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

Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone claimed privilege not to answer when asked by committee investigators in taped testimony why he wasn't allowed in an Oval Office meeting with Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and attorney John Eastman on Jan. 4, 2021.

"I did walk to that meeting, and I ultimately did not attend," Cipollone said. "The reasons for that are privileged."

Cipollone said that he and Pence both believed Eastman's theory for overturning the election was "nutty" and recalled that he told someone in Pence's office that the vice president could "just blame me" for refusing to go along with Eastman's plan.

"I think the vice president did the right thing. I think he did the courageous thing," Cipollone said, adding that he suggested Pence should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for carrying out his oath of office, under immense pressure from Trump.

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.