January 6th Committee Holds Public Hearings

The January 6th committee was constituted by the House of Representatives to investigate the events of January 6th, 2021, when riders attacked the Capital of the United States. Initially, there was an attempt to create a bipartisan committee similar to the 9/11 committee to look into events, but the Republicans soon got cold feet and refused. Eventually, a committee was established that included two Republicans, Adam Kissinger and Liz Cheney. The chair of the Committee was Representative Bennie Thompson, and the vice-Chair was Liz Cheney.
In the first session, the Committee laid out a. Roadmap of their year-long investigation and a summary stating there was a seven-part conspiracy to stop the peaceful transfer of power between President Trump and then President-elect Biden. The steps were:
1. Spread false information about the election being stolen.

2. Mobilize the federal government to embrace the Big Lie and cast doubt on the election returns.

3. Pressure state officials for new results that favor Trump.

4. Push supporters in the states to file false slates of electors.

5. Pressure the vice president—publicly and privately— not to certify the election.

6. Summon the Proud Boys and other violent supporters to Washington.

7. Refuse to make a single call to anyone to stop the insurrection.

The first session included significant new information, including that when President True was told that the rioters wanted to hang Mike Pence, he reportedly said that might not be a bad idea. It was also revealed that several Congressmen requested a pardon from President Trump in the Administration's waning days. Six more public hearings will follow.

 

"The second hearing focused on the fact that President Trump knew he had lost the election, yet continued to make baseless claims of a stolen election. Evidence presented at the hearing indicated that Trump had been informed in advance about the phenomenon known as the "Red Mirage," in which early vote counts may appear to favor Republican candidates due to the fact that Democrats tend to vote by mail in higher numbers. Despite this knowledge, Trump continued to baselessly allege fraud as the vote count progressed. Former Attorney General William Barr testified that the allegations of vote fraud were "bullshit," and described dealing with them as "playing whack-a-mole." He stated that the claims the Justice Department was asked to investigate were "completely bogus and silly and based on misinformation," and that these "idiotic" claims were genuinely harmful to the country. The hearing also revealed that one of the motivations behind the false claims of a stolen election was to raise money."

 

The Third Hearing that took place on June 16th the constant attempts to convince Vice President Pence to do something that they know was illegal. Judge Michael Luttig a very respected conservate judge called the actions and the continued actions to claim there was a steal, a "Clear and Present Danger to the Republic."

 

The fourth day of the hearings took place on June 21, 2022, and focused on the pressure placed on Republican election officials. The main witness was Rusy Bowers, the Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives and a supporter of Trump. Bowers testified that Trump and Rudy Giuliani made several false claims during a phone call, including that 200,000 illegal immigrants voted. Bowers told them, "You're asking me to do something that is contrary to my oath." Giuliani responded by saying, "Aren't we all Republicans here?" Bowers also mentioned Giuliani's remark, "We've got lots of theories; we just don't have the evidence."

The next witness was Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia State Secretary who received the infamous call from Trump in which the President asked him to "find" 11,780 votes for him. Raffensperger testified that he thoroughly investigated every claim made by Trump and found them all to be false. He also described how he and his family, including his widowed daughter-in-law, were threatened when he refused to go along with Trump's demands. The day's hearings concluded with the poignant testimony of Shaye Moss, a Georgia election official whom Giuliani falsely accused of election fraud. Moss described how her life had been turned upside down by threats from Trump supporters."

 

The fifth day of the hearings focused on efforts by President Trump to convince Justice Department officials to support his baseless allegations of election fraud, including seizing voting machines and taking other drastic actions. When these officials refused, citing the lack of evidence to support the claims, Trump attempted to appoint Jeffrey Clark, a lower-level Justice Department official who supported his allegations, to a higher position. However, he ultimately backed down when the top leadership of the Justice Department threatened to resign if Clark was appointed. The hearings featured testimony from Steven Engel, Jeffrey Rosen, and Richard Donoghue. Donoghue testified to a conversation with Trump and Rosen in which the President said, "Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen."

 

"The sixth day of the hearings was unscheduled and took place on June 28th , but it ended up being a major event due to the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a senior assistant to Mark Meadows. Her most damning testimony was that President Trump was aware that those attending the rally were armed, and he still encouraged them to march on the Capital. Hutchinson testified that she overheard Trump saying to remove the security measures (magnometers) that were preventing people with weapons from entering the demonstration area, stating "they are not here to hurt me." She also claimed that Trump was fine with Vice President Pence being threatened by the rioters.

 

On July 12,2022 the seventh day of the hearings, testimony focused on the motives of the January 6 rioters and President Trump's role in the events. Press aid Sarah Matthews testified that Trump's goal was to pressure "Rinos" (Republicans in Name Only) to "do the right thing." According to the timeline presented, Trump hoped that the march on the capital would disrupt the vote count and allow him to remain in office.

On December 18, a disturbing meeting took place at the White House, attended by General Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Patrick Bryme, the former CEO of Overstock, as well as President Trump. It was revealed that the group had initially planned to use the military to seize voting machines, but the White House counsels intervened to prevent this from happening. Trump then turned to his backup plan, which involved calling for a rally. Witnesses testified that they attended the rally in response to Trump's call, and later marched on the capital at his urging

 

Day eight of the hearings took place on July 22 concentrated on the actions of President Trump during the period when he finished his speech and it became clear that the attack on the Capital had failed and he called on his supporters to go home. As Congressman Kinzinger stated it was not that Trump failed to act, rather " The mob was accomplishing [his] purpose…He didn’t fail to act; he chose not to act." Trump wanted the attack to succeed so he never called on the army or anyone else to stop it.