Jan 6th Hearings

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Former President Donald Trump repeatedly told aides in the days following his 2020 election loss that he would remain in the White House rather than let incoming President Joe Biden take over, according to reporting provided to CNN from a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

"I'm just not going to leave," Trump told one aide, according to Haberman.
"We're never leaving," Trump told another. "How can you leave when you won an election?"
Trump's insistence that he would not be leaving the White House, which has not been previously reported, adds new detail to the chaotic post-election period in which Trump's refusal to accept his defeat and numerous efforts to overturn the election result led to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.
Haberman's book, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," is being released on October 4.

Haberman writes that in the immediate aftermath of the November 3 elections, Trump seemed to recognize he had lost to Biden. He asked advisers to tell him what had gone wrong. He comforted one adviser, saying, "We did our best." Trump told junior press aides, "I thought we had it," seemingly almost embarrassed by the outcome, according to Haberman.

But at some point, Trump's mood changed, Haberman writes, and he abruptly informed aides he had no intention of departing the White House in late January 2021 for Biden to move in.

He was even overheard asking the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel, "Why should I leave if they stole it from me?"

Trump's vow that he would refuse to vacate the White House had no historical precedent, Haberman writes, and his declaration left aides uncertain as to what he might do next. The closest parallel might have been Mary Todd Lincoln, who stayed in the White House for nearly a month after her husband, President Abraham Lincoln, was assassinated, the author noted.

Publicly, Trump dismissed questions about whether he would leave office. On November 26, 2020, he was asked by a reporter whether he would leave the White House if the Electoral College voted for Biden. "Certainly I will, and you know that," Trump said in response, as he continued to spread lies about the election being stolen.

Trump couldn't decide which path to follow after his 2020 defeat. Haberman writes that he quizzed nearly everyone about which options would lead to success -- including the valet who brought Diet Cokes when Trump pressed a red button on his Oval Office desk.

The reporting provided to CNN from the forthcoming book also reveals new details on what those around Trump were doing in the aftermath of an election loss he refused to accept. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was reluctant to confront Trump on the loss, according to Haberman.

When he encouraged a group of aides to go to the White House and brief the then-President, Kushner was asked why he wasn't joining them himself. Trump's son-in-law likened it to a deathbed scene, Haberman writes.
"The priest comes later," Kushner said.

Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, will participate in a "voluntary meeting" with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, her lawyer confirmed Wednesday. The news came on the heels of the committee announcing it will hold a public hearing on Sept. 28 at 1 p.m.

"As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas is eager to answer the Committee's questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election," Thomas' lawyer Mark Paoletta said in a statement Wednesday. "She looks forward to that opportunity."

The news of Thomas' participation was first reported by CNN.

The committee asked Thomas, a conservative activist, to appear voluntarily before the panel after it learned that she corresponded with John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who helped come up with the legal strategy to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally toss out state electoral votes.

Thomas also sent emails to at least two Wisconsin Republican legislators days after the presidential election, pushing them to name an alternate slate of presidential electors to back former President Donald Trump. Additionally, Thomas corresponded via text message with former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows in the days following the 2020 election, urging him to overturn the election results.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee's chair, told CBS News on Monday that the committee is still discussing whether to have witnesses at the Sept. 28 hearing.

"We have a lot of information that we have collected over the last year that we've not shown the public. And we believe that that information on its own is significant enough for a hearing," Thompson said.

Thompson said earlier this month that the committee plans to put together an interim report two weeks after the proposed late September hearing, in mid-October, and will finalize the report before the end of the year.

That would take them past the November midterm elections, and the committee's two Republicans, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, are both leaving Congress in January. Cheney lost the Republican primary in Wyoming to a Trump-backed challenger. Kinzinger decided not to run for reelection.

If Republicans take control of the House in January, it's expected that the select committee will be disbanded

In other news, the Jan 6th Hearings are going nowhere.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol plans to vote to subpoena former President Donald Trump, sources familiar with the committee's plans told NBC News Thursday.

I'm glad those hearings came to an end. The court has much bigger fish to fry.

Trump is going to be subpoenaed to appear before the January 6th Committee.

Of course, he's going to "take the Fifth"----but this is still important.

Thompson opens door to vote on 'further investigative action' Thursday
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., hinted that the panel could vote on further efforts by the committee beyond Thursday's proceedings.

"We are convened today not as a hearing but as a formal committee business meeting so that in addition to presenting evidence, we can potentially hold a committee vote on further investigative action based on that evidence," Thompson said in his opening statement.

Cheney: Can Jan. 6 occur again?
In her opening statement, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair, said a key component of the committee's investigation looks at the vulnerability of American democracy.

"Why would Americans assume that our Constitution and our institutions and our Republic are invulnerable to another attack? Why would we assume that those institutions will not falter next time?" she asked.

Cheney, who has been at the forefront of the Jan. 6 investigation at the expense of her own political future, said the American institutions "only hold" when "men and women of good faith make them hold regardless of the political cost."

"We have no guarantee that these men and women will be in place next time," she added.


Memo shows drafted statement for Trump declaring 'I won'
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., showed a new memo the committee received from the National Archives showing plans for Trump to declare victory on Election Day regardless of the outcome.

The memo -- dated Oct. 31, 2020 -- was sent by Tom Fitton, a political activist and head of the conservative group Judicial Watch, to members of Trump's team.

"We had an Election today -- and I won," the memo read.

"The ballots counted by the Election Day deadline show the American people have bestowed on me the great honor of reelection to President of the United States."

Lofgren also said Brad Parscale, Trump's former campaign manager, told the committee Trump planned as early as July to say he won even though he lost.

Steve Bannon video indicates intimate knowledge of Jan. 6
The Jan. 6 committee showed video of President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Steve Bannon, which indicates that he had advance knowledge of the former president's intention to falsely declare victory election night, but also that Bannon knew about the events of Jan. 6 ahead of their occurrence.

Here's what Bannon said on Jan. 5, the day before the insurrection:

"All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. All converging and now we're on as they say the point of attack, right the point of attack tomorrow. I'll tell you this," Bannon began.

"It's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen. Okay, it's going to be quite extraordinarily different … tomorrow it's game day. So strap in. Let's get ready."

Secret Service message: 'POTUS is pissed'
A Secret Service message unveiled during the hearing said that Trump was "livid" after the Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the election results.

"POTUS is pissed," the message read. "Supreme Court denied his lawsuit. He is livid now."

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, also recounted how frustrated Trump was following the news.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, also recounted how frustrated Trump was following the news.

"The president was fired up about the Supreme Court decision," she told the committee. "The president just raging about the decision and how it's wrong and 'why didn't we make more calls' and his typical anger outburst at this decision."

"He said something to the effect of, 'I don't want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out,'" she said.


Trump was advised Pence didn’t have the right to overturn election
An email exchange dated Jan. 6, 2021, between Pence aide Greg Jacob and attorney John Eastman showed Trump had already been advised that former Vice President Mike Pence could not overturn the 2020 election results.

"Did you advise the President that in your professional judgment the Vice President DOES NOT have the power to decide things unilaterally?" Jacob sent to Eastman.

"He's been so advised," Eastman replied.


Secret Service sounded alarm about threat of violence before, during insurrection
The committee revealed new evidence it said showed the Secret Service was aware of threats of violence prior to the insurrection, worrying over social media posts prior to Jan. 6 and what it viewed the day of the attack on the Capitol.

One tip received by the agency said that the Proud Boys, a far-right white chauvinist group, "think[s] that they will have a large enough group to march into D.C. armed and will outnumber the police so they can't be stopped."

"Their plan is to literally kill people. Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further," the tip read.

"Right wing groups responding across the nation and establishing 'quick reaction forces' in Virginia," one Jan. 5, 2021, Secret Service email the panel said it uncovered read.

On the day of the attack, just before the pro-Trump mob moved toward the Capitol, agents voiced growing concern over the number of weapons seized or seen.

"With so many weapons so far, you wonder how many are unknown. Could be sporty after dark," one agent wrote in a message to a colleague.
"No doubt. The people at the Ellipse said they are moving to the Capitol after the POTUS speech," a second agent responded.

Committee reviewing 'potential obstruction' regarding alleged SUV altercation
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., reiterated testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson about an alleged altercation between Trump and his security detail in the presidential SUV on Jan. 6.

Aguilar said the altercation was "so widely known" that one former White House employee with national security responsibilities explained the information was "water cooler talk" around the White House complex.

"That professional also testified that they were specifically informed of the president's irate behavior in the SUV by Mr. Ornato in Mr. Ornato's office," Aguilar said.

Aguilar said the committee is reviewing testimony about "potential obstruction" surrounding this testimony about the alleged SUV incident.

"We will address this matter in our report," Aguilar said.

Videos shows Nancy Pelosi reacting to the Capitol attack
In never-before seen footage, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seen reacting to the events of Jan. 6 in real time. Pelosi spoke to or called various officials, including Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and then-acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen.

"We've got ... to finish the proceedings or else they will have a complete victory," Pelosi is heard saying as she is leaving the Capitol complex while rioters gather outside.

Later, Pelosi was informed that lawmakers still on the floor were putting on tear gas masks in anticipation of a breach.

"Can you believe this?" Pelosi responded.

As the insurrection is ongoing, Pelosi speaks to Pence in new footage
he committee played new footage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to former Vice President Mike Pence as Trump supporters were in the middle of storming the Capitol. The contents of that footage is below, as the two discussed how they would ultimately certify the 2020 election results.

At 4:22 p.m. Pelosi was videotaped saying:

"We're trying to figure out how we can get this job done today. We talked to Mitch [McConnell] about it earlier. He's not in the room right now but he was with us earlier and said, "Yeah, we want to expedite this." And hopefully they could confine it to just one complaint, Arizona. And then we could vote and that would be you know, then just move forward with the rest of the states.

"The overriding wish is to do it at the Capitol," said Pelosi, as the committee displayed a photo of Pence presumably on the phone with her while watching news footage on a separate cellphone.

"What we are being told very directly is it's gonna take days for the Capitol to be OK again. We've gotten a very bad report about the condition of the House floor. Defecation and all that kind of thing as well. I don't think that that's hard to clean up. But I do think it is more from a security standpoint of making sure everybody is out of the building and how long will that take?"

At 4:30 p.m. Pelosi said:

"I just got off the phone with the Vice President and I got off with the Vice President-elect," Pelosi said after her call with Pence and supposedly Kamala Harris.

"So I'll tell you what she said, yeah. But what we left the conversation with cause he said, he had the impression from Mitch [McConnell] that Mitch wants to get everybody back to do it there," Pelosi said.


Secret Service worried for Pence after Trump tweet
The committee presented evidence the Secret Service voiced worry for Pence after Trump bashed him in a tweet for not blocking certification of the Electoral College results.

"POTUS just tweeted about Pence, probably not going to be good for Pence," one agent said in a chat with a colleague released by the committee Thursday.

"POTUS said he lacked courage. Over 24K likes in under 2mins," the colleague responded.

Former Twitter employee Anika Collier Navaroli, in testimony featured Thursday, said that rioters "were literally calling for [Pence's] execution," partially "in response to this tweet.


Cheney cites need for Trump subpoena
Cheney said a subpoena for Trump is necessary since several witnesses pleaded their Fifth Amendment right when pressed about their conversations with the former president surrounding the 2020 election and the insurrection.

"Mr. Chairman, our committee now has sufficient information to answer many of the critical questions posed by Congress at the outset. We have sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals and to recommend a range of legislative proposals to guard against another January 6. But a key task remains. We must seek the testimony, under oath, of January 6's central plater," she said.

"More than 30 witnesses in our investigation have invoked their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, and several of those did so specifically in response to questions about their dealings with Donald Trump directly."

Cheney conceded that the Justice Department could reveal more information but indicated that time is of the essence.

"Mr. Chairman, at some point, the Department of Justice may well unearth the fact that these and other witnesses are concealing. But our duty today is to our country and our children and our Constitution. We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion, and every American is entitled to those answers so we can act now to protect our republic," she said.

Thompson on subpoenaing Trump: 'We want to hear from him'
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the committee needs to hear from the person they say is at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6: Trump.

“We want to hear from him,” Thompson said. “The committee needs to do everything in our power to tell the most complete story possible and provide recommendations to help ensure nothing like Jan. 6 ever happens again.”

Thompson said speaking with Trump goes beyond the committee’s “fact-finding” and is a question about accountability to the American people.

“He is required to answer for his actions,” he said
Thompson said the committee recognizes subpoenaing a former president is an extraordinary step, which is why the panel will "take this step in full view of the American people.


Thompson: Panel will not issue subpoena for Pence testimony
House Jan. 6 committee chair BennieThompson told reporters right after the hearing that the panel would not issue a subpoena for former Vice President Mike Pence.

The committee had been debating how to manifest a meeting with the former vice president, but Thompson's comments indicate members will not force him to make an appearance.

When asked if he thinks Trump will honor the subpoena for his testimony, Thompson responded "ask Donald Trump." Thompson did not answer when asked if the committee would vote to hold Trump in contempt of Congress if he chooses not to comply.