Washington, June 10 (FN Agency) The US House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot said it will lay out evidence revealing how former President Donald Trump allegedly coordinated a seven-part plan to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election, Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said during the first public hearing on the findings of its probe. “Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power in our hearings. You will see evidence of each element of this plan,” Cheney said on Thursday night. Cheney said the hearing will also show Trump allegedly planned to replace then-Attorney General Bill Barr so the US Justice Department would be able to spread his false stolen election claims. Cheney pointed out that the Committee’s investigation is still ongoing, so the initial findings that will be made public during the upcoming hearings will not be the complete set of information that will ultimately be disclosed. The seven-part series of hearings will showcase testimony, both live and on video, from more than half a dozen former Trump administration officials who were in the West Wing of the White House on January 6, 2021, Cheney said.
The public will also hear testimony conveying that Trump did not really want to put anything out calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave, Cheney added. Moreover, the hearings will disclose that Trump was yelling and angry at advisors who told him he needed to be doing something to defuse the riot at the Capitol and that he was aware rioters wanted to hang then-Vice President Mike Pence, Cheney said. Trump allegedly said that maybe his supporters had the right idea and that Pence deserves it, Cheney added. Witnesses in these hearings will explain how Pence and his staff repeatedly informed Trump that what he was pressuring the vice president to do was illegal and his relentless effort to pressure Pence both in private and in public, Cheney said. The Committee also showed video of Trump’s daughter and former White House adviser Ivanka trump telling House investigators that she accepted Barr’s claims that there was no fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. The Committee’s fifth hearing in this series will disclose evidence that Trump corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials to change election results, including in the state of Georgia Cheney said. In the last two hearings of the seven-part series this month, the public will hear how Trump summoned a violent mob and directed them illegally to march on the United States Capitol, Cheney said.
Moreover, Cheney said the Committee will also present information about what the White House and other US intelligence agencies knew about the January 6 riot and why the Capitol was not better prepared. A member of the Proud Boys said in a deposition video showed during the hearing that membership in the political activist group tripled after Trump made his “stand back and stand by” comment during a presidential debate in 2019. The Proud Boys initiated the initial breach at the Capitol complex, according to the Committee. US Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards during her testimony at the hearing said the riot was pure carnage, describing it as hours of hand-to-hand combat. The second hearing on the Capitol riot will beheld on Monday at 10 am EDT and the third hearing will be held on Wednesday at 10 am EDT. Earlier on Thursday, Trump said the riot at the Capitol “represented the greatest movement in the history of our country to Make America Great Again.” Trump and other critics have said the work of the select committee is a show trial intended to score political points since the FBI had already investigated the matter and also is biased because US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to admit on the panel proposed Republicans who may question and challenge the panel’s work. Republican lawmakers have also criticized the timing of the hearings, claiming it is an effort by Democrats to undermine Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections in November.