Capitol riot panel points to Trump; Democracy still in danger, nation warned

House Select Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney makes opening remarks Thursday evening along with Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson as the panel begins the first public hearing on its findings. More photos at arkansasonline.com/610jan6/.
(AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Select Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney makes opening remarks Thursday evening along with Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson as the panel begins the first public hearing on its findings. More photos at arkansasonline.com/610jan6/. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)


WASHINGTON -- The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night began laying out in detail the extent of former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election and keep himself in office, including testimony it has collected that Trump endorsed the hanging of his own vice president as a mob of his supporters descended on Congress.

Opening landmark hearings on Capitol Hill, the panel made the case that Trump knew his claims of election fraud were false and proceeded anyway with an unprecedented plot to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

"Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the committee. "And ultimately, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down the Capitol and subvert American democracy."

Thompson said, "Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt ... to overthrow the government." He said the violence "was no accident."

The committee was speaking to a divided America, ahead of the fall midterm elections when voters decide which party controls Congress. Most TV networks carried the hearing live; Fox News Channel did not.

Using previously unreleased video of testimony from former aides to Trump and even his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the panel sought to leave little doubt about the truth of the former president's actions. The panel's leaders said they hoped to force the nation to grapple with the reality of a dark chapter in its history, one that is still reverberating.

"Our democracy remains in danger," Thompson said. "Jan. 6 and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here."

In the audience were several lawmakers who were trapped in the House gallery during the attack.

"We want to remind people, we were there, we saw what happened," said Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. "We know how close we came to the first non-peaceful transition of power in this country."

TRUMP PROTESTS

Trump dismissed the investigation anew Thursday, declaring on social media that Jan. 6 "represented the greatest movement in the history of our country."

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who has been caught up in the probe and has defied a committee subpoena, echoed Trump. He called the panel a "scam" and labeled the investigation a political "smokescreen" for Democrats' priorities.

The session kicked off an ambitious effort by the committee, which was formed in July after Republicans blocked the creation of a nonpartisan commission to investigate the attack, to lay out for Americans the full story of an assault on U.S. democracy that led to a deadly riot, an impeachment and a crisis of confidence in the political system.

The opening night featured several revelations, including one from Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the panel. She relayed that the committee had received testimony that when Trump learned of the mob's threats to hang Vice President Mike Pence, he said, "Maybe our supporters have the right idea," adding that Pence "deserves it."

The committee also revealed that several Republican congressmen, including Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, now chair of the Freedom Caucus, asked for a presidential pardon after Jan. 6.

Cheney said the panel would lay out how Trump knew he had lost, but "engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to convince huge portions of the U.S. population [that] fraud had stolen the election."

The prime-time hearing, which unfolded in the historic Cannon House Office Building in a hall adorned with Corinthian columns and crystal chandeliers, was the first in a series of at least six planned for this month, during which the panel plans to make public its findings so far.

With a flash of TV savvy, the hearings provide the most high-profile platform yet for the committee to unfurl the complex story it has uncovered and try to grab the attention of the American public to focus on an episode in which they say democracy was teetering on the brink.

On Thursday night, the panel began laying out the tale of how a sitting president undertook unprecedented efforts to overturn a democratic election and keep himself in power, testing the guardrails of American democracy at every turn. Trump and his allies challenged President Joe Biden's victory in the courts, at statehouses and, finally, in the streets.

When one plan to keep Trump in power failed, they shifted to another, the panel began arguing. They put forward slates of pro-Trump electors in states won by Biden; they explored the seizure of voting machines; they targeted the removal of the acting attorney general; and, ultimately, they began amassing a mob to march to the Capitol to pressure Trump's own vice president to go along with the plan.

'IT'LL CHANGE HISTORY'

Given the gravity of the threat, the members of the committee see themselves as carrying out a critical and historic function, much as landmark fact-finding committees did before them, investigating the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, the Watergate scandal in 1973 and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

At a time of intense political polarization, members of the panel took pains to back up their assertions with clear evidence, turning frequently to videotaped testimony to drive home their points. When Thompson outlined how Trump had been told repeatedly that there was no election fraud, he added, "Don't believe me?"

Then he turned to a video showing former Attorney General William Barr testifying that he knew the president's claims were false, and told him as much.

"I told the president it was b*******," Barr relayed to the committee's investigators. "I didn't want to be a part of it."

The committee also played video of a Trump campaign adviser, Jason Miller, and of Ivanka Trump acknowledging the same facts.

Ivanka, a former White House adviser, said she accepted that there was no evidence of fraud and that her father had lost the 2020 election.

She was asked in a deposition what impression she had when Barr told Trump and his advisers there was no fraud. "It affected my perspective," she said. "I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying."

The panel also played a video montage of the attack that unfolded at the Capitol, revisiting the sights and sounds of rioters storming the seat of American government.

Members of the panel promised to reveal evidence that would fundamentally change the public's understanding of a dark day in American history and bring into clearer focus exactly who is to blame.

"It'll change history," predicted Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the committee.

The hearings are unfolding five months before midterm elections in which the Democrats' majority is at stake, at a time when they are eager to draw a sharp contrast between themselves and the Republicans who enabled and embraced Trump, including the members of Congress who abetted his efforts to overturn the election.

The committee has investigated deeply and broadly, interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses and accumulating more than 140,000 documents. It has assembled a staff of about 45 employees, including more than a dozen former federal prosecutors and two former U.S. attorneys, and it is spending more than $1.6 million per quarter on its work.

GOP GIVES NO GROUND

Many Republicans in Congress, whose leaders initially supported the idea of an independent commission, have spent the months since the assault trying to rewrite its history and downplay its severity.

They ramped up their fight Thursday morning, when the party's House leaders took turns at a Capitol Hill news conference bashing the panel's work as "illegitimate" and a "sham."

"Is Nancy Pelosi going to hold a prime-time hearing on inflation?" said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican. "I'd sure like to see that. I think a lot of Americans would. Is Nancy Pelosi going to hold a prime-time hearing on lowering gas prices?"

But the committee said the venue was needed to try to express to as many Americans as possible just how grave a threat democracy faced.

"The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over," Thompson warned. "There are those in this country who thirst for power but have no love or respect for what makes America great."

Four officers who defended the Capitol and suffered injuries watched the hearing, one wearing a shirt with the definition of the word "insurrection" on it. Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Brian Sicknick, a Capitol Police officer who died after fighting off the mob, also attended.

They were there in part out of support for the testimony of a Capitol Police officer, Caroline Edwards, who was injured as rioters breached barricades and stormed into the building.

The hearing also featured the testimony of a documentary filmmaker, Nick Quested, who was embedded with the right-wing group the Proud Boys during the attack. Several members of that group have been charged with conspiracy and sedition.

Other hearings are expected to focus on various aspects of the committee's investigation, including Trump's promotion of the claim that the election had been stolen, despite being told that was false; his attempts to misuse the Justice Department to help him cling to power; a pressure campaign on Pence to throw out legitimate electoral votes for Biden; the way the mob was assembled and how it descended on Washington on Jan. 6; and the fact that Trump did nothing to stop the violence for more than three hours while the assault was underway.

SCRAMBLE FOR PARDONS

Rep. Perry, one of the leading figures in the effort to throw out Pennsylvania's votes, was one of several members of Congress who contacted the White House seeking a pardon from Trump in the days after the attack on the Capitol, the vice chair of the House panel said Thursday night.

Cheney referenced Perry, one of Trump's most loyal allies in Congress, and one who took several steps to try to overturn the election results -- including by trying to install an ally at the Department of Justice who would support Trump's claims about a stolen election.

When those efforts failed, Perry led the charge Jan. 6 to block congressional certification of Pennsylvania's election outcome. Hours after the Capitol riot, with blood and broken windows marking the building, Perry urged Congress to throw out his state's nearly 7 million votes.

"As you will see, Rep. Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after January 6th to seek a presidential pardon," Cheney said. "Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election."

Asked about the assertion, a Perry spokesman called it "a ludicrous and soulless lie."

Information for this article was contributed by Luke Broadwater of The New York Times; by Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Farnoush Amiri, Kevin Freking, Michael Balsamo and Alanna Durkin Richer of The Associated Press; and by Jeremy Roebuck and Jonathan Tamari of The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS).

  photo  U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn, right, Sandra Garza, the longtime partner of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, center, and Serena Liebengood, widow of Capitol Police officer Howie Liebengood, left, react as a video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is played during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack is held on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
 
 
  photo  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of Calif., left, speaks during a news conference on the House Jan. 6 Committee, Thursday, June 9, 2022, with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
 
 
  photo  This combination of photos shows the members of the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6, attack. Top row from left, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. Bottom row from left, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. (AP Photo)
 
 
  photo  A heavily armed police officer stands guard outside the U.S. Capitol building, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
 
 
  photo  U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger talks to a U.S. Capitol Police officer as he walks on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
 
 
  photo  U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn, right, and Sandra Garza, the long-time partner of Capitol Hill Police Officer Brian Sicknick who died shortly after the Jan. 6 attack, left, react as a video of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is played during a public hearing of the House select committee investigating the attack is held on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
 
 
  photo  An activist holds a sign next to a line of people waiting to enter the Cannon Building, Thursday, June 9, 2022, in Washington. The House select committee will have its first public hearing in its investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing is expected to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
 
 
  photo  Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., left, listens as Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., gives an opening statement as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
 
 


  photo  Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards and Nick Quested, a documentary filmmaker, testify at Thursday’s hearing. Edwards suffered serious injuries as she battled the mob that pushed into the Capitol. (The New York Times/Doug Mills)
 
 


  photo  Ivanka Trump, in video testimony shown at the hearing, said she accepted that there was no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election and that her father had lost. (AP/House Select Committee)
 
 



 Gallery: House's January 6 panel makes its case



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