Jan. 6 hearing makes case Trump at 'center of this conspiracy' to overturn election

Thursday marked the House select committee's first prime-time hearing.

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its first prime-time hearing on Thursday.

The hearing featured never-before-seen video footage and witness testimony as lawmakers aim to explain what they call a "coordinated, multi-step effort" by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.


0

Committee says multiple Republicans sought presidential pardons after attack

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said for the first time publicly that multiple Republican members of Congress reached out to the Trump White House to ask for presidential pardons in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.

"Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election," she added.

As with other House Republicans, Perry has refused to cooperate with the committee's investigation through voluntary requests and a congressional subpoena.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders


Cheney issues warning to fellow Republicans

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., had a message for her colleagues who continue to defend Trump and his false election claims.

"Tonight I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain," Cheney said.

Cheney also had a message for the American people as they watch these hearings unfold over the next several weeks.

"Please remember what is at stake," she said. "Remember the men and women who have fought and died so that we can live under the rule of law and not the rule of men."


Trump 'well aware' of violence but 'placed no call' to defend Capitol: Cheney

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the select committee, shared snippets of what White House aides told the committee Trump said to them while the attack at the Capitol was ongoing, laying out what she called Trump's "sophisticated, seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election."

"You will hear testimony that 'The president didn’t really want to put anything out' calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave. You will hear that President Trump was yelling and “really angry at advisers who told him he needed to do be doing something more.'

"And, aware of the rioters’ chants to 'hang Mike Pence,' the president responded with this sentiment: "Maybe our supporters have the right idea.' Mike Pence 'deserves' it," she said.

She then added, in new detail, "Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element to the United States government to instruct at the Capitol be defended."


With Ivanka Trump tape, panel argues Trump was aware he lost

Using taped testimony from Trump officials including Attorney General Bill Barr and campaign attorney Alex Cannon, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., argued that Trump and his team were well aware that he lost the election but still carried out a plot to stay in power.

"In our second hearing, you will see that Donald Trump and his advisers knew that he had in fact lost the election," Cheney said, explaining how the committee will lay out its case. "But despite this, President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to convince huge portions of the U.S. population that fraud had stolen the election from him."

In a video clip from an interview with Barr, Trump's attorney general said he "repeatedly told the president, in no uncertain terms, that I did not see evidence of fraud and -- you know, that would have affected the outcome of the election."

The committee also aired a taped interview with Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump commenting on Barr's statement that the Justice Department found no fraud sufficient to overturn the election.

"It affected my perspective," Ivanka said of Barr's assessment. "I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying."