Jan. 6 documentarian: Eric Trump felt potential of post-election violence was ‘fair game’

A documentarian who conducted extensive interviews with former President Trump and his family following the 2020 election said Eric Trump was unconcerned about potential violence from Trump supporters reacting to false claims of mass election fraud.

Filmmaker Alex Holder, who spoke on Thursday with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, told British newspaper The Independent in an interview published Monday that he had a foreboding feeling about the chance for violence when filming the documentary.

“When I asked Eric about the potential danger of sort of rhetoric and the sort of the belligerence, he felt that it was … fair game in that it … was sort of the equivalent on the other side of the political discourse, or he felt that it was the right thing to do … because the election was stolen,” he told the outlet.

Holder told the British newspaper that he expected violence.

“The idea of violence, to me, seemed likely because of the fact that when you tell 75 million people that their vote didn’t count, and the person that’s telling you that is not just the guy you voted for, but also the incumbent president of the United States, the chance of violence was always there,” Holder told The Independent.

The Hill has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment.

The documentary’s existence has been the latest development from the House Jan. 6 committee as it continues conducting public hearings. 

The committee on Monday announced a hearing for Tuesday afternoon, and the panel is expected to call as a witness Cassidy Hutchinson, a special assistant to Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Holder has turned over footage to the House committee he captured as the riot was unfolding at the Capitol and his interviews with Trump’s family.

Holder began his work on the documentary in September 2020, also conducting interviews with former Vice President Pence, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.

The footage includes a wide range of developments in the final months of Trump’s presidency, including Trump telling Holder he was scared after getting COVID-19 and the moment Pence learned Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wanted him to invoke the 25th Amendment.