The U.S. Capitol Select Committee Investigating the January 6th Attack: Recommendations at the ‘Decision of the President’s Action’
The Select Committee will investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol. The chair can make the committee go into recess at any time. The chair announces that the committee approves the release of the deposition material presented during the hearing.
Good afternoon, and may God bless the United States of America. The committee presented its findings four months ago to the American people. Some people would wrongly assume that the committee’s investigation was partisan, and we knew this from the beginning.
In our final report we will take the evidence you hear today and make more specific recommendations. Our hearings last summer began with an outline of President Trump’s multipart plan to overturn the 2020 Presidential election. We then proceeded to demonstrate each of these elements in detail, with more than 20 hours of evidence.
At times, President Trump acknowledged the reality that he lost. He admitted privately that Joe Biden would become President when he won the election. Here are a few examples. [Begin videotape]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. President Trump attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, even going as far as pressuring state officials and the Department of Justice. The president’s plan was to make fake electors in states that Trump lost to vote for him in the Electoral College.
How did we know this? How have we been able to present such a clear picture of what took place? Because of the testimony we’ve heard and that we have presented to you through these proceedings, because of the documentary evidence we’ve gathered and also made available directly to you, the American people.
But the need for this committee to hear from Donald Trump goes beyond our fact finding. This is a question about accountability to the American people. He must be accountable. He has to reply for his actions. He has to reply to those police officers who are killed on the job to defend our democracy.
Who has that been? Aides who’ve worked loyally for Donald Trump for years, Republican state officials and legislators, Republican electors, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, political professionals who worked at the highest levels of the Trump campaign, Trump appointees who served in the most senior positions in the Justice Department, President Trump’s staff and closest advisers in the White House, members of the — President Trump’s family, his own White House counsel.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Sessions of the Joint Committee on Electoral Procedures (COP21): Summary of Recent Complaints on the November 6, 2016 Violence and the State of the State
Evidence strongly suggests that this testimony is not credible, and the committee is reviewing additional material from the Secret Service and other sources. The results of this effort were being shared by the Secret Service. They’d worked closely with other agencies, sharing intelligence about the joint session of Congress derived from social media and other sources.
It’s about the facts, plain and simple. And it’s about making sure our government functions under the rule of law as our Constitution demands. Today as in previous proceedings, my colleagues and I will present new evidence. That includes new testimony from additional Republicans who served in the Trump administration, never before seen footage of Congressional leaders on January 6th working to coordinate the response to the violence and ensure the people’s business went forward, new materials produced to the committee by the Secret Service, details about the ongoing threat to American democracy.
The facts will be the basis of today’s proceedings, but they won’t look like all the other hearings. We’ll also take a step back and look at the evidence in a broader context, providing a summary of key facts we’ve uncovered, facts relevant to former President Trump’s state of mind, about his motivation, and about his intent.
There’s one more difference about today. Today’s proceedings are not a hearing, but a formal committee business meeting where we can potentially vote to take further investigative action based on the evidence presented.
Additionally, after concluding its review of the voluminous additional Secret Service communications from January 5th and January 6th, the committee will be recalling witnesses and conducting further investigative depositions based on that material. We’ll give you more detail in our final report after that activity.
The Department of Justice has been very active in pursuing the issues identified in the previous hearings. Our committee may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, but we recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution.
Our Constitution was written to “establish justice.” The preamble is used in this regard. And our nation’s judiciary and our US Department of Justice have that responsibility. The committee is supposed to propose reforms to prevent January 6th from happening again. We’ve already proposed and the House has now passed a bill to amend the Electoral Count Act to help ensure that no other future plots to overturn an election can succeed.
He was a big part of it. Exactly how did one man cause all of this? We will discuss President Trump’s state of mind, his intent and motivation, how he spurred others to do his bidding and how another January 6th could happen if we aren’t able to prevent it. As you view our evidence today, I would suggest a focus on the following points.
President Trump had a plan to make a false claim of election fraud before the election results were known. He stole the election claims from his campaign without any evidence in hand. He sought out people who would be able to help him create and spread lies about the fraud.
Rudy Giuliani was aware that he never had enough evidence to change the election results. They admitted on January 5th that they were trying to find that phantom evidence. Of course, as a result of making intentionally false claims of election fraud, Mr. Giuliani’s license to practice law has now been suspended.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
What Did President Trump Tell Us About His Campaign to Overturn the Election? A Key Question: The Laws and Powers of Congress, White House, and State
President Trump then told his supporters to march to the Capitol. At this point in time, let’s take a moment to consider President Trump’s state of mind. By that point, it was known to Secret Service that members of the crowd were armed. There was no doubt that President Trump knew what he was going to do when he sent an angry mob of people armed with various weapons to the Capitol.
Today, please consider the people who had a hand in defeating President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, it is the Department of Justice, White House staff, and state Republican officials.
The people that stopped Donald Trump were all from the same area. This leads us to a key question. 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? This is a key lesson of the investigation.
When men and women of good faith can make institutions hold despite the political cost, we have institutions. We have no guarantee that these men and women will be in place next time. Any future president inclined to attempt what Donald Trump did in 2020 has now learned not to install people who could stand in the way.
Please consider this as well. The rulings of our courts are respected because we pledge to accept and honor them. Most importantly, our president, who has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws, swears to accept them. What happens when the president disregards the court’s rulings as illegitimate, when he disregards the rule of law?
The courts rejected all of the allegations against President Trump, and even his Department of Justice appointees, including Bill Barr,Jeffrey Rosen and Richard Donoghue. President Trump knew the truth. He heard what all his experts and senior staff were telling him. He ignored the courts, the Justice Department, his campaign leadership, and even senior advisers despite knowing that he had lost the election.
Let me read from one judge’s statement given at a recent sentencing hearing. “High ranking members of Congress and state officials, who know perfectly well the claim of fraud was and is untrue and that the election was legitimate, are so afraid of losing their power, they won’t say so. It has to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America to stand up for one man who knows full well that he lost instead of the Constitution he was trying to subvert.” Mr. Chairman, the violence and lawlessness of January 6th was unjustifiable, but our nation cannot only punish the foot soldiers who stormed our Capitol.
So, as we watch the evidence today, please consider where our nation is in its history. Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years. Most people in most places on Earth have not been free. America is an exception, and America continues only because we bind ourselves to our founders’ principles, to our Constitution.
Some principles are more important than any American who has ever lived. Thank you, sir. I turn around.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
What do we really want to know about a Republican presidential candidate whose campaign manager told us before election night? — “It wasn’t too early to tell, but we did want to tell the story”
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Shortly after the election, we will begin this meeting, returning to election night in November 2020. We’ve presented testimony about how the election results would come in before. In certain states, ballots cast by mail before Election Day would be counted only after the polls closed that evening.
That meant that election results would not be known for some time. President Trump didn’t encourage mail in voting by Republicans despite advice from his campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. Start a videotape.
I just remember generally, you know, you had people arguing that we had a — a very, very robust get out the vote effort and that, you know, mail in ballots could be a good thing for us if we looked at it correctly.
We made our case for voting by mail, but Kevin McCarthy was interested in why we didn’t think it was a bad thing for the President. [End videotape]
So it was expected before the election that the initial counts in some states, in other words, those votes cast on Election Day, would be more heavily Republican and this would create the false perception of a lead for President Trump, a so-called red mirage. There could be trends towards Vice President Biden as the mail in ballots are counted.
Now on election night, Donald Trump’s advisers specifically told him he didn’t have a factual basis to declare victory, that he should wait for the remaining ballots to be counted. Here is campaign manager, Bill Stepien. [Begin videotape]
It wasn’t too soon to be making that kind of call. Ballots — ballots were still being counted. Ballots were still going to be counted for days. And it was far too early to be making any proclamation like that. I believe that I should have said that votes were still being counted. It’s too early to tell, too early to call the race.
The American public finds this fraud to be very dishonest. An embarrassment to the country is what this is. We were about to win the election. Frankly, we did win this election. Applause. All of us want to stop voting. [End videotape]
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Secret Service Observations of the Threat to the Secretary of State, Donald J. Trump and the Theorem of the Select Committee on Elections. III. The Fitton Memo
We’ve obtained new documents from the Secret Service, real time chats that underscore the threat they knew the Vice President would be facing because of the President’s escalating incitement of the mob. After Trump’s tweet, one agent in the Secret Services Intelligence Division immediately warned, POTUS just tweeted about Pence; probably not going to be good for Pence.
Marc had indicated to me that there was a possibility that there would be a declaration of victory within the White House that some might push for, and this is prior to the election results being known. And that he was trying to figure out a way of avoiding the Vice President sort of being thrust into a position of needing to opine on that when he might not have sufficient information to do so. [End videotape]
The National Archives prepared a statement for the Select Committee. As you can see, the draft statement, which was sent on October 31st, declares, “we had an election today – and I won.” And the Fitton memo specifically indicates a plan that only the votes counted by the Election Day deadline, and there is no Election Day deadline, would matter.
Everyone knew that ballot counting would lawfully continue past Election Day, claiming that the counting on election night must stop before millions of votes were counted was as we now know a key part of President Trump’s pre-meditated plan. Mr. Fitton said he talked to the President about the statement at 5 pm on Election Day.
And just a few days before the election, Steve Bannon, a former Trump chief White House strategist and outside adviser to President Trump, spoke to a group of his associates from China and said this. [Begin videotape]
And what will Trump do, just declare victory? He is going to claim victory, but he isn’t going to say he’s the winner. More of our people vote early for the Democrats. Theirs is a natural disadvantage because they vote in mail, and Trump is going to take advantage of it. We have a strategy.
I want the Attorney General to close ballot places in all 50 states. He’s not going out easy. If Biden is winning, Trump will do crazy things. Continue the videotape.
As you know, Mr. Bannon did not testify in our investigation. He’s been convicted of criminal contempt of Congress and he’s awaiting sentencing. Evidence shows that Mr. Bannon was aware of the plan for Mr. Trump to make a false victory announcement on election night. Here’s what Bannon said on January 5th. Begin the videotape.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Roger Stone’s conversation with Donald Trump on December 27th, 2020: What he told the President about the alleged violation of the Election Count Act
All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. The point of attack will be when it’s all convergent and now we are on. I’ll tell you that it’s not going to happen like you think it will. Ok. It’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. And all I can say is strap in. Tomorrow will be game day and you have made it happen.
President Trump knew that what he was asking the Vice President to do was illegal. He was told repeatedly and specifically on January 4th. Even his lawyer John Eastman admitted in front of President Trump that this plan would break the law by violating the Electoral Count Act. [Begin videotape]
I think it’ll be, I really do think it’s up in the air. To claim victory is the most important thing to do when that happens. Most of the law is covered by possession.
Although we don’t yet have all the relevant records of Roger Stone’s communications, even Stone’s own social media posts acknowledge that he spoke with Donald Trump on December 27th as preparations for January 6th were underway. In this post, you can see how Roger Stone talked about his conversations with President Trump.
He wrote, “I also told the President exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and convicted and to ensure Donald Trump continues as our President.” As we know by now, the idea for a special counsel was not just an idle suggestion.
It is a conspiracy to use violent force against the United States, to oppose the lawful authority of the United States. Roger Stone’s associates from the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys have been charged with this crime. The close associates of Roger Stone have been convicted of this crime.
As we all know now, the Oath Keepers did play a specific role in January 6th and had stashed weapons in Virginia for further violence that evening. Also, on that day, the Secret Service was readying its security precautions for the President’s speech at the Ellipse the next day. A Secret Service deputy chief instructed agents to add certain objects to the list of items that would be prohibited at the rally site, including ballistic vests, tactical vests, armored or not, and ballistic helmets.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys, and the Oval: How Did President Biden Win a Super Presidential Motorcade Ride?
Roger Stone’s connection with Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys is well documented by video evidence, with phone records the Select Committee has obtained. Tarrio, along with other Proud Boys, has been charged with multiple crimes concerning the attack on January 6th, including seditious conspiracy. During the attack, Tarrio sent a message to other Proud Boys claiming, we did that.
It was premeditated. It was not based on election results or any evidence of actual fraud affecting the results or any actual problems with voting machines. It was a plan concocted in advance to convince his supporters that he won. And the people who seemingly knew about that plan in advance would ultimately play a significant role in the events of January 6. I yield back.
I know that the President was apprised of the network decision when the networks called it. Some people went to the president and said that the odds of them winning legal challenges were very small.
There’s a discussion going on in the Oval. The President said words to the effect that we lost, but I think it was possible that it could have been Pompeo. We — we need to let that issue go to the next guy, meaning President Biden.
I remember maybe a week after the election was called, I popped into the Oval just to like give the President the headlines and see how he was doing. And he was looking at the TV and he said, can you believe I lost to this effing guy?
Mark raised it with me on the 18th. I asked the President if he really thought he lost after the motorcade ride back to the White House. And he said, you know, a lot of times he’ll tell me that he lost, but he wants to keep fighting it. He thinks there’s enough to overturn the election, but he has acknowledged he’s lost.
Knowing that he had lost and that he had only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business. One of the key examples is the order for troop withdrawals that President Trump issued. He didn’t pay attention to the consequences for fragile governments that are in the fight against terrorists.
Knowing he was leaving office, he acted immediately and signed this order on November 11th, which would have required the immediate withdrawal of troops from Somalia and Afghanistan, all to be complete before the Biden inauguration on January 20th. As you watch the clips, it’s important that you remember that General Keith Kellogg was the national security adviser to the vice president and the chief of staff to the National Security Council.
Are you familiar with a memo that the President reportedly signed on November 11, 2020, ordering that troops be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Somalia?
So I think you might have seen some things where there’s a memo or something from Johnny McEntee to Douglas Macgregor. It says you have got to get US forces out of Afghanistan. When you first interviewed and met Colonel Douglas Macgregor, is it fair to say you discussed this decision of withdrawing from Somalia and Afghanistan, correct?
So on that same day, just so I’m clear, he responded back to you that day, meaning DOD leadership was not going to do — take any of those steps without an order.
I explained in language that should be in the order while I was in the meeting with McEntee, and this was my answer to him. I said, If you want this to happen or the President wants this to happen, he’s got to write an order.
Well, I sketched on a piece of paper for him some key statements. You know, the President directs. What is the right word for this type of language?
McEntee brought it in to the President. The President signs it and boom, it’s over — faxed over e-mail, scanned over. I’m receiving it from Kash Patel.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Reply to the PPO and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. ‘When did I see anything like that’? [End videotape]
And I proceeded to tell the PPO and proceeded to tell Macgregor that If I ever saw anything like that, I would do something physical. Because I thought what that was then was a tremendous disservice to the nation. And by the way, that was a very contested issue. There were people who did not agree with getting out of Afghanistan.
I responded to that. I don’t believe that it is in the country’s best interest for the department to enter into the political process this way. It may very well have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis. [End videotape]
Keep in mind the order was for an immediate withdrawal. It would have been very bad. And yet, President Trump signed the order. These are the highly consequential actions of a President who knows his term will shortly end. At the same time that President Trump was acknowledging privately that he had lost the election, he was hearing that there was no evidence of fraud or irregularities sufficient to change the outcome.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Evidence lack of evidence for election fraud and maladministration: the hearings of Donald Trump and his lawyer, Sidney Powell, in a senator’s lawsuit
I had a call from Mr.Meadows where he asked if I was finding anything. I told him that we were not finding anything that would change the results in any of the key states.
The allegation didn’t prove to be true, so we would have to track it down. We would have to relay the news. Someone told you about the votes and the fraud, but nothing came of it. That will be our job as — as, you know, the truth-telling squad and, you know, not a fun job to be — you know, it’s — it’s an easier job to be telling the President about, you know, wild allegations.
What was generally discussed on that topic was whether the fraud, maladministration, abuse or irregularities if aggregated and read most favorably to the campaign, would that be outcome determinative. Everyone thought that it was not enough to be outcome determinant, at least among the staff, including myself and Greg Jacob. The end of the videotape.
The claims were not supported by any sufficient evidence of fraud or irregularities. They were baseless as judges repeatedly recognized them. There were no cases in which President Trump was able to overturn the results of the election. In those hearings we shared the words used by judges in rejecting the Trump campaign’s claims.
It’s strong language criticizing the lack of evidentiary support for the claims of election fraud in those lawsuits. For example, a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania wrote, quote, charges require specific allegations and proof. We have neither here. A federal judge in Wisconsin wrote, quote, the court has allowed the former president the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits.
The judge in Michigan thought the claims were nothing more than speculation and that votes for President Trump were either destroyed, discarded or switched to Vice President Biden. A federal judge in Michigan imposed sanctions on Sidney Powell and other attorneys for making allegations in an election fraud case that were deemed to be a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.
Trump’s allies lost a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court on December 11th, which they thought was their last chance at success in the courts. A newly obtained Secret Service message from that day shows how angry President Trump was about the outcome. Quote, just FYI, POTUS is pissed. The Supreme Court denied his lawsuit.
We know that the White House advisers were not nice to the president. After the call, Cassidy Hutchinson had a conversation with the Chief of Staff. [Begin videotape]
This is the day that the Supreme Court denied the case. Mr. Meadows and I were in the White House residence at a Christmas reception. The President was walking out of the Oval Office and crossing paths with us in the Rose Garden colonnade as we walked back from the Christmas reception.
The President was furious about the decision. I stepped back, but I was still standing next to him. So I was probably two or three feet catty-cornered, diagonal from him. The president is raging about the decision, and why he didn’t make more calls, and he just expressed his anger at the decision.
On December 14th, the states certified their votes and sent them to Congress. I thought that was the end of the matter. I thought that this would be the beginning of a new administration.
I told him that my personal viewpoint was that the Electoral College had met, which is the system that our country is — is set under to elect a president and vice president, and I believed at that point that the means for him to pursue litigation was probably closed.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Speaker’s Corner: a case study of fraud in the House of Representatives of the United States to the November 13th, 2016 election
Secretary of Labor Gene Scalia, the son of late Justice Scalia, visited President Trump in mid-December and explained the situation clearly. [Begin videotape]
I made a call to the president. I might have called on the 13th. I think that we spoke on the 14th, and I told him that he needed to accept that Biden had won the election. But I communicated to the president that, you know, when that legal process is exhausted and when the electors are — have voted, that that’s the point at which that outcome needs to be expected.
Unfortunately I believed that if fraud had not been proved that the outcome of the election would have been different, and that what should be done was to concede the outcome. [End videotape]
Thank you, Chairman. Mid-December was a turning point. President Trump made a decision, a choice, to ignore the courts and his advisers and to push forward to overturn the election. The efforts to overturn the election were not random or disconnected, rather they were a part of a plan to ensure he stayed in power.
I was particularly concerned about the voting machines of the Dominion and discovered that there were absolutely no grounds for the allegations. I told them that it was — that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that, and it was doing a grave — grave disservice to the country.
We have a company that’s very suspect. Its name is a little different. With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you could press a button for Trump and the vote goes to Biden. What kind of a system is this?
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Big Vote Dump in Detroit – What Did Donald Trump Tell Us About His Infidelity? Why We Don’t Know about It, But We Did
We talked about it again. That was sort of done at that point because the hand recount had been done and all that. This is an example of the things people are saying and what they are telling you in court papers that are not supported by the evidence.
There is a problem with the voting systems of the state. In one Michigan county alone, 6,000 votes were switched from Trump to Biden, and the same systems are used in the majority of states in our country.
I would tell him how ridiculous the allegations were and how crazy they were. It was easy to blow up the more votes cast in Pennsylvania than the requests for the Absentee ballots. There was never — there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.
There were more votes than there were voters. Think of that. You had more votes than you had voters. That’s an easy one to figure, and it’s by the thousands.
He termed it the big vote dump in Detroit. And that — you know, he said people saw boxes coming in to the counting station at all hours of the morning. I told the president that there were 630 precincts in Detroit. They centralized the counting process so that they aren’t counted in each precinct.
With regard to Georgia, we looked at the tape. We talked with the witnesses. There is no suitcase. The president kept fixating on this suitcase that supposedly had fraudulent ballots and that the suitcase was rolled out from under the table. I said there wasn’t a suitcase. You have the ability to watch that video many times.
There is no luggage. They move ballots around the facility with a wheeled bin, which is where they carry them. There’s nothing suspicious about that at all.
The boxes, Democrats and suitcases were removed from under the table. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. [End videotape]
This happened over and over again, and our committee’s report will document it, purposeful lies made in public directly at odds with what Donald Trump knew from unassailable sources, the Justice Department’s own investigations and his own campaign. Donald Trump was repeating this nonsense to a large group of people.
His goal was to make someone believe he was telling the truth. President Trump tried to get government officials in the states he lost to change their election results. He personally reached out to numerous state officials and pressured them to take unlawful steps to alter the election results in those states. The actions the president took made it very clear what he intended to do with power.
A criminal investigation is currently taking place in Fulton County, Georgia. And Georgia’s not the only state where President Trump tried to pressure state officials to change the results. He also attempted to press — pressure state officials in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan to change the results in those states as well.
I want to do this. I want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. We only need 11,000 votes. We have far more than that as it stands now. We will have more and more. Well, what are we going to do here? If I can only get 11,000 votes.
I just want to find 11,780 votes. That’s an extraordinary demand by the president, especially since he already knew from the Justice Department there was no genuine basis for this request. No one could think it would be legal for the secretary of state to simply find the votes the president needed in order to win.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Why did President Trump and the Attorney General of the United States Voter’s Office get rid of [Begin videotape]?
That’s the thing. That is a criminal offense. You can’t let that happen. That’s — that’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a huge risk. End the videotape.
I remember looking at Mark when I was younger. And I said, Mark, you can’t possibly think we’re going to pull this off. Like, that call was crazy. And he looks at me and just started shaking his head. He was like, no, Cass, you know, he knows it’s over. We’re going to try, but he knows he lost. There’s some good options out there still.
The president attempted to put Jeff Clark in charge of the Attorney General’s office because he would do what others refused to do. Clark could use the Justice Department’s authority to help persuade the states to flip their electoral votes, because Trump was doing so for a specific purpose.
When President Trump found out about Mr. Clark’s proposal, the two men appointed by him forcefully rejected it. [Begin videotape]
I said at the end that you’re proposing is nothing more than the US Justice Department messing with the outcome of a presidential election. But more importantly, this was not based on fact. This was actually contrary to the facts as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and months.
The President ultimately relented only because the entire leadership of the Department of Justice as well as his White House counsel threatened to resign. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
When I got the call from the White House, it was from the switchboard, but I can’t remember if it was the day or the week.
He turned the phone over to Mr. Eastman, who discussed the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case legal challenges changed the result of each of the states. End the videotape.
The fake electors plan was tied to another plan to have Vice President Mike Pence reject or refuse to count certain Biden electoral votes in order for President Donald Trump to win reelection. The Vice President spoke about this scheme.
President Trump said he had the right to overturn the election, but he’s wrong. The election was not my right to overturn. The presidency is not for the Americans but for the American people. Any one person could pick the President of the United States, that’s un-American.
Dr. Eastman wrote about this in a letter. Recall this email written on January 6 in which Vice President Pence’s counsel asked Dr. Eastman; did you advise the President that in your professional judgment, the Vice President does not have power to decide things unilaterally? Dr. Eastman replied, he’s been so advised.
Of course, President Trump’s own White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, also recognized that this plan was unlawful. Here is Mr. Cipollone’s testimony. [Begin videotape]
The Greatest Threat to the Vice President: During the January 6 Reaction the Capitol Hill Assangered by a Secret Service Agent
And the word that she relayed to you that the President called the Vice President, I apologize for being impolite, but do you remember what she said her father called him?
In the Trump White House, Pence was fiercely loyal in public through the constant controversies that defined the administration, but in the wake of the January 6 riot – in which Trump supporters chanted to hang the then-vice president – he has occasionally criticized his former boss, most notably in February, when he publicly denounced Trump’s election lies.
In the end, all these people, Department of Justice officials, state elections’ officials, his own Vice President, stood strong in the face of President Trump’s immense pressure. But as we now know, President Trump had already summoned tens of thousands of his supporters to Washington on January 6 to take back their country.
A Secret Service report showed that several thousand people near the Washington Monument would not be allowed to attend the rally because they would be detected with prohibited items. Mr. Trump knew this. His Secret Service told him about it that morning.
Since our last hearings, the select committee has received greater cooperation from the Secret Service. The Department of Justice and Congress had requested documents about the attack on the Capitol and the Secret Service erased messages from this period because they weren’t needed anymore.
But the Trump administration was aware of this type of violent record — rhetoric prior to January 6th. As has been reported, the Secret Service and other agencies knew about the threat of violence in advance of the president’s speech. The witnesses testified that they did not receive any information about potential violence that could have threatened the vice president and other protectees.
So during these calls, I — I only remember in hindsight because he was almost like clairvoyant. Norquist says during one of these calls, the greatest threat is a direct assault on the Capitol. I’ll never forget it. End videotape.
On December 31st, agents circulated intelligence reports that President Trump’s supporters had proposed a movement to occupy Capitol Hill. spikes in violent phrases like We Are the Storm, 1776 Rebel were flagged by them. On January 5th, a Secret Service open source unit flagged a social media account on thedonald.win that threatened to bring a sniper rifle to a rally on January 6th. The user posted a picture of a handgun and rifle with the caption, “January 6th will be wild.”
The source stated that their plan was to kill people. Please, please investigate and take this tip very seriously. The source also made clear that the Proud Boys had detailed their plans on multiple websites like thedonald.win. This is the right time to pause. The Proud Boys’ planning for January 6th was given more than a week before by the Secret Service. The Proud Boys and other groups were involved in the assault on the Capitol building.
Later on the evening of January 5th, the Secret Service learned during an FBI briefing that right-wing groups were establishing armed QRFs or quick reaction forces readying to deploy for January 6th. Groups like the Oath Keepers were standing by at the ready should POTUS request assistance by invoking the Insurrection Act, agents were informed.
One report from the rally site at 7:58 a.m. said, some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks. Another from 9:30 a.m. said that there were possibly OC spray, meaning pepper spray, and/or plastic riot shields. At 11:27 a.m., agents reported that there were two possible armed individuals, one with a glock and one with a rifle.
At least one man was reported by agents over the next hour with a gun, pistol on hip and individual with an assault rifle on his person.
The Federal Protective service, an agency tasked with protecting federal buildings, was informed about the arrest of a protester with a gun minutes before President Trump began his speech. Weapons related arrests continued during the speech. At 12:13 PM, United States Park Police arrested a man with a rifle in front of the World War II Memorial. These agents remarked on the number of weapons that had been seized that day, speculating that the situation could get worse.
You’ve heard of The Donald.WIN on one of these sites. The Select Committee has a text message from the senior communications adviser, that was sent less than a week before the January 6th incident. He wrote in all caps that he got the base fired up. He sent a link to a website.
There were commentaries on the January 6th joint session of Congress. Take a look at some of those comments. “Gallows don’t require electricity.” “If the filthy commie maggots try to push their fraud through, there will be hell to pay.” “After rightfully certifying Trump the winner, ourLawmakers in Congress can either leave one of two ways; one, in a bag and the other, in a body bag.” Mr. Miller claimed that he had no idea about the hundreds of comments like these in the link that he sent to Mark Meadows.
Judd Deere reflects on the angry mob that was the Capitol during the January 8th legislative session of the U.S. House of Representatives
If I had seen something like that, I probably would have flipped it to someone at the White — or if I had seen something of that nature, I would have said we gotta flag this for Secret Service or something of that nature.” [End videotape]
On the day that Miller sent the text, agents received reports about a surge in activity on another platform. A new year began on December 30th. An agent got an email that pointed out a lot of violent rhetoric towards government people and entities.
On the evening of January 5th, the President gathered his communications staffers in the Oval Office. The president, his team, and others were allowed to hear the sounds of the crowd gathered at Freedom Plaza after the door was open. The president could see that his supporters were up in arms. Here again is Judd Deere, a deputy White House press secretary describing the president’s reaction.
They were fired up, just that they were. They were angry. They feel like the election’s been stolen, that the election was rigged, that — he went on and on about that for a little bit. The end of the videotape.
Yes, the president knew the crowd was angry because he had stoked that anger. He knew that they believed that the election had been rigged and stolen because he had told them falsely that it had been rigged and stolen. And by the time he incited that angry mob to march on the Capitol, he knew they were armed and dangerous, all the better to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
I’m sorry about the lack of weapons in the House of Representative Ericson. I’ll leave it up to the Senate, Mr. Aguilar
The gentleman yields back. We’ll take a brief break at this point. Pursuant to the order of the committee of today, the chair declares the committee in recess for a period of approximately 10 minutes. [In recess] The chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Aguilar, for an opening statement.
He was angry that we weren’t allowing people with weapons to go through the magazines because they were considered weapons by the Secret Service. I overheard the president say something to the effect that I don’t care that they have weapons.
They are not here to hurt me. Take the f’ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take those mags away. End videotape.
And I’d love to have, if those tens of thousands of people would be allowed, the military, the Secret Service — and we want to thank you, and the police, law enforcement, great. You are doing a good job. [Applause] But I’d love it if they could be allowed to come up here with us. Is that possible? Can you just let them come up, please?
“They’d expressed to me that the president was irate, you know, on the drive up. Mr. Engle did not deny the fact that the president was irate.” The testimony you saw this summer from Cassidy Hutchinson, a Metropolitan Police officer who was in the motorcade and from multiple sources, is consistent with that.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
An e-mail to the president and the Secret Service about an off-the-record movement at the Capitol building on January 6th, 2014
This will also be a note for me. The committee is looking into testimony regarding potential obstruction, as well as advice given not to tell the committee about a specific topic. We will address this in our report.
At 1:19, the president’s Emergency Operations Center sent an e-mail to Secret Service, national security, and military advisers, to the president and vice president informing them that “hundreds of Trump supporters stormed through metal barricades at the back of the Capitol building about 1:00 PM Wednesday, running past security guards and breaking fences.
We were all in shock. What’s the reason? I think that this was no longer a rally and that it was going to move somewhere else if he physically walked to the Capitol, that is because I think the actual physical feasibility of doing it.
I am not sure if you want to use insurrection, coup or something like that. We all knew that this would move from a normal democratic, you know, public event into something else. Why were we are alarmed?
When the president returned to the White House around 1:20, he entered the Oval Office and was told right then about the onset of violence at the Capitol. The president was in the dining room of the White House for the next two hours and 40 minutes and watched as this assault took place at the Capitol.
As President Obama arrived at the White House, the press secretary had an exchange with him. [Begin videotape]
So, to the best of my recollection, I recall him being — wanting to — saying that he wanted to physically walk and be a part of the march, and then saying that he would ride the beast if — if he needed to, ride in the presidential limo. The end of videotape.
Take a look at the Secret Service email from 1:19 PM on January 6th, the minute that President Trump got out of the presidential vehicle back at the White House. After the president left his motorcade, the leadership from the Secret Service warned Bobby Engel the lead agent for the presidential detail that they were concerned about an off-the-record movement to the Capitol.
I can’t talk about conversations with the president, but I can generically say that I said, you know, people need to be told — there needs to be a public announcement fast that they need to leave the Capitol.
Exactly when? The people who were approaching the Capitol in a violent way after I found out was frightening to me.
I — I don’t — I can’t think of anybody, you know, on that day who didn’t want people to get out of the — the Capitol once the — you know, particularly once the violence started, no. I mean —
I’m sorry. I am. I am sorry. I thought you said who on — who else on the staff. I am not able to reveal communications, but obviously I think. [End videotape]
The testimony of Mr. Cipollone is supported by other White House staff members. Ms. Hutchinson talked about what she heard from MarkMeadows. [Begin videotape]
He had said something to the effect of, you know, you heard him, Pat. He wants to not do anything more. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong. This video will end.
A former White House employee with national security duties recalls an exchange with Mr. Cipollone and Eric Herschmann regarding the mob assault on the Capitol. Mr. Cipollone was told something by Mr. Herschmann. He seemed to relay that, you know, the president didn’t want anything done.
The president’s political allies, family members, and staff all begged him to tell his supporters to leave. They included Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other allies at Fox News, his son Donald Trump Jr, the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, others in Congress, and officials in the cabinet and the executive branch.
All of them made appeals to Donald Trump, which he rejected and he ignored. Several people who were in the dining room with Donald Trump that day told the Select Committee that they were watching violent battles on television. He didn’t call the secretary of defense, the National Guard, or the chief of the Capitol Police.
And to your knowledge, was the president in that private dining room the whole time that the attack on the Capitol was going on, or did he ever go to — again, only to your knowledge, to the Oval Office, to the White House Situation Room, anywhere else?
Yeah. They did not say anything to Mr. Meadows during that brief encounter in the dining room. What do you remember? I think they were — everyone was watching the TV. You had a conversation with him on January 6th, what do you know if he was watching tv in the dining room?
Was the violence on the screen on the tv visible when you were in the dining room?
You’ll see how everyone involved was working actively to stop the violence, to get federal law enforcement deployed to the scene, to put down the violence and secure the Capitol complex. Democrats such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Republicans such as Vice President Biden, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and others, are appointees of the administration.
We’re close to being surrounded. The scaffolding is on the north front. We aren’t going to be able to hold unless we get more weapons. The door has been breached and people are gaining access into the Capitol.
There has to be a way to keep the sense of security that people have that the president of the US will do well and that we can even vote for him. Did we go back into session?
We went back into the session but everyone on the floor was getting ready for a breech. I am trying to get some more information.
I can’t. The house members need a place to hang out. They are walking through the tunnel. Bring her out here. Hey, boys, we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.
I’m going to call up the f’ing secretary of DOD. Some senators are hiding in their hideaways. Huge personnel are needed now. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come as well?
I have something to say, Mr. Secretary. We’re — I’m going to call the mayor of Washington DC right now and see what other outreach she has to other police departments, as Steny — Leader Hoyer has mentioned.
Hi, Governor. This is Nancy. Governor, I don’t know if you have been approached about the Virginia National Guard. Mr. Hoyer was connect — speaking to Governor Hogan, but I still think you probably need the Ok of the federal government in order to come in to another jurisdiction. Thank you.
All kinds of — it’s really that — they said somebody was shot. It’s just — it’s just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States. Ok, thank you, Governor. I appreciate what you’re doing. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to stay in touch. Thank you. Thank you.
The governor told me that they sent 200 state police and a unit of the National Guard. They’re breaking windows and going in, obviously ransacking our offices and all the rest of that. That’s not much. There is a concern about personal harm.
Personal safety doesn’t care about anything. They break the law in a number of different ways on a daily basis, and most of it is due to the president’s instigation. And now if he could — could — at least somebody.
Yeah, why don’t you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility, a public statement they should all leave.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Chief of the US Capitol Police, Nancy, is an Activist in the Congressional Constituency. He urged Jeff Rosen to leave the Capitol and go home
I don’t want to speak for the leadership that’s going to be responsible for executing the operation, so I’m not going to say that. Because they are meeting on the ground and they’re the experts [Inaudible]
Well, just pretend — just pretend for a moment it was the Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege. Let me say you can logistically get people there as you make the plan. We’re trying to figure out how we can get this job done today. We talked to Mitch about it earlier. He was with us earlier, and he said that he wanted to speed up the process. We can vote if they confine it to one complaint, Arizona, then we can move on with the rest of the state.
It is the wish of the majority of people to do it at the Capitol. It will take a few days for the Capitol to be back to normal. We’ve gotten a very bad report about the condition of the House floor, defecation and all that kind of thing as well. I think it’s easy to clean up, but it is more important to make sure that everyone is out of the building and how long it will take.
I said that it might take days to get back because the poo poo could take a long time to clean up in the Capitol.
Nancy, so I’m at the Capitol building. The Chief of Police of the US Capitol Police is standing next to me. He just informed me what you will hear through official channels, Paul Irving, your Sergeant-at-Arms, will inform you that their best information is that they believe that the House and the Senate will be able to reconvene in roughly an hour.
In the video, you can see Schumer urge Jeff Rosen to get Trump to stop the rioters. Many other officials also took action to defend the government. President Donald Trump was the sole one who could get the mob to leave the Capitol and go home, so congressional leadership recognized on a bipartisan basis.
The only one who could end this was President Trump. He was the only person who could do it. Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies frantically called the administration. The President didn’t act quickly. He did not do his job. He took no steps to make sure federal law could be faithfully executed and restored.
A witness,Mick Mulvaney, was once the chief of staff to President Trump. The videotape should begin.
You know, I asked Kevin McCarthy who’s the Republican leader about this and — and he said he called –he finally got through to Donald Trump He told you that you needed to get on TV. You have to be on the social media site, as well as other places. You’ve got to call these people off. You know what the President said to him? This is what it is going to be.
He said, well, Kevin, these aren’t my people. You know, these are — these are Antifa. And Kevin responded and said, no, they’re your people. They literally just came through my office windows, and my staff are running for cover. I mean, they’re running for their lives. You should call them off. And the President’s response to Kevin to me was chilling.
He said, well, Kevin, I guess they’re just more upset about the election, you know, theft than you are. You’ve seen a lot of reports of Kevin McCarthy and the President having a swearing conversation. The President was basically saying, “no” when the swearing in began. I’m Ok with this.
I had — I had a conversation at some point in the day or week after the — the riot with Kevin McCarthy. Yeah. It was very similar to what Jaime had, the conversation she had retold about how he called and asked the President to get them to stop. And the President told him something along the lines of, Kevin, maybe these people are just more angry about this than you are, maybe more upset.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
A Twitter Employee: Anika Navaroli, a Co-Adjoint for Michael Pence, and the Decay of the Secret Service
But let me be very clear to all of you and I’ve been very clear to the President; he bears responsibilities for his words and actions, no ifs, ands or buts. I wanted to know if he’s responsible for what happened. Does he feel bad about what happened? He told me that he has a responsibility for what happened.
It further inflamed the mob which was chanting, hang Mike Pence, and provoked them to even greater violence. The mob can’t be justified by anything President Trump might have thought about during the election. The Secret Service was most concerned about the Vice President’s safety at that time.
The platform saw a surge in violence as the afternoon progress, with lines of lethal encouragement like executing Mike Pence. Listen to this former Twitter employee, Anika Navaroli, who first came to the committee anonymously, but has now bravely agreed to be named because she wants to speak out about the magnitude of the threats facing our people.
Yes and after in response to this. Because I think as many as many of Donald Trump’s tweets did, it again fanned the flames. It was people who already had gallows who were willing to execute someone and then look for someone to be killed. The individual that was called on to start this coup now is pointing the finger at another individual since they’re getting ready to do this.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Mayor of the United Kingdom, Mike Pence, hasn’t left the Capitol. Donald Trump has asked everyone to go home, but I don’t think so
Mike Pence will not stick up for Donald Trump. Mike Pence was a traitor. You haven’t heard yet, but Mike Pence has been messing with us. What happened? What happened? I’m hearing that Mike VP has messed us up. That’s the word I keep hearing reports that Mike Pence has screwed us. [End videotape]
Between 2:30 and 2:35, within 10 minutes of President Trump’s tweet, thousands of rioters overran the line that the Metropolitan Police Force’s Civil Disturbance Unit was holding on the west side of the Capitol. This was the first time in the history of the Metropolitan Police Department that a security line like that had ever been broken.
President Trump’s conduct that day was so shameful and so outrageous that it prompted numerous members of the White House staff and other Trump appointees to resign. In prior hearings, you’ve heard Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger and Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Matthews explain why they felt compelled to resign on that day.
Since then, we’ve spoken to more high ranking officials like President Trump’s envoy to Northern Ireland and former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who resigned after the 6th in protest of Trump’s misconduct and to dissociate themselves from his role in the violence.
I was shocked by the violence and surprised that the President didn’t notice it. The president is in the midst of a crucial time in his life. I thought he failed at doing it. At a time of need, he failed to be the kind of leader that the nation needed.
I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking. I mentioned in my statement that there was something I couldn’t let go of. Due to my personal and professional values, the events made it impossible for me to continue. I came as an immigrant to this country.
I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I think of democracy as a way of life. And so I was a — it was a decision that I made on my own. End the tape.
We are giving the president a message. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. That’s what we ordered. [Inaudible] He says, go home. End videotape.
President Trump denied condemning the mass violence in any way, but rather encouraged his followers to celebrate it. Significantly, he made it clear that he considered the violence perfectly foreseeable and predictable. Check it out. These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously, viciously, stripped away from great patriots who have been badly unfairly treated for so long.
These are the things that happen, he said, giving the whole game away. Some of the wounded and injured cops were with us today, Trump told us they got what was coming to them. Donald Trump stated that. We should not be ashamed of January 6 because of what it means in our history.
If the president wanted to use the event to make a statement or address the American people he could have done so in less than a second. The White House press corps have offices that are behind the briefing room. And so, if he had wanted to make an address from the Oval Office, we could have assembled the White House press corps probably in a matter of minutes to get them into the Oval for him to do an on camera address.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
The Committee on Investigating the February 6, 1861, March 26th: President Lincoln and the Resurrection on the Laws of the Fourth Amendment
Mr. Chairman, our constitution strongly discourages insurrection and rebellion. Congress has the power to summon the militia to suppress insurrections. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states that anyone who has sworn an oath to defend the constitution but then commits an act of rebellion is ineligible to hold federal or state office.
It was President Lincoln, at the start of the Civil War in 1861, who best explained why democracy rejects insurrection. He said that the war on Insurrection was a war on the rights of the people. American democracy belongs to all the American people, not to a single man. Thank you for allowing me to thank you.
The gentleman yields back. During this committee’s first hearing in July of last year, our witnesses were four police officers who helped repel the riots of January 6th. We asked them what they hoped to see the committee accomplish over the course of our investigation. Officer Grinnell wanted to find out why the rioters were made to believe that the election process was rigged.
Officer Fanone asked us to look into the actions and activities that resulted in the day’s events. The officer was worried about whether people in power had a part to play. Officer Dunn put it simply, get to the bottom of what happened. We’ve worked for more than a year to get those answers. We’ve conducted more than a thousand interviews and depositions.
We want to hear from him, he’s the one who was in charge of what happened on January 6th. The committee should do all they can to tell the most complete story possible and give recommendations to make sure January 6th isn’t repeated. We need to be fair and thorough and gain a full context for the evidence we’ve obtained.
We must take the testimony from the central player. Several witnesses in our investigation invoked the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits self incriminating statements, in response to questions about their dealings with Donald Trump. Here are a few examples.
There’s precedent in American history for Congress to compel the testimony of a precedent — president. There has been precedent for presidents to give testimony to Congressional investigators. The action of getting a subpoena for a former president is very serious.
That’s why we want to take this step in full view of the American people, especially because the subject matter at issue is so important to the American people and the stakes are so high for our future and our democracy. And so, I recognize the Vice Chair, Ms. Cheney of Wyoming, to offer a motion.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, our committee now has sufficient information to answer many of the critical questions posed by Congress at the outset. There is sufficient information for us to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals and for us to suggest a range of proposals to guard against January 6th.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
General Michael Flynn testifies before the Jan 6 committee on a criminal investigation of Donald Trump, John Eastman, and Peter Navarro
This is General Michael Flynn walking with Oath Keepers on December 12, 2020, and here is General Flynn’s testimony before our committee. Begin the videotape.
Here is John Eastman fraudulently instructing tens of thousands of angry protesters that the Vice President could change the election outcome on January 6th. Later on this same day, Dr. Eastman acknowledged in writing that Donald Trump knew what he was attempting was illegal. Here is John Eastman testifying before our committee.
So is it your position that you can discuss in the media direct conversations you had with the President of the United States, but you will not discuss those same conversations with this committee.
Other witnesses have also gone to enormous lengths to avoid testifying about their dealings with Donald Trump. A jury of peers sentenced Steve Bannon to imprisonment for contempt of Congress. He is scheduled to be sentenced for this crime later this month. Criminal proceedings about Peter Navarro are continuing.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript
Motion of the Committee to Investigate the Case of the 2021 Capitol Attack on Pence, former vice president Mike Pence and the Republican Presidential Campaign
The resolution was agreed to. Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Chair requests that those in the hearing room remain seated until the Capitol Police have escorted members from the room. Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.
Former Vice President Mike Pence said former President Donald Trump’s words on social media during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol were “reckless” and criticized Trump for being “part of the problem” that day.
The former vice president has been quiet about his plans for the future. He has long been regarded as a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, but has not officially decided if he will run and would likely face strong opposition from Donald Trump’s supporters. Miller said on the show that Trump is going to announce his campaign on Tuesday.
Throughout the midterm season, Trump and Pence had occasionally found themselves in a proxy fight, supporting opposing candidates in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin. Trump campaigned with a slate of candidates who have parroted his lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election as Pence attempted to steer the GOP’s focus away from relitigating 2020 and toward traditional conservative policies.
“You know, I have absolutely no doubt that the Republican Party will sort out its leadership issues,” he said last month, adding that he was focused on the elections.
Pence is set to participate in a CNN town hall on Wednesday, the day after the release of his forthcoming autobiography “So Help Me God.” The town hall, moderated by CNN Anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper, will take place in New York City and is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET.