Headlines from the Hearing: Trump Pressured Mike Pence To Follow A Conspiracy He Knew Was Illegal, Inciting a Violent Mob To Attack Pence When He Refused to Go Through With It
During the January 6th Committee’s third hearing, witnesses revealed how Trump ignored his closest advisors to illegally and unconstitutionally pressure Mike Pence to overturn the will of the people. The Committee continues to lay out the evidence proving that Trump knowingly incited violence against Pence on January 6th, and continues to oversee a campaign of MAGA candidates alleging election fraud.
Associated Press: Jan. 6 Takeaways: Pence Under Pressure, And In Danger. “In video testimony, Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, said that the vice president told Trump “many times” that Pence did not agree with the scheme. But Trump kept the pressure on anyway. […] During and after the speech, Trump’s supporters – hundreds of whom were now marching to the Capitol – focused on Pence. The panel showed video of the rioters threatening violence toward the vice president if and when he declined to stop Biden’s victory.” [Associated Press, 6/16/22]
CNN: 8 Takeaways From The January 6 Hearings Day 3. “The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection on Thursday detailed how former President Donald Trump tried to pressure his vice president to join in his scheme to overturn the presidential election — and how Mike Pence’s refusal put his life in danger as rioters called for his hanging on January 6, 2021. Trump was told Eastman’s plan was illegal — but tried it anyway…The panel tied the Mike Pence pressure campaign to January 6 violence…The danger to Pence was real as the mob got about 40 feet from the vice president…Eastman wouldn’t take no for an answer on overturning the election…Eastman emailed Giuliani about receiving a presidential pardon after January 6…The star of Thursday’s hearing was not in the room…Luttig turns parts of the hearing into a lengthy constitutional seminar…American democracy is on the line.” [CNN, 6/16/22]
The Hill: Luttig Testifies Pence Would Have Led ‘Revolution Within A Constitutional Crisis’ By Following Trump Order. “Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, a conservative who served as an informal adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, testified before the Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday that Pence would have led a “revolution within a constitutional crisis” if he followed then-President Trump’s order to reject the results of the 2020 presidential election.” [The Hill, 6/16/22]
New York Magazine: January 6 Hearings Build Case for a Trump-Eastman Criminal Conspiracy. “The third day of hearings by the House select committee investigating January 6 focused on the backstory of Donald Trump’s very public effort to coerce then–Vice-President Mike Pence into stopping the certification of Joe Biden’s election during a joint session of Congress. Witnesses (most critically, former Pence counsel Greg Jacob) made it abundantly clear that there was no real support in legal circles within or beyond the White House for the scheme cooked up by Trump campaign attorney John Eastman, whereby Pence was expected to either reject Biden electors or suspend the process of counting them in order to give Republican legislators time to flip the election.” [New York Magazine, 6/16/22]
New York Times: Trump Was Told Plan To Overturn Election Was Illegal, Jan. 6 Panel Says. “The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol laid out evidence on Thursday that former President Donald J. Trump was told that his plan to overturn the 2020 election was illegal, but pressured Vice President Mike Pence to go along with it anyway, ultimately whipping up a violent mob against him when he refused to comply. In its third hearing this month laying out the findings of its investigation so far, the panel detailed the intense pressure campaign Mr. Trump and the conservative lawyer John Eastman waged against Mr. Pence to try to get him to overturn the election, which the panel says directly contributed to the violent siege of Congress.” [New York Times, 6/16/22]
Wall Street Journal: Witnesses Lay Out How Pence Resisted Pressure to Block 2020 Election Results. “Some White House officials thought that a plan backed by then-President Donald Trump for his Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt the transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, was wrong, with some witnesses describing it as crazy, according to testimony at a hearing into the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Mr. Trump and allies had advanced legal theories that the vice president could reject electors from certain states or suspend the counting of votes for 10 days and turn the matter back to those states, and publicly pressured Mr. Pence to embrace that position.” [Wall Street Journal, 6/16/22]
Washington Post: New Email Reinforces Trump Team Saw ‘wild’ Jan. 6 Unrest As Leverage. In the same Times story, Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman reported that another Trump-aligned lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, suggested that “‘wild’ chaos” on Jan. 6 could suit the purposes of their legal effort. And it’s far from the only evidence that Trump and his allies viewed violence or the threat of it as leverage. [Washington Post, 6/16/22]
In The States
The Detroit News: Michigan Senator Refuses To Testify Publicly Before Jan. 6 Committee. “Michigan state Sen. Ed McBroom, the Republican who led an investigation that upheld the results of the 2020 presidential election, revealed Thursday he rejected a request to appear publicly before the U.S. House committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.” [The Detroit News, 6/16/22]
The Charlotte Observer: Majority Of Dems And Gop Agree: U.S. Will Likely ‘Cease To Be A Democracy,’ Poll Finds. “A majority of Democrats and Republicans believe the United States will “likely” not be a democracy someday, according to a recent poll. The Yahoo News-YouGov poll released Wednesday, June 15, revealed that among the 1,541 US adults surveyed, 55% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans believe the country will “cease to be a democracy in the future.” About 49% of Independents also shared this belief, the poll says. A quarter of those surveyed feel the end of U.S. democracy is “unlikely,” while another quarter was unsure.” [The Charlotte Observer, 6/16/22]
PennLive: Mob Got Within 40 Feet Of Mike Pence, Team During Jan. 6 Riot: Panel. “Donald Trump’s closest advisers viewed his last-ditch efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to reject the tally of state electors and overturn the 2020 election as “nuts,” “crazy” and even likely incite riots, witnesses revealed in stark testimony to the Jan. 6 committee on Thursday. Gripping new evidence also detailed how the mob that stormed the Capitol that day came within 40 feet of where Pence and his team were sheltering, highlighting the danger Trump had put him in.” [The Patriot-News, 6/16/22]
Pittsburgh Post Gazette: 1/6 Panel: Plan For Pence To Reject Electors ‘Nuts,’ ‘Crazy’. With live testimony, including from Pence’s counsel, and other evidence from its yearlong investigation the panel is dissecting as unlawful and unconstitutional the plan from conservative lawyer John Eastman to reverse Joe Biden’s election victory. The pressure Trump put on Pence, including at a Jan. 6 rally, led directly to the insurrection at the Capitol, the panel said. [Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 6/16/22]
