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

Tuesday's hearing was the first this month, the seventh so far.

ByLibby Cathey, Alexandra Hutzler, and Tal Axelrod
Last Updated: August 4, 2022, 5:39 PM EDT

The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 used its seventh hearing Tuesday to focus on what it said was then-President Donald Trump "summoning the mob" to the Capitol, including extremist groups.

Here is how the hearing unfolded:

Jul 12, 2022, 3:53 PM EDT

Capitol rioter describes what he said was Trump’s influence on Jan. 6

Stephen Ayres, who recently admitted to illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, testified Tuesday how influential he said Trump was over the actions of those who participated in the insurrection. Ayres said he didn't intend to storm the Capitol if Trump hadn't 'riled up' those at his Ellipse rally to march to the area.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., asked Ayres if it would've made a difference to know that Trump himself knew by Jan. 6 that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

"Oh, definitely. Who knows, I may not have come down here, then," Ayres said.

Ayres described how he and other rioters left the Capitol right after Trump posted several tweets telling them to go home, and if he had issued the posts earlier "we maybe wouldn't be in this bad of a situation."

Ayres said it makes him angry that Trump continues to push election lies.

"I was hanging on every word you're saying," Ayres told the committee. "I was following it. If I was doing it, hundreds of thousands or millions of other people are doing it."

Stephen Ayres, who entered the U.S. Capitol illegally on January 6, 2021, appears for testimony during the hearing by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, July 12, 2022.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Jul 12, 2022, 3:36 PM EDT

Witness describes Oath Keepers as 'a dangerous militia'

Jason Van Tatenhove, a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers militia group testifying in-person this afternoon, characterized the group as "a dangerous militia."

Jason Van Tatenhove, a member of the Oath Keepers, waits to testify during a public hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, July 12, 2022.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

During his time working for the Oath Keepers, he said, the group "drifted into white nationalism" and "straight racism" with founder Stuart Rhodes at the helm. Van Tatenhove ultimately broke with the organization.

Rhodes and members of both the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Jul 12, 2022, 3:25 PM EDT

Brad Parscale said he felt 'guilty' for helping Trump win: Committee

The committee displayed what it said were text messages between former Trump campaign advisers Brad Parscale and Katrina Pierson on the evening of Jan. 6. Parscale expressed guilt for helping Trump win the presidency.

"This is about Trump pushing for uncertainty in our country. A sitting president asking for civil war," Parscale wrote.

Pierson responded, "you did what you felt right at the time and therefore it was right," to which Parscale replied, "yeah. But a woman is dead" -- likely referring to Ashli Babbitt, a California woman fatally shot during the Capitol attack.

Parscale said it was Trump's rhetoric that led to her death.

Jul 12, 2022, 3:08 PM EDT

Cipollone claims privilege when asked why he wasn't in Trump, Pence, Eastman meeting

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."

PHOTO: A photo of Rudy Giuliani outside the White House taken by Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is displayed during a hearing at the Capitol, July 12, 2022.
A photo of Rudy Giuliani outside the White House taken by Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is displayed as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, July 12, 2022.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP

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.