Trump likely tried to incite an insurrection on Jan. 6 so he could impose martial law, former official says

• Miles Taylor, a former Trump DHS official, discussed what he believes were Trump's plans on Jan. 6.
• Taylor said he believes Trump tried to incite an insurrection to impose martial law and strengthen his grip on power.

Former President Donald Trump was likely seeking to provoke an insurrection on January 6, 2021, so he could impose martial law and strengthen his grip on power, said Miles Taylor, a former administration official.

Taylor is a former Department of Homeland Security official known for writing an anonymous op-ed describing a "resistance" in the Trump administration.

In a Monday tweet, he addressed what he believes to have been the president's ultimate plan on January 6, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol and delayed Joe Biden's certification as president.

"I believe Trump intended to incite an insurrection as a pretext for declaring some form of marshal law. He mused about invoking the Insurrection Act YEARS before Jan 6 — calling it a 'magic power' — in convos I witnessed & was briefed on," said Taylor.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 gives the president broad powers to deploy the military domestically in response to what he or she deems to be emergency situations.

Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The former president has always denied seeking to provoke violence on January 6, when the riot erupted after he delivered a speech at a rally in which he groundlessly claimed the 2020 election had been stolen from him.

The House committee investigating the riot is set to hold its first public hearing on Thursday evening. Committee members have said that they will lay out evidence of a broad conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

Prominent allies of Trump, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, had called for Trump to use his powers to declare martial law ahead of January 6, The Washington Post reported. The newspaper reported that the January 6 committee was investigating communications about invoking emergency powers.

Legal experts say using the Insurrection Act to contest an election would a gross violation of precedent, and that the law needs sharpening to prevent abuse.

Taylor revealed that he was the author of the New York Times op-ed in 2020, after resigning from DHS. He later published a book, titled "A Warning," which claimed that officials were worried about Trump's mental acuity and had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

The White House at the time dismissed the book as a "work of fiction."