WASHINGTON – The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol on Tuesday plans to detail President Donald J. Trump’s personal involvement in a pressure campaign on officials government to overthrow the will of the electorate as well as an audacious plan to corrupt the electoral college in seven states to keep him in power.
At its fourth hearing this month, scheduled for 1 p.m., the committee will seek to demonstrate a repeated insistence on the panel: that Mr. Trump knew – or should have knew – that he lied about a stolen election, and that the plans he pursued to stay in office, were wrong, but he pushed them anyway.
The committee also plans to highlight, in potentially emotional testimony, the lens and death threats that election workers suffered because of Mr. Trump’s lies.
“We will present evidence of the president’s involvement in this plan,” Representative Adam B. Schiff, a Democrat of California and a member of the panel, told CNN. “We will also give evidence again of what his lawyers think about the plan. And we will show courageous state officials who have stood up and said they will not go with this plan to call the legislatures back to session or announce the results to Joe Biden. . “
Mr. Schiff, who will play a key role in Tuesday’s hearing, told The Los Angeles Times that the panel will release new information about the extensive involvement of Mark Meadows, Mr. Trump’s last chief of staff. Among that evidence, Mr. Schiff said, would be text messages revealing that Mr. Meadows wanted to send “Make America Great Again” autographed hats to people conducting an audit of the Georgia election. .
Subject of House Committee Hearing on January 6
The first witness to the hearing will be Rusty Bowers, a Republican who speaks in the Arizona House of Representatives. Mr. Bowers is under pressure to overturn his state’s election from Mr. Trump; Rudolph W. Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney; and even Virginia Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas.
Mr. Bowers will describe the pressure campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies, according to a committee aide. He will also describe the harassment he suffered before and after January 6, and the impact it had on his family, the aide said.
The panel will then hear evidence from Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, and Gabriel Sterling, the chief executive of the secretary of state’s office, who were forced to overturn their state’s election results. In a phone call, Mr. Trump pushed Mr. Raffensperger to “Find” gives him enough votes to put the status in his column and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense”.
Finally, the committee will hear from Shaye Moss, a Georgia election officer who was once the target of a right-wing smear campaign.
Ms. Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who both handled votes in Atlanta in the 2020 election for the Fulton County board of elections, have filed a lawsuit Right-wing conspiracy site The Gateway Pundit, which published dozens of false stories about them. The stories described the two women as “crooked Democrats” and claimed that they “pulled out suitcases full of ballots and started counting those ballots without an election monitor. in room.”
Investigations conducted by the Georgia secretary of state’s office found no wrongdoing by the two women.
The campaign to pressure state officials took place while the Trump campaign was hosting wrong group of electors in the seven swing states led by Joseph R. Biden Jr. won, the commission and federal prosecutors investigated how such interceptors were used by Trump allies in an attempt to disrupt the normal workings of Congress certifying votes. of the Electoral College on January 6. .
Wednesday’s hearing comes as the committee continues to build its case against Mr. Trump, presenting evidence of how he spread lies about the election results, then raised hundreds of millions of dollars. dollars from those lies and how he tried to stay in office by pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to deny legitimate electoral votes.
The committee is continuing to gather evidence as it holds hearings. The panel recently sent a letter to Ms. Thomas, who goes by the nickname Ginni, asking to interview her about her contacts with John Eastman, a conservative attorney who has advised Mr. reversed the election, and then tried unsuccessfully. pardon.
“We believe you may have information regarding John Eastman’s plans and activities in connection with our investigation,” the panel wrote to Ms. Thomas in a letter obtained by The New York Times. Times obtained.
As the committee explores how Mr. Trump’s lies prompted death threats against election workers, a member of the panel revealed on Sunday some of the factors he had to deal with. suffer. Lawmaker, Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican Party of Illinois, post on twitter a letter threatening to kill his family.
“This threat has arrived, it has been sent to my house,” Mr Kinzinger said on ABC’s “This week.” He added: “We received it a few days ago and it threatened to execute us. me, as well as my wife and 5 month old baby. We have never seen or had anything like it.”
