10 Key Takeaways from the Second Nonpartisan January 6th Committee Hearing
On Monday, June 13, the nonpartisan January 6th Committee held a second hearing on its investigation into the event. The second hearing focused on how Donald Trump knew that the 2020 election was legitimate and that he lost. The committee showed how over the objections of his staff and his own family members, he intentionally lied to his supporters about election fraud, lies that led to the attack on the Capitol to overturn the election.
Here are the Top 10 key moments and pieces of news the committee uncovered during the second hearing:
1. January 6 Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson says the 11-month nonpartisan investigation found that Trump lost the election and that Trump knew he lost the election.
Chair Bennie Thompson: "This morning, we'll the tell story of how Donald Trump lost an election, and knew he lost an election—and as a result of his loss decided to wage an attack on our democracy…and in doing so, lit the fuse that led to the horrific violence of January 6." pic.twitter.com/kd7BFC1uQo
— ABC News (@ABC) June 13, 2022
2. Trump Campaign Manager Bill Stepien and Congressman Kevin McCarthy told Trump that mail-in ballots would play an important role in the 2020 election and he should not discourage voters from using this method of voting. Trump disagreed.
Trump's former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and Rep. McCarthy made the case to Trump in the summer of 2020 as to why mail-in voting was not a bad thing for his campaign. But according to Stepien, “the president’s mind was made up.” #January6thCommitteeHearings
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 13, 2022
Barr says "everyone understood for weeks" there would be a surge of Democratic votes from mail-in ballots https://t.co/TpBagLt5Hp pic.twitter.com/QGtkk7L8RW
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 13, 2022
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien video testimony played today he warned Trump in summer of 2020 at meeting along with Kevin McCarthy Election Day vote always favors GOP but mail in vote counted later favors democrats but Trump ignored warnings and declared victory @MSNBC
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) June 13, 2022
3.On Election Night, Donald Trump was told to wait because he had no basis for declaring victory. He declared victory anyway.
Quite a moment.
Cheney: You will hear eyewitness testimony that Trump rejected the advice of his campaign experts on election night, and instead followed the course recommended by "an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani" to just claim he won & insist that the vote counting stop.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 13, 2022
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien testified that it was “too early to call” victory on Election Night.
Trump disagreed and did it anyway. A disgrace. pic.twitter.com/BxWR8S5qnG
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) June 13, 2022
4. Chris Stirewalt is a former Fox News journalist who was fired months after being a member of the team that decided to call Arizona for Joe Biden on Election Day 2020. He says based on election data, Trump had no chance of winning the election.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA): "As of November 7th … what were the chances of President Trump winning the election?"
Chris Stirewalt, who led Fox News Decision Desk on election night: "None." pic.twitter.com/AYeQ8Iwo9q
— The Recount (@therecount) June 13, 2022
5. Over objections from the Department of Justice, cybersecurity experts, and his own White House staff, Donald Trump falsely told the American people the election was not legitimate.
Trump’s own campaign advisors, his Department of Justice, and his cybersecurity experts all told him the same thing… the Dominion voting conspiracy was "complete nonsense."
Here, for example, is White House lawyer Eric Herschmann: pic.twitter.com/CD1o4d7NG5
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 13, 2022
Everyone told Trump the same thing: The far-flung conspiracies about voter fraud were lies.
He continued to push them to the public anyway. pic.twitter.com/Qv93cS1fNL
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) June 13, 2022
6. Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr, told Trump that Trump’s election fraud claims were “bogus” and not true.
Jan. 6 Committee plays interview with former AG Bill Barr: "There was an avalanche of all these allegations of fraud…and it was like playing whack-a-mole."
"All the early claims that I understood were completely bogus and silly and usually based on complete misinformation." pic.twitter.com/RIVEV3unnq
— ABC News (@ABC) June 13, 2022
"I told him the stuff his people were shoveling out to the public was bullshit," Barr says #January6thHearings
— Tom LoBianco (@tomlobianco) June 13, 2022
“I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I told the president was bullshit” – Trump’s former Attorney General, William Barr in the #January6thCommitteeHearings
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 13, 2022
7. Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr, also told Trump that the claims about hacked voting machines were “idiotic.”
Barr says he told Trump that claims about Dominion voting machines being hacked "were idiotic claims."
— VICE News (@VICENews) June 13, 2022
Bill Barr: "I saw absolutely zero basis for the [Dominion voting machine] allegations but they were obviously having a big influence on the general public. I told [the campaign] it was crazy stuff and doing a grave, grave disservice to the country." #January6thCommitteeHearings
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 13, 2022
8. The Trump campaign aggressively duped supporters by pushing false election fraud claims to raise $250 million dollars. The Trump campaign then sent those donations to partisan organizations, including one involved in organizing the January 6th rally that preceded the insurrection.
The January 6th select committee's senior investigative counsel noted how Trump fundraising targeting small donors in riling up supporters before the Jan 6 attack & how Donald Trump’s political operation paid $5M+ to one organizer. We crunched the numbers: https://t.co/iEGvxAaUTO pic.twitter.com/ufEs1c4kIH
— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) June 13, 2022
Trump fundraised $250 MILLION from spreading bogus election fraud claims.
30 minutes after the last fundraising email was sent: the Capitol was breached.
Always follow the money.
— Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) June 13, 2022
Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Trump "used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of million of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fights … But the Trump Campaign didn't use the money for that. The Big Lie was also a big ripoff."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 13, 2022
9. Republican election attorney Benjamin Ginsberg testified that Donald Trump had his day in court to try his claims of election fraud. Over and over, judges rejected his claims—including judges appointed by Trump—because they were unsupported by any evidence.
WATCH: Rep. Zoe Lofgren: "Are you aware of any instance in which a court found the Trump campaign's fraud claims to be credible?"
GOP election lawyer Ben Ginsberg: "No. The simple fact is that the Trump campaign did not make its case." https://t.co/hKBlWEt2DC pic.twitter.com/D2m3wJm7Fq
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) June 13, 2022
“The 2020 election was not close,” Ben Ginsberg, veteran GOP election attorney, testifies. On fraud claims, Ginsberg says “the simple fact is the Trump campaign did not make its case.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 13, 2022
A helpful graphic from @January6thCmte reminding us that courts (including 10 judges appointed by Trump) found no substantial evidence of fraud pic.twitter.com/nTztK77ST3
— Aaron Scherb (@aaronscherb) June 13, 2022
Lofgren closes by quoting Fed Judge David Carter who said, "this was a coup in search of a legal theory"
— Tom LoBianco (@tomlobianco) June 13, 2022
10. Election experts said there was no evidence of voter fraud in the states, including in Georgia and in Pennsylvania.
A former U.S. attorney in Georgia, BJay Pak, testifies to the Jan. 6 committee that he investigated a video clip, promoted by Rudy Giuliani, claiming that election workers filled a suitcase with fake ballots in 2020.
Pak says they found the allegations to be "false." pic.twitter.com/UkGcaGY37I
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 13, 2022
Rep. Zoe Lofgren asks BJay Pak, the former Atlanta-based U.S. attorney, if it's his view there was no widespread voter fraud in Georgia.
Pak responds: "That is correct."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 13, 2022
In a video clip, former Attorney General Bill Barr said Trump's suggestions there was major fraud in parts of Pennsylvania was "absolute rubbish." He said the "obvious explanation" was simply that "Trump ran weaker than the Republican ticket generally" in the battleground state.
— Clare Foran (@ckmarie) June 13, 2022
You can watch the full hearing below — please share this page with your friends, family, and community to help spread the truth:
This is just the second of several hearings. The next hearing is Wednesday, June 15.
Click here to see the full hearing schedule.