6 Key Takeaways from the Fourth January 6 Hearing
On Tuesday, June 21, the nonpartisan January 6 Committee held its fourth public hearing. The committee showed evidence proving that former President Donald Trump, knowing he fairly lost the 2020 election, led a campaign to persuade state legislators and election officials to overturn the 2020 election. His effort to cling onto power began well ahead of the January 6 attack on our country.
Here are the key takeaways:
1. Donald Trump’s pressure campaign to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election didn’t stop with Vice President Mike Pence. Trump’s scheme included pressuring state legislators and election officials to break the law and falsify the election results.
Trump "wanted officials at the local and state level to say the vote was tainted by widespread fraud and throw out the results, even though, as we showed last week, there wasn’t any voter fraud that could have overturned the election results."
– Chair @BennieGThompson pic.twitter.com/uKgSkW9gzM— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 21, 2022
Since the start of the #January6Hearings, we've learned Trump and his MAGA allies knew they lost the election and attempted to overturn the results with an illegal scheme.
Today, we'll learn just how far Trump was willing to go to pressure state officials to manufacture votes.
— Stand Up America (@StandUpAmerica) June 21, 2022
2. Representative Adam Schiff underscored how Trump’s ongoing election lies are meant to destroy confidence in our elections—the very fabric of our democracy.
Rep Schiff: "The President’s lie is a dangerous cancer… If you can convince Americans that they can’t trust their elections — and that if they somehow lose, it is illegitimate — then what is left but violence to determine who should govern?" #January6thCommitteeHearings
— Brennan Center (@BrennanCenter) June 21, 2022
3. Donald Trump’s all-out pressure campaign included enlisting his cronies in the scheme—including John Eastman and Rudy Guiliani who knew there was NO evidence of fraud—to pressure officials to break the law anyway.
Bowers says he told Trump and Giuliani: “You asked me to do something against my oath, and I will not break my oath” — to which Giuliani replied: “Aren’t we all Republicans here? I would think we’d get a better reception.”
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) June 21, 2022
January 6th committee finds Trump lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani, left daily voicemails on the phones of state election officials, urging them to overturn the election.
Here are some of those voicemails. pic.twitter.com/Jh4KPeV678
— The Recount (@therecount) June 21, 2022
Former Pres Trump in a statement on AZ Speaker Rusty Bowers said Bowers "told me that the election was rigged and that I won AZ."
Rusty Bowers just now: Anyone who is saying that I said the "election was rigged" or that "Trump won" is spreading "false" information.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 21, 2022
4. Donald Trump’s campaign to convince local officials and election workers to illegally overturn the 2020 election results has led to those local officials and their families fearing for their lives. Ongoing violent threats continue today.
Two days before 1/6, Fuentes told his audience that only remaining option was to kill legislators.
"What can you and I do to a state legislator besides kill 'em? Although we should not do that. I'm not advising that but I mean what else can you do right?" pic.twitter.com/Oeq0bkqpBB https://t.co/JGHIDA4sY7
— Christian Vanderbrouk 🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦 (@UrbanAchievr) January 20, 2022
Excruciating testimony from Arizona's Rusty Bowers, about a "new pattern in our lives" on Saturdays, when groups come to his home and sometimes issue threats. His "gravely ill daughter" was upset by what was happening outside. "So it was disturbing, just disturbing," he says.
— Carrie Johnson (@johnson_carrie) June 21, 2022
Ms. Moss, a Georgia election official, says that being scapegoated by Donald Trump, “Turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card… I don't want anyone knowing my name… I second guess everything that I do. It’s affected my life in a major way, in every way.” pic.twitter.com/SCc85jO6hz
— Common Cause (@CommonCause) June 21, 2022
5. Donald Trump and his top cronies told his supporters in states he lost, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia, to send fake slates of electors to overturn the will of the people.
wow. The committee's investigation uncovered that a staffer for Ron Johnson wanted to hand deliver Wisconsin's fake slate of electors to Pence just before the proceedings began on January 6 pic.twitter.com/81bBpypGCm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 21, 2022
Even the White House Counsel’s Office felt the 'fake electors' plan was not legally sound, but President Trump and his allies went forward with the scheme anyway. pic.twitter.com/SFETP6asI4
— January 6th Committee (@January6thCmte) June 21, 2022
6. Representatives Adam Schiff and Liz Cheney and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers reminded us of the widespread disinformation and political violence following the January 6 attack on our country. They urged for accountability for all those involved in the attack so that we remain a nation governed by laws, not violence.
.@January6thCmte Vice Chair @RepLizCheney (R-WY): "I would urge all of those watching today to focus on the evidence the committee will present. Don't be distracted by politics. This is serious. We cannot let America become a nation of conspiracy theories and thug violence." pic.twitter.com/TeN8o2RYX1
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 21, 2022
Rep. Adam Schiff: "If the most powerful person in the world can bring the full weight of the presidency down on an ordinary citizen who is merely doing her job, with a lie as big and heavy as a mountain, who among us is safe? None of us. None of us."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 21, 2022
We must build a democracy of, by, and for the people. We can not tolerate any attempts to cheat the American people. pic.twitter.com/PG5mSUKAwC
— Common Cause (@CommonCause) June 21, 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 fourth of several hearings. The next hearing is Thursday, June 23. Click here to see the full hearing schedule.