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Jan. 6 hearings: The latest

Multiple members of Congress requested pardons from the White House

By Globe StaffUpdated June 23, 2022, 5:33 p.m.
Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Attorney General, left, and Richard Donoghue, former acting Deputy Attorney General.Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

On Thursday, the Jan. 6 hearing on the Capitol insurrection focused on Donald Trump’s efforts to have Justice Department officials declare the election corrupt, and a scheme within the department to go after states to change the results.

Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who took over after former Attorney General Bill Barr resigned, and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, testified about how they successfully resisted that pressure.

See how Thursday’s hearing unfolded.

 

June 23, 2022

 

Committee chair concludes Thursday’s Jan. 6 hearing — 5:30 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Bennie Thompson adjourned Thursday’s Jan. 6 hearing after 2.5 hours.

Multiple members of Congress requested pardons from the White House — 5:17 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Multiple members of Congress requested pardons, the hearing showed.

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Representatives Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Scott Perry asked for pardons, testimony showed.

“The only reason I know to ask for a pardon is because you think you’ve committed a crime,” Representative Adam Kinzinger said.

‘Hundreds of hundreds of resignations’ at Justice Department if Trump made Clark attorney general, Donoghue told Trump — 5:10 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

During an Oval Office meeting, Donald Trump asked what he had to lose if he replaced Jeffrey Rosen with Jeffrey Clark as attorney general.

”I said, Mr. President, within 24, 48, 72 hours you’re going to have hundreds and hundreds of resignations of the leadership of your entire Justice Department because of your actions. What’s that going to say about you?“

”Steve [Engel] pointed out that [Clark] would be left leading a graveyard. And that comment clearly had an impact on the president,” Donoghue said.

Multiple Justice Department officials said they would resign if Clark was made attorney general — 5:04 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Richard Donoghue testified that multiple Department of Justice officials said they would “resign en masse” if Donald Trump made Jeffrey Clark the acting attorney general.

On Sunday, Jan. 3, ahead of an Oval Office meeting, Donoghue said assistant attorneys general were on the phone and explained what was happening and asked what they would do if Clark was made acting attorney general.

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Donoghue said all the officials on the call said they would resign if the president changed the department’s leadership.

White House call logs obtained by the committee show that by 4:19 p.m. on Jan. 3, the White House was calling Clark the acting attorney general.

Rosen testifies about Trump’s push for Clark to replace him at top of DOJ — 4:53 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Jeffrey Rosen, former acting attorney general, testified that during a Jan. 3 meeting, Jeffrey Clark told him that Donald Trump had asked him to become the acting attorney general.

Clark told Rosen that he was going to accept the job.

“On the one hand, I wasn’t going to accept being fired by my subordinate, so I wanted to talk to the president directly,” Rosen said.

Former defense official called Italian government over election fraud conspiracy, committee shows — 4:45 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Former acting secretary of defense Christopher Miller called the Italian government to investigate the theory that “Italian satellites were switching votes from Trump to Biden,” Representative Adam Kinzinger said.

“This is one of the best examples of the lengths to which President Trump would go to stay in power. Scouring the Internet to support his conspiracy theories shown here, as he told Mr. Donoghue in that Dec. 27 call ‘you guys may not be following the Internet the way I do,’” Kinzinger said.

‘People tell me I should remove you,’ Trump told Donoghue about top DOJ officials — 4:38 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Richard Donoghue testified that during a New Year’s Eve White House meeting that Donald Trump called, Trump said “people tell me I should remove you” about top Justice Department officials and replace the department’s leadership with Jeffrey Clark.

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Jeffrey Rosen said the department had seen “nothing improper” with the voting machines.

After the Justice Department told Trump they wouldn’t seize the machines from state governments at Trump’s urging, Trump was “very agitated,” Donoghue said.

Donoghue testified that toward the end of the meeting, Trump was “getting very agitated” and said “people tell me I should just get rid of both of you. I should just remove you and make a change in the leadership, put Jeff Clark in, maybe something will finally get done.”

Trump asked Sidney Powell to be special counsel to investigate election fraud, Kinzinger says — 4:31 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Representative Adam Kinzinger said the committee’s investigation had found that Trump “went as far as to promise the job of special counsel to now-discredited former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell at a late-night meeting on Dec. 18.”

Powell said in videotaped testimony played by the committee, “On Friday he had asked me to be special counsel to address the election issues, and to collect evidence. And he was extremely frustrated with the lack of, I would call it, law enforcement, by any of the government agencies that are supposed to act to protect the rule of law in our republic.”

”What would a special counsel do?” Kinzinger asked. “It wasn’t to investigate anything. An investigation led by a special counsel would just create an illusion of legitimacy and provide fake cover for those who would want to object, including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.”

The committee returned after a break. Watch live. — 4:20 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The hearing began again after a brief break. Watch it live.

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By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, said he had to read the letter at the center of Jeffrey Clark’s plan to overturn the 2020 election twice because it was “so extreme” that he had a “hard time getting my head around it initially.”

Clark emailed Rosen and Donoghue the letter he wanted them to sign.

On Dec. 28, 2020, Donoghue wrote in an e-mail that the letter was “a grave step for the Department to take and could have tremendous constitutional, political and social ramifications for the country,” according to an email the committee displayed.

Donoghue said he had to “sit down and compose what I thought was an appropriate response.”

Donoghue said he thought it was “very important to give a prompt response rejecting this.”

“In my response, I explained a number of reasons this is not the department’s role to suggest or dictate to state legislatures how they should select their electors. But more importantly, this was not based on fact. This was actually contrary to the facts as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and months.”

“For the department to insert itself into the political process this way I think would have had grave consequences for the country, it may very well have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis and I wanted to make sure that he understood the gravity of the situation because he didn’t seem to really appreciate it.”

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By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Committee member Adam Kinzinger, who led the hearing, said that on Dec. 21 “some Republican members of Congress met with President Trump in the White House to talk about overturning the 2020 election.”

That group included Republican Representative Scott Perry.

The very next day, according to White House records displayed on the screen by the committee, Perry brought Jeffrey Clark to the White House.

The committee also displayed a statement Perry gave to a local TV station on Jan. 25, 2021, saying, “Throughout the past four years. I’ve worked with Assistant Attorney General Clark on various legislative matters. When President Trump asked if I would make an introduction, I obliged.”

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Rudy Giuliani told the committee that he wanted someone to lead the Department of Justice “who isn’t frightened of what’s going to be done to their reputation.”

Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer, said the department was “filled with people like that.”

His answer was in response to a question about why Jeffrey Clark was given election-related responsibilities.

Representative Adam Kinzinger asked Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, if he was frightened of what would happen to his reputation if he didn’t purse false claims of election fraud.

“No. Not at all,” Donoghue said.

Committee shows handwritten notes Donoghue took during Trump call in which he presses official to say election was ‘corrupt’ — 3:45 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, took notes during a Dec. 27, 2020, call with Donald Trump that were displayed during Thursday’s hearing.

Trump told Donoghue to “say [the election] was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

Trump’s comment was in response to Rosen telling him that the department “won’t snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election.”

Committee plays montage of members of Congress pressing false election fraud claims — 3:40 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Multiple Republican congressmen amplified the false claims that the election was stolen and criticized the Department of Justice for what they viewed as a lack of action in investigating the claims, according to a montage played by the committee.

The committee featured speeches from Republican Representatives Louie Gohmert of Texas, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Mo Brooks of Alabama.

Witnesses begin testifying during Jan. 6 hearing — 3:30 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Three former Department of Justice officials — Jeffrey A. Rosen, former acting attorney general, Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, and Steven Engel, former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel — are testifying now.

Steven Engel, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, from left, Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Attorney General, and Richard Donoghue, former acting Deputy Attorney General, are sworn in to testify as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

‘We’ll call you when there’s an oil spill,’ DOJ official told Clark — 3:28 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, told the committee about a conversation he had with Jeff Clark, then-Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, during a Jan. 3 meeting about his qualifications.

“How about you go back to your office, and we’ll call you when there’s an oil spill,” Donoghue said he told Clark.

Kinzinger says Clark, whom Trump wanted to make attorney general, would ‘do whatever the president wanted him to do’ — 3:27 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

In describing how Donald Trump wanted to install a loyalist to lead the Department of Justice, Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican and member of the Jan. 6 committee, said Jeff Clark’s only qualification was that he would do whatever Trump wanted.

“Including overthrowing a free and fair democratic election,” Kinzinger said.

Cheney says committee will disclose which members of Congress sought pardons — 3:16 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said the committee will show video testimony from three members of Donald Trump’s White House who will identify members of Congress who contacted the White House after Jan. 6 to seek presidential pardons for their conduct.

‘I’m not sure we would have had a transition at all,’ if DOJ hadn’t immediately investigated fraud claims, Barr says — 3:12 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Committee vice chair Liz Cheney played videotaped testimony in which former Attorney General Bill Barr was asked why he had authorized a DOJ probe into allegations of election fraud rather than waiting until much later as would be normal.

Barr, who found there was no widespread fraud, said he felt it was “the responsible thing to do” to make that determination early.

”The fact that I put myself in the position that I could say that we had looked at this and didn’t think that was fraud was really important to moving things forward. …  I sort of shudder to think what the situation would have been if the, if the position of the department was, ‘We’re not even looking at this until after Biden’s in office.’ I’m not sure we would have had a transition at all,” he said.

Jan. 6 hearing will focus on letter drafted by DOJ official that others refused to sign — 3:11 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said Thursday’s hearing will focus on a letter drafted by a Department of Justice official that was going to be sent to leaders of the Georgia state legislature.

The letter was written by Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, and witnesses at Thursday’s hearing — Jeffrey Rosen, the former acting attorney general, and Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general — refused to sign it.

The plan was to send the letter to other states, Cheney said.

The letter claimed investigations by the department had identified “significant concerns” that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including in Georgia.

Trump knew that was a lie, Cheney said, and the department had already told Trump they found no fraud sufficient to overturn the results of the election.

Committee chair begins hearing — 3:02 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chair, began Thursday’s hearing noting the committee will focus on Donald Trump’s pressure on the Department of Justice.

Thompson said Trump wanted the department to “help legitimize his lies” and call the election corrupt. Trump wanted department officials to call a special counsel to investigate his baseless claims of election fraud, Thompson said.

When those efforts failed, Trump sought to replace Jeffrey Rosen, former acting attorney general, with a lawyer who would “put the full weight” of the department behind the effort to overturn the election.

The fifth Jan. 6 hearing starts shortly. Watch it live. — 2:50 p.m.

On Thursday, the Jan. 6 hearing on the Capitol insurrection will focus on Donald Trump’s pressure on Justice Department officials.

Watch the hearing live:

By The New York Times

Federal investigators descended on the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, on Wednesday in connection with the department’s sprawling inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to people familiar with the matter.

It remained unclear exactly what the investigators may have been looking for, but Clark was central to former President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful effort in late 2020 to strong-arm the nation’s top prosecutors into supporting his claims of election fraud.

By The Associated Press

The Jan. 6 committee will hear from former Justice Department officials who faced down a relentless pressure campaign from Donald Trump over the 2020 presidential election results while suppressing a bizarre challenge from within their own ranks.

The hearing Thursday will bring attention to a memorably turbulent stretch at the department as Trump in his final days in office sought to bend to his will a law enforcement agency that has long cherished its independence from the White House. The testimony is aimed at showing how Trump not only relied on outside advisers to press his false claims of election fraud but also tried to leverage the powers of federal executive branch agencies.

 

June 22, 2022

 

By The Associated Press

The House’s Jan. 6 committee plans to continue its public hearings into July as its investigation of the Capitol riot deepens.

The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, told reporters Wednesday that the committee is receiving “a lot of information” — including new documentary film footage of Trump’s final months in office — as its yearlong inquiry intensifies with hearings into the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, and Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election that Democrat Joe Biden won.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

On Thursday, the Jan. 6 committee will hear testimony from three witnesses: Jeffrey A. Rosen, former acting attorney general, Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, and Steven Engel, former assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson under heat for fake elector revelation — 7:54 p.m.

By The Associated Press

An aide for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson told former Vice President Mike Pence’s staff that the Republican from Wisconsin wanted to hand-deliver to Pence fake elector votes from his state and neighboring Michigan, text messages revealed at Tuesday’s meeting of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection showed.

Johnson spokeswoman Alexa Henning downplayed the texts after they were publicly revealed for the first time during the committee’s hearing in Washington, but did not deny that Johnson had wanted to hand-deliver the slate of fake electors to Pence.

 

June 21, 2022

 

By The Associated Press

New footage of former President Donald Trump and his inner circle taken both before and after Jan. 6, 2021, is now in the possession of the House committee investigating the deadly attack on the Capitol.

The revelation of the never-before-seen footage came to light Tuesday amidst the committee’s public hearings when British filmmaker Alex Holder revealed he had complied with a congressional subpoena to turn over all of the footage he shot in the final weeks of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.

By The Associated Press

A House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection is turning to former President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on state and local officials to overturn his 2020 election loss.

In its fourth hearing this month, the panel examined how Trump focused on a few swing states, directly urging officials to decertify President Joe Biden’s victory or find additional votes for himself. It was part of a larger scheme that also involved dozens of lawsuits, pressure on Department of Justice officials and, eventually, lobbying Vice President Mike Pence to reject Biden’s win at the congressional electoral count on Jan. 6.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Bennie Thompson, the chair committee, adjourned Tuesday’s hearing after nearly three hours.

The next hearing will take place on Thursday at 1 p.m., when the committee will explore Donald Trump’s pressure on the Department of Justice to overturn the election.

Committee Chairman Representative Bennie Thompson during Tuesday's hearing. J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, called out the dozens of people who have refused to cooperate with the panel’s investigation or invoked the Fifth Amendment.

Cheney asked Pat Cipollone, Trump’s White House counsel, to testify.

“We think the American people should hear from Mr. Cipollone.”

‘Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?’ Ruby Freeman, election worker, says in video — 3:30 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

A Georgia election worker and her mother delivered emotional testimony about the onslaught of threats and harassment they received after they were falsely accused by president Trump and his allies of election fraud.

Shaye Moss, who was an election worker for more than 10 years and said she loved the job, testified in person about the impact the threats had on her. She said the attacks had “turned my life upside-down.”

Moss, who is Black, said many of the comments people made were racist and “a lot of them were just hateful.”

She said the threats included “wishing death upon me, telling me that you know, I’ll be in jail with my mother, and saying things like, ‘Be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920.”

Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, left, former Georgia election worker, testified during the fourth hearing on the January 6th investigation as her mother Ruby Freeman, right, wiped her eyes.Kevin Dietsch/Getty

Moss’s mother, who worked with her on election night, testified on videotape about the impact on her.

“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States to target you? The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American. Not to target one,” Ruby Freeman said. “But he targeted me, Lady Ruby, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen,” who helped out with an election in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

”I’m always concerned of who’s around me. I’ve lost my name, and I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security. All because a group of people starting with No. 45 [Trump] and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen,” she said.

“No election worker should be subjected to such heinous treatment just for doing their job,” said committee member Adam Schiff.

Former Georgia election worker says being targeted by Trump ‘turned my life upside down’ — 3:25 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, said being targeted by Donald Trump and his allies has “turned my life upside down.”

Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker, wipes her eyes as she testifies, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Moss said she doesn’t give out her business card and doesn’t want anyone knowing her name. She doesn’t go to the grocery store or “anywhere at all.” She said she gained about 60 pounds, and second guesses “everything that I do.”

“All because of lies. For me doing my job, the same thing I’ve been doing forever.”

Former Georgia election worker begins testifying, describes threats — 3:12 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker, began testifying about the false claims Trump allies pushed about the counting of ballots in the state.

The committee played video of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, falsely accusing Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, also an election worker, of passing a USB drive back and forth. Moss testified that it was actually a ginger mint.

Moss received messages warning that she would go to jail and “wishing death upon me.”

Describing threats his family faced, Raffensperger testifies that people broke into daughter-in-law’s home — 3:05 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

While describing the threats he and his family faced, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testified that someone broke into his daughter-in-law’s home.

After the election, his e-mail and phone were “doxxed,” and he was getting texts from all over the country. Raffensperger said his wife of over 40 years began receiving “sexualized” texts that were “disgusting.”

“They started going after her I think just to put pressure on me, why don’t you just quit and walk away,” Raffensperger said.

People also broke into his daughter-in-law’s home, Raffensperger said.

“My son has passed and she’s a widow and has two kids and so we’re very concerned about her safety also.”

‘There were no votes to find,’ Raffensperger says about Trump’s urging to ‘find’ votes — 3:01 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Donald Trump’s request that he “find 11,780 votes” was invalid.

“There were no votes to find,” Raffensperger said. “That was an accurate count that had been certified.”

Committee plays clips of 67-minute call between Trump and Raffensperger in which Trump pushes election conspiracies — 2:55 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee played clips of a phone call between Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump pushes election fraud conspiracies.

In one audio clip, Trump is heard pushing the false theory that thousands of ballots for Joe Biden were smuggled through suitcases, votes were being “dropped” late at night, and that at least 5,000 dead people voted.

Raffensperger refuted Trump’s claims during his testimony.

“It’s not accurate,” Raffensperger said. “Actually in their lawsuits, they alleged 10,315 dead people. We found two dead people when I wrote my letter to Congress that’s dated Jan. 6. Subsequent to that we found two more. That’s four people. Not 4,000. A total of four. Not 10,000, not 5,000.”

Trump asked investigator supervising the audit into the Georgia election to do ‘whatever you can do,’ audio shows — 2:49 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Former president Trump asked an investigator supervising the audit into the Georgia election to do “whatever you can do,” as he pushed claim that he won by hundreds of thousands of votes, when he had actually lost.

Frances Watson was Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s chief investigator.

”Whatever you can do, Frances,” said Trump in audio played by the committee. “It’s an important thing. It would be a – it’s a great thing for the country.”

Jan. 6 committee member Adam Schiff remarked, “This is the president of the United States calling an investigator looking into the election in which he is a candidate, and asking her to ‘do whatever you can do.’”

Trump had earlier told Watson she would be praised if she found the “right answer.”

”When the right answer comes up, you will be praised,” said Trump. “People will say ‘Great!’”

Schiff said that Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows also wanted to send some of the investigators in Watson’s office a “s—tload of POTUS stuff” including coins and autographed MAGA hats, but White House staff intervened and it didn’t happen.

Sterling testifies about becoming ‘irate’ over violent threats against election workers in Georgia — 2:37 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state, testified during Tuesday’s hearing that Trump’s Dec. 1, 2020 tweet that there was “massive voter fraud in Georgia” was false.

Trump’s tweet came after Sterling made a speech in which he directly addressed Trump and warned that “someone’s going to get killed” after an elections official was threatened with violence.

After Sterling’s speech, Trump falsely claimed that in Georgia, “they found thousands and thousands of votes that were out of whack, all against me.”

The hearing is back after a brief recess, with Georgia officials set to testify — 2:26 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Georgia elections officials are set to testify shortly. Watch the hearing live.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers detailed the threats he and his family have received in the wake of the 2020 election.

Bowers said his office has received in excess of 20,000 emails and tens of thousands of voicemails and texts, making it “unable to work” or communicate.

At home, “up ‘til recently, it is the new pattern in our lives to worry what will happen on Saturdays, because we have various groups come by” with trucks playing video that alleges Bowers is a “pedophile and a pervert and a corrupt politician” and blaring loud speakers, leaving literature on his property, and arguing with neighbors.

“We had a daughter who was gravely ill who was upset by what was happening outside. And my wife, a valiant person, very strong, quiet, very strong woman. So it was disturbing.”

Committee shows copies of fake elector certificates, text messages urging flying of documents to Washington — 2:08 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The committee says that the plan to overturn the 2020 election involved creation of bogus slates of electors and certificates in seven battleground states that Democratic President Biden actually won — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The committee, in a video, showed copies of the certificates signed by the fake electors side by side with those signed by the real electors.

A committee investigator detailed in the video last-minute efforts to get some of the fake certificates to Washington before Jan. 6.

”Text messages exchanged between Republican Party officials in Wisconsin showed that on Jan. 4, the Trump campaign asked for someone to fly their fake electors’ documents to Washington,” the investigator said.

“A staffer for Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson texted a staffer for Vice President Pence just minutes before the beginning of the joint session [on Jan. 6]. This staffer stated that Senator Johnson wished to hand-deliver to the vice president the fake electors’ votes from Michigan and Wisconsin. The vice president’s aide unambiguously instructed them not to deliver the fake votes to the vice president,” the investigator said. “The vice president held firm in his position that his role was to count lawfully submitted electoral votes.”

Bowers testifies he told Trump he wouldn’t do anything illegal for him — 1:52 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

In December, Donald Trump called Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, and Bowers told him he supported him but wouldn’t do anything “illegal” for him, Bowers testified.

John Eastman, a Trump lawyer who pushed theories to overturn the election, told Bowers to convene a vote to decertify the state’s electors “because we had plenary authority to do so.”

Bowers told Eastman that he “took an oath” and to go through with that plan would be “counter to my oath.”

In one conversation, Bowers said Eastman told him to “do it and let the court figure it all out.”

Bowers testified that he told Eastman, “you’re asking me to do something that has never been done in history, the history of the United States, and I’m going to put my state through that without sufficient proof?”

Bowers asked Giuliani for proof of voter fraud in Arizona — 1:43 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers testified on Tuesday that he asked Donald Trump’s laywer, Rudy Giuliani, to provide proof of his claims of fraud.

“On multiple occasions,” Bowers asked Giuliani, he testified.

Bowers asked for names that corresponded with the Trump team’s claims that immigrants with undocumented status and dead people had voted in the election.

Giuliani had said he would give Bowers their names, including at Trump’s encouragement, but never did.

Trump team worked to appoint alternate electors — 1:34 p.m.

By Bloomberg News

Committee investigator Josh Roselman said in a video that Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell asked fellow lawyer John Eastman to write a memo to get states to appoint alternate electors.

The memo was part of the broad effort by Trump and his inner circle to pressure state election officials, which included phone calls, public statements and in-person presentations, according to a video montage shown by the committee.

Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers testifies he never said election was ‘rigged,’ contradicting Trump — 1:31 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers testified that he never said the election was “rigged,” as Donald Trump claimed he did.

Rusty Bowers, Arizona state House Speaker, from left, Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State, and Gabe Sterling, Georgia Deputy Secretary of State, are sworn in to testify.Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

‘The system held, but barely,’ Schiff says — 1:30 p.m.

President Trump “sought to cling to power after being voted out of office by the American people,” Representative Adam Schiff, a Jan. 6 committee member, said.

“The system held, but barely,” Schiff said.

Trump disclosed on Facebook personal phone number of Michigan’s Republican Senate leader — 1:28 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

In a video played during the hearing, a committee investigator described the pressure campaign on state officials.

In one case, President Trump disclosed to his millions of Facebook followers the personal phone number of Mike Shirkey, the Republican leader of the Michigan Senate.

“All I remember is receiving over just shy of 4,000 text messages over a short period of time calling to take action,” Shirkey said in videotaped testimony.

There was a “loud noise, loud consistent cadence of you know, we hear that that the Trump folks are calling and asking for changes in the electors, and you guys can do this. Well, you know, they were believing things that were untrue,” said Shirkey, who was invited by Trump to the White House but did not interfere in the election certification.

Committee plays video of protesters calling Michigan official ‘tyrant,’ chanting outside her home — 1:25 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee played video of protesters chanting outside an elections official’s home chanting “Stop the steal!” and calling her a “threat to democracy.”

Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, told the committee her stomach sank after she heard the noises outside of her home.

“I thought ‘it’s me,’” Benson told the committee.

“The uncertainty of that was the fear,” Benson said. “Are they coming with guns? Are they going to attack my house? I’m in here with my kid. I’m trying to put him to bed.”

“That was the scariest moment, just not knowing what was going to happen.”

Trump’s pressure campaign brought violent threats, Schiff says — 1:20 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on state and local officials over false election fraud claims resulted in violent threats, Representative Adam Schiff, a Jan. 6 committee member, said.

“This pressure campaign brought angry phone calls and texts, armed protests, intimidation, and, all too often, threats of violence and death,” Schiff said.

Committee to play calls from Trump to elections officials, Cheney says — 1:10 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, said the panel will play tapes of phone calls Donald Trump made pressuring elections officials.

“The same people who were attempting to pressure Vice President Pence to reject electoral votes illegally were also simultaneously working to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election at the state level,” Cheney said.

Each effort is “independently serious” and deserves attention from Congress and the Department of Justice, Cheney said.

The panel will play calls made by Trump to officials from Georgia and other states. At the time of the calls, Trump knew “his stolen election allegations were nonsense,” Cheney said.

Fourth hearing featuring Georgia elections officials is underway — 1:00 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Set to testify on Tuesday are Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state, and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker.

From left, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling.J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Tuesday’s hearing starts at 1 p.m. Watch it live. — 12:40 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The fourth public hearing convened by the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is starting soon. Watch it live.

By The Associated Press

The House Jan. 6 committee is set to hear from the caretakers of American democracy — elections workers and local officials — who fended off Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election, at times despite frightening personal attacks.

The hearings investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol resume Tuesday with a focus on Trump’s relentless effort to undo Joe Biden’s victory in the most local way — by leaning on officials in key battleground states to reject ballots outright or to submit alternative electors for the final tally in Congress. The pressure was fueled by the defeated president’s false claims of voter fraud which, the panel says, led directly to the riot at the Capitol.

 

June 20, 2022

 

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

A number of state officials are expected to testify on Tuesday for the fourth public hearing convened by the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.

The panel said Monday that the officials testifying include Rusty Bowers, the Arizona House Speaker; Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state; Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state; and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker.

4 takeaways as the Jan. 6 committee approaches the halfway mark for public hearings | Analysis — 3:49 p.m.

By James Pindell, Globe Staff

With the Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings around the halfway mark, a lot of ground has been covered and many broad points can already be made.

The nine-member committee – composed of 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans known for their criticism of former GOP president Trump – on Tuesday will hold the fourth of what may be eight hearings before the panel issues a formal report.

Tuesday’s hearing is expected to focus less on what happened at the Capitol when it was under attack and more on Trump’s pressure campaign on Georgia officials to overturn the 2020 presidential results in that state.

By The Washington Post

Internal campaign emails and memos reveal that the convening of the fake electors appeared to be a much more concerted strategy, intended to give Vice President Mike Pence a reason to declare the outcome of the election was somehow in doubt on Jan. 6, 2021, when he was to preside over the congressional counting of the electoral college votes.

The documents show Trump’s team pushed ahead and urged the electors to meet - then pressured Pence to cite the alternate Trump slates - even as various Trump lawyers acknowledged privately they did not have legal validity and the gatherings had not been in compliance with state laws.

By The Associated Press

Memorable moments from each hearing are sliced for quick consumption on countless news programs, comedy shows, and online. Here’s a look at some of the breakout moments and characters so far.

 

June 19, 2022

 

By The Washington Post

One of two Republican members of the House committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, starkly warned Sunday that his own party’s lies could feed additional violence.

“There is violence in the future, I’m going to tell you,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., on ABC’s “This Week.” “And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can’t expect any differently.”

Kinzinger, who defied party leadership by serving on the Democratic-led committee, described an alarming message he received at home in the mail several days ago threatening to execute him, his wife and their 5-month-old baby.

By The Associated Press

Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they may subpoena former Vice President Mike Pence and are waiting to hear from Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, about her role in the illegal plot to overturn the 2020 election.

Lawmakers indicated they will release more evidence about Donald Trump’s alleged effort to defraud supporters by fundraising off false claims of a stolen presidential election. They also pledged to provide pertinent material to the Justice Department by the end of the month for its criminal investigation. The department complained in a letter last week that the committee was complicating its investigation by not sharing transcripts from its 1,000 interviews.

 

June 17, 2022

 

By The New York Times

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack could start sharing some transcripts of witness interviews with federal prosecutors as early as next month as Justice Department officials ratchet up public pressure on the panel to turn over the documents.

Negotiations between Justice Department officials and Timothy Heaphy, the lead investigator for the House panel and a former federal prosecutor, have intensified in recent days as the two sides wrangle over the timing and content of the material to be turned over, according to several people familiar with the talks but not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.

By The Associated Press

The wreckage of Watergate and Jan. 6 are a half-century apart yet rooted in the same ancient thirst for power at any cost.

Two presidents, wily and profane, tried an end run around democracy.

Mysteries from both affairs endure as the continuing House probe into the Jan. 6, 2021, uprising at the Capitol intersects with this week’s Watergate 50th anniversary.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Su­preme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has drawn more attention amid public hearings on the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection after disclosures in recent months of her involvement in multiple conversations about overturning the 2020 presidential election.

Her text messages to Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, e-mails to Arizona lawmakers, and her correspondence with a Trump lawyer who concocted the plan to overturn the election have highlighted Thomas’s role at the highest level of the United States government in attempting to keep Republican Donald Trump in power.

Now, the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has invited Thomas for an interview.

Here’s a look at what we know so far about conversations she’s engaged in on efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

 

June 16, 2022

 

By The Associated Press

The House committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, focused at a public hearing Thursday on the pressure that then-President Donald Trump put on his vice president, Mike Pence, to delay or reject the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. The committee tried to show how that pressure incited an angry mob to lay siege to the Capitol.

Here are takeaways from the hearing:

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee concluded its third public hearing on Thursday after about 2.5 hours.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

John Eastman, who pushed the theory that Pence could block the electoral count, asked Rudy Giuliani a few days after the insurrection if he could receive a pardon, according to evidence obtained by the committee.

“I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works,” he wrote in an e-mail displayed during the hearing by the committee.

A clip of John Eastman, left, was played during a hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on Thursday. Doug Mills/NYT

The committee also played video of Eastman invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to testify multiple times during questioning. Eastman invoked the Fifth 100 times, Aguilar said.

Eastman made the request to be put on the list of potential pardon recipients a few days after a Jan. 7 conversation with White House lawyer Eric Herschmann.

In a video released in advance by the committee, Herschmann said that in the call Eastman appeared to still have overturning the election on his mind.

”I said to him, ‘Are you out of your effing mind?’” Herschmann recounts in the testimony, adding that he demanded Eastman say the words “orderly transition.”

Herschmann also said that he advised Eastman, “Get a great effing criminal defense lawyer. You’re going to need it,” before hanging up on him.

Pence refused to leave Capitol after Secret Service directed his team into cars — 3:25 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Mike Pence did not flee the Capitol as it was under attack by insurrectionists because he “did not want to take any chance that the world would see the vice president of the United States fleeing the United States Capitol,” former vice presidential counsel Greg Jacob said.

“He was determined that he would complete the work that we had set out to do that day, that it was his constitutional duty to see it through, and that the rioters who breached the Capitol would not have the satisfaction of disrupting the proceedings beyond the day on which they were supposed to be completed.”

Most of Pence’s staff got in the cars to leave the Capitol, Jacob said.

Trump did not call Pence to check on his safety as Capitol was under attack, Jacob testifies — 3:16 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Former president Donald Trump did not call former vice president Mike Pence to check on his safety, former vice presidential counsel Greg Jacob said.

Pence and his wife, Karen, reacted to that “with frustration,” Jacob said.

Jacob wrote to Eastman in an e-mail, “thanks to your [expletive] we are now under siege.”

In response, Eastman said, “the siege is because you and your boss [Pence] did not do what was necessary to allow this to be aired in a public way so the American people can see for themselves what happened.”

An excerpt from an email from Greg Jacob addressed to John Eastman is shown.OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

40 feet separated Pence and insurrectionists, committee shows — 3:13 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee showed that former vice president Mike Pence was 40 feet away from the insurrectionists who had stormed the building.

“I could hear the din of the rioters in the building, but I don’t think I was aware that they were as close as that,” former Pence counsel Greg Jacob testified.

“Make no mistake that the vice president’s life was in danger,” committee member Pete Aguilar said.

The committee displayed an FBI affidavit that showed members of the Proud Boys would have killed Pence “if given the chance.”

Trump tweeted lashing out at Pence after he had been informed of violence, committee shows — 3:08 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Committee member Representative Pete Aguilar said the committee had obtained testimony that Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows received notice of violence at the Capitol by 2 p.m. “and likely earlier.”

Testimony further established, Aguilar said, that Meadows quickly informed the president, and he did so before Trump posted a tweet lashing out at Pence at 2:24 p.m.

A Jan. 6, 2021 tweet from former president Donald Trump regarding former vice president Mike Pence is seen on a screen during the hearing. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
An image on a screen shows former vice president Mike Pence looking a tweet from former president Donald Trump as he sheltered in a secure underground location after being evacuated from the Senate chamber on Jan. 6.MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Aguilar said the committee’s investigation found that after the tweet the crowds both outside and inside the Capitol surged.

”It was clear that it was escalating and escalating quickly … I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed to be tweeted at that moment,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews said in videotaped testimony. “The situation was already bad. And so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that.”

Phone call between Trump and Pence on Jan. 6 was ‘pretty heated,’ Ivanka Trump says — 3:05 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The president’s daughter Ivanka Trump said a Jan. 6 conversation between Donald Trump and Mike Pence was “pretty heated.”

“It was a different tone that I had heard him take with the vice president before,” Ivanka Trump said.

Trump aide Nicholas Luna said he heard Trump call Pence “a wimp.”

The hearing is back after a brief break. Watch it live. — 2:55 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Members of the Jan. 6 committee are reconvening after a 10-minute break. Watch the rest of the hearing live:

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Marc Short, former chief of staff to Mike Pence, testified that with tension high between Donald Trump and Pence he reached out on Jan. 5 to the Secret Service to warn them that Trump could “lash out in some way.”

”The concern was for the vice president’s security. And so I wanted to make sure the head of the vice president’s Secret Service was aware that likely as these disagreements became more public that the president would lash out in some way,” he said in videotaped testimony.

A deposition by former chief of staff to vice president Mike Pence, Marc Short, is played on a screen.MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

”We will hear that Marc Short’s concerns were justified. The vice president was in danger,” committee member Pete Aguilar said before the committee took a brief recess.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Mike Pence’s former counsel Greg Jacob said the vice president’s team was “shocked and disappointed” that former president Donald Trump had released a statement on Jan. 5 saying Pence and Trump were in “total agreement that the Vice President has the power to act.”

“We were shocked and disappointed because whoever had written and put that statement out, it was categorically untrue,” Jacob said.

Marc Short, Pence’s chief of staff, had an angry phone call with Trump advisor Jason Miller about the Trump statement.

Short said he was irritated and expressed “displeasure” that the statement went out that “misrepresented the vice president’s viewpoint without consultation.”

Trump’s statement that Trump and Pence agreed that the vice president could overturn the election was incorrect, Jacob said.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee and America need to know that historical precedent was the centerpiece of the plan to overturn the 2020 election, former conservative judge Michael Luttig said.

“I would have laid my body across the road before I would have let the vice president overturn the 2020 election on the basis of that historical precedent,” Lattig said.

“This is constitutional mischief,” Lattig said.

Former VP counsel testifies that Eastman said other vice presidents shouldn’t overturn election results, but Pence should — 2:16 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Mike Pence’s former counsel Greg Jacob testified that during a meeting on Jan. 5, John Eastman tried to persuade him that there was validity to Eastman’s theory that Pence had the authority to overturn the election by rejecting electors.

Eastman told Jacob that he wouldn’t want other vice presidents to have the power to decide the outcome of the election.

“Al Gore did not have the basis to do it in 2000, Kamala Harris shouldn’t be able to do it in 2024, but I think you should do it today,” Jacob said that Eastman told him during the meeting.

If Pence went through with plan, Eastman acknowledged it would be struck down by Supreme Court — 2:10 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

“Even Dr. Eastman knew his theory didn’t hold water,” said committee member Pete Aguilar.

He asked Jacob about a Jan. 5 discussion Eastman and Jacob had in which they discussed Eastman’s theory.

Jacob said Eastman acknowledged in the discussion that if Pence did what Eastman wanted, it would be struck down by the US Supreme Court.

“He initially started, ‘Well, I think maybe we would lose only 7 to 2.’ And after some further discussion, acknowledged, ‘Well, yeah, you’re right, we would lose 9-nothing,’” Jacob said.

Eastman, who pressed Pence plan, ‘never really believed his own theory,’ committee says — 2:05 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Pete Aguilar Aguilar said the Jan. 6 committee has evidence suggesting John Eastman, who pushed the idea that Mike Pence could overturn the election results on Jan. 6, “never really believed his own theory.”

Rudy Giuliani conceded in call to White House lawyer that Pence didn’t have authority to decide election — 1:55 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani conceded that Mike Pence didn’t have the authority to decide the election and send it back to the states in a call with former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann, Herschmann said in a video played before the Jan. 6 committee.

Herschmann and Giuliani were discussing the vice president’s role on the morning of Jan. 6, and Giuliani said “I believe that you’re probably right” that Pence did not have the authority to reject electoral votes.

Despite that conversation, the committee said, Giuliani said the opposite during a speech at a rally before the insurrection.

“Every single thing that has been outlined as the plan for today is perfectly legal,” Giuliani said during a speech at Trump’s rally on Jan. 6 in Washington.

Various Trump advisers, including Mark Meadows, thought Eastman’s theory was invalid — 1:47 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The committee played videotaped testimony showing that various Trump advisers thought Eastman’s theory was invalid.

Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short said Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows conceded to him that Pence didn’t have the power to overturn the election.

”To you he said he understands the vice president has no role?” a committee staffer asked short.“

Yes,” Short said.

He said Meadows said it a couple of times before Jan. 6.Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said he was told that Trump’s White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, thought Eastman’s idea was “nutty” and had confronted Eastman about it.

Short testified that Cipollone agreed with Pence’s team’s legal analysis and expressed admiration for Pence’s actions on Jan. 6.

Former White House lawyer Eric Herschman said that Eastman explained his theory to him and Herschman told him, “Are you out of your f—ing mind?”

Luttig says if Pence had declared Trump president, ‘constitutional crisis’ would have followed — 1:32 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Retired federal judge Michael Luttig testified on Thursday that the “foundational rule of law was supremely violated” on Jan. 6, 2021, and if Mike Pence had followed Donald Trump’s plan to declare him the president, it “would have plunged America into what I believe would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis.”

‘No justifiable basis’ to conclude the vice president has authority to overturn election, Jacob says — 1:27 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Greg Jacob, former legal counsel for Mike Pence, said Pence in early December asked him to look into the vice president’s role in the electoral vote count. He said Pence’s first instinct was that “there was no way that our Framers, who abhorred concentrated power, who had broken away from the tyranny of George III, would ever have put one person — particularly not a person who had a direct interest in the outcome because they were on the ticket for the election - in a role to have decisive impact on the outcome of the election.”

“Our review of text, history, and frankly just common sense all confirmed the vice president’s first instinct on that point. There is no justifiable basis to conclude that the vice president has that kind of authority.”

Two witnesses, vice president Mike Pence’s counsel and a retired federal judge, begin testifying — 1:19 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Greg Jacob, the vice president Mike Pence’s counsel, and retired federal judge Michael Luttig are testifying now before the committee.

Greg Jacob, who was counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge, are sworn in to testify as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.Susan Walsh/Associated Press

Committee plays video of Trump’s speech during rally in which he names Pence — 1:14 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee played footage of Donald Trump directly addressing Mike Pence during a rally ahead of the insurrection.

“Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us,” Trump said during the rally. “And if he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country.”

“Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country,” Trump said during another point in the speech. “And if you’re not, I’m going to be very disappointed in you, I will tell you right now.”

Pence told his lawyer that what he says about refusing to overturn electors ‘could be the most important thing I ever say’ — 1:12 p.m.

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

As Mike Pence prepared a statement on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 explaining that he could not refuse to count the Electoral College votes, he emphasized the importance to his staff.

”The vice president had said this could be the most important thing I ever say,” said Pence’s former legal counsel Greg Jacob in videotaped testimony played Thursday by the Jan. 6 committee. “He really wanted to make sure that it was just so.”

‘Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe’: Committee chair opens hearing with focus on Mike Pence — 1:05 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Bennie Thompson, the chair of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, opened the hearing noting the committee will focus on Donald Trump’s pressure on Mike Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“We are fortunate for Mr. Pence’s courage on Jan. 6,” Thompson said. “Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe. That courage put him in tremendous danger.”

California Democratic Representative Peter Aguilar, a member of the panel, said Pence “withstood an onslaught of pressure” from Trump both publicly and privately.

The hearing is set to begin shortly. Watch it live. — 12:45 p.m.

The Jan. 6 committee holds its third public hearing, which will delve into Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Mike Pence to reject the electoral count.

Watch it live:

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Representative Bennie Thompson, the chair of the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, said Thursday that the panel would invite Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, for an interview.

Thompson’s comments came after The Washington Post reported that Thomas corresponded by e-mail with John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who proposed that Vice President Mike Pence reject electoral votes when he presided over the certification on Jan. 6.

Thompson on Thursday acknowledged the emails and said the invitation to Thomas would go out “soon.”

The Post reported in March that Thomas exchanged dozens of conspiracy-laden text messages with former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows urging him to overturn the 2020 election in the weeks after the results.

What we know about how Pence’s day unfolded on Jan. 6 — 11:28 a.m.

By The Associated Press

Mike Pence won’t be testifying at Thursday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing. But he will be in the spotlight as the focus turns to former President Donald Trump’s desperate and futile attempts to persuade his vice president to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and deliver them a second term.

“As you will hear, President Trump engaged in a relentless effort to pressure Pence both in private and in public,” Rep. Liz Cheney, the leading Republican on the committee, said last week. “Vice President Pence demonstrated his loyalty to Donald Trump consistently over four years, but he knew that he had a higher duty to the United States Constitution.”

Here’s what we know about Pence’s actions leading up to and during that day:

By The Associated Press

The House committee investigating the Capitol riot plans to focus its hearing Thursday on the pressure that Donald Trump put on his vice president, Mike Pence, in a last-ditch and potentially illegal plan to stop Joe Biden’s election victory.

Trump seized on the unorthodox proposal from conservative law professor John Eastman to have Pence turn back the electors when the vice president presided over Congress to certify the election results on Jan. 6, 2021.

Here’s a look at the Eastman plan in the days before Jan. 6 and why it’s central to the congressional investigation.

By The Associated Press

The Jan. 6 committee is set to plunge into Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to salvage the 2020 election by pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral count — a highly unusual and potentially illegal strategy that was set in motion in the run-up to the U.S. Capitol riot.

With two live witnesses Thursday, the House panel intends to show how Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election left him grasping for alternatives as courts turned back dozens of lawsuits challenging the vote.

By Shannon Larson, Globe Staff

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said she was not jarred to hear a man who participated in a tour led by a Republican lawmaker of the Capitol complex a day prior to the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, issued a direct threat against her as he marched toward the building as the breach unfolded.

But, the high-profile Democrat alleged on Wednesday, the scenes captured on video footage that the House committee investigating the attack released just hours earlier are symbolic of a more systemic issue she has faced when dealing with some of her colleagues.

“I think it’s been very clear for a very long time that I work with people who wish me harm. Who wish me physical harm, who wish me political harm, who wish me harm,” she told reporters bluntly, later adding in a tweet, “In today’s edition of Sad But True.”

By The New York Times

A lawyer advising President Donald Trump claimed in an email after Election Day 2020 to have insight into a “heated fight” among the Supreme Court justices over whether to hear arguments about the president’s efforts to overturn his defeat at the polls, two people briefed on the email said.

The lawyer, John Eastman, made the statement in a Dec. 24, 2020, exchange with a Wisconsin lawyer and Trump campaign officials over whether to file legal papers that they hoped might prompt four justices to agree to hear an election case from Wisconsin.

 

June 15, 2022

 

By The Washington Post

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has obtained email correspondence between Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and lawyer John Eastman, who played a key role in efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, according to three people involved in the committee’s investigation.

The emails show that Thomas’s efforts to overturn the election were more extensive than previously known, two of the people said. The three declined to provide details and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

By The Associated Press

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection released video on Wednesday of a Capitol tour led by a Republican lawmaker the day before the attack, showing participants taking photos of stairwells and tunnels in the complex.

The panel released the video as it renewed calls for the GOP lawmaker, Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, to speak to the committee about the tour. Loudermilk has so far declined the interview and denied any wrongdoing, and the chief of the U.S. Capitol Police said in a letter to Republicans this week that after reviewing surveillance video, “we do not consider any of the activities we observed as suspicious.”

 

June 14, 2022

 

By The Associated Press

House investigators are trying to make a methodical case that President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election led directly to his supporters’ insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The House panel investigating the attack has held the first two in a series of hearings providing its initial findings after a yearlong probe and more than 1,000 interviews.

Here’s a rundown of what we’ve learned so far from the public hearings of the select Jan. 6 committee — and what’s next:

By The Associated Press

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol has postponed a hearing that was to feature dramatic testimony from former Justice Department officials who were pressured by then-President Donald Trump to pursue his false election fraud theories.

The hearing had been scheduled for Wednesday, but the committee on Tuesday morning said that it had been delayed. A spokesman for the panel attributed the postponement to “a number of scheduling factors, including production timeline and availability of members and witnesses.”

 

June 13, 2022

 

By The Associated Press

The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection systemically made the case in its second hearing Monday that Trump and his advisers knew that his claims of fraud in the 2020 election were false.

The argument is key to the committee’s investigation as the nine-member panel details its evidence about what led to the violent insurrection. The rioters who broke into the Capitol that day and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory were echoing Trump’s falsehoods that he, not Biden, had rightfully won the election.

Here are 4 takeaways:

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 concluded Monday’s hearing with comments from rioters outside of the Capitol echoing Trump’s false claims that there was election fraud.

Some of the rioters cast doubt on the voting process, with some naming Dominion voting machines that Trump baselessly criticized.

A video showed a protestor on a screen as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol.MANDEL NGAN/Associated Press

By Bloomberg News

Former President Donald Trump and his allies used false election claims to raise about $250 million from donors who were led to believe the election was stolen, according to the House panel investigating the plot to overturn the 2020 election results.

The committee played video testimony from Amanda Wick, a senior investigative counsel, outlining how Trump and his allies raised $250 million with as many as 25 email solicitations a day to supporters seeking money to fight election fraud -- including almost $100 million in the first week after the election – even though they knew the claims were false and the money was often used for other purposes.

“We found evidence that the Trump campaign and its surrogates misled donors as to where their funds would go and what they would be used for,” Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren said. “So not only was there the big lie, there was the big ripoff.”

The 2020 election was ‘not close’ veteran GOP election attorney testifies — 12:37 p.m.

By Bloomberg News

Benjamin Ginsberg, an election law expert who has represented Republicans, said campaigns typically look for voting irregularities but that the 2020 election “was not close.”

“There was never that instance in all the cases that were brought,” that Trump’s claims were validated. Democratic Representative Zoe Lofgren, a committee members, says the panel has records of 61 court losses by the Trump team.

“In no instance did the court find the charges of fraud were real,” Ginsberg said.

Philadelphia Republican calls fraud claims ‘fantastical,’ details threats after Trump tweet — 12:33 p.m.

By Bloomberg News

Former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt testified that numerous allegations by the Trump team of voting fraud in that city and state were seriously and thoroughly investigated, including that thousands of dead people had cast ballots.

“Not only was it not evidence of 8,000 dead voters in Pennsylvania, there wasn’t evidence of eight,” Schmidt, a Republican, said.

Al Schmidt, former city commissioner of Philadelphia, testified as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol continued to reveal its findings.Susan Walsh/Associated Press

“We took seriously every case that was referred to us, no matter how fantastical, how absurd,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt also detailed the threats he received after Trump named him in a tweet.

Bjay Pak, Trump’s US attorney for northern Georgia, testifies there was no evidence of widespread fraud — 12:29 p.m.

By Bloomberg News

One of the examples of fraud that Trump used as proof the 2020 election was stolen was video surveillance from the vote-counting center in Atlanta showing “suitcases” of ballots being pulled from under a table and “added in secret in Georgia.” But Pak, the former Atlanta, US attorney, testified that’s not what happened.

Pak said Georgia officials and his own review showed the “suitcases” were just boxes of ballots to be counted -- and the video simply shows election workers who had been preparing to go home and had packed up uncounted ballots for the night pulling them out to be counted.

Panel begins testimony from second panel of witnesses — 12:18 p.m.

By The Associated Press

After a brief break, the committee is continuing testimony on Monday from a second set of witnesses, including election officials, investigators, and experts who were likely to discuss Trump’s responses to the election, including dozens of failed court challenges, and how his actions diverged from US norms.

Watch it live.

Bill Barr details meeting with Trump after publicly disputing voter fraud claims — 12:03 p.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Former attorney general Bill Barr said when he met with Trump after telling The Associated Press on Dec. 1, 2020 that there was no evidence to support widespread claims of fraud, Trump was “as mad as I’ve ever seen him.”

Barr said Trump was “trying to control himself” and saying “this is killing me” and alleged Barr made the statement because “you hate Trump.”

Barr said he thought he would be fired after the meeting.

If Trump believed voter fraud claims, Barr thought he had become ‘detached from reality’ — 11:55 a.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee played video of Bill Barr testifying that Trump was “never interested in what the facts were.”

“I thought boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact with, he’s become detached from reality,” Barr said about Trump’s claims of election fraud conspiracies.

Stepien testifies there were ‘two groups’ among Trump’s team — 11:43 a.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Former campaign manager Bill Stepien said there were “two groups” among Donald Trump’s team, and he “didn’t mind being categorized as ‘Team Normal.’”

Stepien said he was part of a group advising Trump that there was no widespread evidence of fraud. The other group, which include legal counsel Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, pushed unfounded claims of voter fraud.

Trump advisor claims Rudy Giuliani was ‘intoxicated’ on Election Night when he talked to the president — 11:30 a.m.

By James Pindell, Globe Staff

Testimony at the hearing on Monday told the hour-by-hour story of Election Night in 2020, when family, top staff, and supporters of President Trump were all in the White House. While a number of the key staff, including his campaign manger, said it was too early to determine who had won, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani made the case to Trump he should declare victory.

One of the staff members who disagreed with Giuliani was Jason Miller, then a senior advisor to the Trump campaign.

Miller, during his deposition, said, “The mayor was definitely intoxicated” that night.

Trump ended up following Giuliani’s advice and declaring victory on election night, while votes were still being counted and days before any media outlet had announced a winner.

Trump said there was voter fraud before there was ‘any potential of looking at evidence,’ Barr said — 11:20 a.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News Channel political editor, begins testifying — 11:11 a.m.

Chris Stirewalt, former Fox political editor, is sworn-in before testifying.Chip Somodevilla/Getty

In video testimony, Stepien says it was ‘too early to tell’ when Trump declared victory — 11:07 a.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

In a video clip played by the committee, former president Donald Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien said when Trump declared he won the 2020 election, it was “too early to call the race.”

Trump decided before election he ‘would claim it was rigged,’ panel says — 11:00 a.m.

By Amanda Kaufman, Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee played video from the September 2020 presidential debate, and Representative Zoe Lofgren said Trump had decided before that he “would claim it was rigged.”

Committee will show more testimony from Bill Barr, Cheney says — 10:55 a.m.

By Globe Staff

The Jan. 6 committee vice chair, Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, said the panel will show more testimony from former attorney general Bill Barr.

They will also show that Department of Justice officials told Donald Trump his claims of voter fraud were “nonsense.” Campaign advisers also urged Trump to wait to declare victory and await the counting of votes, Cheney said.

The hearing is underway. Watch live. — 10:47 a.m.

By The Associated Press

Monday’s hearing is set to resume with testimony from a US attorney who abruptly resigned as Trump pressured state officials in Georgia to alter the election results.

The committee is also set to hear testimony from Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News Channel political editor closely involved in election night coverage who stood by the decision to declare Arizona as being won by Biden. He wrote about his experiences later in an op-ed and might be asked about Trump’s actions as Fox New declared states Biden won.

A second group of witnesses testifying Monday will be made up of election officials, investigators and experts who are likely to discuss Trump’s responses to the election, including dozens of failed court challenges, and how his actions diverged from U.S. norms.

Among them is the former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, BJay Pak, who abruptly resigned after Trump pressured Georgia state officials to overturn his presidential defeat. Trump wanted to fire Pak as disloyal, but Pak stepped down after Trump’s call urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state became public.

The panel will also hear from former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, the only Republican on the election board and who faced down criticism as the state’s election was called for Biden, and noted Washington attorney and elections lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg.

By James Pindell, Globe Staff

The second day of the Jan. 6 commission’s public hearings will back things up and tell the story from where they contend it began: Election Night 2020.

This is the story of how Donald Trump was supposedly told repeatedly that he lost reelection, and many aides shot down any rumors of wide-spread fraud from this state or that state, the committee contends. It’s when Trump began lying about how the election was stolen from him nonetheless. It was after that he began demanding his supporters believe the lie.

Almost like a book, the first public hearing of the committee was something of a re-introduction. And today begins the first chapter where it all began.

Watch live as the second public Jan. 6 hearing begins:

By Liz Goodwin, Globe Staff

Did Donald Trump believe his own lies?

It’s a slippery question that lies at the heart of a House committee’s investigation into the Capitol riot, which is holding its second hearing on Monday focused on Trump’s role in spreading falsehoods about fraud in the 2020 election.

By The Associated Press

Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Bill Stepien abruptly pulled out of Monday’s appearance before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, citing a family emergency, the panel said.

Stepien was expected to be a key witness as the panel delves deeper into what it calls the “big lie,” the defeated Republican president’s false claims of voter fraud that fueled his relentless effort to overturn the 2020 election and led a mob of his supporters to lay siege to the U.S. Capitol.

The committee said Stepien’s counsel will appear and make a statement on the record, and it pushed back its start time as lawmakers and staff scrambled for the change of plans.