Jan. 6 hearing told Trump knew plan to pressure Pence was illegal, went ahead anyway

The committee said the mob attacking the Capitol got within 40 feet of Pence.

The House's Jan. 6 committee held its third public hearing of the month, on Thursday, with the focus on the pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence.

The committee detailed the efforts of then-President Donald Trump and his allies before and on Jan. 6, 2021, to get Pence to reject electoral votes Congress was certifying -- as part of what it says was a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.


Witness warns Trump allies 'executing a blueprint' to overturn 2024 election

Former federal judge Michael Luttig, in his closing comments before the committee, reiterated what he said in a New York Times op-ed in February -- that Trump and his allies were "a clear and present danger to democracy," warning that Trump or his "anointed successor" could succeed in 2024 in overturning those presidential election results where they failed in 2020.

"The former president and his allies are executing a blueprint for 2024, in open and plain view of the American public," Luttig told lawmakers.

"I don't speak those words lightly. I would have never spoken those words I ever in my life," he said. "Except that's what the former president and his allies are telling us."

Chairman Bennie Thompson thanked the witnesses for protecting the "foundation" of U.S. democracy and reiterated hit warning as well.

"There are now some who think the danger has passed. That even though there was violence and a corrupt attempt to overturn the presidential election, the system worked," the Mississippi Democrat said. "I look at it another way: Our system nearly failed, and our democratic foundation destroyed but for people like you."


Chair teases tip line, exhibits available to public online

Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., closing out Thursday's hearing, drew attention to the committee's website -- -- where the public can view the evidence presented in the public hearings and send tips to the committee as its investigation is ongoing.

"Despite how you may not think it's important, send us what you think," he said. "I thank those that sent us evidence, for their bravery and patriotism."


Cheney previews next hearing

With searing new evidence, the committee on Thursday sought to draw a direct link between Trump's actions and the Capitol attack, which it maintained put Vice President Mike Pence's life at serious risk.

Vice Chair Liz Cheney, in her closing statement, previewed evidence still to come, promising information in their next hearing on Tuesday about Trump's efforts to apply pressure to Republican slate legislators, election officials and even federal officials to corrupt the electoral count vote.

"We will examine the Trump team's determination to transmit material false electoral slates from multiple states to officials of the executive and legislative branches of our government," she said, and "the pressures put on state legislators to convene to reverse lawful election results."

After establishing Pence on Thursday as an "honorable man" who had the courage to carry out his constitutional duty on Jan. 6 despite a pressure campaign and threats to his life, Cheney ended by drawing a stark contrast with Trump.

“An honorable man receiving the information and advice that Mr. Trump received from his campaign experts and his staff, a man who loved his country more than himself would have conceded this election," she said. "Indeed, we know that a number of President Trump's closest aides urged him to do so."



Eastman emailed Rudy Giuliani to be on 'pardon list,' committee says

Trump-allied attorney John Eastman, in the days after Jan. 6, emailed Rudy Giuliani about a possible pardon.

"I've decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works," Eastman wrote to Giuliani, the committee showed.

Eastman wasn't pardoned and when he was was deposed by the House panel, he pleaded the fifth 100 times, Rep. Pete Aguilar noted.


Inside the hearing room

Notable faces were spotted across the hearing room as proceedings kicked off Thursday.

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Capitol Police Staff Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges and former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who testified at the committee's first hearing last year on their experience defending the Capitol on Jan. 6, were all present.

Former Pence national security adviser Olivia Troye, who resigned from the administration in 2020, was spotted sitting next to Gonell as well as Allison Gill, a former high-level Veterans Affairs official who was secretly recording a podcast on the weekends about Robert Mueller's investigation that attracted thousands of listeners.

A couple of members of Congress have been spotted in the back of the room including Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., sitting together. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who along with Vice Chair Liz Cheney has been ostracized by the Republican Party for speaking out against Trump, also stopped by.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel