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

Rep. Stephanie Murphy described a Dec. 21, 2020 meeting regarding Jan. 6 that involved the White House and several Republican members of Congress.

The focus of that meeting, Murphy said, was the vice president’s role in the certification of the 2020 election and the “Eastman theory” -- a legal theory pushed by Trump attorney John Eastman that the vice president could single-handedly reject electors.

Murphy said lawmakers in attendance were Brian Babin, Andy Biggs, Louis Gohmert, Scott Perry, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Andy Harris, Jody Hice, Jim Jordan and Congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Trump spoke with former top aide Steve Bannon at least twice the day before the Jan. 6 riot, the committee said, citing evidence it said obtained from the White House.

Murphy revealed call logs showing the time stamps of the two conversations before playing clips from Bannon's radio show he recorded after the first conversation.

"All hell is going to break loose tomorrow," Bannon said. "It's all converging, and now we're on, as they say, the point of attack, right, the point of attack tomorrow."

"I'll tell you this, it's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen," he added. "It's going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is, strap in."

The committee made the case that Trump's call for his supporters to march from the Ellipse to the Capitol was "not a spontaneous call to action" and had in fact been discussed prior to the riot.

Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., showed a text message it she said was sent from Ali Alexander, an organizer of the rally that preceded the insurrection, to a "conservative journalist."

"Ellipse then US capitol. Trump is supposed to order us to capitol at the end of his speech but we will see," Alexander texted the journalist, she said.

"President Trump did follow through on his plan, using his Jan. 6 speech to tell his supporters to march to the Capitol on Jan. 6. The evidence confirms that this was not a spontaneous call to action, but rather was a deliberate strategy decided upon in advance by the president," Murphy concluded.

Previous testimony in front of the committee indicated Trump was aware that some of his supporters were armed before urging them to march on the Capitol.

For the second half of the hearing, committee members will question two live witnesses: Stephen Ayres of Warren, Ohio, who recently admitted to illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, and Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers militia group, whose members took part in the attack.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said Trump mobilized members from far-right groups such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters to Washington on Jan. 6 in a last-ditch effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

Van Tatenhove donned a dark-wash denim jacket with buttons for the congressional hearing.

Ayres had previously claimed that a "civil war will ensue" if the 2020 election wasn't overturned and accused President Joe Biden of "treason." Last month, he pleaded guilty to one federal charge of disorderly conduct inside a restricted building. His sentencing is scheduled for September.