Committee aides did not say whether they had further engagements with Trump or former Vice President Mike Pence regarding the deposition. Pence said this summer that he would “consider” testifying before the committee. Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee chairman, said last month that the committee plans to produce an interim report in mid-October, with a final report due before the end of the year, after the midterm elections. The commission held a series of public hearings over the summer that were also broadcast nationally. The hearings showed never-before-seen video of the attack, but also video testimony from Trump administration officials about his refusal to accept the election results and his allies’ plans to replace voters in the battleground states won by President Joe Biden. while simultaneously threatening local and state election officials. Thompson confirmed over the summer that the commission had “conversations” with the Justice Department about the fraudulent election scheme. At the June 21 public hearing, committee member Rep. Adam Schiff said these fake electors finally met on December 14, 2020, in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin, signing documents claiming that they had been duly elected. from their state. The committee said Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin wanted to deliver proxy, fraudulent voters to Pence before a joint session of Congress, according to texts provided by the committee. The hearings highlighted pressure campaigns by Trump and his allies in various branches of government to overturn the 2020 election results, including the former president’s effort to put environmental lawyer Jeffrey Clarke at the helm of the Justice Department, argued attorney John Eastman to Pence that he had the power to override the Electoral College and Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to influence local and state election officials. The hearings also included in-person testimony from former Trump administration officials, a former Fox News political editor, a Capitol Police officer, a convicted rioter, among others. The hearings included bombshell revelations about Trump’s response to the Jan. 6 attack. Hutchinson and other former White House aides testified — both in person and via video — that they knew Trump had lost the election and that promoting the narrative that he had won was a lie. Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary, testified that as violence erupted on Capitol Hill, the press office argued over Trump’s response and seemed surprised that a colleague did not want to condemn the riot because doing so would mean “winning.” in the media”. “I couldn’t believe we were fighting about this in the middle of the West Wing. . . . And so, I wrote the TV and said, ‘Do you think it looks like we’re winning? Because I don’t think it’s happening,’” Matthews said. At the same hearing, the committee played a never-before-seen video showing Trump rehearsing to give a statement on January 7, 2021. Even after the chaos of January 6 and Congress having certified the Electoral College count, Trump refused to say he had lost the election. “I’d like to start by mentioning the heinous attack yesterday, and those who broke the law, you will pay,” Trump said in the video. “You don’t represent our movement, you don’t represent our country, and if you broke the law – I can’t say that. I already said you will pay…” “But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” he continued, before pausing to presumably address his aides. “I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say that Congress ratified the results without saying the election is over.”
