jan 6 hearings The House Select Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, held its ninth — and possible final — hearing on its investigation on Thursday. Unlike previous hearings that lasered in on particular pieces of former President Donald Trump and his allies’ scheme to overturn the 2020 election results, Thursday’s hearing put the committee’s findings into a broader context.
The panel shared new testimony from Republicans who served in the Trump administration, along with new evidence produced by the Secret Service.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson
D-Miss., noted in his opening remarks that the panel was convening as a “formal committee business meeting,” which meant that in addition to presenting evidence, it could also hold a committee vote on further investigative actions.
Sure enough, the committee did vote to subpoena Trump to testify. The vote was unanimous: 9-0.
Trump responded to the vote on his Truth Social platform, calling the committee a “total bust” and criticizing it for waiting until now to ask him to testify.
jan 6 hearings The panel also shared video clips of longtime Trump associate Roger Stone
who was previously convicted of lying to Congress, among other crimes. Stone was sentenced to more than three years in prison before Trump pardoned him weeks before leaving office.
The video clips show Stone speaking with the Danish filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen about plans for election night.
“I really do suspect it will still be up in the air,” Stone said. “When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. No, we won, f*** you.”
In a different clip, Stone said: “F*** the voting, let’s get right to the violence. We’ll have to start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean.”
Stone invoked the 5th Amendment when asked by the panel in previous testimony about the violence during the Jan. 6 attack.
The committee also played audio from another Trump adviser, Steve Bannon, who refused to testify before the committee and is awaiting sentencing for contempt of Congress. In the audio, Bannon describes a premediated plan to declare the election invalid.
Despite publicly declaring he won, Trump privately admitted he lost the election. Testimony from former White House officials demonstrate that while the president was publicly forging a campaign to overturn the election, he privately was acknowledging his loss.
Communications Director Alyssa Farah recalled this comment from Trump: “I popped into the Oval just to give the president the headlines and see how he was doing. And he was looking at the TV and he said, ‘Can you believe I lost to this f***ing guy?’ “
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, in video testimony, said Trump and attorney John Eastman called her to ask her to arrange a fake elector scheme.
“I vaguely remember him mentioning that he was a professor
and then essentially he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states,” McDaniel said.
‘Trump was central player’. The hearing went into more details on then-President Trump’s state of mind after he lost the election and continued to pursue avenues to overturn the election results.
“[Trump] tried to take away the voice of the American people in choosing their president and replace the will of the voters with his will to remain in power,” said Thompson. “He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6.”
Mick Mulvaney confirms GOP Rep’s account of McCarthy’s call to Trump. GOP Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington had previously shared details of a conversation between Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Trump on Jan. 6, in which McCarthy asked Trump to call off his supporters as his staff was “running for their lives.”
She said the president responded: “I guess they’re just more upset about the election theft than you are.”
Mulvaney, a former chief of staff to Trump, corroborated that account in video testimony that was shared Thursday.
“The president told them something along the lines of, ‘Kevin, maybe these people are just more angry about this than you are. Maybe they’re more upset.’ “
Secret Service feared for Pence’s safety. New documents from the agency show that after Trump tweeted his disappointment with his no. 2 on Jan. 6, an agent warned that it was “probably not going to be good for Pence.” Another agent noted there were 24,000 likes on Trump’s tweet within two minutes.
jan 6 hearings Anika Navaroli. A former Twitter employee
Testified that the rioters were “literally calling for assassination” as Trump’s tweet on Pence went out.
New footage was played of lawmakers as they were taken to a secure location during the attack. The committee showed video footage of House. And Senate leaders of both parties meeting in a secure location as the attack raged on.
“Do you believe this?” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
can be seen saying to House Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn. After being informed that members on the House floor were donning tear gas masks in anticipation of a breach.
Pelosi was also shown talking on the phone to then-Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia about sending reinforcements to the Capitol. Other footage showed Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking to acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen.
jan 6 hearings The footage of congressional leaders. Mobilizing to ensure that Congress could both fulfill its constitutional duty by certifying the election results. And protect the Capitol and the people inside provides a stark contrast to the actions of Trump that day. The committee shared evidence that Trump ignored the pleas from his. Advisors to make a statement to put an end to the violence.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said. She heard chief of staff Mark Meadows say Trump didn’t “think they’re doing anything wrong.”
