The House committee that is investigating January 6 attack on the US Capitol will hold what may be the last public hearing as the committee wraps up its investigation into former President Donald Trump and his influence when he refused to recognize 2020 election results.
CBS News will air the hearing as a special report at 1:00 PM ET.
Thursday’s hearing is expected to take a broader look at Trump’s thinking during his bid to overturn the 2020 election, committee aides said Wednesday. Unlike previous hearings that focused on a specific topic, this hearing will focus on events before the election and after January 6. Each of the nine members of the committee will perform a certain part.
Also in a break from previous hearings, there will be no live witnesses appearing in this hearing. It will include video testimony from witnesses the committee has previously shown in its hearings, as well as witnesses not yet seen by the public, committee aides said.
The new information, to be presented Thursday, includes evidence from hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that were turned over by the U.S. Secret Service after a July subpoena, as well as never-before-seen video showing a real-time response effort to the unrest at the Capitol as it unfolded, they said committee advisors.
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“What you’re going to see is a synthesis of some of the evidence we’ve already presented with this new, never-before-seen information to illustrate the centrality of Donald Trump in the system from before the election,” the committee aide said.
Aides would not say whether testimony from former Secret Service official Tony Ornato or agent Bobby Engel, both of whom were identified during testimony by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, would be included. Hutchinson testified On June 28, Ornato told her that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle from Engel in an attempt to get to the Capitol. Trump denied the claim and has even mocked him at rallies since. The Secret Service disputed that account, saying both men would be willing to testify, but it’s unclear if either did. Ornato retired from the Secret Service in August.
Committee aides did not say whether they had any further discussions with Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence about the testimony. Pence said this summer that he would “consider” testifying before the commission.
Bennie Thompson MP, Chairman of the Committee, he said last month that the committee plans to put together an interim report in mid-October and a final report is due by the end of the year, after the midterm elections.
The committee held a series of public hearings over the summer, which were also televised nationally. The hearing showed never-before-seen video of the attack, but also video testimony from Trump administration officials about his rejection accept the election results and the plans of their allies replace the voters in the battlefields that President Joe Biden won and at the same time threatening local and state election officials.
Thompson confirmed in the summer that the committee had “conversations” with the Department of Justice about the fraudulent election plan. IN June 21 public hearingcommittee member Rep. Adam Schiff said these bogus voters eventually met on December 14, 2020, in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin, where they signed documents claiming to be duly elected voters from their of the state.
The committee said Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin wanted to hand Pence a surrogate, fraudulent voter before a joint session of Congress, according to texts provided by the committee.
The hearings highlighted pressure campaigns by Trump and his allies on various branches of government to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the former president’s attempt to install environmental attorney Jeffrey Clark at the head of the Ministry of Justice, attorney John Eastman’s argument Pence that he has the power to override the Electoral College, and Attempts to influence Rudy Giuliani local and state election officials.
The hearings also included personal testimony from former Trump administration officials, and former Fox News political editorand Capitol Policeand a troublemaker who confessedamong others.
The hearing included bombshell revelations about Trump’s response to the January 6 attack.
Hutchinson and other former White House aides testified — in person and on video — that they knew Trump lost the election and that pushing the narrative that he won was a lie. Sarah Matthews, former deputy press secretary, he testified that when violence broke out in the Capitolthe press office disputed Trump’s response and seemed surprised that a colleague did not want to condemn the riots because it would “win for the media”.
“I couldn’t believe we were arguing about this in the middle of the West Wing. . . . So I pointed to the TV and said, ‘Do you think it looks like we’re winning?’ Because I don’t think so,” Matthews said.
In the same hearing, the committee played never-before-seen video showing Trump attempting to issue a statement on January 7, 2021. Even after the chaos of January 6 and after Congress confirmed the number of the Electoral College, Trump refused to say he lost the election.
“I’d like to start by addressing yesterday’s heinous attack and making those who broke the law pay,” Trump said on the footage. “You don’t represent our movement, you don’t represent our country, and if you broke the law – I can’t say that. I already said you will pay…”
“But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” he continued before pausing to presumably address his aides. “I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say that Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over.”
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