Jan. 6 hearings today

The latest hearing from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection fleshed out the links between former President Donald ...

This strong level of cooperation from Trump insiders made it possible for the panel to bring these details to light. Stephen Ayers, a convicted Capitol rioter who breached the building on January 6, returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday as a cooperating witness. He added that he no longer believes Trump's lies about the 2020 election, but warned that there are millions of people who still do, which poses a threat for future elections. The tweet claimed that it was "statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election," and said there would be a "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th." The committee played 14 clips from Cipollone's pivotal eight-hour interview last week, which highlighted the split that had grown between Trump and his highest-ranking legal adviser. And when that doesn't happen -- most likely will not happen -- they are going to go nuts," Lesko said. The committee showed a draft tweet -- which Trump did not send -- calling for marching to the Capitol. "I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. The audio was obtained by New York Times journalists Alex Burns and Jonathan Martin from their book "This Will Not Pass" and aired on CNN last month. Alexander, another organizer, sent a text message on January 5, 2021, that was obtained by the committee: "Tomorrow: Ellipse then US capitol. In addition, the panel provided new evidence showing how multiple members of Congress sought pardons from Trump after January 6. "Stop the Steal" leader Ali Alexander quickly registered the website WildProtest.com and used the site as a clearinghouse for information about the protest. The tweet, which the committee obtained from the National Archives, includes a stamp saying "President has seen."

On Tuesday, the Jan. 6 committee held another hearing in which it attempted to tie former president Donald Trump to the most violent extremists leading the ...

A video deposition from Rudy Giuliani is shown as the Jan. 6 committee holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. J. Scott ...

Dupree responded that the “people giving him this advice were coming pretty darn close to that line, if not going over it.” Neil Cavuto referred to Trump as “unstable” before asking former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree if the people close to Trump were engaging in “illegal, criminal behavior” by pushing to keep him in office. "You're in the Oval Office and people seem to be actually chest pounding.

The hearing relied on testimony from Trump aides, right-wing media commentators and militia members to illustrate key events leading up to the Capitol riot.

Ms. Powell testified that she thought Mr. Trump had appointed her as a special counsel to investigate the election fraud claims. Ms. Craighead testified that Mr. Trump was saying, “We should go up to the Capitol. What’s the best route to the Capitol?” Mr. Cipollone testified that he turned to one of the advisers he did not know and asked his identity. He said that the crowd believed Mr. Trump was going to meet them at the Capitol. It wasn’t just people sitting around on a couch chitchatting,” said Derek Lyons, who was then the White House staff secretary. No — I don’t understand why I even have to tell you why that’s a bad idea,” Mr. Cipollone testified. And in many cases, the online commentary that followed what Mr. Trump’s supporters heard as a call to arms was infused with talk of violence. Relying on testimony from Trump aides, right-wing media commentators and militia members, the committee demonstrated how Mr. Trump’s public statements led his supporters to believe the election had actually been stolen and storm the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification. “You know, he said in his speech, you know, kind of like he’s going to be there with us. The rally organizer, Kylie Kremer, wrote: “It cannot get out about the second stage because people will try and set up another and Sabotage it. “We know the rules of engagement. “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Mr. Trump tweeted.

A woman sits at a desk behind the nameplate "Ms. Cheney." Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) during a Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday in Washington, D.C..

Continuing with the timeline, the committee then showed how Trump pivoted from dead-end legal avenues to inciting the masses behind his effort to stay in power, withseveral examples of how he weaponized social media to that effect. Former Trump supporter Stephen Ayres, who was arrested after he breached the Capitol during the attack, explained how he believed it when the president told him the election was stolen — and now feels deceived. And of course Giuliani was nearby, describing White House officials who wouldn’t go along with the scheme to overturn the election as “a bunch of .…” Well, you know what he said. The gathering included Trump, Cipollone and attorney and advisor Eric Herschmann, along with Powell, QAnon convert Michael Flynn and, for some reason, the former chief executive of Overstock.com. Trump was still looking for ways to invalidate the election results; there were heated arguments and it lasted for hours. It played a role Tuesday as well, with depositions about an “unhinged” Oval Office meeting in the weeks before the riot that recounted events both shocking and laughable. In what other world but Trump’s are “the Overstock.com guy,” a disgraced general and the White House chief of staff together in anything but a punchline? This disciplined approach has allowed the hearings to shift with breaking news and new testimony as needed without losing momentum (see last month’s questioning of Cassidy Hutchinson), while also organizing the chaos around the 2020 election and its aftermath into a gripping chronology of events. Like the penultimate episode of an intense TV drama, Tuesday’s hearing opened with a “previously on ...” montage of flashbacks, advanced the narrative, then closed with a staggering cliffhanger. Remaining on track sometimes means recapping what’s come before, as was the case at the start of Tuesday’s broadcast. President Trump is a 76-year-old man. This of course is nonsense. In the final minutes of the three-hour hearing, Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) dropped the hearings’ most tantalizing bombshell yet, saying former President Trump attempted to call a committee witness, and that the committee submitted that information to the Department of Justice. Stay tuned.

As their final act nears, the House January 6 hearings have evolved from documenting a stain on history to warning of a violent and tyrannical future that ...

The panel's case is that Trump gathered the crowd, gave it a grievance with his election lies and incited its march on Congress, even with the knowledge that many of its members were armed. The Wyoming Republican's latest sharp warning sounded like a veiled suggestion to the Justice Department that Attorney General Merrick Garland should consider a criminal investigation of the former President over his actions on January 6. Arguing that political leaders who incited mobs often turned into tyrants, he posed a question for Americans as Trump is apparently about to seek a return to power. That absence of proof of intent will play into the raging debate over whether the committee has produced a case that could stand up in criminal court after any Justice Department inquiry. between the then-President and outside advisers, including lawyer Sidney Powell, that descended into a profane shouting match with West Wing officials about schemes to overthrow the election. This continuing effort to undermine American institutions and the rule of law is showing that Trump's threat to democracy didn't end in 2021. Tuesday's hearing also implicitly raised the question of why members of such extremist groups have faced justice for their actions on January 6 in multiple court cases while the former President continues to evade legal sanctions for inciting the riot. And there's no sign that the ex-President would abandon this stew of extremism in a future political campaign. And it raised the question -- especially since more mainstream members of his inner circle have now broken with him to testify -- about the caliber of people who would surround the ex-President if he succeeds in a quest to reclaim power in 2024. in December 2020 -- was not just that Trump was in the thrall of fanatics with ridiculous plans to steal the election. In the latest episode of its limited season television event, the House select committee on Tuesday traced Trump's links to and inspiration for far right-wing groups that came to Washington to help his mob smash its way into Congress in early 2021. former Oath Keepers spokesman Jason Van Tatenhove asked during testimony in which he warned that the ex-President would "whip up a civil war among his followers, using lies and deceit" if he launches another campaign for the White House in 2024.

We watched Tuesday's Jan. 6 hearings with a Georgetown Democrat, Howard University students and a Trump documentarian to hear their reactions.

“If you have to describe what the committee is doing, it’s almost a synopsis of our film,” Holder says. “I wasn’t going to do a hatchet job or a hit piece on Donald Trump. I wanted to understand who these people were,” he says. The 33-year-old British documentarian captured important scenes of the insurrection, and he just released “Unprecedented” on Discovery Plus, a three-part film about the former president’s reelection campaign and what happened after he lost. Knowing now what it’s like to be both in front and behind the camera, he’s dressed sharp but casually, down to a pair of John Lennon sunglasses. Fittingly, he and Azevedo watch Tuesday’s hearing (well, part of it) from a luxury suite sofa at the Conrad Hotel in Lower Manhattan, where he isn’t staying, while a reporter and photographer watch them watching. “I feel like my eyes got opened to a whole new world.” — Jada Yuan There’s also a heaviness, a feeling of being witnesses to history and not in a good way. Hill, who’s wearing a T-shirt that reads “All We Ever Did Was Be Black” and “Black By Popular Demand,” may not be a tech expert, but she is a campus legend. This is a man who cheats all the time and has gotten away with it.” “It’s like watching ‘Dateline’! Fact, fact, fact!” Hill says. “Win or lose, you’re a good sport – and you don’t cheat,” she explains. Ellen Charles is watching Tuesday’s hearing surrounded by an audience of four: Hazel, a toy poodle and the alpha dog; Harry, a champion standard poodle; Porter, another standard poodle; and Cashew, a toy poodle and Hazel’s son.

Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) lead the seventh committee hearing. Oliver Contreras/AFP/ ...

Cheney read a statement from a witness who was told they would “stay in good graces in Trump World” if they continued to be a “team player.” The witness was also warned that Trump reads deposition transcripts. Cheney says the committee then supplied the information to the Department of Justice. Another witness was called before their deposition and told that “he knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.” In a text exchange between former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Trump national campaign spokesperson Katrina Pearson, Parscale lamented that a woman died during the Capitol attack, the committee revealed. Trump drafted but didn’t send a tweet that a march to the Capitol was going to be part of the much-hyped Jan. 6 protest, the committee revealed. Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney closed Tuesday’s hearing with a revelation that Trump attempted to call a witness following the committee’s previous hearing late last month. A second text message was displayed by the committee from Ali Alexander, who on Jan. 5 outlined that plans for the next day. When Steve Bannon said on his radio show on Jan. 5, 2021 that “all hell” would break loose the following day, he wasn’t speculating. “It’s all converging and now we’re on the point of attack tomorrow.” Rudy Giuliani, one of the aforementioned election conspiracy theorists, was there. After the first call, Bannon went on his podcast and said all hell would break loosepic.twitter.com/Um1syirDJm Kremer urges Lindell to keep the plans secret, since they did not have permits for the march.

Through seven hearings this summer, the House Jan. 6 panel has maintained consistent themes: Donald Trump's stubborn resistance to advisers who told him ...

On Tuesday, the committee revealed more evidence that Trump had planned to call for his supporters to march to the Capitol, and that he would go with them. The committee has focused in particular on Trump’s efforts to go to the Capitol with his supporters after his speech. But Jacob said that as he and Pence reviewed the constitution, the law, “and frankly just common sense,” they confirmed that Pence did not have that authority. At a hearing with state officials, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, told of Trump’s phone call in which he asked him to “find 11,780 votes” that could give him a win. “This stays only between us, we are having a second stage at the Supreme Court” after Trump’s rally, wrote one of the rally’s organizers, Kylie Kremer, to a Trump confidant. That could come before the November midterm election, said the committee’s chairman, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, in an interview on Tuesday. The committee is planning to hold its eighth hearing next week. Stephen Ayres, who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, testified in person at Tuesday’s hearing. At a hearing last month, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that Trump knew that some of his supporters gathered for the event were armed because they had been turned away at security checkpoints. The committee showed a montage of videos and social media posts after the tweet as supporters reacted and planned trips to Washington, some of them using violent rhetoric and talking about killing police officers. Eugene Scalia, Trump’s labor secretary, said he told Trump it was time for him to say Biden had won after states certified the electors on Dec. 14. Many were emboldened by former Attorney General Bill Barr’s declaration in early December 2020 that there was no evidence of mass fraud that could change the election outcome.