The January 6 investigation proves officials who resisted pressure from former President Trump

The hearing to investigate the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol resumed on Tuesday, focusing on former President Trump’s efforts to undo Joe Biden’s victory locally, pushing officials into key constituencies. to reject ballots, or to create an alternative voter list for the final submission of ballot papers to Congress. The pressure was fueled by the president’s false allegations of possible electoral manipulation, which the commission says led directly to the Capitol riots.

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testified about a phone call from President Trump asking him to “find 11,780 votes” that would overturn the result in this state and deny Mr. Biden victory.

Mr. Raffensberger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Republican House Speaker Rusty Bowers, are key witnesses, along with Wandrea “Shay” Moss, a former Georgia election official, and his mother. her, who have said they have faced such public persecution by former President Trump’s allies that they have been unable to continue a normal life.

“I’m outraged by what I saw,” Bowers said in an interview with the Associated Press on Monday after arriving in Washington. “I think it sheds light on something we need to see well and keep in our memory. “And I hope it will wake us up.”

This public hearing, the fourth this month, comes after a year-long investigation into former President Trump’s unprecedented attempts to stay in power, a broad scheme that the chairman of the January 6 inquiry commission compared to “an attempt for a coup ”.

Tuesday’s session focuses on how former President Trump was repeatedly told that his campaign of pressure could provoke violence against local officials and their families, but that he continued to exercise it nonetheless, said one aide of the investigative commission. The session also highlights that the consequences of former President Trump’s actions continue to this day, as local officials face constant public harassment and political challengers try to take their jobs.

Although the commission of inquiry cannot prosecute former President Trump, the Justice Department is closely following the commission’s work. Former President Trump’s actions in the state of Georgia are also the subject of investigations by a large jury, in the framework of which the district prosecutor is expected to announce his findings within this year.

“We will show during the session what was the role of the president in trying to get the states to appoint an alternative list of voters, how that scheme initially depended on the hopes that the legislatures would convene and give the blessing,” he said. on Monday Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff told the Los Angeles Times.

Lawmaker Schiff, who will chair most of Tuesday’s hearing, said the hearing would also look into the “intimate role” of White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in plotting to pressure lawmakers. Georgia state and election officials.

Former President Trump defended himself on social media, describing his phone call as “perfect”, similar to the way he described his 2020 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, which resulted in an investigation into the allegations. charges for his dismissal.

Mr. Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official, rejected former President Trump’s request that he “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s victory in the state – a request made during a recorded phone call a few days ago. before the January 6 attack.

During the call, former President Trump repeatedly cited unsubstantiated allegations of manipulation and cited the possibility that it would be a “criminal offense” if Georgia officials did not change the vote count. The state of Georgia had counted the votes three times before certifying Mr. Biden’s victory by a margin of 11,779 votes.

The public testimony from Mr. Raffensperger comes weeks after he appeared before a large special jury in Georgia investigating whether former President Trump and others illegally attempted to interfere in the state’s 2020 election, and after Mr. Raffensperger defeated a challenger backed by former President Trump in last month’s primaries.

Mr. Sterling, chief of operations for Mr. Raffensperger, became well-known during the long count and recount in Georgia, with his regular updates often being broadcast live to a politically divided nation. At one point, the soft-spoken Republican called on Americans to lower the tone of hot rhetoric.

“Death threats, physical threats, intimidation – it is excessive, it is not right,” he said.

Mr. Bowers is expected to speak out about the pressure he faced to turn the tide in Arizona – demands from former President Trump’s advisers that the Republican leader on Monday called “immature.”

In an interview with the Associated Press news agency after arriving in Washington ahead of the hearing, Mr. Bowers said he expected to be asked about a phone call with former President Trump during which attorney Rudy Giuliani tossed out an idea to replace Arizona voters with persons. others who would vote for former President Trump.

Mr. Bowers also revealed a second phone call with former President Trump in December 2020, which he said was largely a general conversation, although former President Trump also referred to their first conversation.

Ms. Moss, who has worked for the Fulton County election department since 2012, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, a temporary election worker, filed a defamation suit in December 2021. Ms. Moss claimed that the conservative newspaper One America News Network ”and Mr. Giuliani falsely spread allegations that she and her mother were involved in vote manipulation during the elections. The case in question has been settled by agreement.

Both Mr. Bowers and Mrs. Moss, along with Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney, deputy chair of the commission of inquiry, were among this year’s recipients of the John F. Kennedy Award, “for their courage in preserving and defending democracy.”

The commission of inquiry is also planning to uncover a complex scheme of “fake voters”, which aimed to have representatives in seven key constituencies – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico – sign false certifications declaring themselves winners. in their states Mr. Trump, and not Mr. Biden.

Conservative law professor John Eastman, also a lawyer for former President Trump, promoted the idea of ​​fake voters in the weeks following the election. Former President Trump and Mr. Eastman gathered hundreds of voters together in a connection on January 2, 2021, and encouraged them to send alternative tabulations from their states where former President Trump’s team was claiming manipulation.

The idea of ​​fake voters was created to present a challenge on January 6, 2021, when Congress convened in a joint session, with former Vice President Mike Pence leading a process that is usually a ceremonial function of accepting state tabulation votes. . But the attempt failed, as Mr. Pence rejected former President Trump’s repeated demands that he simply stop certifying Mr. Biden’s victory – a power he believed he did not have in his ceremonial function.

At least 20 people in connection with the fake voter scheme were summoned by the House commission of inquiry. The commission says it will also show that it has gathered enough evidence, from more than 1,000 interviews and tens of thousands of documents, to show the direct link between the various attempts to overthrow the election with former President Trump.

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