That’s it from us today. Here’s how the seventh public hearing held by the January 6 committee unfolded:
Liz Cheney said Donald Trump attempted to contact one of the witnesses in the investigation after the committee’s last hearing. According to Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the committee, the unnamed witness did not pick up Trump’s call. Instead, they contacted their lawyer, who in turn informed the committee about the call. The committee passed the information along to the justice department. “Let me say one more time: we will take any efforts to influence witness testimony very seriously,” Cheney said.
The committee shared clips from Pat Cipollone’s closed-door testimony with investigators. Cipollone, Trump’s former White House counsel, met with the committee for more than eight hours on Friday. He told the committee that he believed Trump should have conceded the election after the electoral college certified Joe Biden’s victory on 14 December. “If your question is, did I believe he should concede the election at a point in time? Yes, I did,” Cipollone said. The committee plans to show more of Cipollone’s testimony at its hearing next week.
The committee argued Trump made a “deliberate” plan to call for a march to the Capitol on 6 January. Committee member Stephanie Murphy showed a draft tweet from Trump’s account reading, “I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!” The unsent and undated tweet, obtained from the National Archives, is stamped with the words “president has seen”.
The committee detailed an “unhinged” meeting at the White House on 18 December. According to multiple witnesses, the meeting devolved into insults and shouting after some of Trump’s White House advisers attacked suggestions from Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Flynn to seize voting machines in battleground states. The next day, Trump sent his tweet encouraging supporters to come to Washington on 6 January for a “wild” event.
The committee showed how Trump’s 19 December tweet led far-right groups to zero in on 6 January to protest the election. Committee member Jamie Raskin displayed a Facebook post written by Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs on 19 December, saying he he had organized an “alliance” between the Oath Keepers and two other far-right militia groups, the Three Percenters and the Proud Boys. “We have decided to work together and shut this shit down,” Meggs said in the post.
One of Trump’s former campaign advisers said his rhetoric was directly responsible for the deaths on 6 January. Brad Parscale told fellow campaign adviser Katrina Pierson he felt “guilty” about helping Trump win election in the days after the Capitol insurrection. “If I was Trump and I knew my rhetoric killed someone,” Parscale told Pierson in a text message. Pierson replied, “It wasn’t the rhetoric.” “Katrina,” Parscale said. “Yes it was.”
The blog will be back tomorrow with more analysis of the hearing and updates from Washington. See you then.
Analysis: January 6 testimony tells chilling tale of democracy hanging by a thread
David Smith
Viewers learned of an “unhinged” White House meeting and rioters ready for war – but will it close the case against Trump?
“We settle our differences at the ballot box.”
Bennie Thompson, chairman of the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, emphasised this article of faith in his opening remarks on Tuesday.
Trump allies “screamed” at aides who resisted seizing voting machines, January 6 panel hearsRead more
But what followed was a three-hour story about how American democracy, like a rickety old house, creaked and bent and struggled to hold itself together during a thunderstorm of political violence.
There was the tale of an Oval Office meeting that almost ended in fisticuffs. There was testimony from a former true believer in the “big lie” who joined the rampage at the Capitol. There were predictions that if Trump runs again, no one will be safe.
It was a chilling reminder that in a nation that has the genocide of Indigenous Americans, slavery, civil war and relentless gun violence in its cultural DNA, bloodshed is never far from the surface. Since white supremacists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been ascendent.
Jamie Raskin, another member of the panel, observed: “The problem of politicians whipping up mob violence to destroy fair elections is the oldest domestic enemy of constitutional democracy in America.”
He quoted Abraham Lincoln: “Mobs and demagogues will put us on a path to political tyranny.”
The New York Times is reporting that Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com, will speak with the January 6 committee this week.
Byrne was referenced today in testimony from Pat Cipollone, Trump’s second White House counsel.
“First of all, I saw the Overstock person,” Cipollone said. “The first thing I did, I walked in, I looked at him, I said, ‘Who are you?’ And he told me.”
“I don’t think any of these people were providing the president with good advice. So I didn’t understand how they had gotten in.”
Byrne was at a meeting in December with Rudy Giuliani, former security adviser Michael Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell, during which the president was asked to name Powell a special counsel so she could work to overturn the election and have the federal government seize voting machines.
The committee confirmed Guardian exclusive reporting that Trump actually agreed to make Powell special counsel with oversight for seizing voting machines.
Hi there, it’s Maanvi Singh – taking over the blog for the next few hours.
John Bolton, the former national security advisor, had an interesting reaction to today’s revelations. In response to CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s reflection that “one doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup”, Bolton responded that he disagrees, “as somebody who has helped plan” coups.
Jake Tapper: "One doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup."
John Bolton: "I disagree with that. As somebody who has helped plan coup d’etat, not here, but other places, it takes a lot of work." pic.twitter.com/REyqh3KtHi
After the hearing concluded, Capitol insurrectionist Stephen Ayres approached some of the law enforcement officers who defended the building on January 6 and were present for today’s proceedings.
Ayres was seen shaking hands with Aquilino Gonell, a US Capitol Police sergeant who was beaten during the insurrection and can no longer work in law enforcement because of his injuries.
But one of the law enforcement officers who spoke to Ayres, former Metropolitan police department officer Michael Fanone, said he was unmoved by the man’s remorse.
“That apology doesn’t do shit for me. I hope it does shit for him,” Fanone told the AP.
I asked MPD office Fanone if he accepts Ayers apology and he said: “That apology doesn’t do shit for me, I hope it does shit for him.” https://t.co/iEvjkYotDa
In a bizarre, angry and “unhinged” White House meeting on 18 December 2020, outside advisers to Donald Trump screamed insults at presidential aides who were resisting their plan to seize voting machines and name a special counsel in pursuit of Trump’s attempt to overturn the election.
The meeting – which the House January 6 committee in its public hearing on Tuesday described as a “heated and profane clash” – was held between those who believed the president should admit he lost the election to Joe Biden, and a group of outsiders referred to by some Trump advisers as “Team Crazy”.
They included Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani; the retired lieutenant general Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser; and a lawyer for his campaign team, Sidney Powell.
In testimony to the House January 6 committee played at the hearing, Giuliani said that at the meeting he had called the White House lawyers and aides who disagreed with that plan “a bunch of pussies”.
Eric Herschmann, a White House lawyer, said that Flynn “screamed at me that I was a quitter and kept standing up and turning around and screaming at me. I’d sort of had it with him so I yelled back, ‘Either come over or sit your effing ass back down.’”
Committee member Jamie Raskin, who co-led today’s hearing with Stephanie Murphy, condemned Donald Trump’s actions on January 6 in his closing statement.
“American carnage: that’s Donald Trump’s true legacy. His desire to overthrow the people’s election and seize the presidency, interrupting the counting of electoral college votes for the first time in American history, nearly toppled the constitutional order and brutalized hundreds and hundreds of people,” Raskin said.
“The Watergate break-in was like a cub scout meeting compared to this assault on our people and our institutions.”
Raskin argued that the most important element of the January 6 hearings is determining what actions can be taken now to prevent similar violence in the future.
“The crucial thing is the next step -- what this committee, what all of us will do to fortify our democracy against coups, political violence and campaigns to steal elections away from the people,” Raskin said.
“We need to defend both our democracy and our freedom with everything we have to declare that this American carnage ends here and now.”
In her closing statement, Liz Cheney also shared additional footage from Pat Cipollone’s interview with the committee behind closed doors on Friday.
In the clip, Cipollone said that he and a number of other senior White House officials were urging Donald Trump to call off the insurrection on January 6.
“I felt it was my obligation to continue to push for that. And others felt it was their obligation as well,” Cipollone said.
Asked whether it would have been possible for Trump to make some kind of public statement shortly after the insurrection started to call off the violence, Cipollone said yes, it would have been possible. Trump refused to do so for hours.
Cheney noted that Cipollone’s testimony will feature prominently in the committee’s hearing next week, which is expected to focus on Trump’s actions and words as the insurrection unfolded.
Trump tried to call January 6 witness, Cheney says
Liz Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the January 6 committee, said that Donald Trump himself tried to contact one of the witnesses in the investigation.
According to Cheney, the witness, who has not yet been publicly revealed as a participant in the committee’s investigation, declined the call.
Instead, the witness informed their lawyer about Trump’s attempted call. The lawyer then informed the January 6 committee, who passed the information along to the justice department.
“Let me say one more time: we will take any efforts to influence witness testimony very seriously,” Cheney said.
Cheney warned at the last hearing that at least two witnesses had been contacted by Trump allies urging them to stay loyal to the former president in their testimony to the committee.
Those efforts raise questions about potential witness tampering, which could open Trump and his allies up to criminal charges.
Former Oath Keepers spokesperson says January 6 could have 'started a new civil war'
Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesperson for the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers, said the Capitol insurrectionists had planned “an armed revolution” on January 6.
He noted that the insurrectionists set up a gallows for Mike Pence, as the vice-president oversaw the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
“I mean, people died that day,” Van Tatenhove said. “This could have been the spark that started a new civil war, and no one would have won there.”
Capitol insurrectionist Stephen Ayres said his life has changed significantly since January 6. He lost his job and had to sell his house, in addition to pleading guilty to a federal charge.
“It changed my life -- not for the good. Definitely not for the better,” Ayres said.
Asked how he feels when he sees Donald Trump continuing to peddle lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election, Ayres said, “It makes me mad because I was hanging on every word.”
Stephen Ayres, who participated in the Capitol insurrection and has pleaded guilty to one federal charge of disorderly conduct inside a restricted building, said he closely followed Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election over social media.
Liz Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the January 6 committee, asked Ayres whether it would have made a difference to him if he knew that Trump had no evidence of widespread fraud in the election.
“Oh, definitely,” Ayres said. “Who knows? I may not have come down here then.”
Ayres said Trump had gotten “everybody riled up” by telling his supporters to come to Washington on January 6, as Congress certified Joe Biden’s victory in the election.
“We basically just followed what he said,” Ayres said.
Asked when he decided to leave the Capitol on January 6, Ayres said he departed after seeing Trump’s tweet asking his supporters to leave the building.
“Basically, when President Trump put his tweet out, we literally left right after that come out,” Ayres said. He added that he might have left before then if Trump had sent his tweet earlier.
Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesperson for the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers, said he decided to leave the organization after he heard members suggest that the Holocaust wasn’t real. (That is, of course, a baseless lie.)
“I can tell you that they may not like to call themselves a militia, but they are. They’re a violent militia,” Van Tatenhove told the January 6 committee.
The Oath Keepers were one of several violent militia groups that helped orchestrate the violence on January 6, alongside the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters.
Trump ally blames president's rhetoric for January 6 death
Brad Parscale, a former senior campaign adviser to Donald Trump, said he felt “guilty” about helping him win election in the days after the Capitol insurrection.
Parscale described Trump as “a sitting president asking for civil war,” in reference to his efforts to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Responding to Parscale’s text message, fellow Trump adviser Katrina Pierson said, “You did what you felt right at the time and therefore it was right.”
Parscale responded, “Yeah, but a woman is dead.” He later added, “If I was Trump and I knew my rhetoric killed someone.”
The committee identified 10 Republican House members who attended a White House meeting on December 21 to discuss options for overturning the results of the 2020 election.
According to the committee, those members were:
Brian Babin
Andy Biggs
Matt Gaetz
Louie Gohmert
Paul Gosar
Andy Harris
Jody Hice
Jim Jordan
Scott Perry
Marjorie Taylor Greene (then a congresswoman-elect)
In his closed-door testimony before the January 6 committee, Pat Cipollone, Donald Trump’s former White House counsel,applauded the actions of Vice-President Mike Pence on that violent day.
Despite intense pressure from Trump and some of his allies, Pence refused to go along with the then-president’s plans to interfere with the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
After the Capitol attack, Pence returned to the Senate chamber on January 6 to finish the certification process, clearing the way for Biden to take the oath of office.
“I think the vice-president did the right thing. I think he did the courageous thing,” Cipollone told investigators on Friday.
“I think he did a great service to this country. And I think I suggested to somebody that he should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his actions.”
Trump made 'deliberate' plan to call for march to the Capitol, Murphy says
Committee member Stephanie Murphy shared a draft tweet written by Donald Trump encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol on January 6.
“I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House),” the draft tweet says. “Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!”
The draft tweet, obtained by the committee from the National Archives, was undated, but it was stamped with the words “president has seen”.
Murphy said, “The evidence confirms that this was not a spontaneous call to action, but rather a deliberate strategy decided upon in advance by the president.”
The committee also showed messages from some of the January 6 rally organizers indicating that they knew of the plans to march to the Capitol but kept them quiet.
Rally organizer Kylie Kremer said in one message that Trump was just going to call for the march to the Capitol “unexpectedly”.
The January 6 hearing resumed after a short break, and committee member Jamie Raskin shared additional information about collaboration between far-right extremist groups in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack.
Raskin displayed a Facebook post written by Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs on 19 December, the same day that Donald Trump sent a tweet encouraging his supporters to come to Washington on January 6 for a “wild” event.
In the post, Meggs said he had organized an “alliance” between the Oath Keepers and two other far-right militia groups, the Three Percenters and the Proud Boys.
“We have decided to work together and shut this shit down,” Meggs said in the post.
Raskin said the committee had obtained phone records showing that Meggs spoke with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for several minutes later that afternoon.
“The very next day, the Proud Boys got to work,” Raskin said.
