Jan. 6 Committee: Watch Thursday's hearing focused on Trump's pressure on Pence live
The Jan. 6 Select Committee is set to hold its third public hearing Thursday, during which testimony is expected to focus on the role former President Donald Trump and others had in attempting to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the Electoral College.
Coverage for this event has ended.
Rep. Bennie Thompson closes the hearing by making a call for more witnesses to come and testify to the committee.
"We are able to present this information because so many witnesses have cooperated with our probe. But the fact is there are more people with direct knowledge, with evidence germane to our investigation," he said.
He urged "those who might be on the fence" about cooperating to reach out via the website, where there is a tip line.
"And I thank those who sent us evidence for their bravery and patriotism," he said.
Greg Jacob, who was counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge, arrive before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2022.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Judge Luttig concludes by saying that Trump, as well as his allies and supporters "are a clear and present danger to American democracy."
"That's not because of what happened on January 6 -- it's because to this very day, the former president, his allies and supporters pledge that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor as the Republican Party presidential candidate were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election."
In this image from video, a security video shows Vice President Mike Pence being evacuated from near the Senate chamber as rioters breach the Capitol, on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.
Rep. Pete Aguilar says that testimony shows that rioters were just 40 feet away from Vice President Mike Pence during the invasion of the Capitol building.
He asks Jacob if he was surprised.
"I could hear the din of the rioters in the building while we moved, but I don't think I was aware that they were as close as that," he says.
Aguilar says: "Make no mistake about the fact that the vice president's life was in danger. Recent court filing by the Department of Justice explains that a confidential informant from the Proud Boys told the FBI the Proud Boys would have killed Mike Pence if given a chance."
A video exhibit plays as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022.
The committee is playing tape from testimony from multiple witnesses, including Gen Keith Kellogg and Ivanka Trump who testify to a "heated" phone call on the morning of Jan. 6 between Trump and Pence.
Ivanka Trump said the conversation was "pretty heated."
Nicholas Luna, a former aide, said he heard the word "wimp" used to describe Pence. Kellogg described the conversation as Trump telling Pence that "you're not tough enough to make the call."
A former aide to Ivanka Trump said that Trump called Pence "the p word."
A deposition by former Chief of Staff to US Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short, is played on a screen as the US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol holds its third public hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 16, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., said during the hearing that Pence's adviser Marc Short told the select committee that Vice President Pence consulted with one of his predecessors, Vice President Dan Quayle, regarding the role of the vice president.
"Vice President Quayle confirmed Pence's view that the role was purely ceremonial. Mr. Short also told the committee that he, Mr. Short, received a call from former House Speaker Paul Ryan," said Aguilar.
A video revealing Short's deposition played during which he recounted his conversation with Ryan.
"Speaker Ryan wanted to call and say, you know, you don't have any greater authority. And I, I said to him, Mr. Speaker, you you know Mike, you know he does, you know he recognizes that. And we sort of laughed about it and he said, I get it. And he later spoke to the vice president, too, I think, have the same conversation," said Short.
Aguilar said: "Fortunately for the fate of our republic, Vice President Pence refused to go along with President Trump's demands that he determine the outcome of the presidential election."
Per Fox News' David Spunt and Jake Gibson: Top Justice Department officials (including the U.S. Attorney in D.C.) yesterday sent an email to the Jan. 6 committee, complaining that DOJ investigators are not getting information from the committee to help with the investigation.
DOJ is upset the committee will not grant access to transcripts, arguing it makes the DOJ investigation difficult. This is a fight that has been brewing for a few months between the committee and DOJ.
Vice President Mike Pence returns to the House chamber after midnight, Jan. 7, 2021, to finish the work of the Electoral College after a mob loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington and disrupted the process.
Greg Jacob, the former counsel to Mike Pence, testified that Pence "never budged from a position that I have described as his first instinct, which was that it just made no sense from everything that he knew and had studied about our Constitution. that one person would have that kind of authority."
Rep. Pete Aguilar says that Trump "had already engaged in a, quote, multi-week campaign to pressure the vice president to decide the outcome of the election. This it included private conversations between the two leaders, Trump's tweets and at least one meeting with members of Congress."
The committee plays a clip of Al Gore, Vice President during the disputed 2000 election, speaking about his own choices he had to make.
"The importance of the United States of America in all of human history, in Lincoln's phrase, we still are the last, best hope of humankind and the choice between one's own disappointment in your personal career and upholding the the noble traditions of America's democracy -it's a pretty easy choice when it comes down to it."
Jacob, says he told Eastman: "John, back in 2000, you weren't jumping up and saying Al Gore had this authority to do that. You would not want Kamala Harris to be able to exercise that kind of authority in 2024 when I hope Republicans will win the election."
Greg Jacob, who was counsel to former Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Michael Luttig, a retired federal judge, arrive before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2022.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The witnesses dismiss John Eastman's claim there was historical precedent for the theory of using the vice president to count alternative electoral slates:
"There was no historical precedent from the beginning of the founding in 1789 that even as mere historical precedent, as distinguished from legal precedent, would support the possibility of the vice president of the United States, quote, counting alternative electoral slates that had not been officially certified to the Congress pursuant to the Electoral Count Act of 1887," Luttig says.
Jacob, meanwhile, says he challenged Eastman and noted that no vice president had ever claimed that kind of authority -- even VP Gore in 2000.
"So the history was absolutely decisive and again, part of my discussion with Mr. Eastman was, if you were right, don't you think Al Gore might have liked to have known in 2000 that he had authority to just declare himself president of the United States? Did you think that the Democrat lawyers just didn't think of this very obvious quirk that he could use to do that? And, of course, he acknowledged Al Gore did not and should not have had that authority at that point in time."
Greg Jacob, former counsel to Vice President Mike Pence, testifies that he put together a memo for Pence on the theory that the vice president has the authority to do what Trump was asking.
"The vice president's first instinct when he heard this theory was that there was no way that our framers who abhorred concentrated power, who had broken away from the tyranny of George III, would ever have put one person, particularly not a person who had a direct interest in the outcome because they were on a ticket for the election, in a role to have decisive impact on the outcome of the election," he said.
"And our review of text history and frankly just common sense all confirmed the vice president's first instinct on that point -- there is no justifiable basis to conclude the vice president has that kind of authority."
Retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, meanwhile, testifies to the gravity of the situation if Pence had gone along with what Trump wanted.
"That declaration of Donald Trump as the next president would have plunged America into what I believe would have been tantamount to a revolution within a constitutional crisis in America. which in my view and I'm only one man, would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the Republic," he said.
Vice President Mike Pence returns to the House chamber after midnight, Jan. 7, 2021, to finish the work of the Electoral College after a mob loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in Washington and disrupted the process.
Rep. Liz Cheney joins Thompson in praising former VP Mike Pence for resisting Trump's pressure to stall or overturn the election results.
"Vice President Pence understood that his oath of office was more important than his loyalty to Donald Trump. He did his duty. President Trump unequivocally did not," she says.
Cheney, a long-time Trump critic, said that Trump conspired with lawyer John Eastman "to obstruct the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 2021."
She cites testimony by witnesses to suggest that Trump knew what he was doing was illegal.
In this image from video, a security video shows Vice President Mike Pence being evacuated from near the Senate chamber as rioters breach the Capitol, on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.
Thompson praises Pence for resisting Trump's "pressure campaign."
"The former president wanted Pence to reject the votes and either declare Trump the winner or send the votes back to the states to be counted again. Mike Pence said no. He resisted the pressure. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong," he said.
"We are fortunate for Mr. Pence's courage on January 6th -- our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe. That courage put him in tremendous danger."
"When Mike Pence made it clear that he wouldn't give in to Donald Trump's scheme. Donald Trump turned the mob on him -- a mob that was chanting Hang Mike Pence. A mob that had built a hangman's gallows just outside the Capitol."
The third day of the Jan. 6 Committee hearings is underway. It is expected to focus on alleged pressure by former President Donald Trump on former Vice President Mike Pence to delay certification of the election results.
There are expected to be six hearings in total.
Gaveling in, Chairman Thompson says the hearing will "reveal the details of that pressure campaign" on Pence.
File: Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Per Fox News' Kelly Phares: Committee Chair Bennie Thompson told reporters this morning that he believes the 1/6 Committee needs to hear from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, Ginni Thomas.
An aide for Vice Chair Liz Cheney confirms to Fox News that she agrees with Thompson that it's time for Ginni Thomas to be called to speak to the committee.
Neither commented on if they would subpoena Ginni Thomas or not.
All of this comes after The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that emails show that Thomas' efforts to overturn the election were "more extensive than previously known" and that the committee is considering whether to spend more time in the public hearings exploring her role in the efforts to dispute and challenge the election results.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks during a news conference, Thursday, June 9, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke to reporters just now, and refused to say whether or not she believes former President Donald Trump committed a crime on January 6, 2021.
"I'm not answering any questions about January 6," she told reporters at a press conference.
Her answer comes just hours before the third hearing from the Jan. 6 committee is scheduled to begin.
A video of former President Donald Trump speaking is displayed as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., gave a brief preview to the press pool of today's hearing.
She said the hearing will focus on the "pressure campaign that was directed towards the Vice President in an effort to get him to unconstitutionally overturn the results of the election and instead, install fake electors..."
She said that Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., will be the lead member in the hearing, and said, "I know he's going to do a fabulous job."
File: Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, may see greater attention from the Jan. 6 committee after it reportedly obtained email correspondence between Thomas and lawyer John Eastman -- who was involved in the effort to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of the election results.
The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that emails show that Thomas' efforts to overturn the election were "more extensive than previously known" and that the committee is considering whether to spend more time in the public hearings exploring her role in the efforts to dispute and challenge the election results.
Eastman was ordered last week to turn over more documents to the committee by a federal judge -- he had tried to block the release, saying they were privileged.
Such discussion may lead more Democrats to demand that the conservative Justice recuse himself from any case related to election and Jan. 6.
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 13: (L-R) U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) (L), Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), listen during a hearing on the January 6th investigation in the Cannon House Office Building on June 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Jan. 6 Select Committee is set to hold its third public hearing Thursday, during which testimony is expected to focus on the role former President Donald Trump and others had in attempting to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the Electoral College.
The hearing is expected to feature two witnesses – Greg Jacob, who served as counsel to Pence, and former judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit J. Michael Luttig, who served as Pence's informal adviser.
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the committee, tweeted out a preview of Thursday's hearing, saying testimony will focus on Trump's collaboration with attorney John Eastman.
"The select committee will examine President Trump's relentless effort on January 6 and in the days beforehand to pressure Vice President Pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes," she said in the video, saying it likely violated two federal criminal statutes.
Select committee aides told Fox News Wednesday afternoon: "Tomorrow's hearing is going to focus on former President Trump's attempt to pressure the former Vice President Pence and unilaterally change the result of the election with a joint session of Congress on January 6."
Thursday's hearing comes after the first two public hearings held by the committee, which set the stage for the panel's main arguments. The committee postponed a previously scheduled hearing set for Wednesday, citing "technical issues."
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