Trump ignored pleas to intervene on January 6 and call off rioters, according to a new book.
The authors said Trump instead "kept watching television" where the violence was being broadcast.
The anecdote was published by CNN in extracts of a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
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A national security official pleaded with President Donald Trump to intervene and stop his supporters attacking the US Capitol on January 6, but was ignored while Trump watched the violence unfold on TV, according to extracts of a new book.
In the new book "Peril," veteran reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa describe the chaotic final months of the Trump administration.
At the time, the president was trying to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden, pushing baseless claims of electoral fraud which inspired his supporters to attack the Capitol.
According to extracts of the book published by CNN Tuesday, Trump watched the chaos unfold on live TV in the White House.
He was there with retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, who served as Vice President Mike Pence's security advisor.
Kellog urged Trump to intervene by sending a message on social media telling his supporters to back down.
"You really should do a tweet," Kellogg said, according to the authors.
"You need to get a tweet out real quick, help control the crowd up there. This is out of control. They're not going to be able to control this. Sir, they're not prepared for it. Once a mob starts turning like that, you've lost it."
The authors wrote that Trump replied "yeah" then "blinked and kept watching television."
According to the extracts, Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, also urged her father to intervene three times.
"Let this thing go," she told him. "Let it go," she said, according to extracts published by CNN.
Insider has contacted a spokesperson for Trump for comment on the claims.
Hours later, Trump did release messages urging supporters to "go home" — but continued to push the election-fraud claim which incited the violence.
Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook in the aftermath of the riot, after the platforms said he used his pages to encourage violence
Trump was impeached for the second time in the weeks after the riot, charged with directly inciting supporters with a speech he delivered to them just ahead of the violence.
The president was acquitted in February, after the Republican-majority Senate did not reach the two-thirds majority vote required for conviction.
Nelsaroni on September 15th, 2021 at 14:52 UTC »
The livestreams were buck wild. I was in the office that day and while others were focused on work I was watching some of the craziest shit I've ever seen.
schu4KSU on September 15th, 2021 at 14:38 UTC »
This only ended when it was clear the police and military would not turn and join in a revolution appointing him ruler for life and that the rioters would not be successful in murdering congress and the vice president.
JamesFortier on September 15th, 2021 at 14:17 UTC »
We know. It was widely reported at the time.