Biden calls testimony, video from Jan. 6 committee hearing ‘devastating’

(*6*)PORTLAND, Oregon, Oct 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden described as “devastating” testimony and video from a Jan. 6 committee hearing two days in the past, that includes congressional leaders in tense cellphone calls with Pentagon and White House officers in the course of the assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Biden was talking to reporters throughout a cease at an ice cream store in Oregon as he campaigned for Tina Kotek, who’s operating for governor of the state.

“I think it’s been devastating,” Biden stated when requested concerning the newest hearing. “The case has been made, it seems to me, fairly overwhelming.”

Biden stated he had been going out of his approach to not touch upon the proceedings.

“Any more I say about it, you … are going to ask me if I’m trying to influence the attorney general. I’m not. I’ve not spoken with him at all,” Biden stated, referring to Attorney General Merrick Garland, whose Justice Department has the authority to pursue legal prices associated to the Capitol assault.

Some of the video footage got here from the household of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi current on the Capitol that day. One of the clips confirmed the California Democrat in a name with Republican Vice President Mike Pence.

“When I spoke to him, I said, ‘I’m so afraid for you to be in the Capitol still,'” Pelosi stated on Saturday throughout remarks at a San Francisco group farming occasion.

Pence responded that the Secret Service thought extra consideration could be drawn if he and his entourage left the Capitol, Pelosi stated. “Lord knows what might have happened if that entourage went out there,” she added.

The House committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, assault by Donald Trump’s supporters voted unanimously on Thursday to subpoena the previous president, a transfer that would result in legal prices if he doesn’t comply.

The hearing adopted eight others earlier this 12 months and one in July 2021. There have been no reside witnesses on Thursday, however the panel offered videotaped testimony to construct a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his November 2020 presidential election defeat constituted unlawful conduct far past regular politics.

The committee’s vote on Thursday could have been its final public motion earlier than the Nov. 8 congressional elections that may decide whether or not Biden’s Democrats proceed to regulate the House and Senate.

Reporting by Jeff Mason and Mike Stone; Editing by Sandra Maler, Diane Craft, Paul Simao and Tomasz Janowski

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.