Former President Donald Trump issued a “call to arms” to far-right extremists to come to Washington and wreak havoc on Jan. 6, 2021 — after presiding over an hours-long Oval Office meeting that devolved into a “screaming” match between proponents and opponents of the 45th president’s voter fraud claims, the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot claimed Tuesday.

Much of the hearing focused on a Dec. 19, 2020, tweet in which Trump invited his supporters to DC with the exhortation: “Be there, will be wild!”

Hours earlier, on the night of Dec. 18, Trump met secretly in the Oval Office with a group that included his election attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne. 

Within 10 or 15 minutes, in Powell’s recollection, the group was joined by White House lawyers, including lead counsel Pat Cipollone — who Powell said “set a new land speed record” in getting to the meeting.

The shouting that followed could be heard outside the Oval Office, White House aides testified.

“Where is the evidence?” Cipollone demanded of the Giuliani faction at one point.

Another White House lawyer, Eric Herschmann, recalled challenging Powell about her string of court defeats contesting the election results. 

“She says, ‘Well, the judges are corrupt,'” he told the committee in a pre-recorded deposition. “I’m like, ‘Every one? Every single case that you’ve done in the country that you guys lost? Every one of them is corrupt? Even the ones we appointed?’ I’m being nice, but I was much more harsh to her.”

At another point, Herschmann said, he almost came to blows with Powell’s ally, attorney Lin Wood. 

“Lin screamed at me that I was a quitter and everything, he kept on standing up and turning around and screaming at me,” he said. “And at a certain point, I’d had it with him, so I yelled back, ‘Either come over or sit your f—ing ass back down!'”

Trump, however, was more receptive to the theories of Giuliani, Powell and Flynn — and accused his White House counsel’s office of not being “tough enough” to see his fraud claims through.

Or, as Giuliani remembered the president saying: “You’re a bunch of p—ies.”

“I’m almost certain the word was used” by Trump, the former New York mayor added in his recorded deposition.

At one point during the meeting, the outside legal team presented a draft executive order that would name Powell a special counsel with the power to seize voting machines on the grounds that Powell claimed that she had evidence of foreign governments meddling in the vote.

“To have the federal government seize voting machines?” Cipollone told the panel in an interview that was recorded last week. “That’s a terrible idea for the country. That’s not how we do things in the United States. There’s no legal authority to do that. There is a way to contest elections, you know, that happens all the time. But the idea that the federal government could come in and seize election machines? I don’t understand why we even have to tell you why that’s a bad idea for the country. It’s a terrible idea.”

The meeting ultimately broke up after midnight with no action taken on the draft order. Giuliani was walked out of the White House by chief of staff Mark Meadows to ensure — as Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson joked in a text message — that Giuliani “didn’t wander back to the Mansion.”

Hours later, Trump put out his “be there” tweet — and sent some of his most devoted followers into a frenzy.  

The panel showed graphic and violent text messages and played videos of right-wing and other fringe figures, including InfoWars founder Alex Jones, announcing that Jan. 6 would be the day they would fight for the president.

In vulgar and often racist language, denizens of far-right forums planned for the big day that they said Trump was asking for in Washington. It would be a “red wedding,” said one, a reference to the notorious “Game of Thrones” episode featuring a mass killing. “Bring handcuffs.”

“This tweet served as a call to action — and in some cases a call to arms.” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.).

“In the wee hours of Dec. 19, dissatisfied with his options, Donald Trump decided to call for a large and ‘wild’ crowd on Wednesday, Jan. 6, the day when Congress would meet to certify the electoral votes,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). “Never before in American history had a president called for a crowd to come and contest the counting of electoral votes by Congress.”

The second half of the hearing focused on testimony from Jason Van Tatenhove, a one-time spokesman for the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, and Stephen Ayres, a Capitol riot participant. 

Van Tatenhove told the committee that after reflecting on Jan. 6, he fears what could happen if Trump is elected president again in 2024. 

“Who knows what that might bring? If a president that’s willing to try to steal and encourage, whip up a civil war amongst his followers using the lies and deceit, snake oil, regardless of the human impact, what else is he going to do if he gets elected again?” Van Tatenhove said.

“All bets are off at that point,” he added. “And that’s a scary notion.”

Ayres, who pleaded guilty last week to disorderly and disruptive conduct, revealed he originally did not intend to march down to the Capitol building on Jan. 6, but went after Trump urged his supporters to do so. 

“Basically, the president got everybody riled up and told everybody, ‘Head on down,'” Ayres said. “So we basically were just following what he said.”

The committee also revealed Tuesday that a draft tweet meant to be posted from Trump’s account had directed supporters to “March to the Capitol” after he addressed a “Stop the Steal” rally outside the White House. Hutchinson testified to the committee at its June 28 hearing that Trump attempted to overpower his protective detail and commandeer the presidential SUV when told he could not accompany his supporters down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ayres added that he did not leave the Capitol building until hours after the riot began, when Trump belatedly put out a tweet urging the protesters to go home.

“Basically, when President Trump put his tweet out, we literally left right after that came out,” he said. “To me, if he would have done that earlier in the day [at] 1:30 [p.m.], I, you know — we wouldn’t be in this. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this bad of a situation.”

Following Tuesday’s hearing, Ayres was seen apologizing to Capitol Police officers who attempted to fight off the rioters that day. 

The committee is expected to hold another hearing next week focusing on Trump’s inaction as his supporters breached the Capitol.

With Post wires