The ex-President of the United States is said to have tried to contact a witness who has not yet testified. Liz Cheney announced that she would take these allegations very seriously.
The investigative committee into the storming of the US Capitol in January last year warned then-President Donald Trump against attempting to influence witnesses. At the end of a public hearing Tuesday in Washington, Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney said, Trump tried to contact a witness who has not yet testified publicly.
He refused to respond to the call and hired a lawyer instead. The Republican added, “Let me say again that we will take any attempt to influence witness testimony very seriously.”
The seventh public hearing of the committee of inquiry on Tuesday was again about the day when supporters of the then Republican president violently stormed the seat of parliament in the capital Washington. Congress met there to celebrate the victory of Trump’s democratic challenger Joe Biden to certify in the presidential election. The committee is now working on this attack. Trump claims to this day that he was cheated of his re-election through election fraud. He has never presented any evidence of this, and dozens of lawsuits have failed in court.
Committee of inquiry convinced: Trump planned the march
According to the committee of inquiry, Trump had planned his supporters’ march to the Capitol days earlier. “President Trump implemented his plan by urging his supporters (…) to march to the Capitol in his speech on January 6,” said committee member Stephanie Murphy on Tuesday. “The evidence confirms that it was not a spontaneous call to action, but a deliberate strategy decided in advance by the President,” said the Democrat.
Before January 6, there was information that “very violent individuals” were planning to gather in Washington that day, said Donell Harvin, who was employed by a security agency in the US capital at the time. Different groups would have allied themselves for this. Trump loves people who publicly defend him with “malicious” behavior, his former campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said. Both had testified behind closed doors – video excerpts were now shown in the public hearing.
According to committee member Jamie Raskin, a Trump tweet on December 19 had an “explosive effect” on the right-wing scene and played a central role in mobilizing them. A Twitter employee, whose testimony was presented anonymously at the hearing, said: “We hadn’t seen this type of direct communication before.” For the first time, a president spoke to extremist organizations and gave them instructions.
“It’s going wild”
On December 19 – after a meeting with employees that witnesses said got out of hand – Trump tweeted that he called for protests: “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild !” (roughly: “Strong protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, get wild!”). Trump supporter Stephen Ayres said calls on social networks had prompted him to come to the US capital on January 6th. He “definitely” believed there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
According to their own statements, several confidants at the time advised Trump to give up after the election he lost in November 2020. The committee showed video recordings of various witness interviews behind closed doors. Trump’s former Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said: “I told him that I think it’s time for him to acknowledge that President Biden won the election.”
Voting machines should be confiscated
Former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone made a similar statement. He was convinced that Trump had to give up. “There is the possibility of contesting elections. But the idea that the federal government could confiscate the voting machines – (…) that’s a terrible idea.” There have long been reports that the White House was discussing confiscating voting machines to investigate allegations of fraud.
“Being on the losing side doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it,” said Democratic committee chair Bennie Thompson. There’s a lot you can do, but don’t become violent. “What Donald Trump should have done at that moment, which would have been required of any American leader, was to say, ‘We did our best, but we didn’t make it.’ Trump went the opposite way.
Another public hearing is scheduled for next week.
(APA/DPA)