WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) – A congressional panel investigating last year’s assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump presented evidence to its audience at prime time. The former president posed a threat to both American democracy and its vice president, Mike Pence.
Rep. Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair of the House of Representatives select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack, told the audience Thursday that Trump spoke in approval of the mob’s chants to “hang Mike Pence “.
The Democratic-led committee is holding a series of six hearings this month to share the findings of its nearly a-year investigation into the events before and the day of the attack.
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“You’ll hear President Trump was shouting and quoting, ‘very angry’ with the councilors who told him he had to do something else ‘to quell the riot, Cheney told the hearing. And, aware of the chants of the mutineers to “hang Mike Pence,” the president responded with this sentiment: quote, “Maybe our fans have the right idea,” Mike Pence, quoting, “deserves it.”
Congressman Dick Cheney’s father served as Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.
The attack on the Capitol was launched in a failed attempt to prevent members of Congress from formally certifying in a Pence-supervised process the loss of Republican Trump to Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 election.
Usually a routine event, certification became a focus for Trump, who saw it as a last chance to retain the presidency despite losing the election. His supporters rallied in Washington to meet with Trump, who had repeatedly made false claims that stole his election through widespread voting fraud.
A video of former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is shown on a screen during a U.S. House Select Committee hearing to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. , June 9, 2022. Jabin Botsford / Pool via REUTERS
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When thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, they sent lawmakers, staff, journalists and Pence himself fleeing to save their lives. The crowd not only demanded that the vice president be hanged, but also raised a makeshift gallows outside the Capitol.
The committee played a video of Trump’s remarks at the rally urging supporters to march on the Capitol – the seat of Congress – and “fight like hell.”
“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we will win the election. All Vice President Pence has to do is send him to the states to be re-certified, and we will become president, and you are the happiest people,” he said. Trump in the creepy. crowd.
“Mike Pence will have to come for us, and if he doesn’t, it will be a sad day for our country,” Trump added.
Cheney and Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, chair of the committee, outlined plans for the remaining hearings. One will focus on Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to refuse to count election votes. Cheney played a video of Pence saying in a statement last February, “President Trump is wrong. He had no right to cancel the election.”
Other future hearings will feature the testimony of Greg Jacob, a former Pence attorney general, on Trump’s demands. Marc Short, a former Pence chief of staff, is also expected to testify.
“Witnesses at these hearings will explain how the former vice president, as well as his staff, repeatedly informed President Trump that what he was pressuring Mike Pence to do was illegal,” Cheney said.
Short said in a statement to the committee that Pence finally knew that his allegiance to the Constitution was his “first and foremost oath.”
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Report by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan, additional report by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham
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