The House Select Committee probing the January 6 Capitol riots put former President Donald Trump’s false election-fraud claims front and center in a second public hearing, detailing the initial findings of the investigation.
The narrowly focused hearing, which wrapped up after just two hours, sought to establish that Trump knew he had lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, but still worked to convince the public. Said that the race had been stolen from him through widespread fraud.
The panel showed extensive footage of Trump’s former aides and officials, particularly former Attorney General William Barr, testifying to the committee about his interactions with Trump and those close to him. Several witnesses said they told Trump at the time of the election that his claims of fraud were false. The committee also heard personal testimony from former Fox News political editor Chris Stirwalt, Republican election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg and others.
Here are some highlights from the second hearing:
Barr slams ‘crazy’ election fraud claims, questions Trump’s grip on reality
Former US Attorney General Bill Barr is seen on video during his statement for a public hearing of the US House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol on Capitol Hill on June 9, 2022 in Washington, US. REUTERS/ Jonathan Ernstow
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Barr, who served as U.S. Attorney General until late December 2020, emerged as a main character in making the committee’s case that Trump was repeatedly told there was no evidence for fraud claims that he was pedaling.
In his interview with the committee’s investigators, Trump’s former head of the Justice Department repeatedly slammed those election-cheating conspiracy theories As in “bull—” and “crazy” among other words. He testified that he said as much to the face of the then president.
In a clip, Barr recalled an Oval Office meeting, weeks after the November 3, 2020 election, in which he had to tell Trump that the DOJ is “not an extension of your legal team” and cannot be used as fraud. “Take sides in elections” by investigating claims of
“We’ll see something if it’s specific, credible, and can influence the outcome of the election, and we’re doing that and it’s not meritorious, they’re not panning,” Barr told Trump.
The former DOJ chief also said he told Trump that “the stuff his guys were taking out to the public was bulls— I mean the fraud claims were bulls– and he’s furious about it. Were .”
“I reiterated that they had wasted an entire month on these claims on these Dominion voting machines, and they were silly claims,” Barr said.
Barr said he found claims that Dominion voting machines were manipulated to vote for Biden, “disturbing” that “I saw absolutely zero basis for him”. But “they were clearly affecting a lot of members of the public” even though they were “absolute crap,” Barr said.
He added: “I told them it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on it and it was doing a serious harm to the country.”
Barr said Trump gave him a copy of a report full of claims of election fraud. Trump said reports suggest he would get a second term, but “to be honest, it sounded pretty amateurish to me,” Barr said.
“I was somewhat disappointed, because I thought, boy, if he really believes in this stuff, he’s lost touch – he’s disconnected from reality if he really believes in this stuff, Barr said.
The former attorney general laughed when Barr would tell Trump how “insane” some of these claims were, “there was no sign of interest in the actual facts.”
Rudy Giuliani was ‘definitely drunk’ on election night, prompting Trump to declare victory, campaign aide says
Former Trump campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani is seen on a screen during a hearing by the select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol on June 13, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
In another clip from the Witness interview, ex-Trump campaign aide Jason Miller said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was “definitely drunk” on Election Night 2020 when he told the White House that Trump had to simply declare victory. needed.
Miller said he noticed Giuliani was drunk when he and other officials, including former campaign manager Bill Stephanie and then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, gathered at the White House to hear what Giuliani had to say to Trump. Were.
“The mayor was certainly drunk, but I didn’t know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president,” Miller said as part of an interview with the selection committee.
“Suggestions were made by me, I believe it was Mayor Giuliani, to go and declare victory and say we will win it outright,” Miller said. Giuliani was effectively saying, “‘We won this, they’re stealing it from us, where are all the votes going to come from, we need to say we won,’ and essentially whoever gets off that position.” Didn’t agree he was being vulnerable,” Miller told investigators.
In the early hours of November 4, 2020, Trump falsely claimed, “Frankly, we won this election.”
A spokesman for Giuliani, who sent along a conspiracy theory and typo-ridden statement from a former Trump lawyer, denied that Giuliani was drunk on election night.
star witness drop out
Campaign manager Bill Stepian stands with US President Donald Trump as he speaks with reporters on Air Force One as he heads for Joint Base Andrews in Maryland from Manchester, New Hampshire, on August 28, 2020, after a campaign rally take flight.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Stepian was to appear under summons during Monday’s hearing. But his wife went into labor that morning, preventing her from testifying and forcing the selection committee to delay the proceedings by 45 minutes.
Instead of hearing Steepian’s personal testimony, the committee made a raft of video and audio clips from his interviews with investigators.
In a video clip, Stepian told the committee that on Election Night, he took the view that it was “too early” for Trump to claim that he won the election, as Giuliani had reportedly motivated him to do so. , because the ballots were still being counted.
Stepian said he recommended that Trump should say it was too early to call the race, but he was proud of the campaign and would have more to say later. Trump disagreed with that message, Stepian said.
“He thought I was wrong, he told me so,” he said.
Trump officials repeatedly push back fraud claims
Video featuring Eric Hershman, the White House counsel under former President Donald Trump, is played during a hearing by the Select Committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol at the Canon House office building on June 13, 2022 in Washington, DC Is.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
The panel showed clip after clip of former Trump officials saying they saw no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election that could have changed the outcome of the race.
For example, Matt Morgan, a former Trump campaign general counsel, recalled assessing “what [fraud], if collected and read in a manner most conducive to the campaign, will be that outcome determinant. And I think the assessment of everyone in the room, at least among the staff, was that it wasn’t enough to be an outcome determinant.”
“I’ve never seen any evidence to support those allegations,” former White House attorney Eric Hershman said in discussing claims of Dominion voting machines rigged.
“What they were proposing, I thought was crazy,” Hershman said in a later clip, referring to claims of fraudulent conspiracy by Giuliani and pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell.
In another clip, former Trump campaign lawyer Alex Cannon said he spoke to White House adviser Peter Navarro in mid-November about Dominion voting machines and other allegations of voter fraud.
“I remember telling him I didn’t believe Dominion’s allegations because I thought hand recalculation technology in Georgia would solve any issues with the problem,” said Cannon, federal cybersecurity director Christopher Krebs. recently said election was secure,
“I believe Mr. Navarro accused me of being an agent of deep state working with Chris Krebs against the president. And I never took another call from Mr. Navarro,” Cannon said.
“Trump’s own campaign adviser, the Justice Department, and his cybersecurity experts told him the same thing,” committee vice chairman Liz Cheney, R-Vyo, told the hearing.
Former Deputy Acting Attorney General Richard Donoghue told the committee that he tried to convey to Trump “in very clear terms” that “the key allegations are not supported by evolving evidence.”
“We’ve looked at Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada. We’re doing our job. The information you’re getting is false,” Donoghue said. Donoghue told the panel that when he elaborated on a fraud claim, Trump said, “Well, what about the others?”
“There were many of these allegations that when you gave a very direct answer to one of them, he wouldn’t fight us over it, but he would move on to the other,” Donoghue said.
Trump’s Failed Court Claims
To drive the point home, the committee displayed statistics on how dozens of lawsuits by Trump’s legal team and his allies played out in court.
The committee said that between Election Day 2020 and the date of the Capitol riot, 62 lawsuits challenging results were filed in nine major states and Washington, DC. Trump’s side lost 61 of these cases.
A graphic displayed by the committee noted that the 22 judges overseeing those cases were appointed by Republican presidents. Trump himself appointed 10 of these judges.
what will happen next
The committee is expected to be held Five more public hearings in June, The panel’s key message, as expressed at the first hearing last week, is that Trump was “at the center” of a conspiracy to reverse the 2020 election result.
The next hearing “will proceed on President Trump’s broad plan for January 6, including his plan to corrupt the Justice Department, and his detailed plan with attorney John Eastman to overturn vice presidents, state legislatures, state officials, and others.” involved to pressurize elections,” Cheney said at the end of Monday’s presentation.