Aides said the hearing would include new materials and documents on Pence’s moves on Jan. 6 and what he was doing when the Senate chamber was forced to evacuate after the mutineers broke into the U.S. Capitol.
The hearing will focus on the theory of Trump’s attorney, John Eastman, that Pence had the authority to overturn the election results when Congress certified Joe Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021. It was a theory that was rejected by Trump’s own White House lawyers, but Trump and his allies accepted it and pressured Pence to help him subvert the election in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. The Jan. 6 committee has received a large number of emails sent by Eastman in connection with its efforts to cancel the election that could shed new light on Trump’s lawyer. thinking about the days before January 6th. Eastman had tried to block the Chamber’s access to many of his emails, alleging that they are protected as confidential lawyer-client communications, but a judge has repeatedly disagreed with him and ordered that they delivered them. Two witnesses who told Pence that he did not have the authority to subvert the election, former Pence lawyer Greg Jacob and the retired Republic, will testify at Thursday’s hearing. a judge J. Michael Luttig. The focus on both Eastman and Trump’s effort to cancel the election and the ensuing violence on January 6 reiterates an issue that the committee has emphasized in its first two June hearings: that the plan to Trump to stop his election loss led to the attack on the Capitol.
Pence will be the focus, but not there
One person who will be noticeably absent on Thursday is the former vice president himself.
Earlier this year, the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, had suggested that the committee ask for Pence’s testimony. Still, the prospect of Pence appearing before the committee, especially in public, has always been seen as a bit far-fetched, to say the least.
But as the committee argues that Trump was pressuring his vice president to unilaterally cancel the Jan. 6 election, Pence’s absence will no doubt be felt.
When asked on Wednesday if the committee is still interested in hearing Pence himself, the committee’s aides denied it, telling reporters that the investigation is ongoing and that they cannot therefore provide details on any commitment to a witness in particular.
“There’s nothing new to share about this, other than that we’re still looking for facts and if there’s more to share, we’ll share it in the future,” said one of the aides.
The fact that two of Pence’s former advisers are due to appear on Thursday, and his former chief of staff Marc Short testified in camera behind closed doors, indicates that Pence was not actively seeking to prevent those around him from sharing information with the committee. in place. .
Pence is expected to travel to Ohio on Thursday for a roundtable on energy.
A judge and a lawyer
The two witnesses who appeared on Thursday, Jacob and Luttig, each played a key role in helping Pence withstand Trump’s pressure campaign. And they can all talk about how Trump and his allies were warned that his plan for Pence to cast his ballots on Jan. 6 was illegal.
Jacob was Pence’s lawyer and helped the vice president’s team articulate that the Constitution gave Pence nothing more than a ceremonial authority when Congress certified Biden’s victory. Luttig helped offer public coverage to Pence, tweeting a thread at Pence’s team’s request to explain why Pence couldn’t do what Trump wanted. Interestingly, Eastman is a former employee of Luttig.
Pence quoted Luttig’s statement in the letter published Jan. 6 as explaining why he would not stop election certification.
Jacob also played a backstage role on January 6 while being evacuated from the Senate with Pence, exchanging heated emails about what was happening, which were revealed in court documents.
“Thanks for your shit, we’re harassed now,” Jacob wrote.
Eastman replied, “The ‘set’ is because YOU and your boss didn’t do what was necessary to allow this to be broadcast publicly so that the American people could see for themselves what happened.” .
Short, Pence’s former chief aide, spoke to the committee in a statement, and the committee’s aides said they hoped to use parts of his interview during Thursday’s hearing. But there is no indication that the committee will call him to testify during the public hearings.
It’s no different how the committee presented former Attorney General William Barr’s statement during Monday’s hearing, but did not make it appear for public testimony.
“A great criminal defense lawyer”
The committee previously saw its hearing on Thursday by posting a video clip of its Herschmann statement.
In the clip, Herschmann explains how he warned Eastman to withdraw plans to file appeals in Georgia based on election results after the events of January 6, 2021.
“He started asking me about something that dealt with Georgia and preserved something, potentially, for appeal,” Herschmann says in the video. “And I said, ‘Are you out of your mind? Because I just want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: “neat transition.” “. Repeat these words to me. “
He then warns Eastman that his actions could potentially be against the law.
“He finally said,‘ Orderly transition. ’I said,‘ Well, John. Now I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’ve ever received in your life – get an excellent criminal defense attorney. You’ll need it. “And I hung up on him.”
The video likely foreshadows what will be an underlying topic at Thursday’s hearing, as the committee plans to highlight how Trump continued to accept Eastman’s plan to cancel the election despite his top lawyers’ insistence that it was not a good legal advice.
And in trying to carry out that plan, Trump and Eastman are more likely than not to have committed a crime, according to Herschmann and a California federal judge who issued an opinion on the subject in a related case earlier this year.
The staff lawyer will ask questions on Thursday
The format of Thursday’s hearing will have a new twist, according to committee aides: committee attorney John Wood will do some of the testimony of witnesses.
The inclusion of a staff lawyer refers to the dismissal hearings of House Democrats in 2019, when staff lawyers conducted a lengthy cross-examination of witnesses before the more traditional five-minute rounds were used to to the legislators of the House.
The select committee has limited who has spoken to the hearings so far, with one member focused on leading each session. On Thursday, Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar in California will have that task.
The committee adjourned its scheduled hearing on Wednesday, which should have focused on the Justice Department. He will now hold two hearings next week, and more are likely to come next week, although the committee has yet to announce specific schedules or topics for them.