A Subpoena for Documents and Evidence Under Oath from Donald John Trump in Connection with the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol

We must seek answers directly from the man who started it. And every American is entitled to those answers, so we can act now to protect our Republic. So this afternoon, I am offering this resolution that the committee direct the chairman to issue a subpoena for relevant documents and testimony under oath from Donald John Trump in connection with the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol.

Good afternoon, and may God bless the United States of America. Four months ago, this committee started to present our findings to you, the American people. From the beginning, we understood that some people watching those proceedings would wrongly assume that the committee’s investigation was a partisan exercise.

Following 18 months of deliberations and hearings, more than 1,000 witnesses and countless documents, the committee has produced a blistering account accusing former President Donald Trump and his allies of attempting to overturn the 2020 election.

Now we know more about the president’s intentions. There is evidence that shows that his victory speech was planned well in advance. It was a plan by the President to proclaim victory, no matter what the result was. He made a plan to stay in office before Election Day. The staff of the Vice President were concerned about what Donald Trump would do on election night.

Donald Trump did not do anything before he was elected president of the United States. Donald Trump betrayed his oath by attempting a plan that would cause an attack on a pillar of our democracy. It’s hard to believe, but the facts are clear.

How do we know? How have we been able to show a clear picture of what happened? Because of the testimony we’ve heard and the documentary evidence we’ve gathered and made available to you, the American people, we have presented you through these proceedings.

But ultimately, the vast majority cooperated with our investigation, and what we’ve shown you over the last four months has been centered on the evidence, evidence that has come overwhelmingly from Republican witnesses. I said in June that this investigation was not about politics. It’s not about party.

Who has that been? Aides who’ve worked loyally for Donald Trump for years, Republican state officials and legislators, Republican electors, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, political professionals who worked at the highest levels of the Trump campaign, Trump appointees who served in the most senior positions in the Justice Department, President Trump’s staff and closest advisers in the White House, members of the — President Trump’s family, his own White House counsel.

Summary of the Report on January 6th Investigations by the Joint Sessions of the Senate Committee on the Environment, Environment and Environment (Judicial Committee Report)

The committee is considering additional information from the Secret Service and other sources as proof that this testimony is not credible. The Secret Service was monitoring this kind of online activity and was sharing and receiving the results of that effort. They’d worked closely with other agencies, sharing intelligence about the joint session of Congress derived from social media and other sources.

It’s all about the facts. And it’s about making sure our government functions under the rule of law as our Constitution demands. Today as in previous proceedings, my colleagues and I will present new evidence. There are new testimony from the additional Republicans who worked in the Trump administration, as well as new information produced by the Secret Service and footage of congressional leaders coordinating the response to the violence on January 6th.

Today’s proceeding will also be grounded in the facts, but it won’t look exactly like all our other hearings. In addition, we will take a step back and look at the evidence in a larger context, providing a summary of key facts we have discovered and are relevant to former President Trump.

There’s one more difference about today. Pursuant to the notice circulated prior to today’s proceedings, we are convened today not as a hearing but as a formal committee business meeting so that, in addition to presenting evidence, we can potentially hold a committee vote on further investigative action based upon that evidence.

Additionally, after concluding its review of the voluminous additional Secret Service communications from January 5th and January 6th, the committee will be recalling witnesses and conducting further investigative depositions based on that material. Following that activity, we will provide even greater detail in our final report.

The Department of Justice has been very active in pursuing issues that were identified in previous hearings. Our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution, despite our committee eventually deciding to refer criminal cases to the Department of Justice.

The preamble to our Constitution recites among its purposes, to “establish justice.” The US Department of Justice and the nation’s judiciary are responsible for that. The committee’s main responsibility is to make reforms to prevent January 6th from happening again. The Electoral Count Act was changed to help ensure that no future attempts to overturn an election can succeed.

We will find new evidence but also the evidence you have already seen, as the chairman said. The vast weight of evidence presented so far has shown us that the central cause of January 6th was one man, Donald Trump, who many others followed. It would not have been possible without him.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Why did Mr. Giuliani, the Lazy Peculiar, and the President, Ordre Adams, attempt to overturn the election?

There’s no scenario where that action is benign, and there’s no scenario where an American president should have engaged in that conduct. It did not matter whether President Trump believed the election had been stolen or not. This could not be justified on any basis for any reason. You may also recall testimony from our summer hearings regarding Mr. Trump’s efforts to lead the mob to the Capitol himself and his angry altercation in the presidential SUV when the Secret Service told him it was far too dangerous for him to go. As we detailed in testimony from the Metropolitan Police and White House personnel during our July 21st hearing, information about the altercation was widely known, so widely known that one former White House employee with national security responsibilities explained that this information was in fact water cooler talk in the White House complex.

Many of those who stepped forward to help, including Rudy Giuliani, knew they never had real evidence sufficient to change the election results. And on the evening of January 5th, they admitted they were still trying to find that phantom evidence. After making false claims of election fraud, Mr. Giuliani’s license to practice law has been suspended.

He sent them to the Capitol knowing that they were angry and some of them had guns. He inflated his supporters to do more violence by condemning his vice president. And then he refused for hours to disband his rioting supporters and instruct them to leave the Capitol, even when he was begged repeatedly to do so. None of this is normal or acceptable or lawful in our republic.

It is possible that the Department of Justice, State Republican officials, the White House staff who blocked the military’s attempts to seize voting machines and the Vice President were involved in stopping President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.

The people had a hand in stopping Donald Trump. The key question is led by this. Why does Americans think the republic and our Constitution are vulnerable to another attack? Why would we assume that those institutions will not falter next time? A key lesson of this investigation is this.

The institutions only hold when men and women in good faith can make them hold. We don’t know if these men and women will be in place next time. People who could stand in the way have now been learned not to be put in the way of a future president who is inclined to attempt what Donald Trump did in 2020.

Please consider this as well. The rulings of our courts are respected and obeyed because we as citizens pledge to accept and honor them. Most importantly, our president, who has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws, swears to accept them. What happens when the president disregards the court’s rulings as illegitimate, when he disregards the rule of law?

Not only did the courts reject President Trump’s fraud and other allegations, his Department of Justice appointees, including Bill Barr, Jeffrey Rosen, and Richard Donoghue did as well. President Trump knew the truth. He heard what senior staff and experts were telling him. He knew he had lost the election, but he made the deliberate choice to ignore the courts, to ignore the Justice Department, to ignore his campaign leadership, to ignore senior advisers, and to pursue a completely unlawful effort to overturn the election.

The people who planned to overturn the election and bring violence to the people should be held responsible. With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former president, we chip away at the foundation of our republic. Vulnerable people are defended from indefensible conduct. The conduct is excused. It becomes normal if there is no accountability.

Rejoinder: Do We Live in a Broken World? Donald Trump and the First Eight Years of the Independent Campaign, Kevin McCarthy and William Kushner

Please consider where our nation is in its history, as we watch the evidence today. Is it possible for us to survive for another 246 years? Most people in most places on Earth have not been free. America is an exception, and America continues only because we bind ourselves to our founders’ principles, to our Constitution.

Some principles should be beyond politics and more important than any American has ever lived. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I give myself time to return back.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Very shortly after the election, oh — we begin this meeting by returning to election night, November 3rd, 2020. As the chairman noted, we’ve previously presented testimony about how the election results were expected to come in that night. Mail ballots voted before Election Day would not be counted until after the polls closed.

That meant that election results would not be known for some time. Although President Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, and Jared Kushner had advised Donald Trump to encourage mail in voting by Republicans, President Trump did not do so. Begin with a videotape.

I remember many people arguing that a strong get out the vote effort and mail in balloting would be a good thing for us.

I invited Kevin McCarthy to join the meeting, he being of like mind on — on the issue with me, in which we made our case for — for why we believed mail in balloting, mail in voting not to be a bad thing for his campaign, but, you know, the President’s mind was made up. End videotape.

So it was expected before the election that the initial counts in some states, in other words, those votes cast on Election Day, would be more heavily Republican and this would create the false perception of a lead for President Trump, a so-called red mirage. But as the results of the absentee ballots that were later counted, there could be trends towards Vice President Biden as those mail in ballots were counted.

Now on election night, Donald Trump’s advisers specifically told him he didn’t have a factual basis to declare victory, that he should wait for the remaining ballots to be counted. The campaign manager is Bill Stepien. [Begin videotape]

I am not sure how early to be making calls like that. Ballots were still being counted. Ballots were still going to be counted for days. It was too early to talk about that. I believe my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted. It’s too early to make a call on the race.

This is a scam by the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. [applause] We don’t want all of them to vote. End the videotape.

There is no doubt that President Trump’s pressure campaign on Vice President Pence was significant. President Trump called the Vice President on January 6th in order to overturn the results of the election. The Select Committee was told about the invective that President Trump leveled at his own Vice President.

Marc had indicated to me that there was a possibility that there would be a declaration of victory within the White House that some might push for, and this is prior to the election results being known. And that he was trying to figure out a way of avoiding the Vice President sort of being thrust into a position of needing to opine on that when he might not have sufficient information to do so. End the video.

The National Archives had a prepared statement for the Select Committee. As you can see, the draft statement, which was sent on October 31st, declares, “we had an election today – and I won.” And the Fitton memo specifically indicates a plan that only the votes counted by the Election Day deadline, and there is no Election Day deadline, would matter.

Everyone knew that ballot counting would lawfully continue past Election Day, claiming that the counting on election night must stop before millions of votes were counted was as we now know a key part of President Trump’s pre-meditated plan. On Election Day, just after 5 pm, Mr. Fitton indicated he’d spoken with the President about the statement.

And just a few days before the election, Steve Bannon, a former Trump chief White House strategist and outside adviser to President Trump, spoke to a group of his associates from China and said this. [Begin videotape]

What will Trump do if he just declares victory? He’s gonna declare victory, but that doesn’t mean he’s the winner, he’s just gonna say he’s a winner. The Democrats — more of our people vote early that count. Theirs vote in mail, and so they’re going to have a natural disadvantage and Trump’s going to take advantage of it. That is our strategy.

I’m directing the Attorney General to shut down all ballot places in all 50 states. He’s not going out easy. If Biden is winning, Trump is going to do some crazy shit. You must end the videotape.

Mr. Bannon refused to speak to us in the investigation. He’s been convicted of criminal contempt of Congress and he’s awaiting sentencing. The evidence shows that Mr. Bannon already knew of Mr. Trump’s plans before election night. On January 5th, here was what Bannon said. [Begin videotape]

Breaking Down the Good Old Days: Donald Trump, Roger Stone, and the Oath Keepers, on December 27th, 2020: A Communication with the President

All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It’s all converging and now we’re on, as they say, the point of attack, right, the point of attack tomorrow. I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. It’s ok. It’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. I can say one thing, that is strap in. Tomorrow is game day and you’ve made it happen.

It was something President Trump had actually tried to do earlier that month. We know that President Trump asked his chief of staff,MarkMeadows, to talk to Roger Stone and General Michael Flynn at the end of the night on January 5th and 6th after Roger Stone was at the Willard Hotel.

I think it’ll be, but I do believe it will be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. 10% of the law is possession.

Despite the fact that we do not have the relevant communications records of Stone, his own social media posts show that he spoke to Trump on December 27th, before the inauguration of Donald Trump. In this post, you can see how Roger Stone talked about his conversations with President Trump.

He wrote, “I also told the President exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and convicted and to ensure Donald Trump continues as our President.” As we know by now, the idea for a special counsel was not just an idle suggestion.

The conspiracy is to use violent force against the U.S. to object to their lawful authority. The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers are both associated with Roger Stone. The close associates of Roger Stone pled guilty to this crime.

We know that the Oath Keepers played a role in January 6th, and stashed weapons in Virginia for more violence that evening. Also, on that day, the Secret Service was readying its security precautions for the President’s speech at the Ellipse the next day. Brine vests, tactical vests, armored or not, and ballistic helmets are all items that will be barred from the rally site by the Secret Service.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys, and the Election of January 6, 2006: When President Biden and I learned he had lost

Roger Stone’s connection with Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys is well documented by video evidence, with phone records the Select Committee has obtained. Tarrio, along with other Proud Boys, has been charged with multiple crimes concerning the attack on January 6th, including seditious conspiracy. Tarrio sent a message to other Proud Boys saying, “We did that.”

It was planned. It was based on what happened in the election but not on any problems with the voting machines. It was a plan concocted in advance to convince his supporters that he won. The people who appeared to have knowledge of that plan ahead of time played a significant role in the events of January 6. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

The President was made aware of the network decision when the networks called it. That afternoon at some point, myself And a handful of other folks went over and sat down with the President and communicated that the odds of us prevailing in legal challenges were very small.

We are in the Oval and there is a discussion going on. The President says that we lost but he also says something to the effect that we lost. We need to let the issue go to President Biden.

I remember maybe a week after the election was called, I popped into the Oval just to like give the President the headlines and see how he was doing. He was looking at the TV and wondered if he had lost to this guy.

And the President said I think — so he had said something to the effect of, I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is a lot of embarrassment. Figure it out. We need to figure it out. I don’t want people to know that we lost. [End videotape]

Knowing that he had lost and that he had only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business. One key example is this: President Trump issued an order for large-scale US troop withdrawals. He disregarded concerns about the consequences for fragile governments on the front lines of the fight against ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorists.

He signed this order on November 11th because he was leaving office, so there would be no need to keep troops in Afghanistan after January 20th. As you watch the clips, keep in mind that General Keith had been the national security adviser to the vice president and had served as the chief of staff for the National Security Council.

Are you familiar with a memo that the President reportedly signed on November 11, 2020, ordering that troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Somalia?

So I think you might have seen some things where there’s a memo or something from Johnny McEntee to Douglas Macgregor. It says, here’s your task, to get US forces out of out of Somalia, get US forces out of Afghanistan. Are you right that when you first met Colonel Douglas Macgregor, you discussed the decision to pull out of Afghanistan?

So on that same day, just so I’m clear, he responded back to you that day, meaning DOD leadership was not going to do — take any of those steps without an order.

In the meeting with Mc Entee, I explained that the language I used was in the order I wanted it to be. The President has to write an order if you want this to happen or not.

I made a sketch for him on a piece of paper. You know, the President directs. What’s the right word to say this is boilerplate language?

McEntee brought it to the President. The President signs it and boom, it’s over — faxed over e-mail, scanned over. It’s delivered to me by the man.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Reply to Macgregor’s Comments on “Italy Is No Evidence of Fraud in the House of Representatives of the United States”

I told the PPO and Macgregor that if I ever saw something like that, I would do something physical. Because I thought what that was then was a tremendous disservice to the nation. And by the way, that was a very contested issue. There were people who did not agree with getting out of Afghanistan.

I think they’re good at their concerns. The memo said it would have been catastrophic to leave immediately. It’s the same thing that President Biden went through. It would have been a disaster. End videotape.

Keep in mind the order was for an immediate withdrawal. It would have been catastrophic. President Trump signed the order. These are the highly consequential actions of a President who knows his term will shortly end. When President Trump privately acknowledged that he had lost the election he was hearing that no evidence of fraud was enough to change the outcome.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

On the Lack of Evidence in the Claims of Election Fraud and Misadministration by the Secretary of State for the U.S. Department of Justice

I remember a call with Mr. Meadows, where Mr. Meadows was asking me what I was finding and if I was finding anything. And I remember sharing with him that we weren’t finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.

It would be our job to track it down and come up dry because the allegation didn’t prove to be true. And we’d have to, you know, relay the news that, yeah, that that — that tip that your — someone told you about those — those votes or that fraud or, you know, nothing came of it. That will be our job as — as, you know, the truth-telling squad and, you know, not a fun job to be — you know, it’s — it’s an easier job to be telling the President about, you know, wild allegations.

What was generally discussed on that topic was whether the fraud, maladministration, abuse or irregularities if aggregated and read most favorably to the campaign, would that be outcome determinative. The staff, at least amongst them, thought that it wasn’t sufficient to be outcome determinant. End the videotape.

There was not enough evidence to support the claims. The judges repeatedly recognized them as baseless. There were 62 cases in which President Trump was not able to overturn the election results on the basis of election fraud. We showed you the words judges around the country used to reject the claims of the Trump campaign.

It is strongly criticized for the lack of evidence in the claims of election fraud. For example, a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania wrote, quote, charges require specific allegations and proof. We have neither here. A federal judge in Wisconsin wrote, quote, the court has allowed the former president the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits.

A judge from Michigan called the claims, quote, nothing but speculation and said that the votes for President Trump may have been destroyed or changed to vote for Vice President Biden. The case was described by the federal judge in Michigan as a historic abuse of the judicial process because of Sidney Powell’s frivolous allegations.

On December 11th, Trump’s allies lost a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court which he viewed as his last chance at success. The Secret Service message shows how angry the President was after the outcome. The president is pissed. Breaking news, Supreme Court denied his lawsuit.

We know that the White House advisers reacted negatively. Immediately after the call, Cassidy Hutchinson had a conversation with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Begin the videotape.

This is the day when the Supreme Court rejected the case. Mr. Meadows and I were in the White House residence at a Christmas reception. And as we were walking back from the Christmas reception that evening, the President was walking out of the Oval Office and we crossed paths in the Rose Garden colonnade.

The President was fired up about the Supreme Court decision. And so I was standing next to Mr. Meadows, but I had stepped back. So I was at least two or three feet from him. The President raged about the decision, and why we didn’t make more calls, and he was also angry at the decision.

December 14th was the day that the states certified their votes and sent them to Congress. And in my view, that was the end of the matter. I didn’t see that this would lead to a new administration.

The way to pursue litigation was probably closed after I told him that my personal opinion was that the Electoral College met, which is the system that our country is, and it is set under to elect a president and vice president.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Speaker’s Question: The Dominion Electoral Machines, Voting Machines for the Presider of the General Relativity, to the Vice President, Gene Scalia

Gene Scalia, the Secretary of Labor and the son of Justice Scalia, visited the President to explain the situation. Begin video.

So, I had put a call in to the president. I might have called on the 13th. We spoke, I believe, on the 14th, in which I conveyed to him that I thought that it was time for him to acknowledge that President Biden had prevailed in the election. When the legal process is finished and the presidential electors have voted, that is when the outcome needs to be expected.

I told him that I did believe, yes, that once the — those legal processes were run, if fraud had not been established that had affected the outcome of the election, then unfortunately I believed that what had to be done was concede the outcome. [End videotape]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It was a turning point late in the year. President Trump decided to ignore the courts and his advisers and fight to overturn the election. He had a plan to ensure that he stayed in power and his attempts to overturn the election were part of it.

I specifically raised the Dominion voting machines, which I found to be among the most disturbing allegations, disturbing in the sense that I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations. I told them that it was — that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that, and it was doing a grave — grave disservice to the country.

We have a company that’s very suspect. Its name is related to that of the state. With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you could press a button for Trump and the vote goes to Biden. What kind of system is this?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Voting Dump in Antrim County, Georgia, [End Videotape] “President Biden voted more votes than there were voters”

We definitely talked about Antrim County again. The hand recount had been completed, so that was the reason for that. This is an example of what people are telling you and what is not supported by the evidence in some of these court filings.

The highly troubling matter of voting systems from the state of Virginia. In a Michigan county alone, 6,000 of the electorate decided to vote for Biden over Trump, using the same systems used in the majority of states.

I told him how ridiculous some of the allegations were, you know, just to show him how crazy it was. And I’m talking about some of the ones like, you know, more votes — more absentee votes were cast in Pennsylvania than there were absentee ballots request — you know, stuff like that was just easy to blow up. There was never any indication that anyone cared about what the actual facts were.

There were more votes than there were voters. Think of that. You had more votes than you had voters. That’s an easy one to figure, and it’s by the thousands.

He referred to the voting dump in Detroit as the big vote dump. And that — you know, he said people saw boxes coming in to the counting station at all hours of the morning. And I said, Mr. President, there are 630 precincts in Detroit. TheyCentralized the Counting Process so they aren’t counted in each precinct

We viewed the tape with regard to Georgia. The witnesses were interviewed. There isn’t a suitcase. The president kept fixating on this suitcase that supposedly had fraudulent ballots and that the suitcase was rolled out from under the table. I said there isn’t a suitcase. You can watch that video over and over.

There isn’t a suitcase. They have a wheeled bin where they carry the ballots, and that is how they move the ballots around. There is nothing suspicious about that.

The boxes, Democrats and suitcases were pulled from under the table. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. [End videotape]

“President Trump was informed over and over again, by his senior appointees, campaign experts and those who had served him for years,” the executive summary states, “that his election fraud allegations were nonsense.” The panel relied on the testimony of some of Trump’s top advisers to build its case as well as the public record.

His goal was to try to cover his tracks. President Trump tried to get government officials to change the outcome of the election in states he lost. He personally reached out to numerous state officials and pressured them to take unlawful steps to alter the election results in those states. These actions, taken directly by the president himself, made it clear what his intentions were; to prevent the orderly transfer of power.

President Trump recorded a call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. At the time this call occurred, President Trump had already been told repeatedly by the US Justice Department, by his campaign, and by his advisers that his allegations of fraud in Georgia were false.

I’m going to tell the congressman that I need 11,780 votes, but I can’t give up, so I’ll tell the secretary of state

Now all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. Look, we need only 11,000 votes. We have far more than that as it stands now. We’ll have more and more. So, what are we going to do here, folks? If I only need 11,000 votes.

I’m going to try to find 11,780 votes. The president already knew from the Justice Department that there was no genuine basis for this request, which is why he made it. No one could think it would be legal for the secretary of state to simply find the votes the president needed in order to win.

That’s the thing. You know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. You can’t let that happen. That’s — that’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk. [End videotape]

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The call from the White House switchboard to the Vice President and a representative of the Commission on the Integral Investigation of the United States Attorney General’s Office

I looked at Mark. I said that Mark can’t possibly think we’re going to pull it off. That call was crazy. He shook his head as he looked at me. He said that he knows it’s over. He knows that he lost, but we’re going to keep working. There are some good options to choose from.

When these officials would not do what he said, President Trump embarked in an effort to install Jeff Clark as acting attorney general, solely because he would — he would do what others in the department would not do. We know that Trump was doing so for a specific purpose, so Clark could corruptly employ the Justice Department’s authority to help persuade the states to flip electoral votes.

When Richard Donoghue and Jeff Rosen were appointed by the president, they learned of a proposal from Mr. Clark. [Begin videotape]

And I recall toward the end saying what you’re proposing is nothing less than the United States Justice Department meddling in the outcome of a presidential election. But more importantly, this was not based on fact. This was not in line with the facts developed over the last few weeks and months.

The President relented after the Department of Justice and his White House counsel threatened to resign. Mr. Chairman, I return the favor.

When I received the call — again, I don’t remember the exact date — it was — it was from the White House switchboard and it was President Trump who had contacted me.

He gave the call over to Mr. Eastman, who discussed the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors, in case legal challenges changed the outcome of the states. [End videotape]

There was an effort to subvert the Electoral College process by Trump allies in seven key states.

President Trump claimed that he had the right to change the results of the election. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency is held by the American people alone. Any one person can choose the American President, that’s un-American.

The doctor confirmed this in writing. Did you tell the president that the Vice President does not have the power to decide on his own? Dr. Eastman replied, he’s been so advised.

Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, also recognized the plan was against the law. Here is Mr. Cipollone’s testimony. [Begin videotape]

Educating the public about the attack on Capitol Hill by a vice president: an email warning the public to come to Washington on January 6

I apologize for being impolite, but do you remember what she said about her father calling the Vice President?

When his life was in danger due to President Trump and the rioters at the Capitol on January 6, Vice President Pence didn’t hesitate, even though he knew there was little he could do. The judge concluded that President Trump likely violated several criminal statutes in his campaign against the Vice President.

On December 19th, President Trump told his supporters to come to Washington. January 6 was promoted as the day Americans could come in and change the results of the election. For weeks, President Trump and others were working on a plan to bring angry supporters to the Capitol after his speech on January 6. The text message was sent by one of the rally organizers. Part of it reads that the president is going to have us march at the Capitol.

As my colleague Mr. Schiff just described, the Secret Service reported that thousands in the crowd near the Washington Monument would not enter the rally area because magnetometers used in screening attendees would detect any prohibited items they carried. Mr. Trump knew this. His Secret Service had told him about it that morning.

Since our last hearings, the select committee has received greater cooperation from the Secret Service. Nevertheless, Secret Service text messages from this period were erased in the days and months following the attack on the Capitol, even though documents and materials related to January 6th had already been requested by the Department of Justice and Congress.

What you’re about to hear is just a sample of the new and relevant evidence that we have received, mounting evidence before January 6th predicted violence. And not just violence generally, but violence directed at the Capitol. Intelligence about this risk was directly available to the US Secret Service and others in the White House in advance of the Ellipse speech, in advance of the march to the Capitol.

I only remember him being almost like a clairvoyant during these calls. Norquist says during one of these calls, the greatest threat is a direct assault on the Capitol. I will never forget it. End video.

This email, for example, was an alert that the Secret Service received on December 24th with the heading, Armed and Ready, Mr. President. According to the intelligence, multiple users online were targeting members of Congress, instructing others to march into the chambers on January 6th and make sure they know who to fear.

A source stated their plan was to kill people. Please, please take this tip seriously and investigate further. The source also made clear that the Proud Boys had detailed their plans on multiple websites like thedonald.win. Let’s take a break. The Proud Boys’ planning for January 6th was given to the Secret Service more than ten days in advance. The Proud Boys and others were involved in the assault on our Capitol building.

On the evening of January 5th, the Secret Service was made aware that right-wing groups were setting up armed quick response forces to deploy on January 6th. Groups like the Oath Keepers were standing by at the ready should POTUS request assistance by invoking the Insurrection Act, agents were informed.

One report said that some members of the crowd were wearing body armor and carrying equipment while at the rally. Another from 9:30 a.m. said that there were possibly OC spray, meaning pepper spray, and/or plastic riot shields. At 11:23 a.m., agents also reported possible armed individuals, one with a glock, one with a rifle.

At least two men were reported by agents over the course of an hour, including one with a gun in a tree, another with an assault rifle on his person, and a third with a pistol on his hip.

Minutes before President Trump began his speech, members of the Federal Protective Service, an agency tasked with protecting federal buildings, were alerted about an arrest of a protester with a gun on his waistband. And during the speech, the weapons related arrests continued. At 12:13 PM, United States Park Police arrested a man with a rifle in front of the World War II Memorial. These agents remarked on the number of weapons that had been seized that day, speculating that the situation could get worse.

You have heard that one of those sites was called TheDonald.win. The Select Committee has obtained a text message that Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser, sent to Mark Meadows less than a week before January 6th. He wrote, in all caps, that he got the base fired up. He sent a link to this page on TheDonald.win.

The linked web page had comments about the joint session of Congress on January 6th. Take a look at some of those comments. “Gallows don’t require electricity.” There will be hell to pay if the filthy commie maggots push through their fraud. “Our lawmakers in Congress can leave one of two ways; one, in a body bag, two, after rightfully certifying Trump the winner.” Mr. Miller didn’t know that hundreds of comments like these were in the link he sent to MarkMeadows.

Judd Deere, the White House Press Secretary, and the Afraged Oval Office Crowd on January 5. January 6 Committee Hearing Transcript

If I had the chance to see something like that, I would probably flag it for the Secret Service or something similar, and I would have flipped it to the White House. End videotape.

The same day that Miller sent his message, agents got reports of activity on another platform called Parler. This was December 30th. An agent got an email about a lot of violent rhetoric on Parler directed at people in government and entities, including the Secret Service.

A group of President Trump’s communications staff were in the Oval Office on January 5. The door was unlocked, allowing the president and others to hear the crowd at Freedom Plaza just a few blocks away. President Trump was able to see that his supporters were up in arms. Here again is Judd Deere, a deputy White House press secretary describing the president’s reaction.

Just that they were — they were fired up. They were angry. They feel like the election’s been stolen, that the election was rigged, that — he went on and on about that for a little bit. Continue videotape.

The president knew that the crowd was angry. He knew that they thought the election had been rigged and stole because he had lied to them. He knew that the angry mob would be dangerous if they did not back off from their plans to march on the Capitol.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

A Ginzburg-Landau senator meets with the committee on jan 6 hearing – Mr. Aguilar, the president, and a Metropolitan Police officer in the motorcade

The gentleman yields back. At this point our — in our meeting, we’ll take a brief recess. The committee is in recess for about 10 minutes after the chair declares it in recess. [In recess] The chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Aguilar, for an opening statement.

He was angry that the mags weren’t letting people through with weapons, what the Secret Service deemed as weapons, because he wanted it full. I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, I don’t f’ing care that they have weapons.

They’re not here to hurt me. Go away from the mags. Let my people in. They can walk to the Capitol. The people should be allowed in. Take that f’ing mags away. [End videotape]

And I’d love to have, if those tens of thousands of people would be allowed, the military, the Secret Service — and we want to thank you, and the police, law enforcement, great. You’re doing a good job. Applause. I would love for them to be able to come up with us. Is that possible? Can you just let them come up, please?

“They’d expressed to me that the president was irate, you know, on the drive up. The president was irate and Mr. Engle did not deny that. That of course corresponds closely with the testimony you saw this summer from Cassidy Hutchinson, a Metropolitan Police officer who was in the motorcade, and from multiple sources.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Reply to “Commission Hearing Trace of a Young Crowded National Guard Sergeant Walks into the Capitol” [Jan-6]

And I will also note this. The committee is looking at testimony regarding potential obstruction on the issue, as well as advice that was given to not tell the committee about the topic. We will report this issue in our report.

A few minutes later, they were told the president would leave for the Capitol in two hours. It wasn’t until 1:45 PM that the Secret Service agent told them to stand down. “We are not doing an OTR to the Capitol.” By then rioters had breached the Capitol and were violently attacking the efforts of the brave men and women in law enforcement trying to resist the mob.

To be completely honest, we were all in a state of shock. Because why? Because — because we just — one, I think the actual physical feasibility of doing it, and then also we all knew what that indicated and what that meant, that this was no longer a rally, that this was going to move to something else if he physically walked to the Capitol.

I am not sure if you want to call it insurrection, coup or something else. We all knew that the public event was going to become something else. Why were we are alarmed?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The President of the White House’s March on January 6, 2019: an exchange with his ally, Ms. Hutchinson, and an employee with national security duties

We have testimony from several members of the president’s White House staff, stating that he didn’t allow his supporters to leave the Capitol because of his close advisers and family. Pat Cipollone is the White House counsel.

Here’s Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, describing an — an exchange she had with the president as soon as he arrived back at the White House. [Begin videotape]

So, to the best of my recollection, I recall him being — wanting to — saying that he wanted to physically walk and be a part of the march, and then saying that he would ride the beast if — if he needed to, ride in the presidential limo. [End videotape]

Take a look at the Secret Service email from 1:19 PM on January 6th, the minute that President Trump got out of the presidential vehicle back at the White House. After the president left his motorcade, leadership from the Secret Service contacted Bobby Engel, thelead agent for the presidential detail, to warn him of an off the record movement to the Capitol.

I am unable to discuss conversations with the president, but I can say that a public announcement is necessary for people who are in the Capitol to leave.

Approximately when? Almost immediately after I found out people were getting into the Capitol or approaching the Capitol in a way that was — was violent.

I can’t think of a single person that didn’t want people to leave the Capitol once the violence started. I mean —

Oh, I’m sorry. I am. I’m sorry. I thought you said who on — who else on the staff. Yeah, I — I can’t reveal communications, but obviously I think, you know — yeah. End videotape.

The testimony of Mr. Cipollone is supported by many other White House staff members. Here is Ms. Hutchinson describing what she heard. Begin the videotape.

You heard him say something and he had said something to the effect. He doesn’t want to do anything else. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong. The end of the videotape.

A former White House employee with national security duties similarly recalled an exchange between Mr. Cipollone and Eric Herschmann about President Trump’s inaction against the mob assault underway at the Capitol. Mr. Herschmann said something to Mr. Cipollone. The president didn’t want anything done and that was relayed by him.

The president’s most important allies, family members, and senior staff begged him to tell his supporters to go home. Donald Trump Jr., the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, and officials in the cabinet and the executive branch were among those who were included.

Donald Trump ignored all the appeals they made to him. The Select Committee interviewed several people who were in the dining room with Donald Trump that afternoon, and every single one of these witnesses told us that he was watching the violent battles rage on television. He did not call his secretary of defense or the National Guard, the chief of the Capitol Police, or the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department.

And to your knowledge, was the president in that private dining room the whole time that the attack on the Capitol was going on, or did he ever go to — again, only to your knowledge, to the Oval Office, to the White House Situation Room, anywhere else?

Yeah. What was the topic of discussion when you met the president in the dining room? What do you remember? I think they were — everyone was watching the TV. Do you know whether he was watching TV in the dining room when you talked to him on January 6th?

When you were in the dining room in these discussions, was that it — was the violence at the Capitol visible on the screen on the — in — on the television?

To stop the violence, everyone was working to get federal law enforcement deployed to the scene and to put down the violence, and you can see that in the video. Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the House Majority Leader, but there are many other appointees in the administration as well.

We are starting to be surrounded. They are taking the scaffolding. Unless we get more munitions, we are not going to be able to hold. The door has been breached and people are gaining access into the Capitol.

There must be a way we can continue to maintain the sense that people believe in the government and that we can choose the President of the United States. Did we go back into session?

We did go back into session and now everyone on the floor is wearing tear gas masks. I’m trying to get more information.

I can’t. We need a area for the House members. They’re all walking over now through the tunnel. Bring her here. Hey, boys, we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.

I’m going to call the secretary of the Department of Defense. Some Senators are in their hideaways. They need massive personnel now. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come too?

Mr. Secretary, I have something to say. We’re — I’m going to call the mayor of Washington DC right now and see what other outreach she has to other police departments, as Steny — Leader Hoyer has mentioned.

Hello, Governor. Nancy is this. I’m not sure if you’ve been approached about the Virginia National Guard. Governor Hogan was connect but I still think he needs the Ok of the federal government in order to come in to another jurisdiction. Thank you.

They said someone was shot. It’s just — it’s just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States. Thank you, Governor. I like what you’re doing. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay in touch. Thank you. Thank you.

You know, I was just talked to Governor Northam, and what he said is they sent 200 state police and a unit of the National Guard. They’re breaking windows and going in, obviously ransacking our offices and all the rest of that. That’s not much. The concern we have about personal harm.

Personal safety is — it just transcends everything. They break the law in many different ways and a good portion of it is due to the influence of the president of the United States. And now if he could — could — at least somebody.

It is Mr. Attorney General’s duty to tell the president to tell them to leave the Capitol.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The ‘Mob Attack’ on the Capitol Building and the President’s Effort to End It: The Role of the Secretary of State

I don’t want to speak for the leadership that is responsible for executing the operation so I’m not gonna say that. They’re the experts because they’re meeting on the ground. It’s inaudible.

Well, just pretend — just pretend for a moment it was the Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege. Let me say you can logistically get people there as you make the plan. We’re trying to figure out how we can get this job done today. We talked to Mitch about it earlier. He is not in the room yet, but he was with us and said that he wanted to speed things up. We could vote if they limited it to just one complaint and then move forward with the rest of the state.

The overriding wish is to do it at the Capitol. We are told that it will be a few days before the Capitol is back to normal. We’ve gotten a very bad report about the condition of the House floor, defecation and all that kind of thing as well. I don’t think it is difficult to clean up, but it is more about security, making sure that everybody is out of the building, and then figuring out how long that will take.

The counter point is that it might take days to get back to the Capitol due to the amount of poo they’re making all over it.

Nancy, so I’m at the Capitol building. I’m standing by the Chief of Police of the US Capitol Police. He just informed me what you will hear through official channels, Paul Irving, your Sergeant-at-Arms, will inform you that their best information is that they believe that the House and the Senate will be able to reconvene in roughly an hour.

The President is responsible for the mob attack on Congress. He could have immediately denounced the mob for what he saw. These facts require immediate action by President Trump. Accept his share of responsibility, diffuse the unrest, and ensure that president-elect Biden can successfully begin his term.

It was obvious that only President Trump could end this. He was the only person who could do it. Former aides urged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the administration. But the President did not act swiftly. He did not do his job. He didn’t make sure federal law was faithfully executed and restored.

Another witness, Mick Mulvaney, was the President Trump’s former chief of staff. Start the videotape.

You know, I asked Kevin McCarthy who’s the Republican leader about this and — and he said he called –he finally got through to Donald Trump He said you have to be on TV. You have to be on the social media site. You’ve got to call these people off. You know what the President said to him? This is how it’s going to be.

He told Kevin these weren’t his people. You know, these are fascists. And Kevin responded and said, no, they’re your people. They came through my office windows and my staff are running for their Lives. I mean, they’re running for their lives. You need to call them off. The response of the President to Kevin was chilling.

Kevin, I guess they’re just more upset about the election than you are. And that’s — you know, you’ve seen widespread reports of Kevin McCarthy and the President having a — basically a swearing conversation. That is when the President began to say, “I’m,” as he commenced the swearing in. This is ok with me.

I had a conversation with Kevin McCarthy a day or two after the riot. Yeah, It was very similar to what Jaime had, the conversation she had retold about how he called and asked the President to get them to stop. And the President told him something along the lines of, Kevin, maybe these people are just more angry about this than you are, maybe more upset.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Why does the Twitter mob fanned the flames? How the Secretary of State of the Secret Service responded to Mr. Pence’s tweets

I told the President that he bears responsibility for his actions, no ifs, or buts, and I think that’s a good thing. I asked him personally today, does he hold responsibility for what happened? Does he feel bad about what happened? He told me, he does have some responsibility for what happened and he need to acknowledge that.

It further inflamed the mob which was chanting, hang Mike Pence, and provoked them to even greater violence. It is not justified that the mob would be enrage against Vice President Pence because of what President Trump might have said about the election. The time when the Secret Service was most concerned with the Vice President’s physical safety was precisely when the Tweets came.

As the afternoon progressed, the company detected a surge in violent hashtags on the platform, including lines of lethal incitement like, execute Mike Pence. Listen to this former Twitter employee, Anika Navaroli, who first came to the committee anonymously, but has now bravely agreed to be named because she wants to speak out about the magnitude of the threats facing our people.

Yes, and after in response to this, too. Because I think as many as many of Donald Trump’s tweets did, it again fanned the flames. The people who were already constructing gallows were willing to execute someone and wanted to end someone’s life. The individual who was called upon to start this coup has since pointed the finger at another person as they prepare to do this.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Metropolitan Police’s Civil Disorders Unit was overrun by rioters on the 6th anniversary of the election. Mike Pence had told everybody to go home

Mike Pence is not a fan of Donald Trump. There was a traitor in Mike Pryce. Mike Pence has screwed us, in case you haven’t heard yet. What happened? What happened? I keep hearing that Mike Pence has screwed us. That’s the word I’m hearing a lot, that Mike Pence has messed us. The end of videotape.

The line that the Metropolitan Police Force’s Civil Disorders Unit was holding on the west side of the Capitol was overrun by rioters within 10 minutes of President Donald Trump’s announcement. This is the first time in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department that a security line has ever been broken.

Many members of the White House staff and other of the Trump appointees resigned after President Trump’s conduct that day. The deputy national security adviser and the White House press secretary have given testimonies in the past explaining why they decided to resign.

Since then, we’ve spoken to more high ranking officials like President Trump’s envoy to Northern Ireland and former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who resigned after the 6th in protest of Trump’s misconduct and to dissociate themselves from his role in the violence.

I was stunned by the violence, and I was surprised by the President’s indifference to it. The President needs to be presidential now. I thought he failed at doing it. At a critical point in time, he failed to be the kind of leader that the nation needed.

The events that happened at the Capitol were shocking. And it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside. And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue given my personal values and my philosophy. I came as an immigrant to this country.

I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. I made the decision myself. [End videotape]

We are delivering the President’s message. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. That is our order, that’s our order. He told them to go home. [End videotape]

Remember this day forever, he wrote proudly, as if he were talking about D-Day or the Battle of Yorktown. Trump did nothing to stop the deadly violence for obvious reasons. He believed that it was justified. He incited it and he supported it. Begin the videotape

These are the things that happen, he said, giving the whole game away. Trump was telling us that the Vice President, the Congress, and all the injured and wounded cops, some of whom are with us today, got what was coming to us. According to Trump. January 6 should not be a day that will live in shame in our history.

Would it have been possible at any moment for the president to walk down to the podium in the briefing room and — and tell — talk to the nation at any time between when you first gave him that advice at 2:00 and 4:17 when — the video statement? Would that have been possible?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Investigating Congressional Investigation of President Lincoln’s March on January 6th: Evidence under Oath of the Central Player and a Confrontation with Donald Trump

Mr. Chairman, in numerous places, our Constitution strongly opposes insurrection and rebellion. Congress can call the militia to suppress insurrections. Anyone who has sworn an oath of defense of the Constitution but also betrays it by engaging in insurrection or rebellion is disqualified from holding federal and state office.

President Lincoln was at the start of the Civil War explaining why democracy doesn’t accept insurrection. Insurrection, he said, is a war upon the first principle of popular government, the rights of the people. American democracy belongs to all the American people, not to a single man. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The man is about to yield back. Police officers who helped repel the January 6th riots were some of the witnesses who testified in July of last year. They were asked what they hoped to see done by the committee. The riots were made to believe that the election process was rigged.

Officer Fanone asked us to look into the actions and activities that resulted in the day’s events. Officer Hodges was concerned about whether anyone in power had a role. He said to get to the bottom of what happened. We’ve worked for more than a year to get those answers. More than a thousand interviews have been conducted by us.

He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6th, so we want to hear from him. The committee needs to do everything in their power to tell the most complete story possible in order to prevent something likeJANUARY 6th happening again. We need to get a full context for the evidence we’ve obtained.

We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th’s central player. More than 30 witnesses in our investigation have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and several of those did so specifically in response to questions about their dealings with Donald Trump directly. Here are a few examples.

There’s precedent in American history for Congress to compel the testimony of a precedent — president. Evidence and testimony from presidents are common for Congressional investigators. We also recognize that a subpoena to a former president is a serious and extraordinary action.

We want to take this step in full view of the American people because the subject matter at issue is important to the American people and the stakes are so high for our future and our democracy. And so, I recognize the Vice Chair, Ms. Cheney of Wyoming, to offer a motion.

Thank you for that, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, our committee now has sufficient information to answer many of the critical questions posed by Congress at the outset. There is sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals and to recommend a range of legislative proposals to guard against another January 6th.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

John Eastman before the House Select Committee on ‘Constructions against Donald Trump’s campaign on January 6th, 2020’ by General Michael Flynn

This is General Michael Flynn walking with Oath Keepers on December 12, 2020, and here is General Flynn’s testimony before our committee. [Begin videotape]

Here is John Eastman fraudulently instructing tens of thousands of angry protesters that the Vice President could change the election outcome on January 6th. Donald Trump was aware of what he was attempting to do was illegal according to Dr. Eastman. Here is John Eastman testifying before our committee.

Can you discuss with this committee your conversations with the President of the United States in the media, but you won’t discuss them with this committee?

Other witnesses have also gone to enormous lengths to avoid testifying about their dealings with Donald Trump. Steve and others were found guilty of contempt of Congress by a jury. He is scheduled to be sentenced for this crime later this month. Criminal proceedings regarding Peter Navarro continue.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Motion of the Committee to Adopt a Resolution to the House Select Committee on Capitol Insurrection in the U.S. Mid-term Elections

The resolution was agreed to. AMOTION TO REconsider is laid on the table without objection. The chair wants that those in the room remain seated until the Capitol police escorted them from the room. Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.

This fall’s mid-term elections in the US are often presented as a referendum on the party in power, and this message appears to be more popular than ever. The voters need to think about the intentions of the party that hopes to regain power, as well as how the vote will affect the future of the country.

Lawmakers reached an agreement to include in must-pass legislation a measure aimed at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election, marking the first legislative response to the US Capitol insurrection and then-President Donald Trump’s relentless pressure campaign to stay in power despite his 2020 loss.

It will also be the first time that the U.S. electoral machinery will be tested in a national election after two years of lawsuits, conspiracy theories, election “audits” and all manner of interference by believers in Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. There is a growing group of Republican Party members who are embracing violent extremism.

The Conversations between Mike Pence and the Vice President after the January 6 Appointment: What Do You Want to Learn? A Memorino

In his memoir, the vice president wrote about a meeting with Trump in the days after January 6. Trump asked Pence, “Were you scared?” the former vice president wrote. “‘No,’ I replied, ‘I was angry. You and I had our differences that day, Mr. President, and seeing those people tearing up the Capitol infuriated me.’”

The comments are part of the last part of the memoir. It is being released as an aide for Trump prepares the launch of his campaign for president on Tuesday night.

Trump and McCain spoke on the phone, according to a letter from Vice President Mike Pence. McCain, in Pence’s retelling of the call, told Trump he was honored by the call, and gave no indication he would vote against the GOP bill.

One of the main themes of theJanuary 6 House committee hearings is the conversations between Trump and the Vice President, and the book gives Pence the chance to weigh in on his exchanges with Trump.

While Pence acknowledges the reality of the electoral vote count, he does not describe Joe Biden as having won the 2020 race fairly, or take issue with the Trump campaign’s strategy of fighting swing states’ results in court. He was campaigning for two Republicans in Georgia in the midst of the electoral challenge from Texas and turned it into applause line.

He described watching Trump claim that he had won the election in a speech Wednesday morning and said the days that followed the election were like the twilight zone as his team challenged the results.

“I said, ‘You’ve got a good team at the White House,’ to which he grumbled, ‘No, I don’t,’” Pence wrote. If the president had listened to the good men and not the lawyers who were involved in the election challenges, things would have been different.

“With that, the president said that he guessed it probably just ‘takes courage,’ implying that was what I lacked,” Pence continued. “I paused before replying and, facing him from my seat in front of the Resolute Desk, said firmly, ‘Mr. President, I have courage, and you know that.’”

Putin listened to his translator as he relayed my message. His expression got so incredulous his expression grew blank. The foreign minister looked at him and asked what I was talking about. The only word I remember was elections. “Then he spoke through his translator, saying Russia had nothing to do with the election. To which I responded, ‘Mr. President, I’m very aware of what you’ve said about that, but I’m telling you we know what happened in 2016, and it can’t happen again.’ Putin seemed taken aback. Then he shrugged and changed the subject back to his upcoming summit in Argentina.”

Pence acknowledged that Russia did interfere in the 2016 election but insisted “its mischief had not elected Trump president” and called it an “attempt to sow discord, to destabilize US democracy, to spread false information across both left-wing and right-wing platforms so as to turn Americans against one another.”

“I always had the impression that the president felt that acknowledging Russian meddling would somehow cheapen our victory,” he wrote. “But in my view, there was no reason for Trump not to call out Russia’s bad behavior; it wasn’t an admission of collusion but a declaration that our intelligence services knew what Putin’s regime had been up to. I had no problem calling Russia out.”

The former vice president also described what he said were efforts by the former South Korean leader to get him to engage with the North Korean leaders.

He said there was a reception and dinner for two hundred national leaders in attendance and that a group photograph was arranged at the beginning of the banquet. The group photo was not part of the itinerary for vice presidentpence and former Japanese Prime Minister Abe.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/mike-pence-book-trump-january-6/index.html

The Vice President’s First Day in Congress: The Case Against Replacing the Affordable Care Act for the 2016 GOP Reionization Conference

The vice president expressed that he didn’t understand why Fauci was so certain that Covid-19 wasn’t from a Chinese lab.

I was pleased that he was there. He was a reassuring voice to the public; Mitch McConnell had advised me, correctly, that Fauci would be a valuable member of the team because of his stature.”

“Trump is from Queens, Fauci from Brooklyn, and Fauci was not put off by Trump’s New York brashness. He had been around it for a while. He is also a New Yorker.

“They were both sharp-elbowed men who punched back hard when attacked. But I always believed that had McCain lived, they would eventually have become friends,” Pence wrote.

He also made clear that he still resents the terminally ill McCain’s return to the Senate floor to cast the vote that would doom the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

He walked out of the office, into the Senate floor, and over to the desk and gave a thumbs-down to the clerk. “There was an audible gasp. The effort to repeal was not going to happen. The Trump administration had just been knocked back on its heels. Trump was angry. I was, too.”

The John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act was blocked, in a fitting twist, after McCain voted to repeal and replace the healthcare law. “Trump was delighted. McCain was incensed. He spoke about how unfortunate that only one senator was to block consideration of the bill. It takes one to know one.

The legislation focuses on modernizing and changing the Electoral Count Act, an 1884 law that Trump wanted to use to create confusion over how Congress counts votes in the Electoral College. As part of that proposal, senators are attempting to clarify that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in overseeing the certification of the electoral results.

The bill was the result of months of negotiations between Republicans and Democrats and was supported by top Republicans such as Senate Republican LeaderMitch McConnell but nixed by House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. When the GOP takes control of the House within a few days, lawmakers were forced to send the bill to Biden so he could sign it.

Importantly, the measure also would raise the bar for objecting to a state’s slate of electors. As it stands now, it takes just one member of the House and one senator to challenge a state’s electors and send both chambers into a potentially days-long debate period, even without legitimate concerns.

In the days after the 2020 election, Trump and his team pointed out that the law currently Naming the Vice President as the presiding officer over the jointsession of Congress allowed for Vice President Mike Pence to interfere with the counting of electoral votes.

The proposal “raises the threshold to lodge an objection to electors to at least one-fifth of the duly chosen and sworn members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.” Currently, only one member of each body is required to make an objection.

The House January 6 Committee on the 2001 Insurrection: A Case for a Miracle of the U.S. and its Allies

Final legislative text of the sweeping government funding bill has not yet been formally unveiled but is expected to be released imminently as lawmakers race the clock to avert a shutdown at the end of the week.

The expectation on Capitol Hill is that Congress will be able to avoid a shutdown, but pressure is on for lawmakers as congressional leaders have little room for error given the tight timeline they are facing. The government funding is set to expire on Friday.

Zelizer is a professor of history at Princeton University and a CNN political analyst. He is the author and editor of 24 books, including his forthcoming co-edited work, “Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Lies and Legends About Our Past” (Basic Books). Follow him on Twitter @julianzelizer. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

The summary of key findings from the House January 6 committee was released just after the meeting ended Monday, even though there are no final details.

The final report should obliterate any remaining beliefs about the January 6, 2021, insurrection. The recommendations are historic.

The panel made four criminal referrals against Trump, including charges of insurrection, to send to the US Justice Department. The chairman of the committee says the United States cannot survive as a “nation of laws and democracy” if that is the case.

The evidence provided by the committee shows that there was a concerted effort by the President of the United States and his allies in Congress to reverse the election that he lost.

The committee found that the White House was slow in responding to the insurrection in the US Capitol, and that Donald Trump was to blame for inciting the violence.

The panel’s two Republicans, Liz Cheney and Donald Trump, both argued that the peaceful transfer of power was a miracle, and only one President, Trump, had failed to do so.

The findings are considered one of the worst presidential scandals of all time. It is fair to say that a sitting President being part of a concerted effort to reverse his own election stands alongside the abuses of power that President Richard Nixon engaged in and the violations of law under the Reagan administration exposed during the Iran-Contra hearings.

In other words, the committee concluded that Trump made history by participating in an unrivaled abuse of presidential power that threatened the very foundation of our democracy: elections. The term “unprecedented” has been used badly, but it works in this case.

The “smoking gun” tape that allowed legislators to hear Nixon obstructing an investigation were enough in 1974 for politicians in both parties to say enough.

Reagan’s approval ratings plummeted after discoveries that national security officials in the Reagan administration violated the rules when they sent money to the NicaraguanContras.

The President was only saved by the fact that the committee could not directly connect the illicit operation to him and by the fact that the administration mounted an effective public relations campaign to win back public support. Congressional Democrats, moreover, decided that they wouldn’t pursue impeachment.

Even Clinton’s scandal, which was over an issue far less relevant than what faced Nixon or Reagan, clearly contradicted his public statements and legal testimony about the subject after DNA evidence emerged of his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

January 6 Committee Report Zerizer: An Overview of Asymmetric Polarization in the GOP and in the Presence of a Presidential Candidate Abuse

Dramatic televised hearings, which were successful in shifting attention from how bad the coup attempt was, were drowned out by the latest celebrity scandal or news story in Washington when the January 6 committee first heard of it. There are so many outlets for information that it is virtually impossible to keep the public eye committed to any single subject.

Even 9/11 or the pandemic didn’t produce a serious political realignment. Even when the leader of a party is found to have committed abuses, polarization is usually triumphant.

What social scientists call asymmetric polarization is one related challenge. The Republican Party has moved further to the right than Democrats have to the left. And much of the extremism in the GOP has been tactical, where some party leaders have embraced a form of smashmouth partisanship with no guardrails as to what is permissible.

The chances of the relevant party changing its ways are very low, in this case. It is worth remembering that Senate Republicans originally filibustered the plan to set up an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate January 6 and did not cooperate with the congressional committee set up instead.

Both Cheney and Kinzinger have been marginalized and pushed out of the party, because they did serve on the committee. The issue of election denialism was a central theme in the GOP’s campaign.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/opinions/historical-context-january-6-committee-report-zelizer/index.html

The Watergate Report: How the Electoral Count Act Changed the State of the American Media and What It Means for Our Democracy

Nor does our media ecosystem lend itself to the sort of reaction that took place with Watergate. When professional journalists came together around the facts presented by an investigation in the 70s and 80s, those times are long gone.

Partisan media outlets such as Fox News ignore the weight of evidence. Show hosts are willing to spin the news in ways that get the attention of their audience.

In the coming weeks, there will likely be stories that misrepresent what the committee discovered and that will promote conspiratorial claims with no basis in fact. The filter-less world of social media probably will offer ample opportunity to push disinformation that contradicts the harrowing stories found in the report.

And some of the forces that will check the impact of the report stem from a broader national culture that seems incapable of staying focused on issues for long. In our short attention span, everything must be new and fresh; we push the media from one issue to the other — and much of the news media happily oblige — with the lightning speed of TV commercials.

The most well-known story of the era was the Watergate scandal, but for many Americans January 6 has just become one of many important events in our era.

Finally, Attorney General Merrick Garland now faces a politically perilous decision of whether to indict Trump, especially since he is now officially one of President Joe Biden’s campaign opponents in 2024. Garland has appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigations of Trump and will make recommendation s.

The question is whether this report will push Garland toward taking action to ensure accountability rather than focusing on concerns about fueling division within the electorate.

The January 6 report is a test of the problematic state of our democracy. It is unlikely, however, to change the basic dynamics.

It took almost two years, but on Thursday, as part of a government spending package, the Senate passed the first federal elections legislation to that aim.

Legal scholars have been worried about the law for years, as former President Donald Trump and his allies tried to overturn it in the 2020 election.

Imagine if the law required you to travel by horse and buggy. That is what the Electoral Count Act is like,” Rebecca Green, co-director of the election law program at the College of William & Mary, told NPR this summer.

The 2021 “Pulse Keg” at the Capitol: “A Thin Thread of Democracy” — Joe Manchin and Susan Collins

Legal experts across the political spectrum debunked that reading of the law, but Trump’s pressure campaign still led to the powder keg that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” rang through the halls of Congress.

Nine Republicans voted with all the Democrats in favor of a similar electoral reform measure that was passed by the House in September.

It was important to update the certification before the next Congress in order to ensure a smooth presidential election cycle in 2041. The group of senators, led by Joe Manchin and Susan Collins, spent much of 2022, negotiating the changes.

Manchin said at an event hosted by the National Council on Election Integrity that legislation was being held on by a thread. “By a very, very thin thread of democracy.”