An expert on fascism said Trump would have needed to be at the Capitol to pull off a coup.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat said that explained why he wanted to march with supporters last year on January 6.
She said a coup required the leader to be present to anoint them under a "new order.".
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That revelation was first published in an April interview that the former president gave to The Washington Post.
Despite pressure from the then-president, the effort did not come to fruition, and Trump was taken back to the White House instead.
"Coups can take months or years to plan, and this was a multipronged attempt to overthrow our democracy," she added. »