Trump had ‘direct and personal role’ in pushing states to overturn Biden win, Jan. 6 panel says
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Tuesday questioned state election officials on how then-President Donald Trump leaned on them to help overturn his loss in the 2020 election.
The committee’s fourth public hearing focused on how that pressure campaign by Trump and his allies played out in Arizona and Georgia, two swing states that were key to President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.
Ahead of the hearing, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said it would detail how Trump “corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials to change election results.” Committee aides said the hearing would also delve into an “unprecedented scheme” by the Trump campaign to submit false alternate slates of electors.
Four state officials who were targeted as part of those efforts testified before the panel, including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump pressured to “find” votes in a leaked phone call; his chief operating officer, Gabriel Sterling; Republican Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers; and Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a former Georgia election worker who was targeted with death threats and harassment after being accused of fraud.
Former U.S. prosecutor Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., one of the nine members of the select panel and a regular target of Trump’s ire, led the questioning.
(The hearing is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET. Please refresh the page if the video above isn’t playing by then.)
30 MIN AGOTexts show Mark Meadows wanted to send a ‘s---load of POTUS stuff’ to Georgia investigators, Schiff says
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) delivers remarks during the fourth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building on June 21, 2022 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
The committee obtained text messages showing that Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, wanted to send “a shitload of POTUS stuff” to officials investigating Georgia’s election results, Schiff said, quoting a White House aide.
That stuff included “coins, actual autographed MAGA hats” and more, Schiff said. “White House staff intervened to make sure that didn’t happen.”
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) delivers remarks during the fourth hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Cannon House Office Building on June 21, 2022 in Washington, DC.Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
The committee obtained text messages showing that Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, wanted to send “a shitload of POTUS stuff” to officials investigating Georgia’s election results, Schiff said, quoting a White House aide.
That stuff included “coins, actual autographed MAGA hats” and more, Schiff said. “White House staff intervened to make sure that didn’t happen.”