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The House Jan. 6 committee on Thursday took extraordinary action to subpoena former President Donald Trump as it issued a stark warning in its final public hearings before the midterm elections: The future of the nation’s democracy is at stake.
A few weeks before the midterm elections, the panel’s October hearing focused on Trump’s mindset on Jan. 6, 2021, as he egged his supporters on false election-fraud allegations as lawmakers calculated the election results. Pushed to escort them to the Capitol. Vote, then waited for hours as thugs violently stormed the building.
The committee will close early next year for a final public debate ahead of an expected December report.
“We have an obligation to seek answers directly from the people who started this,” said Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the group’s vice chair and one of two Republicans on the nine-member committee. “Every American is entitled to these answers. So we can act now to protect our Republic.”
Trump’s subpoenas — but not pennies
The subpoena against Trump is a major escalation in the investigation. A unanimous 9-0 vote “on oath on relevant documents and testimony” was confirmed months after suggesting they might ignore the former president.
The committee has long debated whether to seek or subpoena testimony from Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence. Neither spoke directly to the committee. Despite Trump’s hostility to the investigation in court and in public, Pence’s lawyers have been in contact with the panel for months without a clear resolution.
Pence could still be subpoenaed or subpoenaed. But several of his closest aides complied with the investigation, several of whom provided details about his actions and mental state, as he rejected Trump’s failed pleas that day to object to the certification of votes and to try to overturn them.
By contrast, the committee showed several clips of Trump allies refusing to answer questions in front of the panel.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat, said the committee “was able to identify nearly every crime, except for certain details of what Trump did and said as the riots unfolded. every salient detail in the element”.
Pelosi and Schumer in hiding
New video played by the panel shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacting emotionally to the news that her colleagues donned gas masks in the House as rioters approached. She quickly got to work trying to protect and reopen the Capitol.
Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer were seen talking to security officials at unidentified security locations. The footage includes a conversation between Pelosi and Pence, who was also in a safe place, discussing their return to the meeting to complete the proof of Biden’s victory.
The video was filmed by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Amid the hours-long delay, the two leaders are struggling to bring the National Guard to the Capitol. At one point Schumer said he would “call the ‘Secretary of Defense,’ referring to the Department of Defense.”
“We have some senators still in their hideout,” Schumer told defense officials by phone. “They need a lot of people right now.”
‘Consider whether we can survive’
The lesson from the committee’s investigation, Cheney said at the hearing, is that institutions only come into existence when well-meaning people protect them regardless of political costs.
“Why do Americans think our Constitution and the institutions of our republic will not be under another attack? Why do we think these institutions will not be shaken next time?” Cheney asked.
The warning comes as Trump still refuses to admit he lost re-election to Joe Biden and is considering running again in 2024 — and many Republicans who deny a Biden win are running in midterm elections at all levels of government . Many states have replaced election officials who resisted Trump’s pressure campaign.
“Any future president tends to try what Donald Trump did in 2020, and now he’s learned not to let those who might get in his way,” said Cheney, who lost her Republican early in August. select. “Consider whether we have another 246 years to live.”
Secret Service Revelation
In recent weeks, the committee has obtained more than 1.5 million pages of documents from the Secret Service. They disclosed some of that information during the hearing, including an email from within the agency on Dec. 11, 2020, the day the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s attempt to disrupt the vote.
“FYI. POTUS is p–d — BREAKING NEWS — Supreme Court dismisses his case. He’s pissed right now,” an anonymous Secret Service email said.
Multiple emails show that the agency issued ample warnings of violence in the weeks and days leading up to the riots.
The agency received an alert on Dec. 24 that multiple online users targeted members of Congress and “directed others to enter the chamber,” said Rep. Adam Schiff of California, a Democratic member of the group. Say.
Another Democratic member, Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, said the committee “will recall witnesses and conduct further investigative testimony based on Secret Service material.” The agency has yet to hand over the text messages it says have been deleted.
Aguilar also warned that the committee is reviewing testimony about possible obstruction of certain witnesses. The committee has said in the past that some witnesses were intimidated from speaking.
cabinet officials
The committee, which showed pre-recorded interviews with Cabinet members, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Transportation Secretary Chao, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, said they believed that once legal avenues were exhausted, the It should be the end of Trump’s efforts to stay in power.
Pompeo, who has been interviewed by the panel since his last hearing in July, said in videotaped testimony that he believes the campaign is over once the Electoral College approves the vote. “All of us should obey the law at all times and do what we can — each of us,” Pompeo said.
Ms. Chao, who is married to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnel, said she decided to resign after the uprising because “given my personal values and my philosophy, it’s impossible for me to continue.”
Meanwhile, Trump continues to push false claims of fraud to his millions of supporters.
“President Trump knows the truth. He has heard all his experts and senior staff tell him,” said Rep. Adam Kinsinger of Illinois, another Republican on the committee. “His intention is clear: to ignore the rule of law and stay in power.”
criminal referral
Cheney opened the meeting by answering one of the committee’s remaining questions, saying the panel “may ultimately decide to submit a series of criminal cases to the Justice Department.” At the end of the hearing, she raised the possibility again, saying it had “sufficient information to consider criminal referrals to multiple people”.
Committee members have long suggested they might recommend charges against Trump or others based on their own evidence. While such a referral would not force any action, it would create political pressure on Attorney General Merrick Garland as the department conducted its own investigation around January 6. The committee has not shared any records of its more than 1,000 interviews.
Still, “we recognize that our role is not to make decisions about prosecution,” Cheney said.
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