At Jan. 6 hearing, GOP state election officials detail pushback to Trump's pressure

The committee said he was directly involved in the 'fake electors" scheme.

Last Updated: August 4, 2022, 5:33 PM EDT

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol held another hearing Tuesday on the pressure campaign it says former President Donald Trump and allies put on state election officials as part of a larger "seven-part scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Jun 21, 2022, 1:20 PM EDT

Cheney says committee will show Trump's 'direct and personal role' in fake electors scheme

Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in her opening statement, said the committee will provide evidence that Trump "had a direct and personal role" in a scheme to have key states send fake electors to Congress and for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, "as did Rudy Giuliani, as did John Eastman."

"In other words, the same people who were attempting to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes illegally, were also simultaneously working to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election at the state level," Cheney said.

Cheney said the public will learn about calls Trump made to officials of Georgia and other states, and asked, "As you listen to these tapes, keep in mind what Donald Trump already knew at the time he made those calls -- he had been told over and over again that his stolen election allegations were nonsense," she said, going on to play video testimony of Trump's attorney general Bill Barr.

Also raising threats of violence to election workers, Cheney said, "Donald Trump didn’t care about the threats of violence" and "made no effort to stop them; he went forward with his fake allegations anyway."

"Do not be distracted by politics," she added, as the former president and GOP allies continue to attack the committee's investigation. "This is serious. We cannot let America become a nation of conspiracy theories and thug violence."

Jun 21, 2022, 1:10 PM EDT

Chairman opens hearing

Chairman Bennie Thompson convened the committee's fourth hearing this month shortly after 1 p.m. and previewed the pressure campaign he said Trump and his allies put on election officials in key states with the aim of overturning the 2020 election.

In his opening statement, Thompson said "pressuring public servants into betraying their oaths was a fundamental part of the playbook" and that, in 2020, only a handful of election officials in key states "stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy."

"Everything we describe today -- the relentless, destructive pressure campaign on state and local officials -- was all based on a lie. Donald Trump knew it," Thompson said. "He did it anyway."

Explaining how the U.S. elects its president with the Electoral College system, Thompson also warned that "the lie hasn’t gone away" but is still "corrupting our democratic institutions," citing an example of a county commissioner in New Mexico who refused to certify primary results last week.

"People who believe that lie are now seeking positions of public trust," Thompson said. "If that happens, who will make sure our institutions don’t break under the pressure? We won’t have close calls. We’ll have catastrophe."

Jun 21, 2022, 12:18 PM EDT

Committee subpoenas filmmaker for new footage of Trump

The House select committee has subpoenaed a British documentary filmmaker who had substantial access to Trump, his family and closest aides both before and after the Jan. 6 attack, according to a statement from the filmmaker obtained by ABC News.

A spokesperson for filmmaker Alex Holder, who began filming Trump for a project in September 2020, confirmed the subpoena, first reported by Politico.

PHOTO: Trump supporters participated in a rally, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Biden's victory, thousands have gathered to show their support for President Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud.
Trump supporters participated in a rally, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud.
John Minchillo/AP, FILE

Holder said he has "fully complied with all of the committee’s requests" and handed over footage which includes interviews with Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence, shot in the weeks around the Jan. 6 attack.

-ABC News' Ali Dukakis and Benjamin Siegel

Jun 21, 2022, 12:09 PM EDT

Former election worker to describe threats against her, family

Shaye Moss, a former election worker in Georgia, will testify Tuesday about the threats she said she and her family received in the aftermath of the 2020 race, according to a copy of her opening statement obtained by ABC News.

"Ever since December 2020, I have been under attack for just doing my job," the statement reads. "My mom too."

Moss will describe how they were the target of lies spread by Trump and Rudy Giuliani, including false accusations that they brought ballots into the State Farm Arena in a suitcase.

"People showed up at my grandmother's home trying to bust the door down and conduct a citizen's arrest of my mom and me," her statement reads. "The threats followed me to work. People would email the general email address for our office so everyone could see their threats and the hateful messages directed at me."

Related Topics