Donald Trump ignored pleas from his own staff to seek an end to the January 6, 2021, violence and instead attacked his own vice president that was akin to "pouring gasoline on the fire and making it much worse," according to a former aide.

"Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution," Trump said at 2:24 p.m.

At the time, Trump was angry that Pence didn't go along with an illegal plan to throw out electoral votes for Biden because of false allegations of fraud.

—Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 10, 2021

Sarah Matthews was a former White House deputy press secretary.

She said that he told the people that what they were doing at the steps of the Capitol was okay. He should not have done that. He should have told these people to leave and to condemn the violence that is happening.

Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone testified that Trump spent more than two hours watching the violence on Fox News. He told the rioters to go home in peace.

Matthews is the communications director for Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

She worked on the campaign and went to many rallies with him. His words have an effect on his supporters. They are very fond of every word that he has to say. I think he did it because he was pouring gasoline on the fire and making it worse.

Cipollone said yes.

During the deposition that aired during the Thursday hearing, he testified that his reaction was "that's a terribletweet." I thought the sentiment was not right.

Judd Greene was a former White House spokesman. At that time, it wasn't the right message. At that point, the scenes at the Capitol were getting worse. This wasn't going to make a difference.

The person asked if he thought thetweet would inflame the situation.

Tell us about a news story. C Davis is the reporter for Insider.