On Thursday, featuring two living witnesses, the House panel will show how Trump’s false claims about rigged elections prompted him to pursue an alternative as the courts withdrew of dozens of lawsuits against the vote.
The committee will hear from Greg Jacobs, an adviser to the vice president who defended Eastman’s views that Pence should implement the plan; And retired federal judge Michael Lutig, who called the former Eastman attorney’s plan “wrong every time.”
Thursday’s session is also expected to reveal new evidence of the threat posed to Pence the day people stormed the Capitol, shouting “Hang Mike Pence!” Nine people were killed in the riot and its aftermath.
The committee aide said the meeting will show how “Trump’s pressure directly contributes to the Capitol’s attack on Pence” and how Eastman’s approach poses a “serious and serious threat” to democracy, he said. of the committee assistant. to listen.
Prior to the hearing, former Pence chief of staff Mark Short said his boss decided to stay at the Capitol that night and finish the job, despite threats.
“He knew his job was to stay in the office,” Short told CNN on Wednesday.
Short said Pence doesn’t want the world to see him leave the Vice President’s Capitol when the “sign of democracy” is under siege.
“He thought it was important to stay there and make sure the work of the Americans was done that night,” said Short, who testified before the committee for eight hours but has not yet appeared as a living witness.
The jury is gathering for a third hearing this month after a prime-time blockbuster launched last week, following a logistical failure in recent days. On Monday, the main witness, former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, abruptly refused to appear in person because his wife had given birth to a child with them. A scheduled hearing Wednesday for Justice Department witnesses who tried to convince Trump that his allegations of election fraud were false has been postponed.
However, the year -long jury investigation reveals a compelling public narrative of recent weeks in Trump’s office, when the ousted president was implicated in a “big lie” of rigged elections, even by those around him. : his family, his main aides, senior officers. Levels of government – they just seem to have lost the election.
Former Attorney General William Barr, who resigned in late 2020 before becoming part of Trump’s plans, testified before he became president. “Detached from reality” If he believed the lies. He said he told the president that his allegations of election fraud were “nonsense”.
With 1,000 interviews and 140,000 documents, the committee connects the dots and shows how Trump’s false allegations of election fraud ended when he summoned thousands of Americans to a rally on Jan. 6 in Washington and then sent them to the Capitol. “Fight like hell” for his presidency.
More than 800 people are being held at the Siege of the Capitol and the jury is considering whether to send a criminal case against Trump to the Justice Department. No president or former president has been charged by the Justice Department, and Attorney General Merrick Garland said he and his team are monitoring ongoing congressional proceedings.
For now, the jury is continuing with hearings and more are scheduled for next week.
On Thursday, Eastman’s plan to send alternative ballots to the five or seven states Trump discussed, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, will be considered. With conflicting documents from Trump or Biden, Pence would be forced to reject them and return them to the United States to arrange them according to plan.
Pence rejected the plan, believing the founding fathers would not let someone, the vice president, decide on the outcome, Jacob told the board in an earlier testimony. Jacobs said the idea is completely contrary to a 130-year precedent in American history, “completely invented”.
The committee will look at the role of extremist groups and others in upcoming hearings hearing Trump’s appeal to Washington. Leaders and others before jurors and proud boys Allegations of rebellion are rare Because of their role in the attack on the Capitol.
Also in the spotlight were several members of Congress, including MP Barry Ludermilk, RA, who was requested by the committee for an interview to discuss the tour of the Capitol he undertook, which included underground tunnels for a group of people during the day. before the attack.
The jury is also examining several candidates for the elected position, including the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, who were among the participants in the riots.
The panel, which is expected to publish a final report on its findings by the end of the year, aims to make a record of its work in the history of the most violent attack on the Capitol since the war in 1812. Unlike other national trauma caused by the attack on the Capitol on January 6, seems to have split many Americans. Congress dissolved over the creation of the committee, which was opposed by a majority of Republicans.
The two Republicans on the jury, Wyom Representative Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois lawmaker, are lawmakers reluctant to cooperate with the Democrats who spearheaded the Trump investigation and his role in the attack on the Capitol.
Associated Press writers Kevin Freaking in Washington and Farnush Amir in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
