Fraud claim gripped Trump, panel hears

Ex-AG Barr says he wanted no part of it

Former Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt is sworn in as a hearing by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues, Monday, June 13, 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington.  (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)
Former Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt is sworn in as a hearing by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues, Monday, June 13, 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool via AP)


WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's closest campaign advisers, top government officials and even his family were dismantling his false claims of 2020 election fraud ahead of Jan. 6, but the defeated president seemed "detached from reality" and clinging to outlandish theories to stay in power, the committee investigating the Capitol attack was told Monday.

With gripping testimony, the panel is laying out in step-by-step fashion how Trump ignored his own campaign team's data as one state after another flipped to Joe Biden, and instead latched on to conspiracy theories, court cases and his own declarations of victory rather than having to admit defeat.

Witnesses described how Trump's unsubstantiated claims of election fraud escalated and transformed into marching orders that summoned supporters to Washington and then sent them to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to block Biden's victory.

"He's become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff," testified former Attorney General William Barr in his interview with the committee.

Barr called the voting fraud claims "bull****," "bogus" and "idiotic" and resigned in the aftermath. "I didn't want to be a part of it."


The House Jan. 6 committee spent the morning hearing delving into Trump's claims of election fraud and the countless ways those around him tried to convince the defeated Republican president they were not true, and that he had simply lost the election.

The witnesses Monday, mostly Republicans and many testifying in pre-recorded videos, described in blunt terms and sometimes exasperated detail how Trump refused to take the advice of those closest to him, including his family members. As the people around him splintered into a "team normal" headed by former campaign manager Bill Stepien and others led by Trump confidant Rudy Giuliani, the president chose his side.


Barr described three meetings with Trump -- on Nov. 23, Dec. 1 and Dec. 14 -- in which the then-president persisted in claiming that the election was marred by widespread fraud and prodded Barr and the Justice Department to act in Trump's interests rather than to independently evaluate claims of criminal conduct.

By Dec. 14, Barr said, he concluded that Trump had "become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff." He recalled Trump handing him a report on allegations of hacked voting machines that had been designed to steal the election for Joe Biden -- a report Barr described as "very amateurish" and lacking evidence.

Later that day, Barr tendered his resignation -- which Trump publicly announced on Twitter that night.

"My opinion then and my opinion now is that the election was not stolen by fraud," Barr said in the deposition. "And I haven't seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that."

On election night, Stepien said, Trump was "growing increasingly unhappy" and refusing to accept the "grim outlook."

Son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to steer Trump away from Giuliani and his far-flung theories of voter fraud. The president would have none of it.

The back-and-forth intensified in the run-up to Jan. 6. Former Justice Department official Richard Donoghue recalled breaking down one claim after another -- from rumors of a truckload of ballots in Pennsylvania to a missing suitcase of ballots in Georgia -- and telling Trump "much of the info you're getting is false."

Still, he pressed on with his false claims even after dozens of court cases collapsed.

On Monday, an unrepentant Trump blasted the hearings in his familiar language as "ridiculous and treasonous" and repeated his claims.

The former president, mulling another run for the White House, defended the Capitol attack as merely Americans seeking "to hold their elected officials accountable."

Nine people died in the riot and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol police. More than 800 people have been arrested, and members of two extremist groups have been indicted on rare sedition charges over their roles leading the charge into the Capitol.

NEW INFORMATION

During the hearing, the panel also provided new information about how Trump's fundraising machine collected some $250 million with his campaigns to "Stop the Steal" and others in the aftermath of the November election. One plea for cash went out 30 minutes before the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

The Trump campaign sent as many as 25 emails a day seeking donations, including some to an "Official Election Defense Fund" that, according to campaign officials, did not actually exist other than as a marketing tactic. Instead, much of the money was funneled to the Save America PAC and in turn to groups affiliated with Trump allies. More than $200,000, the panel said Monday, was spent on Trump's hotel business.

"Not only was there the big lie, there was the big ripoff," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., opened Monday's hearing saying Trump "betrayed the trust of the American people" and "tried to remain in office when people had voted him out."

As the hearings play out for the public, they are also being watched by one of the most important viewers, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. No sitting or former president has ever faced such an indictment.

"I am watching," Garland said Monday at a news briefing at the Justice Department, even if he may not watch all the hearings live. "And I can assure you the Jan. 6 prosecutors are watching all of the hearings as well."

Biden was getting updates but not watching "blow by blow," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

Asked Monday whether Biden supported charging Trump with a crime based on what has come out of the hearings, Jean-Pierre added that the decision would be up to Garland. "The president has been very clear," she said. "The Department of Justice is independent."

KEY ABSENCE

Stepien was to be a key in-person witness Monday but abruptly backed out of appearing live because his wife went into labor. Stepien, who is still close to Trump, had been subpoenaed to appear. He is now a top campaign adviser to Trump-endorsed House candidate Harriet Hageman, who is challenging committee vice-chair Rep. Liz Cheney in the Wyoming Republican primary.

The panel marched ahead after a morning scramble and delay, with witness after witness saying Trump embraced and repeated his claims about the election although those closest told him the theories of stolen ballots or rigged voting machines were simply not true.

Stepien and senior adviser Jason Miller described how the festive mood at the White House on election night turned grim as Fox News announced Trump had lost the state of Arizona to Joe Biden, and aides worked to counsel Trump on what to do next.

But he ignored their advice, choosing to listen instead to Giuliani, who was described as inebriated by several witnesses. Giuliani issued a general denial on Monday, rejecting "all falsehoods" he said were being said about him.

Stepien said, "My belief, my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted, it's too early to tell, too early to call the race."

But Trump "thought I was wrong. He told me so."

Barr, who had also testified in last week's blockbuster hearing, said Trump was "as mad as I'd ever seen him" when the attorney general later explained that the Justice Department would not take sides in the election.

Barr said when he would tell Trump "how crazy some of these allegations were, there was never -- there was never -- an indication of interest in what the actual facts were."

Other senior Trump advisers also were seen in videotaped depositions describing the stolen-election theories as unsound, or worse. Matthew Morgan, general counsel for Trump's campaign, told the panel that the campaign's legal team concluded within weeks of the election that any fraud allegations were "not sufficient" to reverse Biden's victory.

White House lawyer Eric Herschmann was even more blunt in describing one theory Trump and his allies promoted -- that one election vendor's machines were programmed to flip votes to Biden: "What they were proposing, I thought, was nuts," he said.

For the past year, the committee has been investigating the most violent attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812, which some believe posed a grave threat to democracy.

THE 'RED MIRAGE'

Monday's hearing also featured live witnesses, including Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News Channel political editor who declared on election n/ight that Arizona was being won by Biden.

Stirewalt explained a key dynamic behind the 2020 presidential election returns -- the so-called "red mirage." Because Trump had encouraged his supporters to vote in person on Election Day, and not to vote by mail, early returns would be disproportionately Republican, with margins narrowing once more mail ballots were counted later in the process.

Trump would later cite those narrowing margins as proof of voter fraud. But Stepien testified that Trump had been briefed on how the election returns would be processed -- in effect, that he had been warned about the "red mirage" in advance.

Stepien said Trump was also warned that his strategy of discouraging mail voting and urging his supporters to vote only in person would backfire. He described a meeting with Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in which both men told the president that mail voting would "not be a bad thing for his campaign" -- noting that Republicans enjoyed a ground-game advantage and that urging voters to cast their ballots only on Election Day "leaves a lot to chance."

Also appearing was the former U.S. attorney in Atlanta, B.J. "BJay" Pak, who abruptly resigned after Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn his defeat. Pak described investigating one of the false claims promulgated by Giuliani, of a "suitcase full of ballots" inside a counting center in Atlanta. In fact, Pak said, the case was an official lockbox and "nothing irregular" was found. "The allegations made by Mr. Giuliani were false," he said.

The panel also heard from elections lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg, who discussed the norms of election campaign challenges, and former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, the only Republican on the city's election board, who told the panel that regardless of how "fantastical" some of the claims that Trump and his team were making, the city officials investigated. He discussed facing threats after Trump criticized him in a tweet.

Monday's hearing was the second of seven that the committee is expected to hold this month. The committee's third public hearing, on Wednesday, will focus on Trump and his allies' pressure campaign at the Justice Department to overturn the results of the presidential election. It is expected to feature several former Trump administration officials, including Donoghue and former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen.

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Mascaro, Mary Claire Jalonick, Kevin Freking, Michael Balsamo, Farnoush Amiri and Jill Colvin of The Associated Press as well as Devlin Barrett, Marianna Sotomayor, Amy B Wang, Mariana Alfaro, Rosalind Helderman, Amy Gardner, Matthew Brown and Isaac Stanley-Becker of The Washington Post.

  photo  In this image from video released by the House Select Committee, former Attorney General William Barr speaks during a video deposition to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, that was shown as an exhibit at the hearing Monday, June 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
 
 
  photo  Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., followed by Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., walk to the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022, for the public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
 
 
  photo  A video of former President Donald Trump speaking is displayed as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)
 
 
  photo  House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., right, joined by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., left, speaks to reporters as they leave the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
 
 
  photo  Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., followed by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., walk to the hearing room on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022, for the public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
 
 
  photo  In this image from video released by the House Select Committee, Rudolph Giuliani speaks during a video deposition to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, that was shown as an exhibit at the hearing Monday, June 13, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (House Select Committee via AP)
 
 
  photo  Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., listens as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
 
 
  photo  Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., second from right, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., second from left, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., right, stand during a short break as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, on Capitol Hill, Monday, June 13, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool)
 
 
  photo  Former Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone and U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Harry Dunn watch as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
 
 


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