Washington: On the second day of public hearing, the House January 6 committee focused on those closest to former President Donald Trump who said they told him it was too premature to declare victory on election night in 2020 and that the former President used his false narrative, only to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, stating the presidential election was stolen.
Monday’s hearing used first-hand accounts from Trump’s inner circle including his daughter, son-in-law, former campaign manager and former attorney general, to focus on how he pushed the ‘big lie’ of a stolen 2020 race to millions of supporters even though almost all of his advisers – except, Rudy Giuliani — told him that he had lost to Joe Biden. The committee also showed video testimony from top officials in the Trump administration who said former Vice President Mike Pence and White House were aware there was no evidence to support Trump’s claims of voter fraud.
Former Attorney General William Barr said in recorded video testimony that he knew early claims that Trump had won the election were ‘bogus’ and ‘silly’. Barr also described his thinking on Trump in the weeks after the election, saying, ‘Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact with, he’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff’. Former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien was also slated to speak, but less than an hour before the hearing was set to start at 10 am ET, the committee announced that Stepien would not attend the hearings ‘due to a family emergency’. Stepien, in an excerpt of his interview with the committee, said he felt that it was ‘far too early’ to say Trump had won. He thought ballots would continue to be counted for days.
The committee also played video of Ivanka Trump, who did not recall having a ‘firm’ view of what her father should do, but she said she knew the ‘race would not be called on election night’. Jared Kushner said he told the president that Giuliani’s election conspiracies were ‘basically not the approach I would take’. According to the select committee, Former President Trump and his allies raised USD 250 million off his claim the 2020 election was stolen, with USD 100 million coming in the first week after Election Day. Senior investigative counsel Amanda Wick said in a video played by the panel that most of the money went toward Trump’s newly created Save America PAC rather than ‘election-related litigation’.
The committee has two more hearings scheduled this week on Wednesday and Thursday. The committee will hold six hearings in all, where it intends to detail a conspiracy by Donald Trump to overturn the election that ultimately led to a violent insurrection meant to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election results. The hearings could lead to prosecutions and new laws to strengthen election security going forward. January 6 committee also aired violent, previously unseen footage of rioters beating US capitol police and smashing way into the building.
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