The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6 hosted a last-minute hearing on June 28, 2022. The key witness providing testimony was former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson. Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images The House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has held seven public hearings so far.
Some of Trump’s closest aides shared witness testimony about what led up to the Capitol siege. Hearings are scheduled to resume in mid-July when Congress returns from recess. The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has held seven public hearings so far unveiling shocking new details about the Capitol riot, the events that led to that day, and President Donald Trump’s push to overturn the election.
Here are the most notable moments from each hearing so far:Hearing 1: ‘An absolute war zone’During the first public hearing on June 9, the public heard testimony from Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards and Nick Quested, a British filmmaker who documented members of the Proud Boys during the Capitol attack. The hearing also featured video testimony from former Attorney General Bill Barr, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Edwards detailed her experience being attacked by rioters and testified that the Capitol grounds resembled “an absolute war zone.
” “I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Edwards told the committee. “There were officers on the ground. You know, they were bleeding, they were throwing up…I mean I saw friends with blood all over their faces.
I was slipping in people’s blood. You know, I was catching people as they fell. “Barr said that he repeatedly told Trump his claims of election fraud were “bullshit.
” In video testimony shown by the committee, Ivanka Trump said that she believed Barr. “I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he said,” she said. The House committee played video testimony from Ivanka Trump, the daughter of former President Donald Trump, who also served on his counsel of advisers.
Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesKushner, who served as one of Trump’s most senior advisors, testified that he thought the White House counsel’s threats to resign over Trump’s efforts to overturn the election amounted to “whining. “In his testimony, Quested described the extensive time he spent with the Proud Boys before and on the day of January 6 and encountering tear gas while filming. Hearing 2: A game of ‘Whac-A-Mole’ At the second public hearing on June 13, former Attorney General Bill Barr, who emerged as a star witness, testified in a recorded deposition that dealing with Trump’s claims of election fraud were like “playing Whac-a-Mole” and that the allegations were “bogus.
” Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Bill Stepien, whose testimony had been previously recorded, told the committee that the Trump team was effectively split in two: “Team Normal,” which included Stepien, and “Team Giuliani. ” Stepien revealed that he quit because he thought the events that unfolded after the election were not “honest or professional. “This hearing also featured testimony from Chris Stirewalt, a former Fox News executive, Byung J.
Pak, a former US attorney for the northern district of Georgia, Al Schmidt, a former Philadelphia city commissioner and Benjamin Ginsberg, a GOP election lawyer. Some of the Trump aides also testified that Rudy Giuliani pushed Trump to declare an early victory on election night and was “apparently inebriated” while advising the former president. Hearing 3: ‘Are you out of your effing mind?’The third public hearing on June 16 consisted of in-person testimony from Michael Luttig, a conservative attorney and former judge, and Greg Jacob who served as general counsel for Mike Pence, who was the primary focus of this hearing.
Luttig, who served as an unofficial adviser to Pence, said that if the former vice president had thrown out electoral votes like he was encouraged to by Trump, there would have been a “constitutional crisis in America. “In a recorded interview Eric Herschmann, an ex-Trump attorney, told the committee that in a conversation with lawyer John Eastman he said, “Are you out of your effing mind?” Eastman was a strong advocate close to Trump encouraging Pence to use his vice presidential power to overturn the election, however this is not a power the vice president possesses. During this hearing, the committee played a montage of footage from video dispositions including one in which Ivanka Trump’s chief of staff says Ivanka told her she heard her father call Mike Pence a “pussy.
“—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2022 Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, a member of the January 6 panel, said that rioters came within 40 feet of Pence, putting his life in danger. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley told the panel that Pence asked leaders at the Pentagon to help stop the mobs, but Milley testified that all Mark Meadows wanted to do was “kill the narrative that the vice president is making all the decisions.
“”Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended,” Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming said at the hearing. Witnesses testified that both Trump and Meadows disposed of sensitive documents with Trump attempting to flush them down the toilet and Meadows burning them in his fireplace.
Hearing 4: ‘Be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920’The main focus of the fourth hearing on June 21 was the role of Georgia and its electors. Joe Biden won the state by just under 12,000 votes, leading Trump and his allies to aggressively push to overturn the results. Former Georgia election worker Wandrea “Shaye” ArShaye Moss shared an emotional testimony about receiving threats after Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer, accused her and her mother of messing with voting ballots.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty ImagesFormer election worker Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss delivered heartbreaking testimony stating that the push to overturn the election and choose new electors in Georgia made her regret her choice to work in elections. She faced threats after Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani falsely accused Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman of engaging in “surreptitious illegal activity” and “passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine. “”They included threats, a lot of threats wishing death upon me,” she said.
“Telling me that, you know, I’ll be in jail with my mother, and saying things like, ‘Be glad it’s 2020 and not 1920. ‘”—The Recount (@therecount) June 21, 2022 Committee members also heard witness testimony from Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia state election official, Russell Bowers, GOP Speaker of Arizona’s House of Representatives, and Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state. Hearing 5: The Preemptive Pardon PartyThe fifth, and originally the last, public hearing before a Congressional recess on June 23 identified a number of Republican lawmakers, White House staff, and Trump confidantes who sought preemptive pardons following the January 6 insurrection.
Former Trump aides testified that Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, Rep.
Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Mo Brooks Alabama, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Rep.
Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and lawyer John Eastman all asked the president and his team for pardons. British filmmaker Alex Holder sat for a private deposition the morning of the hearing to showcase hours of exclusive footage of Trump, his family, and close officials from a documentary he filmed called “Unprecedented. ” The film’s trailer was also released just hours before the hearing.
Footage shows Mike Pence reacting to conversations regarding the 25th Amendment. The existence of the footage shocked Trump’s allies and aides who later said they were promised “editorial input” in the film, a claim Holder denied. —Alex Holder (@alexjholder) June 23, 2022Hearing 6: Surprise!Days after the fifth hearing, the committee surprised the public with an unexpected last-minute sixth hearing on June 28.
Just hours before the hearing began, news leaked that Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a close aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, was scheduled to testify publicly. Hutchinson disclosed a number of shocking revelations, including that Trump knew some of his loyalists gathered in Washington were armed, the president supposedly lunged at his driver in order to take control of a Secret Service vehicle, and when hearing rioters chanting that Vice President Mike Pence should be hanged, the president said he “deserves” it. Former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson testified in a last-minute hearing during a Congressional recess where she presented explosive testimony about the events on and leading up to January 6.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesIn two hours of explosive testimony, the 26-year-old former White House aide offered damning new details of the president and chief of staff’s actions leading up to and during the Capitol attack. Hutchinson had close contact with not only Trump’s allies, but also the former president himself, before, during, and after the riot. Trump publicly attacked Hutchinson and claimed in a on Truth social post that he “hardly” knew her.
The witness provided both video and in-person testimony recounting conversations with Meadows, Giuliani and other Trump officials about the riot at the Capitol. She testified that Trump’s Secret Service refused to take him to the Capitol to join his supporters after his Ellipse rally. In response, Hutchinson testified that Trump said “I’m the effing president.
Take me to the Capitol. ” —CSPAN (@cspan) June 28, 2022 This was not the first time Trump acted this way, Hutchinson testified. She said he threw dishes and flipped tablecloths “several times” while she worked in the White House.
Hutchinson told the committee that Trump knew supporters had weapons at his rally, but said he “didn’t effing care” because “they’re not here to hurt me. “Hutchinson also testified that GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy warned Trump and others to stay away from the Capitol. Video testimony revealed, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleading the 5th when asked if he believed in a peaceful transfer of power and if he thought the violence on January 6 was justified.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of three Republicans on the committee also revealed evidence of witness tampering by Trump world figures during the hearing. Congress is currently in recess, so the next scheduled hearings will be held in mid-July.
Pat Cipollone, former Trump White House counsel was recently subpoenaed by the committee to provide witness testimony. Cipollone has yet to confirm if he plans to cooperate. Hearing 7: Witness TamperingThe seventh hearing focused on the role right-wing extremist groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, had in the January 6 insurrection.
The committee also showed testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Jason Van Tatenhove, a spokesman for the Oath Keepers, and Stephen Ayers, a journalist who previously plead guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, both testified in person. —ABC News (@ABC) July 12, 2022 Republican Rep.
Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s vice chair, emphasized Trump’s responsibility for spreading lies about the election and inciting the mob on January 6, saying Trump is “not an impressionable child. “Cheney said that Cipollone’s eight-hour deposition met the panel’s “expectations. ” Cipollone’s recorded testimony included a clip of him saying former Vice President Mike Pence “did the right thing” by refusing to block the Electoral College Count certification for the 2020 election and suggesting Pence should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
A meeting to discuss election theories with Trump, former Overstock. com CEO Patrick Bryne, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, and election lawyer Sidney Powell, was broken up by Cipollone who “set a new land speed record” in his efforts to reach the Oval Office and halt the meeting. Texts between Hutchinson, the former White House aide who delivered explosive testimony at the sixth public hearing, and Anthony Ornato, another top aide, showed her calling the West Wing “UNHINGED” during an Oval Office meeting on December 18, 2020 that lasted nearly six hours.
The meeting reportedly became extremely heated and aides could hear screaming down the halls. Eleven House Republicans attended the meeting, included Reps. Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Scott Perry, all of whom also sought pardons.
A drafted tweet from Trump showed that he planned to call his supporters to the Capitol on January 6. The draft tweet read, “Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after.
Stop the Steal!!” Ayers said during his testimony that he regretted his role on January 6. “It changed my life, and not for the good. Definitely not for the better,” Ayres said.
Ayres was seen at the end of the hearing approaching and apologizing to law enforcement officers Harry Dunn, Aquilino Gonell and Michael Fanone, all of whom shared testimony before Congress last summer. —Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) July 12, 2022 The hearing concluded with a bombshell revelation by Cheney revealing that Trump contacted a witness who testified before the committee within the last week, suggesting possible witness tampering. She said the witness did not answer the call from the former president, but alerted their lawyer who then informed the House panel.
Cheney did not reveal the identity of the witness, but said the Department of Justice has been looped in. To find out how you can watch the hearings, click here. This story will be updated as more hearings occur.
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From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/the-most-notable-moments-from-the-january-6-hearings-so-far-2022-7
