January 6 Committee Hearings - June 9 through July 21, 2022

NOTES OF PUBLIC HEARINGS OF JANUARY 6TH COMMITTEE

The 8 Hearings From June 9 Through July 21, 2022

Prepared as of July 25, 2022

The U.S. House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was officially formed July 1, 2021. Since that time the 9 members of the Committee and their attorneys and staffs have interviewed and deposed over 1,000 individuals and collected many thousands of documents.

This Summary is intended to document persons who testified at these hearings and present highlights of the information presented.

Congresspersons on the bi-partisan Committee are: Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Co-Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY), Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Elaine Luria (D-VA), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and Adam Schiff (D-CA).

To this point, the Committee has gathered an amazing amount of information tying together Trump’s plans from the day of losing the election in November 2020 to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the day of certifying the electoral votes of the states to confirm Joe Biden’s election as President.

These 8 hearings connect (1) the Big Lie to (2) the use of fake electors (3) to threats made to state elections officials (4) to attempts to use the Justice Department to push fraudulent election claims (5) to proposals to seize voting machines to “re-run” the election (6) to gathering the mob for the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. These were all part of an orchestrated plan to overturn a valid and fair election.

And Trump was involved in all those connections.

A major point to make in these hearings is that most all those persons who testified live at the hearing or through filmed depositions are Trump supporters and voters. Some would still vote for Trump today.

Recordings of the hearings are mostly available at the official Committee website at this link.

When you connect to the January 6th website, note that the recordings of the hearing may take a few minutes to start the hearing itself. Also, in the upper right-hand corner is a connection to YouTube for viewing the recording on that platform.

In addition, some organizations may have posted their own recordings of the hearings to YouTube, including NPR. Such organizations’ recordings can be found on internet searches and may also include their comments and observations.

June 9 - Hearing #1 - Violent Attack at the Capitol on January 6

See this link at NPR posting to YouTube.
Highlights:

(1) Live testimony by Officer Caroline Edwards, of the U.S. Capitol Police, providing horrific first-hand testimony about the brutal, war-like fighting between police and rioters.

(2) Live testimony by Mr. Rick Quested, British Filmmaker

Mr. Quested was making a documentary about the Proud Boys (a paramilitary white supremacist group) in December 2020 and January 2021. On January 6, he witnessed the protesters turn into rioters and then become insurrectionists.

(3) Previously unseen footage of the attack

(4) Shown on Mr. Quested’s film was that the Proud Boys were heading to the Capitol in the morning of the 6th, even before Trump’s speech. Evidence of pre-organization of attack

(5) Shown on Mr. Quested’s film was a previously unseen meeting between Proud Boys top leaders and leaders of the Oath Keepers (another paramilitary white supremacist group).

(6) Revealing that it was the Vice President -- not Trump -- who requested support for the Capitol police and activation of the National Guard troops to protect the Capitol

(7) Revealing that White House officials requested General Milley to incorrectly claim that it was Trump and not the Vice President who asked for troops to protect the Capitol.

Note: The violence of the attack resulted in the deaths of 5 police and 4 rioters:

5 police - Individuals who were brutally attacked while trying to protect our Capitol -- Brian Sicknick (injuries from attack) and 4 officers who subsequently committed suicide: Jeffrey Smith, Howard Liebengood, Gunther Hashida, Kyle DeFreytag.

4 rioters - Persons who chose to attack our Capitol to do harm to our police and our elected government officials -- 1 who was shot while entering the House chamber before Representatives could escape, and 3 who died of natural causes during the attack (heart attack, stroke, drug overdose)

 June 13 - Hearing #2 - No indication of voting fraud - Trump's Big Lie is a Lie and he knows it!
Highlights:

(1) Recorded Depositions of Bill Stepian (Trump’s Campaign Manager) and Attorney General Bill Barr. Both testifying that Trump’s claims of election fraud were not true and that Trump knew that he did not win the election.

(2) Live testimony by Mr. Chris Stirewalt, former Fox News Political Editor. First to call Arizona for Biden. Explained that vote numbers on election day were expected to show Trump in the lead, but as mail in ballots were counted in the states, the results shifted to Biden. This was not an indication of fraud, but merely indicated the normal delay in counting mail-in votes.

(3) Deposition testimony from others within Trump’s campaign about Trump being told that his own campaign data did not support his claims of fraud

June 16 - Hearing #3 - Illegal attempts by Trump to have Pence disallow selected electoral counts using theories with no credible legal bases
Highlights:

(1) Live Testimony of Greg Jacob, attorney for Mike Pence -- Pence prevented overturning election.

(2) Live Testimony of Retired Judge J. Michael Luttig -- Trump and supporters continue to be a “clear and present danger to democracy”.

(3) Theory by John Eastman has no credible legal basis and Eastman and others were well informed that it was not a supportable legal theory. Possible criminal liability for Eastman.

(4) Information about the 12th Amendment and the counting of electoral votes for President

(5) Information about the Electoral Count Act that codifies the administration of counting the electoral votes

June 21 - Hearing #4 - Trump Pressuring States to reverse their elections, find additional votes (that do not exist), and false accusations against elections workers.
Highlights:

(1) Live testimony by Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State

(2) Live testimony by Rusty Bowers, Arizona Speaker of the House

(3) Live testimony by Gabe Sterling, Deputy Assistant to Georgia Secretary of State

(4) Live testimony by election workers -- Shaye Moss (with her mother, Ruby Freeman)

(5) Calls from Trump, including threatening language and telling Raffensperger that he needs to find 11,780 more votes for Trump.

(6) Raffensperger stated that his travels to elections centers across Georgia revealed that many voters chose to not vote for President, but voted for other Republicans lower on the Georgia ballot. (Estimated around 30,000 votes.)

(7) Trump pressuring state officials to decertify their elections, pushing fake Republican elector schemes, pressuring officials to break their oaths of office, and endangering lives of election workers by publicly making false accusations.

June 23 - Hearing #5 - Trump Pressures DOJ to Accept Installation of Jeffrey Clark as Attorney General to complete his Coup - “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”
Highlights:

(1) Live testimony by Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen

(2) Live testimony by Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue

(3) Live testimony by Steven Engel, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel

(4) Deposition testimony of Eric Herschmann

(5) Revealing that there would be massive resignation of Justice Department officials, and likely top federal Justice officials in District offices.

(6) Trump tells the Justice officials present: “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”

June 28 - Hearing #6 - Explosive testimony from inside the White House by Cassidy Hutchinson
Highlights:

(1) Live testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, Assistant to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows

(2) Revealing details of the January 6 speech by Trump at the rally before the Capitol insurrection

(3) Revealing that Trump knew the rioters were armed and wanted magnetometers that detect armaments to be disabled to allow more rioters into protected areas

(4) Revealing information about Trump’s intention to go to the Capitol during the electoral count and the attack

(5) Revealing conversations in the White House that Trump and others should not “interfere” with the electoral count at the Capitol due to multiple illegal charges

(6) Revealing that multiple congressmen had asked for pardons apparently for their roles in January 6 planning, etc. (including Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Scott Perry (R-PA), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Louis Gohmert (R-TX)), and that others had submitted pardon requests to others in the WH.)

(Note: Paul Gosar (R-AZ) claimed that he had asked for a “blanket” pardon directly with Trump before the January 6 attack and implied to others that such pardons would happen. Rudy Giuliani was claimed to have asked Trump for a pardon but interestingly tried to deny it after Hutchinson’s testimony by saying “she was never present when I asked for a pardon”. True Rudy ineptness?)

July 12 - Hearing #7 - To Remain in Power at all Costs - Trump Participated in a WH Meeting of the “Unhinged” and Summoned the Mob to D.C. to Attack the Capitol to delay the Electoral Count
Highlights:

(1) Covered 2 main points: (a) Trump knew that his legal team lacked any evidence to support his Big Lie about voter fraud in the 2020 election; (b) Trump deceived his supporters about the Big Lie in getting them to come to D.C. to join the attack on the Capitol.

(2) Live testimony from Jason Van Tatenhove, former member of the Oath Keepers, a militant white supremacist group, one of the groups coordinating the attack on the Capitol. Mr. Van Tatenhove had left the Oath Keepers some time ago, but testified about the dangers of such groups that continue to threaten our country.

(3) Live testimony from Stephen Ayers, one of the crowd of Trump followers induced by Trump’s Big Lie to join the attack on the Capitol, who pleaded guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in June. Mr. Ayers has lost his job and his home as a result of participating in the attack in D.C.

(4) Deposition segments of Pat Cipollone, WH counsel, about activities in the White House between the November election and January 6, especially the “unhinged” meeting in the WH on December 18 between Trump, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Flynn, and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne.

(5) The “unhinged” meeting concerned plans to have the DOD seize voting machines in states lost by Trump and have the military “rerun” the election to show Trump won, also to name Sidney Powell as “special counsel”. Pat Cipillone, Eric Hershmann, and 3rd WH counsel employee confronted the group, which resulted in yelling and insults.

(6) After the long unhinged meeting, in the early morning hours of December 19, Trump tweeted out the invitation to supporters to come to D.C. on January 6, “will be wild”.

(7) Description of the plan for January 6 was in 3 nested circles: the inside circle was Trump’s pressure on VP Pence; the second circle was an alliance between Trump associates and violent groups such as the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and 3 Percenters who would break through the police lines at the Capitol; and the third, outside, circle would be those Trump followers who were called to D.C. by Trump’s deception and who would add to the numbers needed to create a mob.

(8) Reminder that Trump was aware that members of the mob were armed.

(9) Ayers testified that he and his friends only came to D.C. from Ohio, because of Trump’s “invitation”/tweets and that they left the Capitol when receiving Trump’s “go home” message. This illustrated Trump’s control over the mob attacking the Capitol.

July 21 - Hearing #8 - Dereliction of Duty by Trump - Trump’s Incitement of the Mob to Attack the Capitol and his Refusal to Call a Halt to the Carnage for over 3 Hours as Violence, Injuries and Death Continued
Highlights:

(1) Live testimony of Sarah Matthews, former Deputy Press Secretary for Trump, who testified about Trump choosing to take no actions to stop the January 6 violent attack on the Capitol despite multiple requests from family, advisors, and staff. And made worse by tweets that “poured gasoline on the fire”. Ms. Matthews resigned that day.

(2) Live testimony of Matt Pottinger, Trump’s former Deputy National Security Advisor, who also resigned on January 6 upon seeing the violence and Trump making it worse.

(3) Various deposition testimony by WH Counsel Cipollone and others regarding Trump and his actions and inactions.

(4) Testimony by a White House National Security official (given anonymously for protection) about the severity of the attack toward VP Pence and his security detail. (Secret Service were leaving personal messages for their families in case they did not survive.)

(5) Trump fully intended to be taken to the Capitol after his speech at the ellipse, and was furious when his Secret Service detail took him in a Presidential SUV back to the White House instead. At the White House a motorcade waited for almost an hour for a possible Trump trip to the Capitol (not taken).

(6) Trump knew that some of the mob were armed when heading to the Capitol (see June 28 hearing comments).

(7) Additional scenes of the extreme violence of the attack on the Capitol, many not seen previously.

(8) 187 minutes passed between Trump’s speech telling the rioters to head to the Capitol and “fight like hell” at 1:10 p.m. and the enforced message from Trump telling the rioters to go home and “we love you” at 4:17 p.m.. 187 minutes of a violent mob heading to the Capitol, attacking police, invading the Capitol, threatening the lives of law enforcement and elected officials.

(9) Where was Trump during the violence? -- He closeted himself in the private Presidential Dining Room next to the Oval Office to watch the violent scenes of the attack as reported on Fox News on the TV in that room. No photos were allowed, no calls or visits appeared on the White House logs for the 187 minutes.

(10) Attempts were made by White House staff, Fox News personalities, and Trump family members to have Trump send a message or tweet to call off the attack. Instead, Trump intentionally sent tweets to further inflame the mob and to target VP Pence at 2:24 p.m. (The rioters were heard chanting “Hang Mike Pence” and per photos, a gallows appeared at the Capitol.)

(11) VP Pence’s Secret Service detail barely managed to get Pence and his family out of the Capitol and into a secure location around 2:26 p.m.

(12) While in the Dining Room, Trump made no calls to the DOD, his Secretary of Defense Miller, or his Head of the Joint Chiefs General Milley, or to Homeland Security to request National Guard or any other support for the Capitol police. Rather it was Vice President Pence from a secure location who requested such troops be sent to the Capitol. (Afterward, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Milley to say it was Trump and NOT Pence who ordered troops to the Capitol. Milley would not do this.)

(13) From other sources, it is known that during his time in the Dining Room, Trump telephoned (a) Rudy Giuliani (2x), and (b) a list of Senators requesting them to continue to stall the electoral count.

(14) 4:17 p.m. -- 187 minutes after his ellipse appearance, Trump was finally prevailed upon to film a statement to stop the attack -- go home, “we love you”.

(15) After multiple hours of the National Guard and others clearing the Capitol Building and verifying safety, Congress re-convened later on the night of January 6, and finalized the certification of the electoral count confirming President-elect Biden after 3:00 a.m. on January 7.

(16) On January 7, Trump was asked to film another message to the country and outtakes showed that Trump refused to say that the election was over. (Such message was just a few minutes long but took an hour to film.)

For timeline see this link at the Washington Post