Trump tried to call Jan. 6 committee witness, Cheney says

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., leading the hearing along with Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., laid out what he called "three rings" he said Trump mobilized in an attempt to overturn the election.

In the inside ring, he said, was Trump's pressure on Vice President Mike Pence, while in the middle ring were organized extremists, and in the outer ring was the angry mob.

"On the inside ring, Trump continues trying to work to overturn the election by getting Mike Pence to abandon his oath of office, as vice president and assert the unilateral power to reject electoral votes," Raskin said. "Meanwhile, in the middle ring, members of domestic violence groups created an alliance, both online and in-person, to coordinate a massive effort, to storm invade and occupy the Capitol."

"Finally, in the outer rim, on January 6th, they assembled a large and angry crowd," he said. "All of these efforts, we converge and explode on January the 6th."

Cheney, the panel's vice chair, said Trump "deceived" his supporters by touting unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.

"No rational or sane man in his position could disregard that information and reach the opposite conclusion." Reading from a teleprompter, Cheney also indicated that the committee would show evidence that Trump's circle of advisers knew they lacked evidence to support claims of widespread fraud.

"As you watch our hearing today, I would urge you to keep your eye on two specific points. First, you will see evidence that Trump's legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, knew that they lacked actual evidence of widespread fraud to prove that the election was actually stolen. They knew it, but they went ahead with Jan. 6 anyway," she added. "And second, consider how millions of Americans were persuaded to believe what Donald Trump's closes advisers in his administration did not."

"These Americans did not have access to the truth like Donald Trump did. They put their faith and their trust in Donald Trump. They wanted to believe in him. They wanted to fight for their country, and he deceived them. For millions of Americans, that may be painful to accept, but it is true," Cheney concluded.

Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo, said Trump allies are taking a new strategy in an attempt to discredit the committee's hearings after initially denying its findings.

"Now the argument seems to be that President Trump was manipulated by others outside the administration," Cheney said. She noted that fingers are being pointed at Trump advisers such as John Eastman or Sydney Powell, or Rep. Scott Perry.

"This, of course, is nonsense," Cheney continued. "President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child."

Cheney said the committee has shown Trump had access to more detailed and specific information showing that the election was not actually stolen than almost anyone else in the nation.

"No rational or sane man in his position could disregard that information and reach the opposite conclusion," she argued. "Donald Trump cannot escape responsibility by being willfully blind."

Committee Chair Bennie Thompson gaveled in the hearing shortly after 1 p.m. and immediately invoked a core theme the committee has emphasized in its public hearings.

"We settle our differences at the ballot box," he said, before raising how Trump handled his election loss.

"He seized on the anger of his supporters, and when they approached the line, he didn't wave them off, he urged them on," Thompson said.

"Today, the committee will explain how, as a part of the last-ditch effort to overturn the election and block the transfer of power, Donald Trump summoned a mob to Washington D.C. -- and ultimately, spurred that mob to wage a violent attack on our democracy," he said.