The committee announced that Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien was among the witnesses scheduled to testify at Monday’s hearing, which focused on Trump’s attempts to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was called for public testimony.
During the hearing, lawmaker Adam Schiff said he wanted the department to “investigate any credible allegations of Donald Trump’s criminal activity.” Schiff, a California state official who also chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said, “There have been several actions, some of these various attempts to cancel the election, that I see no evidence that the Justice Department is investigating. “
Commission launches public hearings Last week, members filed their lawsuit against Trump to show how ruthlessly the defeated president made false statements about rigged elections, despite what many advisers told him. , and how he exaggerated his unusual plan to oust Joe Biden.
Additional evidence will be released at this week’s hearing. Democrats say this shows that Trump and some of his advisers made “great efforts” to spread disinformation, lobby the Justice Department, accept his false statements and invite the then vice president. president Mike Pablo to kick out Mike Da Paz. Certification on January 6, 2021.
Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a key adviser to Trump’s campaign supporter, Harriet Hegemann, a Republican candidate for Wyoming’s Republican Party. Republican Liz Cheney, vice president of the committee and vocal critic of the former president. Trump spokeswoman Taylor Budovic said the committee’s decision to call Stephen was politically motivated.
Monday’s Witness List also includes the BJP Package Atlanta Attorney General, who resigned on Jan. 4, 2021, a day after the release of the audio recording, in which Trump called him “Never a Trump”; Chris Stirowalt, former politics editor of Fox News; Well -known Washington election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg; And Al Schmidt, former city councilor in Philadelphia.
A committee aide, who insisted on not being identified for details, said the panel would also focus on the millions of dollars Trump’s team brought in to raise funds on Jan. 6.
The committee said most of the survey respondents volunteered, although some wanted to make the announcement public. Director Nick Quested, who provided footage of the attack, said he received the revelation at an audition last week.
Committee members said they provided clear evidence that “several” GOP lawmakers, including lawmaker Scott Perry, R-Pa., Were asking Trump’s pardon to protect him from prosecution. On Friday, Perry denied he did it, calling the accusation an “utter, shameless and stupid lie.”
“We will not make accusations or say anything without evidence or proof,” said Adam Kinsinger, Member of Parliament for R-Ill.
Lawmakers noted that their most important audience during the hearings could be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide if his department can prosecute Trump. They left no doubt in their minds that there was enough evidence to proceed.
“Once the Justice Department has obtained the evidence, it has to decide whether it can prove the guilt of the jury president or someone else,” Schiff said. “But they need to investigate if there’s any credible evidence, which I think exists.”
Lawmaker Jamie Ruskin, a D-Md., Said he has no plans to oust Garland, but noted that the committee has already outlined criminal laws on legal complaints that Trump believes have been violated.
“I think he knows, his staff knows, American lawyers know what’s at stake here,” Raskin said. “They know what it means, but I think they deserve to pay attention to the historical precedent, as well as the facts of the case.”
Garland did not specify whether he was ready to prosecute, which has not yet been done and could exacerbate a political election period in which Trump is openly misleading the idea of running again in the presidential election.
No president or former president has yet been charged.
Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 on threat of impeachment and allegedly large jury cases of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He was later pardoned by President Gerald Ford before filing a complaint against his predecessor Watergate.
Law experts say the Justice Department’s pursuit of Trump during the unrest could create an uncomfortable precedent where the administration of one side will chase after another president’s former president more regularly.
“We follow the facts where they take us,” Garland said in a speech at Harvard University’s opening ceremony last month.
In March, a California federal judge ruled in a civil lawsuit that Trump “More Likely than Not” committed a federal offense on Jan. 6, 2021 for obstructing the counting of the Congressional ballot. The judge cited two provisions: suspension of official proceedings and conspiracy to deceive the United States. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Schiff appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” Raskin spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” and Kinsinger was on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Congressional correspondent AP Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
For full coverage of the January 6 hearing, visit https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege
Source: Huffpost
