The third public session of the special commission established within the US House of Representatives to investigate the January 6 Congress attack was held today. The focus of the session was former President Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count the votes on January 6 and earlier.
“Former President Trump has asked Pence to reject the vote and send it back to the states,” commission chairman Bennie Thompson said at the start of the session. Pence resisted the pressure. We’re lucky that Pence has that courage. Our democracy is dangerously on the brink of disaster. Thanks to Pence, our democracy has survived, but the danger is still not over.”
Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chairman of the commission, also underlined at the session that former vice chairman Mike Pence was doing his duty by resisting Trump’s pressure.
Trump supporters tried to stop the ratification of the results by pressing the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021, where the election results won by Democratic President Joe Biden will be registered.
Some were seen putting up gallows-like things outside the Capitol and were heard chanting “Hang Mike Pence”. These images were also watched in the first session organized by the commission.
Vice President Mike Pence, in a statement in Florida in February, said that Trump was wrong to think he had the authority to change the results of the election, saying, “I had no right to reverse the election.”
In the session held on January 6, these images and the recordings of Mike Pence’s statements were shared with the public.
“America would have been plunged into a crippling constitutional crisis had Pence Trump listened.”
In today’s session, Greg Jacob, Mike Pence’s former attorney, and retired appellate court judge J. Michael Luttig, who is his unofficial adviser, testified.
Retired appeals court judge Michael Luttig, in a written statement shared before the session, used the expressions, “If Mike Pence had followed what Trump said, America would have been dragged towards revolution in a crippling constitutional crisis.”
At the hearing, Liz Cheney asked retired judge Luttig to elaborate on this statement a little more.
Retired judge Luttig, who served as the unofficial advisor to then-vice-president Mike Pence, said on January 6, 2021, when the Congressional attack took place, that the fundamentals of the rule of law in America were violated.
What was discussed at the meeting in the Oval Office before January 6?
In the session, it was emphasized that names close to Trump, including the conservative lawyer John Eastman, discussed a plan that foresees the unilateral rejection of the electors in some states where the results were opposed and thus changing the election results.
Greg Jacob, the attorney of former Vice President Mike Pence, in his statement at the session, stated that the view of the then vice president Mike Pence was that the founders of America would never give such authority to a single person to determine an election, and he never backed down from this view in the process. .
“Pressure on Pence increased 2 days before Congress attacked”
Jacob explained that at a meeting in the Oval Office two days before the Congressional attack, the pressure on Mike Pence increased even more, and the conservative lawyer close to Trump, John Eastman, asked Pence to reject the counting results of the states during the meeting.
According to Jacob’s testimony, John Eastman presented a proposal challenging the content of the Electoral Count Act, which has been in effect for 130 years in the United States and governs the process of counting election results in Congress.
Eastman claimed the election was stolen, claiming that the plan was a bold step, but such an unusual step was necessary, according to a memo in the January 6 commission documents.
On January 6, 2021, as Vice President Mike Pence was on his way to chair a joint session of Congress to confirm the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden, Trump called.
According to the testimony of retired general Keith Kellogg, a national security adviser who was with Donald Trump at the White House that day and witnessed part of the meeting, Trump told Pence that he didn’t think he had the courage to make a difficult decision, saying, “You’re not tough enough to make a decision.” said.
Who is John Eastman, the conservative lawyer who brought up the plan to change the election result?
John Eastman, a former Chapman University law professor, is known in conservative circles as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
It is known that John Eastman also served as a clerk for retired appeals court judge Michael Luttig, who testified in today’s session.
Retired Judge Luttig reportedly said Eastman was wrong at every opportunity for his views and advised Mike Pence’s team ahead of January 6.
Before today’s session, Liz Cheney, vice-chairman of the January 6 commission, shared a part of the statement of Trump-era White House lawyer Eric Herschmann on Twitter.
In this part of Herschmann’s testimony, which was also published in today’s session, he said that one day after the Congressional attack, John Eastman, his legal adviser close to Trump, reached out to him.
Herschmann said that Eastman had told him on the phone about something about the state of Georgia, and Herschmann said, “Are you out of your mind? From now on, I want to hear two words come out of your mouth: A due process,” and to Eastman, “I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’ll ever get in your life. Find a very good criminal defense lawyer, you will need it” and then hung up the phone.
Correspondence of the wife of the judge of the Constitutional Court
Before today’s session of the January 6 commission, it was revealed that one of the conservative judges of the US Constitutional Court, Clarence Thomas, had correspondence with his wife, Ginni Thomas, with conservative lawyer John Eastman, who brought up the theory about changing the election results.
January 6 Commission chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters that the commission should call Ginni Thomas for testimony.
The congressional attack caused a delay of hours in the approval process of the 2020 presidential election results, and 140 police officers were injured in the events when Trump supporters stormed the Congress building.
More than 840 people have been arrested so far as part of the investigation into the Congressional attack.
According to the announced schedule of the 6 January Commission, it is expected to hold two more public hearings on 21 and 23 June.