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On Monday, a committee spokesperson told Daily Kos that he had nothing further to add after the Thompson interview.
Last week, Trump asked the Supreme Court to stop the select committee from reviewing pertinent presidential records related to the attack, including call logs, memos, and other correspondence. It is up to the Supreme Court to decide whether it will entertain Trump’s complaint.
A lower court and the federal appeals court have already aligned with President Joe Biden’s position that found the interests of the United States outweighed Trump’s desire to keep his records related to the Capitol attack confidential.
In response to Trump’s appeal at the high court, the committee asked Supreme Court justices to hasten a response but simultaneously suggested that both sides could file motions for or against the matter by Dec. 30. The committee then requested that the high court hear the case no later than Jan. 14. Pressure is swiftly mounting for the probe to wrap up before midterms. A lost Democratic majority could lead to a squandered investigation.
What information the select body gets from Trump is crucial. Last week, Rep. Liz Cheney, vicechair of the Jan. 6th Committee, highlighted that one of the main objectives for investigators is to discover whether Trump, through “action or inaction,” corruptly sought to “obstruct or impede Congress’ official proceedings to count electoral votes.”
The second most critical aim of the probe is to develop legislation that could prevent such corrupt conduct from occurring ever again.
Trump reportedly made several phone calls from the White House to allies at the Willard on Jan. 5 and 6. The recipients of those alleged calls were John Eastman, Steve Bannon, Boris Epshteyn, and Rudy Giuliani. Trump allegedly complained to the men that his second-in-command, then Vice President Mike Pence, would not agree to dispute the electoral vote totals, a strategy pushed by Eastman in a six-point memo on Jan. 4.
According to the U.S. Constitution, Pence did not have the power to overturn election results. Trump’s lawyers have denied allegations about Trump’s calls to the Willard. They have maintained that if any discussion was had, it was related merely to their frustrations over perceived voter fraud. Then acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, as well as Rosen’s predecessor William Barr, found no evidence of voter fraud. However, that did not deter Trump-appointed Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark from allegedly trying to oust Rosen so the election fraud sham could continue. According to a transcript of Rosen’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in August, Rosen said Clark told him explicitly that Trump would boot him from the department if he wouldn’t go along with a plot to send letters to election officials highlighting voter fraud concerns. Justice Department officials allegedly revolted when catching wind of the threat and the letter to election officials was never sent. Rosen was not ousted.
Clark’s deposition has been delayed multiple times due to medical issues so contempt proceedings against him have also been held back.
According to reporting by The Guardian in November, on one of the calls on Jan. 5 or 6, Trump slammed Pence to Bannon, Giuliani, and Eastman. Trump allegedly called Pence “arrogant” when the veep wouldn’t go along with the election subversion scheme.
Trump’s underlings were scrambling, at least according to a voicemail first obtained by The Dispatch earlier this year. Giuliani left a voicemail around 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 for someone he believed was an ally: Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. In the message, Giuliani is heard asking for Tuberville’s help to delay the certification that night.
The rioting and bloodshed had only just settled and a curfew in Washington had only gone into effect roughly an hour before. But Giuliani kept pushing a time-consuming strategy that would have Republican lawmakers object to a wide number of states—at least 10—instead of just a few.
Giuliani said in the message that then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was on board with narrowing the number of objections but he needed Tuberville to get him to object to more to buy time.
“It would give us an opportunity to get the legislators who are very, very close to pulling their vote, particularly after what McConnell did today,” Giuliani said.
Giuliani’s voicemail only came to light because he made the mistake of leaving it for another senator who was just newly sworn in. That unnamed lawmaker sent the message along to reporters at The Dispatch.
Trump has denied reporting on the call and has refused to cooperate with investigators. True to form, however, he has broadcast his plans to hold a press conference on the anniversary of the attack. Trump maintains that the riot was unarmed and the election rigged. In reality, police officers died trying to fend off his supporters on Jan. 6 and he has lost lawsuit after lawsuit where his claims of election fraud are propped up.
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