“I have lost my name, I have lost my reputation”: official testimony of voters at the January 6 hearings
Hearings on Thursday (January 6th) have looked in depth at how Donald Trump and his allies put extreme pressure on the Justice Department to help cancel the 2020 election.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told the committee that Trump personally instructed him to say the election was “corrupt” and that he would use it as an impetus for Congress to act and refuse to certify the results.
“Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Donald Trump said, in words read aloud by committee member Adam Kinzinger on Jan. 6.
Even after being repeatedly briefed by DOJ officials that his election claims had no merit, Mr. Trump still said he considered “smart” supporters who mutinied in the Capitol because of his opinion. that the presidential contest was stolen.
“They were angry from the point of view of what happened in the election,” Trump told filmmaker Alex Holder. “Because they’re smart and they see and they saw what happened, and I think that was a big part of what happened on January 6.”
As Republicans advanced their plan to challenge the election, Congressmen Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mo Brooks asked Donald Trump for pardons.
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MIR: White House adviser details GOP attempts to obtain pardons for election scheme
Several Republicans in Congress, including Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Louie Gohmert and Scott Perry have asked the White House for pardons in the context of the plan to challenge the 2020 election.
“The general tone was that we could be prosecuted because we were on the defensive of the president’s positions on these things,” White House chief adviser Eric Herschmann said in a pre-recorded testimony presented Thursday to the committee.
The former official said the pardons being sought appeared to cover conduct “from the beginning of time to the present,” he continued, noting that “[Richard] Nixon’s forgiveness has never been so broad. “
Josh Marcus23 June 2022 23:15
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Trump asked “Kraken” conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell to be a special adviser, he confirmed to the Jan. 6 committee.
Donald Trump personally selected conspiracy theorist and lawyer Sidney Powell to be a “special attorney” working in the White House to investigate his allegations of election and election fraud, although he never approved his appointment, he said. Mrs. Powell before the committee on the 6th of January. Thursday.
The former Trump attorney’s testimony before the Jan. 6 committee was one of several testimonies publicly revealed for the first time by the select committee at the hearing.
“On Friday, he asked me to be a special advocate to address electoral issues,” he told lawmakers.
Trump’s offer had been previously reported by the New York Times in December 2020, a few weeks before the Jan. 6 riot, but he had never publicly confirmed either the president or Ms. Powell until now.
John Bowden has the story.
Josh Marcus June 23, 2022 11:00 p.m.
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Donald Trump was willing to “undermine” American democracy to defend his “very fragile ego”: Adam Kinzinger
The committee has just heard the final statements.
“The facts were irrelevant to President Trump,” Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger said. “It was about protecting their real power and their very fragile ego, even if it meant recklessly undermining our entire electoral system.”
Kinzinger said he was concerned that there would be another attempt to annul the election.
“I’m still worried that it hasn’t changed enough to prevent this from happening again,” he continued. “The oath we take must mean something.”
Josh Marcus23 June 2022 22:45
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Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Mo Brooks asked Trump for pardons, the January 6 hearing said
Representatives Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Louis Gohmert, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry were among Republican members of Congress who called on then-President Donald Trump to isolate them from future prosecutions by granting them presidential pardons on the days immediately. following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 last year.
His names were revealed by the select committee of the House on Thursday, January 6 at the end of the panel hearing to examine Mr. Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department to assist him in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.
The select committee reproduced videotaped excerpts from statements by former Trump White House employees, describing Republican members’ efforts to obtain leniency after Trump’s scheme provoked the worst attack on the Capitol since war of 1812.
“The general tone is because we can be prosecuted because we work the president’s positions on these things,” said former White House deputy attorney Eric Herschmann, who confirmed to the panel that Mr. Gaetz asked for pardon.
Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg have more.
Josh Marcus June 23, 2022 10:30 p.m.
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Reviews are in: Donald Trump calls day 5 of hearings a “kangaroo court”
Donald Trump is infuriated by the Jan. 6 hearings, posting numerous messages to his Social Truth app during committee events Thursday.
He argued that the committee did not present the president’s version of the story or issue his completely denied claims about a stolen election.
“They refuse to go there, they want everything to be canceled, because it would be IMPOSSIBLE for the Unselect Committee to refute or question what would be presented to them, or the American public,” a message read.
Read the full posts below.
(Donald Trump / Social Truth)
(Donald Trump / Social Truth)
Josh Marcus23 June 2022 20:17
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Trump wondered, ‘What do I have to lose?’ while reflecting on the conspiracy theorist’s elevation to the DOJ
In the days leading up to Jan. 6, Donald Trump met with senior Justice Department officials at the Oval Office.
He told the assembled leaders that he was considering getting a compensation center among top leaders, which did not agree with the former president’s election conspiracies, and elevating Jeffrey Clark, a high-level DOJ official. means he did.
“What should I lose?” Mr. Trump was asked out loud, according to the testimony of Richard Donoghue, a former deputy attorney general in office.
“I said,‘ Mr. President, you have a lot to lose, “said Donoghue.
The top DOJ official said the decision to elevate Mr. Clark, an environmental lawyer with no background in criminal investigations, would be a disaster.
“It’s impossible, it’s absurd. It will not happen. And it will fail, “Donoghue continued at the meeting, according to his testimony.
He also said he warned the president that the decision would lead to mass resignations.
Former White House attorney Pat Cipollone compared the rise of Mr. Clark, who wanted states that opted for Biden to present pro-Trump illegitimate voters, to a “murder-suicide pact.”
Josh Marcus23 June 2022 22:04
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Sean Penn sits down with Capitol police officers who were injured in a riot at the last public hearing on Jan. 6
Sean Penn sat down with Capitol police officers injured in the Jan. 6 riots during Thursday’s hearing on the insurgency.
Academy winner and celebrity activist chatted and joked with Michael Fanone, now a CNN contributor, and shook hands with other agents.
“I’m here to watch, just one more citizen,” Penn told reporters.
“I think we all saw what happened on January 6 and now we’re looking to see if justice comes the other way.”
Bevan Hurley has the story.
Josh Marcus23 June 2022 21:45
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Donald Trump exploded at the DOJ meeting and threatened the leaders with dismissal
During a meeting in late December with Richard Donoghue, the former acting deputy attorney general, and other DOJ officials, Donald Trump threatened government lawyers with dismissal because they would not seize the voting machines and stated that they suspected the results of the 2020 elections.
“Towards the end of the meeting, the president was very agitated again. He said, “People tell me I should get rid of both,” Mr. Donoghue said Thursday.
The president then said he was thinking of elevating Jeffrey Clark, a DOJ official who was circulating plans for the Justice Department to declare suspicious of state election results and encourage legislatures to send pro-Trump voters.
“Maybe something will finally be done,” Trump said, according to the witness.
Josh Marcus June 23, 2022 9:40 p.m.
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Is this Trump’s Nixon moment?
Some are comparing the efforts of Donald Trump and his allies to get the Justice Department to meet its political goals during a scandal with President Nixon’s infamous attempts to cover up the Watergate crisis.
As Maggie Haberman of The New York Times wrote on social media on Thursday, “Comparing Trump to Nixon has always been imperfect for several reasons, but never have the parallels been as clear as during an audience in which two former highs DOJ officials have stated that Trump wants to use the department for strictly partisan political purposes.
Josh Marcus June 23, 2022 9:30 p.m.
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Trump told the DOJ to say the election was corrupt and to “leave the rest to me” and the GOP, the Jan. 6 hearing said.
Senior Justice Department officials said Thursday that then-President Donald Trump put enormous pressure on them in phone calls and near-daily statements calling for them to declare fraudulent 2020 election results unproven.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told the committee that Trump personally instructed him to say the election was “corrupt” and that he would use it as an impetus for Congress to act and refuse to certify the results.
“Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to …