the weeks leading to the certification of Electoral College votes.

These events did not arise in isolation. The groundwork for rejecting the vote had been laid months before the election. As the pandemic necessitated expanded mail-in voting, Trump warned supporters that such ballots would be corrupted—a preemptive strike against any unfavorable outcome. After the results, his narrative hardened: the election, he claimed, was ‘rigged.’ Yet every audit and recount reached the same conclusion—the election was free, fair, and accurate.

That denial of reality, coupled with the amplification by political figures who knew otherwise, created the volatile foundation upon which the rest of January 6 was built.

Once official results affirmed Joe Biden’s victory, President Trump and his allies orchestrated an extensive campaign to overturn the outcome through extralegal means. The Committee detailed direct pressure applied to state officials—particularly in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan—to alter certified results or replace legitimate electors with pro-Trump alternatives.

Perhaps the most infamous example was the January 2, 2021 call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which Trump urged him to ‘find’ enough votes to change the state’s results. That call crystallized a broader pattern of pressure: to substitute loyalty to an individual for fidelity to the law.

In multiple states, pro-Trump lawyers organized slates of illegitimate electors. Officials who refused to comply faced threats and vilification. What emerged was a coordinated attempt to disrupt the lawful certification process from within. The Committee found that many participants in these schemes were aware they had no legal validity but persisted under political pressure. The effort to nullify legitimate votes did not fail for lack of intent—it failed because key public servants upheld their oaths.