Pence told Trump ‘many times’ that overturn election was illegal, ex-VP’s aide says
The third public hearing of the House 6 January committee is underway, with a focus on the pressure campaign by allies of Donald Trump to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election in Congress.
An hour from the start, the committee tweeted that President Trump knew he lost the 2020 election and oversaw a scheme to overturn the will of the people, “when the vice president refused to go along with it, he unleashed a violent mob against Pence at the Capitol”.
Earlier, Rep Bennie Thompson, said his panel will be requesting testimony from Ginni Thomas, a longtime conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
“We think it’s time that we, at some point, invite her to come talk to the committee,” Mr Thompson said.
Emails received by the committee have revealed that Ms Thomas was in touch with members of the Trump circle in the weeks leading up to 6 January 2021, including emails between her and John Eastman, the law professor who led the way in formulating a plan for Mr Pence to interfere in the election results.
Luttig says plan ‘tantamount to a revolution’ within a constitutional crisis
Judge Luttig testifies: “Had the Vice President of the United States obeyed the President of the United States, America would immediately have been plunged into what would have been tantamount to a revolution within a paralysing constitutional crisis.”
He adds: “It would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the republic.”
Oliver O’Connell16 June 2022 18:31
Greg Jacob is asked about his conversations with Mike Pence regarding the 12th Amendment and the concept being floated as to what his role was in the electoral process.
Mr Jacob says Pence thought “there was no way that our Framers — who abhorred concentrated power, who had broken away from the tyranny of George III — would ever have put one person … in a role to have decisive impact on the outcome of an election”.
Oliver O’Connell16 June 2022 18:28
Oliver O’Connell16 June 2022 18:21
California Rep Pete Aguilar says of today’s hearing: “You’ll hear how Vice President Pence withstood an onslaught of pressure from President Trump both publicly and privately — a pressure campaign that built to a fever pitch with a heated phone call on the morning of January 6th.”
Mr Aguilar says President Trump knew there was a violent mob the Capitol when he tweeted: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”
The committee shows a rioter on video saying that if Mr Pence caved then they would drag politician through the streets.
“We intend to show January 6th was not an isolated incident.” says Mr Aguilar, adding that President Trump “weaponised” John Eastman’s theory on how Pence could intervene in the certification of the election.
Oliver O’Connell16 June 2022 18:17
Cheney: What Trump wanted Pence to do was ‘illegal and unconstutional’
Vice Chair Liz Cheney opens by saying that what President Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do was “illegal and unconstitutional”.
She says Marc Short, Pence’s aide, testified that Mr Trump was told repeatedly that Mike Pence lacked the legal authority to what he demanded Pence do.
Pence made his position, that he lacked the constitutional authority to unilaterally reject electors, clear “many times” to Trump and was “very consistent,” his aide Marc Short testified.
Oliver O’Connell16 June 2022 18:12
Hearing underway with chair quoting Pence
Chair Bennie Thompson opens the third public hearing by quoting former-Vice President Mike Pence and saying he agrees with him, that there is “no idea more un-American” than the idea that one person can select the…