June 10, 2022
Washington – After conducting more than 1,000 interviews and collecting nearly 150,000 documents related to the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, the Jan. 6 committee held its first public hearing that was broadcast on live television and across various social media platforms June 9.
The hearing shined a light on far-right extremist groups, specifically the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, both of which had members charged in the conspiracy to seige the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the confirmation of President Joe Biden.
Mr. Scalia called an aide to Mr. Pence, they said, to say that he was uncomfortable with Mr. Trump having the level of power that he did and that there needed to be more involvement from the cabinet. Mr. Pence’s team did not want to make such a move.
Mr. Scalia also had a conversation with Mr. Pompeo, which Mr. Pompeo shared with multiple people, in which Mr. Scalia suggested that someone needed to tell the president to resign voluntarily or to do something else to restore confidence in the government and a peaceful transition of power.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the Republican vice chair of the committee, said lawmakers will present evidence Monday at the second hearing showing that Trump “engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information” that the election had been stolen — even though advisers and allies told him repeatedly he had lost.
The panel touched on that theme in its first hearing with a clip from former Attorney General Bill Barr, testifying that he repeatedly told the president “in no uncertain terms that I did not see evidence of fraud” that would have affected the election.
As well, Trump campaign lawyer Alex Cannon was shown discussing conversations with then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sometime in November 2020.
“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,” Cannon said.
When asked how Meadows responded, Cannon said: “I believe the words he used were, ‘so there’s no there there.'”
Cheney says the third hearing Wednesday will focus on how Trump pushed for the Justice Department to “spread his false stolen election claims in the days before January 6.” Senior Justice Department officials refused, telling him his claims were not true.
She noted how Trump sought to elevate Jeffrey Clark, an environmental lawyer at the department, to the job of acting attorney general. Clark had drafted a letter to send to Georgia and five other states saying the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.”
Trump nearly gave the top job to Clark but backed down when senior Justice Department leadership and White House lawyers threatened to resign, testimony has shown.
“The men involved, including Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen and Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, were appointed by President Trump,” Cheney said. “These men honored their oaths of office. They did their duty, and you will hear from them in our hearings.”
Clark has invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and refused to testify to the committee.
