Jan. 6 hearing takeaways: Warnings on democracy ahead of election

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee took the extraordinary motion of subpoenaing former President Donald Trump on Thursday because it issued a stark warning in its remaining public hearing earlier than the midterm election: The future of the nation’s democracy is at stake.

The panel’s October hearing, simply weeks ahead of the midterm election, targeted on Trump’s state of thoughts on Jan. 6, 2021 as he egged on his supporters with false claims of election fraud, pushed to accompany them to the Capitol whereas lawmakers have been counting the votes, after which stood by for hours because the mob violently breached the constructing.

The committee is about to close down in the beginning of subsequent yr, and was making its remaining public arguments ahead of a report anticipated in December.

“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” mentioned Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chairwoman and one of two Republicans on the nine-member committee. “And every American is entitled to those answers. So we can act now to protect our republic.”

The subpoena for Trump is a serious escalation within the probe. After signaling for months that they could depart the previous president alone, the unanimous 9-0 vote “for relevant documents and testimony, under oath” was definitive.

The committee had long debated whether to seek testimony from or subpoena Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence. Neither has spoken on to the committee. While Trump has been hostile to the probe each in court docket and in public, Pence’s attorneys had engaged with the panel for a number of months with no clear decision.

Pence might nonetheless be known as or subpoenaed. But several of his closest aides have complied with the investigation, with a number of of them offering nice element about his actions and state of thoughts as he resisted Trump’s pleas to object to the certification of electoral votes that day and attempt to overturn their defeat.

In distinction, the committee confirmed a number of clips of Trump allies refusing to reply questions earlier than the panel.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, mentioned the committee was “in a position to nail down each salient element in just about each ingredient of the offense” apart from sure particulars about what Trump was doing and saying because the rebellion unfolded.

New video aired by the panel confirmed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacting emotionally to the news that her colleagues have been donning gasoline masks within the House chamber as rioters neared. She rapidly went to work attempting to safe and reopen the Capitol.

Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have been seen in unidentified safe places and speaking to safety officers. The footage included a dialog between Pelosi and Pence, who was additionally in a safe location, discussing their return to the session to complete certifying Biden’s victory.

The footage was filmed by Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, in accordance with two folks accustomed to the video who requested anonymity to debate it.

The two leaders are seen working to convey the National Guard to the Capitol amid an hourslong delay. At one level, Schumer mentioned he was going to “call up the ’effing secretary of DOD,” referring to the Defense Department.

“We have some senators who are still in their hideaways,” Schumer informed protection officers on the cellphone. “They need massive personnel now.”

The lesson of the committee’s investigation is that establishments solely maintain when folks of good religion shield them with out regard to political value, Cheney mentioned in the course of the hearing.

(*6*) Cheney requested.

The warnings come as Trump remains to be refusing to acknowledge that he misplaced his reelection to Joe Biden and is contemplating one other run in 2024 — and as many Republicans who deny Biden’s win are working within the midterm elections in any respect ranges of authorities. Many states have changed election officers who resisted Trump’s stress marketing campaign.

“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,” mentioned Cheney, who misplaced her personal Republican major this August. “Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years.”

The committee has obtained greater than 1.5 million pages of paperwork from the Secret Service in latest weeks. They revealed some of that information within the hearing, together with an e mail from throughout the company on Dec. 11, 2020, the day the Supreme Court rejected one of Trump’s makes an attempt to undermine the vote.

“Just fyi. POTUS is p—-d — breaking news —- Supreme Court denied his law suit. He is livid now,” one nameless Secret Service e mail mentioned.

Multiple emails confirmed that the company had ample warnings of violence within the weeks and days ahead of the rebellion.

An alert acquired by the company on Dec. 24 mentioned a number of on-line customers have been concentrating on members of Congress and “instructing others to march into the chambers,” mentioned California Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the panel.

California Rep. Pete Aguilar, one other Democratic member, mentioned the committee “will be recalling witnesses and conducting further investigative depositions” based mostly on the Secret Service materials. The company has not turned over textual content messages it mentioned have been deleted.

Aguilar additionally warned that the committee is reviewing testimony concerning potential obstruction of some witnesses. The committee has mentioned previously that some witnesses have been intimidated in opposition to talking.

The committee confirmed prerecorded interviews with Cabinet members, together with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, who mentioned they believed that after the authorized avenues had been exhausted, that ought to have been the tip of Trump’s effort to stay in energy.

Pompeo, who was interviewed by the panel since its final hearing in July, mentioned in his videotaped testimony that he believed that after the Electoral College licensed the vote, that was the tip of the method for contesting the election. “We should all comply with the law at all times, to the best of our ability — every one of us,” Pompeo mentioned.

Chao, who’s married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnel, mentioned she determined to resign after the rebellion as a result of it was “inconceivable for me to proceed given my private values and my philosophy.”

At the identical time, Trump continued to push the false claims of fraud to his tens of millions of supporters.

“President Trump knew the truth. He heard what all his experts and senior staff was telling him,” mentioned Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the committee’s different Republican. “His intent was plain: ignore the rule of law and stay in power.”

Cheney addressed one of the committee’s remaining questions in the beginning of the assembly, saying the panel “may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.” At the tip of the hearing, she talked about the likelihood once more, saying it has “sufficient information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals.”

Members of the committee have lengthy advised they could counsel prices for Trump or others based mostly on their very own proof. While such a referral wouldn’t drive any motion, it will place political stress on Attorney General Merrick Garland because the division has pursued its personal investigations surrounding Jan. 6. And the committee has but to share any transcripts from its greater than 1,000 interviews.

Still, “we recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution,” Cheney mentioned.