The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was set Tuesday to outline aggressive efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to pressure state officials to help overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who defeated a Trump-backed candidate’s bid to unseat him in the state’s primary this year, and his top deputy, Gabriel Sterling, were scheduled to be live witnesses.
Appearing with them was Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers. He is one of five recipients this year along with Jan. 6 committee Republican Liz Cheney of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Another recipient of that award, former Georgia election worker Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, will testify on a second witness panel.
Witnesses describe how pressure from Trump and his allies on state officials put local officials and their families at risk, boosted the public’s belief the election was stolen, and contributed to the violence on Jan. 6, a committee aide said.
“We will show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldn’t go along with this plan to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden,” Representative Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the committee who will lead the hearing questioning, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“The system held because a lot of state and local elections officials upheld their oath to the constitution, a lot of the Republicans, as well as Democrats,” he said.
Here are some things to watch for:
More on Trump’s call to Raffensperger:
Raffensperger, the top election official in his state, was personally urged by Trump during an infamous, hour-long call on Jan. 2, 2021 to “find” 11,780 nonexistent votes to award Georgia and its electoral votes to Trump.
Look for the committee — which has privately interviewed Raffensperger — to now delve publicly into that call, including whether language by Trump about repercussions if his demands weren’t carried constituted potentially illegal threats.
Trump’s last White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, was also among those on the call that Raffensperger recorded as a precaution against any effort by Trump to misrepresent it publicly. Look for more details about Meadows’ own involvement in a pressure campaign on Georgia officials.
Raffensperger may also talk about how his standing up to Trump led to calls for him to resign from some in his party and how his family received threats because of his actions.
Raffensperger still faces a general election challenge in November.
Status of Georgia investigation:
A Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury privately heard Raffensperger’s testimony early this month that likely touched on that phone call.
