Transcripts For CSPAN January 6 Hearings Ninth Hearing On Capitol Attack 20221013

Cspan. Org january 6. Our coverage of the january 6 coittee and all cpaprogram is sponsored as a Public Service by theable Television Industry and these television providers. Up next, we will take you back now when the Committee First convened earlier this afternoon at 1 p. M. Eastern. Mr. Thompson the select committee to investigate january 6 attack on the United States capital will be in order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare the committee in recess at any point. Pursuant to House Authority regulation 10, the chair announces the committees approval to release the deposition material presented during todays hearing. Good afternoon. May god bless the United States of america. Four months ago, this committee started to present our findings to you, the American People. From the beginning, we understood that some people watching those proceedings would assume that the committees investigation was a part of partisan exercise. That is why at ask those who are skeptical of our work, to simply to listen. Listen to the evidence, to hear the testimony with a open mind and to let the facts speak for themselves before reaching judgment. Over the course of these hearings, the evidence has proven that there were multipart plan by former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election. Donald trump lost his bid for reelection as shown for the testimony from some of the president closest allies and advisors. He knew he lost. Despite this knowledge, he went to court to contest the 2020 election and he lost in court. Electoral college met and declared joe biden the winner. Donald trump continued to pull out stops in his attempt to stay in power. What donald trump proceeded to do after the election is something no president has done before in our country. In a staggering material of his older, donald trump attempted a plan that led to an attack on a pillar of our democracy. It is still hard to believe. The facts and testimony are here and undisputed. How do we know this . How have we been able to present such a clear picture of what to lease . Placed . Because of the testimony we have heard and presented to you to these proceedings. Because of the documentary evidence we gathered and made available directly to you, the American People. When you look back at what has come throughout the committees work, the most striking fact is that, all this evidence comes almost entirely from republicans. The evidence, that as we merge did not come from democrats or opponents from donald trump. Instead, look at who has written and testify and produced evidence. Who hasnt there been . Aides who worked for donald trump for years. Republican state officials and legislatures. Republican electors. Chairwoman of the Republican National committee. Political professionals who work at the highest levels of the Trump Campaign. Trump appointees who served in the most senior positions in the Justice Department. Trump staff and advisors in the white house, members of his family, his own white House Counsel. I have served in council a long time. I can tell you, it is tougher any congressional investigation to obtain evidence likely received. Leased at all, such a detailed view into a president s into circle. Not all of these witnesses were thrilled to talk to us. Some put up a fight. Ultimately, the vast majority cooperated with our investigation. What we have shown you over the last four months has been centered on the evidence, evidence that has come overwhelmingly republican witnesses. I say to you again as i did in june, this investigation is not about politics. It is not about party. It is about the facts, plain and simple. It is about making sure our government functions under the rule of law and our constitution demands. Today, as the previous proceedings, my colleagues and i will present new evidence, that includes testimony from additional republicans who served in the Trump Administration. Never before seen footage of congressional leaders on january 6 working to coordinate the response for the violence and ensure the peoples of business went forward. New materials produce to the committee by the secret service. Details about ongoing threat to the american democracy. Today is will also be grounded in the facts. It will not look exactly like all of our other hearings. We will take a step back and look at the evidence in a broader context, providing a summary of key facts we have uncovered. Facts relevant to former President Trumps state of mind about his motivation and his intent. What did President Trump know . What was he told . What was his personal and substantial role in the multipart plan to overturn the election russian mar for. For those of you tuning in the first time will summarize some of the most important facts and we will encourage you to go online to what our hearing in full. One were different about today. Pursuant to the notice circulated prior to todays proceedings, we are convened today, not as a hearing, but as a formal business meeting so in addition to evidence, we can potentially hold a Committee Vote on further invested action based upon the evidence. Before we get to the evidence that, i would recognize our distinguished vice chair, liz cheney of wyoming for any Opening Statement she cared to offer. Ms. Cheney much has happened since our last public hearing on july 21. We received new and voluminous recommendation from the secret service, which we continue to analyze. We received a new witness testimony, including efforts to obstruct our investigation and conceal key facts. According to public reporting, the department of justice has been active in pursuing issues identified in our prior hearings. Our committee may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the department of justice. We recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prostitution. The preamble to our national constitution. Establish justice. In our nations judiciary and our Nations Department of justice have that responsibility. A key element of this committees responsibility is to propose reforms to prevent january 6 from ever happening again. We have already proposed and in the house has passed a bill to amend the electoral account act, to help ensure no other future plot to overturn an election can succeed. We will make further recommendations in our other report based on the evidence you will hear today. Our hearings last summer began with a outline of president s trounced plan to try plan to overturn the 2020 election. With more than 20 hours of evidence. Today we will see new evidence, as the chairman said, we will also synthesize evidence you have seen before. The evidence presented so far has shown is the essential cause of january 6 was a oneman, donald trump, who many others followed. None of this would have happened without him. He was personally and substantially involved in all of this. Exactly how didnt oneman calls all of this. Because all of this. We will focus on President Trumps state of mind. His intent. Motivation. How he inferred others to do his bidding. How another january 6 can happen again if we do not take actions to prevent it. As you review our evidence today, i will suggest a focus on the following point. First. President trump had a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before election day. Before he knew the Election Results. He made the stolen election claims on Election Night against the advice of his campaign without any evidence at hand. Over the next two months, his salt defined those who will help him invent and spread lies about the fraud. Any of those who stepped forward to help, including Rudy Giuliani , knew they never had real evidence sufficient to change the Election Results. On the evening of january 5, they admitted they were still trying to find that evidence. As a result of making false claims of Election Fraud, mr. Giulianis right to practice law has been suspended. Please recognize that President Donald Trump was in a unique position. Better informed about the absence of widespread Election Fraud than almost any other american. President trumps own Campaign Experts told him that there was no evidence of supported claim. His own Ss Department appointees investigated the elections claims and told dell in the court had ruled against him. He had all this information but he made the conscious choice to claim fraudulently that the election was stolen manufacturer was stolen. To summon tens of thousands of supporters to washington, knowing they were angry, knowing that some of them were armed, he sent them to the capital. Then as the right was underway, he incited his supporters to further violence by publicly condemning his Vice President. Then he refused for hours to disband his writing supporters and instruct them to leave the capital. Even when he was begged repeatedly to do so. None of this is normal or acceptable or lawful in our republic. Third, please consider today who had a hand in leading the efforts to overturn the election, Vice President pence, bill barr, jeff rosen and others at the department of justice. State rep and officials, white house staff who blocked proposals to mobilize the military to seize Voting Machines and run new elections. Capitol police aided by metropolitan police. Other federal on board and the National Guard who arrived later in the afternoon. Why would americans assume that our constitution and institutions in our republic are invulnerable to another attack . Our institutions only hold the men and women when men and women of good faith make them hold. Any future president inclined to attempt what donald trump did in 2020 has learned not to install people who can stand in the way. The ruling of a record because we as citizens pledged to accept and honor them. Most importantly, our president who has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws. What happens when the president disregards the Court Rulings as illegitimate . When he disregards the rule of law . That breaks our republic. Finally, as you viewed the evidence today, also consider this, President Trump knew that his Election Fraud claims were false. He admitted he lost the election. Claims that President Trump actually thought the election was stolen are not supported by fact and are not a defense. There is no defense that donald trump was duped or irrational. No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in the constitutional republic. Our nations federal judges are sworn to do impartial justice to preserve our constitution and reserve our union. Dozens of these judges have been addressing january 6 cases and many have given us plain, unmistakable warnings about the direction of our republic. Highranking members of congress and ste officials know rfectly well the claim of fraud was and is untrue. They were so afraid of losing eir power they wont say so. It has to be Crystal Clear that it is not patriotis iis not standing up for america to stand up for one man who knows full well that he lost. The violence and lawlessness of january 6 was unjustifiable. Our nation cannot only punish the foot soldiers who stormed our capital. Those who planned to overturn our election and brought us to the point of violence must also be accountable. With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former president , we chip away at the foundation of our republic. Indefensible conduct, in his physical conduct is excused without accountability, it becomes normal and it will recur. As we walked the evidence today, please consider where our nation is in its history. Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years. Most people in most places on earth have not been free. America is an exception and america continues only because we bind ourselves to our principles and our constitution. More important than any single american who has ever lived. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i go back. Without objections, we recognize an Opening Statement. Very shortly after the election, we begin this meaning by returning to election november of 23rd november 23 of 2020. We presented testimony about how the Election Results were expected to come in that type. In certain states, ballots cast by mail before election day would be counted only after the polls closed that evening. That meant the Election Results would not be known for some time although President Trump Campaign Manager, House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy and Jared Kushner has advised donald trump to encourage mailin voting. We had a very robust get out the vote everett and mailin ballots can be a good thing. There is this one meeting in particular. All of this in which we made our case for why we believed mailin voting not to be a bad thing for his campaign. The president s mind was made up. It was expected before the election that the initial towns, those votes cast on election day would be more heavily republican. This would create a socalled red mirage. As a result of the absentee ballots that were counted, there could be trends toward Vice President biden as those mailin ballots were counted. Donald trump advisors specifically said he did not have a factual basis to declare victory. He should wait for the remaining balance to be counted. Here is Campaign Manager bill stepien. It was far too early to be making any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted. My recommendation was to say that the votes were still being counted. Too early to tell, too early to call the race. President trump to declare victory in the late hours of Election Night. Not only did he declare victory, he also called for the ongoing count of votes to just stop. Stopping the count would have violated both federal and state laws and also disenfranchised millions of voters who lawfully cast their vote. He called for that action anyway. Here is what he said. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election. We want all voting to stop. We now know more about President Trumps intention for Election Night. The evidence showed that his fathers victory speech was planned well in advance before any votes had been counted. It was a premeditated plan by the president who declared victory no matter what the actual result was. He made a plan to stay in office before election day. The Vice President staff was concerned with what donald trump might do on Election Night. They took steps to ensure that mr. Pentz would not echo a fuss victory announcement from President Trump. Here is what the Vice President s counsel, greg jake but greg jacobs told us. . It indicated to me that there was a possibility they would be a declaration of victory. He was trying to figure out a way for the Vice President to be thrust into position. Needing to opine on that what he might not have sufficient information to do so. Following this, he drafted a memo which the select committee got from the national archive, the memo was sent on november 3 election day and advised it is essential that the Vice President not be perceived by the public as having questions concerning electoral votes prior to the full development of all relative fact. Mr. Trump also consulted with one of his outside advisors about the strategy for Election Night. The select committee got this preprepared statement from the national archives. As you can see, the draft statement which was sent on october 31 declares we have an election today and i one. The memo specifically indicates a plan that only the votes counted by the election day deadline there is no election day deadline that would matter. Everyone knew that bell county would lawfully continue past election day, claiming the county election that would stop. As these were a key part of President Trumps premeditated plan. On election day, just after 5 00 p. M. , mr. Fitton indicated that he spoke about the statement, sending along again, just talk to them about the draft below. This plan to declare victory President Trumps for Campaign Manager. President trump planned aearly as july that he would say he won thelection even if he lost. And just a few days before the election, steve bannon, a former strategist and outside advisor to President Trump spoke to a group of his associates. From china. That does not mean he is the winner. They are going to have a natural disadvantage and trump is going to take advantage. You wake up wednesday morning and it is going to be a firestorm. I am directing the attorney general to shut down all valid places. Mr. Ben refused to testify in our investigation. He is awaiting sentencing. He indicates that mr. Bennett had advanced knowledge of mr. Trumps intent to declare victory falsely on Election Night but also that mr. Bennet knew about mr. Trumps planning for january 6. Here is what bannon said on january 5. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. I will tell you this. It will not happen like you think it will happen. All i can say is strapped in. You have made this happen. Another close associate of donald trump apparently knew of mr. Trumps intentions as well. Roger stone is a political operative for dirty tricks. In november 2019, he was convicted of lying to congress and sentenced to more than three years in prison. He is a longtime advisor to President Trump and was in communication with President Trump throughout 2020. Mr. Trump pardoned roger stone on december 23 of 2020. Recently, the select committee of mr. Stone before and after the election from filmmaker Christopher Gill branson. Reppo for the lesson, here is roger stone, talking about what President Trump would do after the election. Lets just hope we are celebrating. I suspect it will still be up in the air. When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is 9 10 of the law. We won. No, you are wrong. You. The select committee called mr. Stone as a witness but he invoked his fifth amendment right against selfincrimination. On the advice of counsel, i respectfully declined to answer your question on the basis of the fifth amendment. Did you have any role in the planning of the violence for january 6 . Once again i will assert my fifth amendment right and declined to your question. Although we dont yet have all of the relative records, even stones own social media posts acknowledge that he spoke with donald trump on december 27 as preparations for january 6 were underway. In this post, you can see how roger stone talked about his conversations with President Trump. He wrote i also told the president exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and to ensure donald trump continues as our president. As we know by now, the idea for a special counsel was not just an idle suggestion, it was something President Trump actually tried to do earlier that month. We know that roger stone was at the Willard Hotel on january 5 and sixth. We know from other witness testimony that President Trump asked his chief of staff, mark meadows to speak with roger stone and general Michael Flynn that night. In addition to his connection to President Trump, roger stone maintained extensive connections to two groups responsible for violently attacking the capital. The oath keepers and the proud boys. Individuals from both of these organizations have been charged with a crime of seditious conspiracy. What is seditious conspiracy . It is the conspiracy to use violent force against the United States, to oppose the Lawful Authority of the United States. Multiple associates of roger stone from both the oath keepers and proud boys have been charged with this crime. Both associates of roger stone including joshua james have pled guilty to this crime. We know that at least seven oath keepers who have been criminally charged provided personal security for roger stone or were seen with him on january 6 or in the weeks leading up to january 6. For example, joshua james, the leader of the alabama oath keepers provided security for roger stone and was with him on january 5. This is the picture of the two of them together on january 5. James entered the capital on january 6, assaulted a Police Officer earlier this year, he pled guilty to assistant seditious conspiracy and obstruction of congress. Another example is the married couple kelly and connie meigs. Kelly meigs was the leader of the florida chapter of the oath keepers. Both he and his wife provided security for roger stone and both are charged with leading a military style stack attack of oath keepers. Attacking the capital on january 6. Perhaps even more disturbing is roger stones Close Association with the National Chairman of the proud boys. Roger stones connection with henrique and the proud boys is well documented. By video evidence, phone records the select committee has obtained, he has been charged with multiple crimes concerning the attack on january six, including seditious conspiracy. During the attack, he sent a message to other plaut proud boys claiming we did that. He also visited the white house on december 12. Later that day, he posted a disturbing video claiming credit for the attack. This video posted on january 6 was apparently created prior to the attack. This big lie, President Trumps effort to convince americans he had won the 2020 election began before the Election Results even came in. It was intentional, it was premeditated, it was not based on Election Results or any evidence of actual fraud affecting the results or any actual problems with Voting Machines. It was a plan contact concocted in advance to convince his supporters that he won. And the people who seemingly knew about that plan in advance would ultimately play a significant role in the events of january 6. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Very shortly after the election, the Trump Campaign recognized they had likely lost of the election and they informed donald trump of that fact. Even before the networks called the race for President Biden, his chances of pulling out were virtually nonexistent. President trump knew it. You think anybody ever told the president that he had lost and that there wasnt a chance of him winning . I know that when the networks called it, that afternoon, at some point, i and a handful of other people went and sat by the president and communicated that the odds of us prevailing in the legal challenges were very small. In your judgment, what were the chances of President Trump winning the election . After that point . None. At times, President Trump the reality of his loss. Although he publicly claimed he won the election, privately he admitted that joe biden would take over as president. Because there was already a discussion going on in the president says words to the effect that we need to let that issue go to the next guy. Meaning President Biden. I remember may be a week after the election was called, i popped into the oval just to give the president the headlines and see how he was doing. He looked at the tv and said can you believe i lost to this guy . Following that conversation, driving back to the white house, does the president really think that he lost . A lot of times he will tell me that he lost because he wants to keep fighting it. He thinks there may be enough to overturn the election. Knowing that he had lost and that he has only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business. One key example is this. President trump issued an order for largescale u. S. Troop withdrawals. He disregarded the consequences for federal government on the fight against isis and al qaeda terrorists. Knowing he was leaving office, he acted immediately and signed this order on november 11 which would have required the immediate withdrawal of troops from somalia and afghanistan all to be complete before the Biden Inauguration on january 20. You watch these cliffs and recall that this was the National Security advisor to the Vice President has served as chief of staff for President Trump. General milley was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff at the pentagon. Are you familiar with a memo that the president reported in 2020, ordering that troops be removed from afghanistan and somalia . Yes. I think we might have seen some things where this memo or something says here is your task, to get u. S. Forces out of somalia or out of afghanistan. When you first interviewed colonel douglas mcgregor, is it fair to say you discussed this decision of withdrawing from himalaya and afghanistan . I am sure that was part of it. The position that he was taking over there was a Senior Advisor to the secretary of defense. Yes. On that same day, just so i there, he responded saying dod leadership is not going to take any of the steps without that. I explained in language this was my answer to him, he said the president wants this to happen. He has to write an order. I sketched on a piece of paper for him some key statements. The president direct. This is boilerplate language. It was myself and wanted my assistance. The president signed it and boom, it is over. Was it by auto pen or the president himself signing it . It was the president. Who obtained that signature . I did. It is odd. It is not standard, it is potentially dangerous. I personally thought it was militarily not feasible and i proceeded to tell mcgregor that if i ever saw anything like that , i would do something physical. I thought that was a tremendous disservice to the nation. That is very contested issue. I appreciate the concerns. The immediate departure would have been catastrophic. It is the same thing with President Biden. It would have been a debacle. Keep in mind, the order was for an immediate withdrawal. It would have been catastrophic. Yet, President Trump signed the order. These are the highly consequential actions of a president who knows his term will shortly end. At the same time President Trump was acknowledging privately that he lost the election, he was hearing there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities sufficient to change the outcome. And remember a call with mr. Meadows where mr. Meadows was asking me what i was finding and if i was finding anything. I remember sharing with him that we were not finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states. When was that conversation . Probably in november, mid to. I am thinking it was before my child was born. What was mr. Meadows reaction to that information . I believe the words he used was so that it would be our job to track it down and come up dry because the allegation did not prove to be true. We would have to relate to the news that someone told you about those votes nothing came through. It will be our job as the truth telling squad. That is not a fun job. It is an easy adoptive telling the present about allegations, it is harder to be telling him on the back and that is not true. What is generally discussed on the topic was whether the fraud, abuse or irregularities if aggravated, would that be outcome determined . I think everyone in the room were assured that it was not sufficient to be outcome determined. It is the right of any candidate to litigate genuine election disputes. Nobody argues that but President Trumps litigation was completely unsuccessful. We told you the Committee Identified a total of 62 election lawsuits filed by the Trump Campaign and allies between november 4 and january 6 of 2021. Those cases resulted in 61 losses and only a single victim requested not affect the outcome for any candidate. The claims were not supported by any sufficient evidence of fraud or irregularities. In fact, they were baseless as judged repeated judges repeatedly recognized. In none of these 62 cases was President Trump able to overturn the results of the election. Those hearings, we shared with you work in rejecting the Trump Campaign claims. He criticized the lack of evidentiary support for the claims of Election Fraud and those losses. The federal Appeals Court in pennsylvania wrote charges require specific allegations and proof. We have neither here. A federal judge in wisconsin wrote he could never make his case and he is lost on the merits. Another judge in michigan called the claims nothing but speculation and conjecture that votes were votes for President Trump were discarded or switched. This included Sidney Powell for making frivolous allegations in an Election Fraud case. Describing the case as a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process. Recently, a group of distinguished republican election lawyers issued a report confirming the findings of the chords. In the report entitled loss, not stolen, these prominent republicans concluded this. Donald trump and his supporters failed to present evidence of fraud or inaccurate results significant enough to invalidate the results of the 2020 residential election. On december 11, trumps allies lost a lawsuit in the u. S. Supreme court that he regarded as his last chance of success in the chords. A newly obtained secret Service Message shows how angry President Trump was about the outcome. Just fyi, potus is best. The Supreme Court denied his lawsuit. He is livid. Kathy hutchison was present for that conversation and described in this way. This is the day the Supreme Court had rejected that case. As we were walking away, we crossed paths. The president was fired up about the Supreme Court decision. The president was raging about the decision and how it was wrong. It is difficult, his anger and outbursts at this decision. He said something to the effect of i dont want people to know that we lost. I dont want people to know that we lost, you have to figure it out. Our country is a country of laws where every person including the president must follow the law and respect the judgment of our courts. President trumps closest advisors held that view both then and now. Do you believe the president should abide by the rules of the court . Yes. We should all comply with the law. Every one of us. Once the court had ruled that the election was over in your view . Yes. I think i said previously that when the Vice President made the certification and the litigation was complete, it was complete. When they met on the 14th . Yes. December 14, i believe that is right. I assume you would agree that the president is above it obligated to abide by the rules of the chords. Of course. And i assume and im everybody is obligated to abide by the ruling of the court. I assume you would also agree that the president has a particular obligations to make sure that the laws are faithfully executed. That is corrected. And monica, do you believe the president is obligated to abide by the rulings of the court . I do. Mid december of 2020, President Trumps senior staff were attempting to persuade him to concede the election outcome. If your question is do i believe he should concede the election . I did. December 14 was the day the state certified their votes and sent them to congress. In my view, that was the end of the matter. I did not see i thought that this would lead to a new administration. I told him my personal viewpoint was that Electoral College had met which was the system our country is set under two elect a president and Vice President. I believed at that point that the means for him to pursue litigation was probably closed. The secretary of labor, the son of a Justice Scalia visited President Trump middecember and explained the situation clearly. I had to put a call into the present, i might have called on the 13th. We spoke on the 14th. I conveyed to him that i thought that it was time for him to acknowledge that President Biden had prevailed in the election. I communicated to the president that when that Legal Process is exhausted and when the electors have voted, that is the point with which that outcome needs to be expected. I did say that ive lived once the Legal Processes were run, i believed what had to be done was concede. Not only did the records to the court reject President Trump possible fraud and other allegations but bill barr, Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue did as well. President trump knew the truth, he heard what all of his experts and senior staff were telling him, he knew he had lost the election but he made the deliberate choice to ignore the courts, ignore the Justice Department, ignore his campaign leadership, ignore Senior Advisors and to pursue a completely unlawful effort to over overturn the election. Ignore the rule of law and stay in power. The gentleman leads back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Middecember was a turning point. President trump made a decision, a choice to ignore the chords and his advisors and to push forward to overturn the election. His efforts to overturn the election were not random or disconnected but part of a coordinated multipart plan to ensure that he stayed in power. Donald trump was the driver behind each part of this plan. He was personally and directly involved. Of course, a key element of the plan was continuing to convince tens of millions of americans that he did not in fact lose. Again, he did this even though his own Campaign Advisor and his Justice Department officials told him the claims of fraud were wrong. In this video, you will see that even when top Law Enforcement officials told the president s Election Fraud claims were false, he still repeated the claim in the days and weeks that followed. Sometimes i raised the dominion Voting Machines. I found them to be the most disturbing allegations. Disturbing and that i saw very zero basis with the allegations. I told him it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on it. And we were doing a great disservice to the country. We have a company that is very suspect. Its name is dominion with the turn of the dial or the change of a chip, you can press the button for trump and the vote goes to abide. What kind of assistant is this . We definitely talked about all of this. The hand recount had been done and all of that but we decided that today this is an example of people telling you and what is being filed in some of these Court Filings is that this is just not supported by evidence. This is the problem. The problem is people keep telling you these things and they turn out not to be true. In addition, there is a highly troubling matter of dominion voting systems. In one michigan county alone, 6000 votes were switched from trump to biden and the same systems are used in the majority of state in our country. I went into this and would tell him how crazy some of these allegations were and how ridiculous some of them were. I am talking about something more absentee votes were cast in pennsylvania than there were absentee ballots. Stuff like that, it was just easier to blow up. There was never an indication of interest and with the actual facts were. There were more votes than there were voters. Think of that. You had more votes than you had voters. That is an easy one to figure. Then he raised the big vote dump as he called it in detroit and he said people saw boxes coming into the county station at all hours of the morning and i said mr. President , there are 630 precincts in detroit unlike elsewhere in the state, they centralize the counting process so they are not counted in each precinct, the normal process would involve boxes coming in at all different hours. This is michigan. At 6 31 in the morning, a vote dump of 149,000 votes came in unexpectedly. With regard to georgia, we knew what this was. There was no suitcase, the president kept fixating on the suitcase that supposedly had fraudulent ballot. I thought there is no suitcase. You can watch that video over and over. There is a way that they carry around the ballots, that is how they move them around the facility. Election officials, pull boxes, democrats and suitcases about out from under tables. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. It has happened over and over again. Our committees report will document it. Purposeful lies made in public directly at odds with what donald trump knew from unsalable sources, the Justice Departments own investigation and his own campaign. Donald trump maliciously repeated this nonsense to a wide audience over and over again, his intent was to deceive. President trumps plan also involved trying to force government officials to change the election outcome in the states he lost. He personally reached out to numerous state officials and pressured them to take unlawful steps to alter the Election Results in those states. These actions taken directed by the president himself made it clear what his intentions were, to prevent the orderly transfer of power. We all recall President Trump past taperecorded call with brad raffensperger. At the time of this call, President Trump had already been told repeatedly by the u. S. Justice department by his campaign and advisors that his allegations of fraud in georgia were false. All i want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes. That is one more than we have. We need only 11,000 votes. We have far more than that as it stands now. We will have more and more. So what will be due . I only need 11,000 votes. I promise i need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. I just want to find 11,700 and 80 votes. That is an extra ordinary demand by the president. Especially since he already knew him the Justice Department there was no genuine basis for this request. No one could think it would be legal for the secretary of state to simply find the votes the president needed in order to win. Secretary raffensperger told the president the truth, that he lost the election in georgia. President trump did not accept that answer. Instead he suggested that secretary raffensperger himself might be prosecuted. That is a criminal offense. You can let that happen. That is a big risk to you and to ryan, your lawyer. That is a big risk. We know that President Trumps white house advisers reacted negatively. Immediately after the call, Cassidy Hutchinson had a problem with the cheese out chief of staff, mark meadows. That is crazy. He knows it is over. He knows he lost but we will keep trying. There are good options out there still. We will trying. This call and other related activities is now the focus of an ongoing criminal investigation in fulton county, georgia. Georgia is not the only state where President Trump tried to pressure state officials to change the result. He also attempted to pressure state officials in arizona, pennsylvania and michigan to change the result in the states as well. While President Trump was pressuring state officials, he was also trying to use the department of justice to change the Election Results. His top officials told him there was no evidence to support his claims of fraud. But he did not care. As he told them just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congress. When these officials would not do what he said, President Trump embarked on an effort to install jeff clark as acting attorney general. We know that trump is doing so so clark could correctly employ the Justice Department authority to help persuade the state to flip electoral votes. For example, when Richard Donoghue and jeff rosen those appointed by President Trump learned of mr. Clarks proposal, here is what they said before police rejected it. Ever called toward the end saying what youre proposing is nothing less than the United States Justice Department meddling in the outcome of the president ial election. But more importantly, this was not based on fact, this was actually contrary to the fact is developed by the apartment investigations over the last several weeks and months. Responded to that and for the department to insert itself into the political process this way i think would have had grave consequences for the country. It may very well have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis. We know from our investigation that President Trump offered jeff clark the position of acting attorney general and that jeff clark had decided to accept it. The only reason this ultimately did not happen was that the white House Counsel and a number of Justice Department officials confronted the president in the oval office and threatened mass resignation. And then, i said something to the effect of you are going to have a huge personal blowout within hours. You will have all kinds of problems with resignations and other issues and that is not going to be in anyones interest. Across the president ultimately relented the president ultimately billeted because the entire leadership of the department of justice as well as his white House Counsel threatened to resign. Mr. Chairman, i yelled back. Request the gentleman the gentlewoman yields back. President trump efforts to unlawfully overturn the results of the 2020 election were not limited to the big lie in pressuring state officials and the department of justice officials. Another key part of the president s effort was a scheme to assemble for collectors to cast false electoral votes in the state that has an trump lost. This was done not only with the president s knowledge but also with his direct participation. The chair of the Republican National committee testified for this committee that president and his attorney, dr. John eastman called her and asked her to arrange for the for collectors to meet and rehearse the process of casting your fake votes. When i received a call, it was from the white house and it was President Trump who contacted me. Did President Trump have anyone else on the line with him . He introduced me to a gentleman named john eastman. I vaguely remember him mentioning he was a professor and essentially he turned to the call over to mr. Eastman who then proceeded to talk about the importance of helping the campaign gather these contingent electives in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of these things. These for collectors were part of the president s plan to replace genuine biden alleges with trump electors. As part of this plan, the false electoral place brought the for collectors plan also tied to another plane, the converse of Pressure Campaign to make Vice President mike pence refused to count certain electoral votes so that donald trump would win reelection instead. Here is what Vice President pence said about the scheme. President trump said i have the right to overturn the election. President trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American People and the American People alone. Frankly there is no idea more unamerican than the notion that anyone person could choose the american president. Make no mistake, President Trump knew that what he was demanding Vice President pence do was illegal. He was informed of this repeatedly and specifically on january 4. Even his lawyer, john eastman admitted in front of President Trump that this plan would make the law by violating the electoral count act. Did john eastman ever admit as far as you know in front of the president that is proposal violates the electoral count act . I believe he did. Dr. Eastman confirmed this in writing. Recalling this email where he said did you advise the president that they did not have power to decide things unilaterally . Dr. Eastman replied he has been so advised. Of course, President Trumps on white House Counsel recognized that this plan was unlawful. Here is mr. Cipollones testimony. My view is that the Vice President did not have the Legal Authority to do anything. There is no doubt that President Trumps Pressure Campaign on Vice President pence was significant. On the morning of january 6, President Trump called the Vice President from the oval office and demanded that he overturn the results of the election. Numerous witnesses told us the select committee about the investment President Trump leveled at his own Vice President. Something to the effect that he is wrong, i made the wrong decision for or five years ago and the word that the president called Vice President , i apologize for being impolite but do you recall what she said . Vice president pence did not waver, even when his own life was endangered by President Trump and the writers at the capitol on january 6. As you will see in more detail later. A federal judge concluded based on this and other evidence that President Trumps Pressure Campaign against the Vice President likely violated multiple criminal statutes. In the end, all these people, the department of justice officials, state elections officials, his own Vice President stood strong and face of President Trumps ms pressure but as we now know, President Trump already summoned tens of thousands of his supporters to washington on january 6 to take back their country. On december 19, President Trump first told his supporters to come to washington. In this and numerous other tweets, he fraudulently and repeatedly promoted january 6 as the day americans could come and change the election outcome. For weeks, President Trump with others to plan the rally, intending all along that he would send an assembled crowd of angry supporters to the capital after his speech on january 6. We obtained a text message that one rally organizer sent on january 4, in part, it reads that potus is going to have us march there and potus is going to just call for it unexpectedly. Each of these examples, the big lie, the Pressure Campaigns against state officials, the Pressure Campaign against the department of justice and his Vice President , the for collectors, something the mob, all of this demonstrates President Trumps substantial in the plots overturn the election. He was intimately involved. He was the central player. Thank you mr. Chairman, i yelled back. The gentlewoman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Schiff for an Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In our past hearing, you have seen direct evidence that president thompson President Trump sent his Party Supporters to the capital knowing they were armed and angry. This was the last, most desperate and dangerous part of his plan to disrupt the orderly transition of power. On the morning of the sixth, the secret service was screaming at the members of the crowd as they entered the valley site. They noticed something significant about the crowd, tens of thousands of people were outside the valley site but did not want to go through the magnetometers, the metal detectors that were used to screen for dangerous weapons. Since our last hearings, the select committee has received rate of from the secret service, nevertheless, the secret service Text Messages from this time were raised in the days and months following the attack on the capital. Even though documents and materials related to channel 8 six had already been requested by the department of justice in congress. But we were able to obtain nearly one million emails, recordings and other electronic records from the secret service. Over the month of august, they begin the review of hundreds of thousands of pages. And multiple hours of material providing substantial new evidence about what happened on january 6 in the days leading up to it. That review continues. What you are about to hear is just a sample of the new and relevant evidence that we have received. Mounting evidence before january 6 predicted violence, and not just violence generally, but violence directed at the capital. Intelligence about this risk was directly available to the secret service and others in the white house. It advance of speech, in advance of the march to the capitol. The committee has shown evidence that President Trump was aware of the risk of violence. The fbi, u. S. Capitol police, metropolitan police and other agencies all gathered and disseminated intelligence suggesting the possibility of violence at the u. S. Capitol prior to the riot. We are now going to show you just a sample of the evidence we have received. Days before january 6, the president s senior advisers at the department of justice and fbi, for example, deceived and intelligence summary that including material indicating that certain people traveling to washington were making plans to attack the u. S. Capitol. This summary noted online calls to occupy federal buildings, rhetoric about invading the Capitol Building and plans to arm themselves and to engage in Political Violence at the event. Other agencies were also hearing predictions suggesting possible violence at the u. S. Capitol. On the call of President Trumps National White house security staff in early january, 2020 one, deputy secretary of defense had warned about the potential that the capitol would be the target of the attack. Heres general mark milley, who was also present for this call, describing deputy secretary norquists warning. [video clip] during these calls, i only remember because he was clairvoyant, norquist says during one of these calls, the greatest threat is the direct assault on the capitol. [end of video clip] this email was an alert that the secret Service Received on the 24th, with the heading, armed and ready, mr. President. According to the intelligence, multiple users on were targeting members of congress, instructing others to march into the chambers on january 6 and make sure they know who to fear. In this report received on december 26, the secret Service Field office had a related tip that had been received by the fbi. According to the source of the tip, the proud boys planned to march armed into d. C. They think they will have a large enough group to march into d. C. Armed, the source reported, and will outnumber the police so they cant be stopped. The source went on to say, their plan is to literally kill people. Please, please tak this tip seriously and investigate further. The source also made clear that the proud boys had detailed their plans on multiple websites like the donald. Webb. Lets pause here. The secret service had advance information within 10 days beforehand regarding the proud boys planning for january 6. We dont now that the proud boys and others did lead the assault on our Capitol Building. On december 30 first,gent circulated intelligent support that President Trump supporters have proposed a movement to occupy capitol hill. And particularly, flag spikes and violent hashtags right, we are the storm. 1776 rebel and occupy capitals. On january 5, secret service opened source unit flagged a social media account on the donald. Webb that threatened to bring a sniper rifle to a rally on january 6. The user also posted a picture of a handgun in rifle with the caption, sunday, gun day, providing overwatch january 6. Will be wild. Later on the evening of january 5, the secret service learned during an fbi briefing that right wing groups were establishing armed qr apps, or Quick Reaction forces, readying to deploy for january sixth. Groups like the oath keepers were standing by at the ready should they request should potus request assistance by invoking the insurrection act, agents were informed. As we all know now, the oath keepers did play a specific role on generate sixth and had staffed weapons in virginia for further violence that evening. Also on that day, the secret service was raiding security precautions with the president s speech at the next day. A secret Service Deputy chief instructed agents to add certain objects to the list of items that would be prohibited at the rally site, including ballistic vests, tactical vests, armored or not and ballistic elements. I the morning of january 6, it was clear that the secret service anticipated violence. It felt like the calm before the storm, one agent predicted in a protected intelligence check crew. Other agents were watching the crazies on livestream. By 9 09 that morning, the secret service could also see that many rally goers were assembled outside the security perimeter. One agent emailed, possibly because they have stuff that could not come through would probably be in issue with this crowd, just a thought. I 9 30 that morning, it agents reported more than 25,000 people outside the rally site. An hour later, the secret service reported that the crowd was on the mall watching but not in line. The head of the President Secret Service protected d cap detail, robber angle, was specifically aware of the large crowds out side the magnetometers. He passed that information along to tony, the word for mark meadows and the chief of staffs office. The documents we obtained made clear that the cloud crowd outside the magnetometers were armed and the agents knew it. Take a look at what they were seeing and hearing on the ground. One report from the rally site at 7 58 a. M. Said some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks. Another from 9 30 a. M. , says there were possibly oc spray, meaning pepper spray, and or past plastic riot shields. At 11 23 a. M. , agents also reported possible armed individuals. One with a glock, one with a rifle. Over the next hour, agents reported possible gun reported. Confirmed pistol on hip located in a tree. And i street northwest. Individual had an assault weapon on his person. Minutes before President Trump began his speech, members of the federal protective service and agency tasked with protected federal buildings were alerted about an arrest of a protester with a gun on his waistband. And during this speech, the weapons related continued. At 12 13 p. M. , they arrested a man with a rifle in front of the world war ii memorial. These agencies were marked on the number of weapons that were seized that day, speculating that the situation could get worse. With so many weapons found so far, you wonder how many are unknown, one agent wrote at 12 36 p. M. Could be sporty after dark. At 12 47 p. M. , another agent responded, no doubt. The people at the ellipse said they are moving to the capitol after the potus speech. The documents we received made clear the secret service was aware of weapons possessed by those gathered rallies and d. C. As early as the evening before. Take this document for instance, which details multiple arrests in the crowds demonstrating on january 5. Those arrests were for weapons offenses, handguns, highcapacity feeding devices, ammunition. With the secret service saw on the six was entirely consistent with the violent rhetoric circulating in the days before the joint session on protrump websites at times amplified by the president s own advisors. On one of these sites, as youve heard, one of those was called the donald. When. They obtained a text message that jason miller, senior commute occasions advisor sent to mark meadows less than a week for january 6. I got the base fired up, he wrote in all caps. He sent a link to the page on the donald. Wynn. The linked webpage had comments about the joint session of congress on january 6. Take a look at some of the comments. Gallows dont require electricity. If the filthy commie maggots try to push their fraud through, there will be hell to pay. Our lawmakers of congress can leave one of two ways, one, and a body bag, too, after rightfully certifying trump the winner. Mr. Miller claimed that he had no idea about the hundreds of comments like these in the link that he sent to mark meadows. [video clip] if i had seen Something Like that i probably wouldve sent it to someone at the white house. I wouldve said we would like this for secret service or something of that nature. [end of video clip] the Trump Administration was aware of this type of violent rhetoric prior to january 6. As we have seen, the secret service and other agencies knew the prospect of violence well in advance of the president speech at the ellipse. Despite this, certain white house and secret service witnesses previously testified that they had received no intelligence about violence that could have potentially threatened any of the protect these on january 6, including the Vice President. Evidence strongly suggests that this testimony is not credible, and the committee is reviewing additional material on the secret service and other sources. The secret service was monitoring this kind of Online Activity and was sharing and receiving the results of that effort. They work closely with other agencies sharing intelligence about the joint session of congress derived from social media and other sources. The same day jason miller sent his text message, agents received reports about a spike in activity on another platform called parler. This was december 30th. In this email and agent received in email reporting a lot of violent email on parler directed at people and entities, including secret service protect these. One of these protect these was Vice President pence, perhaps the primary target of President Trumps Pressure Campaign in the days leading up to january 6. The day before the joint session on january 5, secret service was aware of increased chatter focused on Vice President pence. In particular, whether he would do what President Trump wanted him to do, reversed a results of the election and the joint session the next day, january 6. On the morning of the sixth agents received alerts of online threats that Vice President pence would be a dead man walking if he doesnt do the right thing. Another agent reported, i saw several other alerts saying they would storm the capital if he doesnt do the right thing. The anger reflected in these posting was obvious the man at the center of the storm on january 6, President Trump. On the evening of january 5, President Trump gathered a few of his communication staffers in the oval office. The door was open, allowing the president and others assembled there to hear the sounds of the crowd gathered at Freedom Plaza just a few blocks from the white house. President trump could tell that his supporters were riled up. Here again is the Deputy White House press secretary describing the president s reaction. [video clip] he, fairly quickly moved to how fired up the crowd is or was going to be. What did he say about it . Just that they were fired up, they were angry, they felt like the election had been stolen in the election was great and he went on and on about that. [end of video clip] yes, the president knew the crowd was angry because he had stoked that anger. He knew that they believed the election had been rigged and stolen because he had told them, falsely, that it had been rigged and stolen. By the time he incited that angry mob to march on the capitol, he knew they were armed and dangerous, all the better to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Mr. Chairman, i yelled back. Gentleman yields back. At this point in our meeting, we will take a brief recess, pursuant to the order of the committee of today, the chair declares the committee and recess for a period of approximately 10 minutes. [gavel bangs]