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At the meeting of the commission that is investigating the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6 last year, today is expected to hear evidence about the pressure that former President Donald Trump exerted on former Vice President Mike Pence, to stop congressional certification of the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.
Mr. Pence was chairing the joint session of both houses of Congress, and while lawmakers were in the early stages of the Electoral College vote count, about 2,000 of Mr. Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol, with the intent of blocking the process.
Shortly before Congress convened, privately and publicly, at a White House rally, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Pence to refuse to count the ballots and return the results back to the Republican-controlled states so that they to order new elections, or to appoint other voters, in favor of Mr. Trump.
But Mr. Pence, who had remained loyal to Mr. Trump for four years in the White House, rejected such a request. He said his role was defined by the Constitution and was limited to opening the envelopes with the votes of the Electoral College from each state.
“I had no right to overturn the election result“, Said Mr. Pence, who also had the task of certifying his loss to Democrat Kamala Harris, already in the position of vice president.
Upon announcing by Mr. Pence that he would not accept Mr. Trump’s request, some of the protesters who entered the Capitol began shouting “Varni Mike Pence!” As they crossed security barricades, clashing with police and looting lawmakers’ offices.
Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney, in her capacity as deputy chair of the inquiry committee and Mr. Trump’s most vocal opponent in the committee, said last week that the former president, who was watching the chaos on television from the White House, told aides his, that he agreed with the idea that Mr. Pence should be hanged.
“Maybe our supporters are right. Mike Pence deserves such a thing“Mr. Trump is suspected to have said that.
Ms Cheney also said that “President Trump believed that his supporters on the Capitol were doing ‘what they’s supposed to do'”, referring to his words.
“This is what he said to his aides as they begged his supporters to leaveSaid Cheney.
Informing reporters ahead of today’s hearing, aides to the committee said the hearing will focus in part on how Mr. Trump’s campaign of pressure put Mr Pence’s life in danger.
“You will see new documents on that day, where the vice president was and what he was doing“, Said an assistant of the commission, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Marc Short, who served as Mr. Pence’s chief of staff and who reportedly warned the Secret Service of a possible threat to the former vice president’s life, will not testify directly, but part of his filmed testimony in advance, will be broadcast during the hearing.
In a video message, which preceded the hearing, Ms. Cheney referred to a recent decision by a federal judge, according to which Mr. Trump may have committed two federal crimes by exerting pressure on Mr. Pence.
In response to committee hearings, former President Trump issued a 12-page statement Monday, calling the investigation an attempt by Democrats to prevent him from running again for the 2024 election.
Thursday’s hearing is the third in a series scheduled this month to show how the violent attack took place and what was the role of Mr. Trump, who invited his supporters to Washington, urging them to ” fight with all their might ”to keep him in office.
More than 800 people have been arrested on charges ranging from illegal entry, vandalism of the Capitol, to assault on police. Some of the leaders of the violent attack have been accused of plotting to overthrow the government by force.
On Monday, the House committee showed recorded evidence from several White House aides who said they had asked Mr. Trump on election day not to declare victory, advice he ignored, declaring victory in the hours the first morning of November 4, 2020.
Former Attorney General William Barr and numerous aides told the commission that in the run-up to the election and the attack on the Capitol, they had told Mr Trump that his allegations of election fraud were baseless and that he had lost the election. .
Mr Barr said in a statement to the commission that many of Mr. Trump’s allegations of “irregular voting” were “completely false and ridiculous.”
“Of course, he lost the election. There was no sufficient evidence base to reverse the election result“, Said Mr. Barr in his testimony./VOA
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