Cspan. Org january 6. Our coverage of the january 6 coittee and all cpaprogram is sponsored as a Public Service by theable Television Industry and these television providers. Up next, we will take you back now when the Committee First convened earlier this afternoon at 1 p. M. Eastern. Mr. Thompson the select committee to investigate january 6 attack on the United States capital will be in order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare the committee in recess at any point. Pursuant to House Authority regulation 10, the chair announces the committees approval to release the deposition material presented during todays hearing. Good afternoon. May god bless the United States of america. Four months ago, this committee started to present our findings to you, the American People. From the beginning, we understood that some people watching those proceedings would assume that the committees investigation was a part of partisan exercise. That is why at ask those who are skeptical of our work, to simply to listen. Listen to the evidence, to hear the testimony with a open mind and to let the facts speak for themselves before reaching judgment. Over the course of these hearings, the evidence has proven that there were multipart plan by former President Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election. Donald trump lost his bid for reelection as shown for the testimony from some of the president closest allies and advisors. He knew he lost. Despite this knowledge, he went to court to contest the 2020 election and he lost in court. Electoral college met and declared joe biden the winner. Donald trump continued to pull out stops in his attempt to stay in power. What donald trump proceeded to do after the election is something no president has done before in our country. In a staggering material of his older, donald trump attempted a plan that led to an attack on a pillar of our democracy. It is still hard to believe. The facts and testimony are here and undisputed. How do we know this . How have we been able to present such a clear picture of what to lease . Placed . Because of the testimony we have heard and presented to you to these proceedings. Because of the documentary evidence we gathered and made available directly to you, the American People. When you look back at what has come throughout the committees work, the most striking fact is that, all this evidence comes almost entirely from republicans. The evidence, that as we merge did not come from democrats or opponents from donald trump. Instead, look at who has written and testify and produced evidence. Who hasnt there been . Aides who worked for donald trump for years. Republican state officials and legislatures. Republican electors. Chairwoman of the Republican National committee. Political professionals who work at the highest levels of the Trump Campaign. Trump appointees who served in the most senior positions in the Justice Department. Trump staff and advisors in the white house, members of his family, his own white House Counsel. I have served in council a long time. I can tell you, it is tougher any congressional investigation to obtain evidence likely received. Leased at all, such a detailed view into a president s into circle. Not all of these witnesses were thrilled to talk to us. Some put up a fight. Ultimately, the vast majority cooperated with our investigation. What we have shown you over the last four months has been centered on the evidence, evidence that has come overwhelmingly republican witnesses. I say to you again as i did in june, this investigation is not about politics. It is not about party. It is about the facts, plain and simple. It is about making sure our government functions under the rule of law and our constitution demands. Today, as the previous proceedings, my colleagues and i will present new evidence, that includes testimony from additional republicans who served in the Trump Administration. Never before seen footage of congressional leaders on january 6 working to coordinate the response for the violence and ensure the peoples of business went forward. New materials produce to the committee by the secret service. Details about ongoing threat to the american democracy. Today is will also be grounded in the facts. It will not look exactly like all of our other hearings. We will take a step back and look at the evidence in a broader context, providing a summary of key facts we have uncovered. Facts relevant to former President Trumps state of mind about his motivation and his intent. What did President Trump know . What was he told . What was his personal and substantial role in the multipart plan to overturn the election russian mar for. For those of you tuning in the first time will summarize some of the most important facts and we will encourage you to go online to what our hearing in full. One were different about today. Pursuant to the notice circulated prior to todays proceedings, we are convened today, not as a hearing, but as a formal business meeting so in addition to evidence, we can potentially hold a Committee Vote on further invested action based upon the evidence. Before we get to the evidence that, i would recognize our distinguished vice chair, liz cheney of wyoming for any Opening Statement she cared to offer. Ms. Cheney much has happened since our last public hearing on july 21. We received new and voluminous recommendation from the secret service, which we continue to analyze. We received a new witness testimony, including efforts to obstruct our investigation and conceal key facts. According to public reporting, the department of justice has been active in pursuing issues identified in our prior hearings. Our committee may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the department of justice. We recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prostitution. The preamble to our national constitution. Establish justice. In our nations judiciary and our Nations Department of justice have that responsibility. A key element of this committees responsibility is to propose reforms to prevent january 6 from ever happening again. We have already proposed and in the house has passed a bill to amend the electoral account act, to help ensure no other future plot to overturn an election can succeed. We will make further recommendations in our other report based on the evidence you will hear today. Our hearings last summer began with a outline of president s trounced plan to try plan to overturn the 2020 election. With more than 20 hours of evidence. Today we will see new evidence, as the chairman said, we will also synthesize evidence you have seen before. The evidence presented so far has shown is the essential cause of january 6 was a oneman, donald trump, who many others followed. None of this would have happened without him. He was personally and substantially involved in all of this. Exactly how didnt oneman calls all of this. Because all of this. We will focus on President Trumps state of mind. His intent. Motivation. How he inferred others to do his bidding. How another january 6 can happen again if we do not take actions to prevent it. As you review our evidence today, i will suggest a focus on the following point. First. President trump had a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before election day. Before he knew the Election Results. He made the stolen election claims on Election Night against the advice of his campaign without any evidence at hand. Over the next two months, his salt defined those who will help him invent and spread lies about the fraud. Any of those who stepped forward to help, including Rudy Giuliani , knew they never had real evidence sufficient to change the Election Results. On the evening of january 5, they admitted they were still trying to find that evidence. As a result of making false claims of Election Fraud, mr. Giulianis right to practice law has been suspended. Please recognize that President Donald Trump was in a unique position. Better informed about the absence of widespread Election Fraud than almost any other american. President trumps own Campaign Experts told him that there was no evidence of supported claim. His own Ss Department appointees investigated the elections claims and told dell in the court had ruled against him. He had all this information but he made the conscious choice to claim fraudulently that the election was stolen manufacturer was stolen. To summon tens of thousands of supporters to washington, knowing they were angry, knowing that some of them were armed, he sent them to the capital. Then as the right was underway, he incited his supporters to further violence by publicly condemning his Vice President. Then he refused for hours to disband his writing supporters and instruct them to leave the capital. Even when he was begged repeatedly to do so. None of this is normal or acceptable or lawful in our republic. Third, please consider today who had a hand in leading the efforts to overturn the election, Vice President pence, bill barr, jeff rosen and others at the department of justice. State rep and officials, white house staff who blocked proposals to mobilize the military to seize Voting Machines and run new elections. Capitol police aided by metropolitan police. Other federal on board and the National Guard who arrived later in the afternoon. Why would americans assume that our constitution and institutions in our republic are invulnerable to another attack . Our institutions only hold the men and women when men and women of good faith make them hold. Any future president inclined to attempt what donald trump did in 2020 has learned not to install people who can stand in the way. The ruling of a record because we as citizens pledged to accept and honor them. Most importantly, our president who has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws. What happens when the president disregards the Court Rulings as illegitimate . When he disregards the rule of law . That breaks our republic. Finally, as you viewed the evidence today, also consider this, President Trump knew that his Election Fraud claims were false. He admitted he lost the election. Claims that President Trump actually thought the election was stolen are not supported by fact and are not a defense. There is no defense that donald trump was duped or irrational. No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in the constitutional republic. Our nations federal judges are sworn to do impartial justice to preserve our constitution and reserve our union. Dozens of these judges have been addressing january 6 cases and many have given us plain, unmistakable warnings about the direction of our republic. Highranking members of congress and ste officials know rfectly well the claim of fraud was and is untrue. They were so afraid of losing eir power they wont say so. It has to be Crystal Clear that it is not patriotis iis not standing up for america to stand up for one man who knows full well that he lost. The violence and lawlessness of january 6 was unjustifiable. Our nation cannot only punish the foot soldiers who stormed our capital. Those who planned to overturn our election and brought us to the point of violence must also be accountable. With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former president , we chip away at the foundation of our republic. Indefensible conduct, in his physical conduct is excused without accountability, it becomes normal and it will recur. As we walked the evidence today, please consider where our nation is in its history. Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years. Most people in most places on earth have not been free. America is an exception and america continues only because we bind ourselves to our principles and our constitution. More important than any single american who has ever lived. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i go back. Without objections, we recognize an Opening Statement. Very shortly after the election, we begin this meaning by returning to election november of 23rd november 23 of 2020. We presented testimony about how the Election Results were expected to come in that type. In certain states, ballots cast by mail before election day would be counted only after the polls closed that evening. That meant the Election Results would not be known for some time although President TrumpCampaign Manager, House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy and Jared Kushner has advised donald trump to encourage mailin voting. We had a very robust get out the vote everett and mailin ballots can be a good thing. There is this one meeting in particular. All of this in which we made our case for why we believed mailin voting not to be a bad thing for his campaign. The president s mind was made up. It was expected before the election that the initial towns, those votes cast on election day would be more heavily republican. This would create a socalled red mirage. As a result of the absentee ballots that were counted, there could be trends toward Vice President biden as those mailin ballots were counted. Donald trump advisors specifically said he did not have a factual basis to declare victory. He should wait for the remaining balance to be counted. Here is Campaign Manager bill stepien. It was far too early to be making any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted. My recommendation was to say that the votes were still being counted. Too early to tell, too early to call the race. President trump to declare victory in the late hours of Election Night. Not only did he declare victory, he also called for the ongoing count of votes to just stop. Stopping the count would have violated both federal and state laws and also disenfranchised millions of voters who lawfully cast their vote. He called for that action anyway. Here is what he said. This is a fraud on the american public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election. We want all voting to stop. We now know more about President Trumps intention for Election Night. The evidence showed that his fathers victory speech was planned well in advance before any votes had been counted. It was a premeditated plan by the president who declared victory no matter what the actual result was. He made a plan to stay in office before election day. The Vice President staff was concerned with what donald trump might do on Election Night. They took steps to ensure that mr. Pentz would not echo a fuss victory announcement from President Trump. Here is what the Vice President s counsel, greg jake but greg jacobs told us. . It indicated to me that there was a possibility they would be a declaration of victory. He was trying to figure out a way for the Vice President to be thrust into position. Needing to opine on that what he might not have sufficient information to do so. Following this, he drafted a memo which the select committee got from the national archive, the memo was sent on november 3 election day and advised it is essential that the Vice President not be perceived by the public as having questions concerning electoral votes prior to the full development of all relative fact. Mr. Trump also consulted with one of his outside advisors about the strategy for Election Night. The select committee got this preprepared statement from the national archives. As you can see, the draft statement which was sent on october 31 declares we have an election today and i one. The memo specifically indicates a plan that only the votes counted by the election day deadline there is no election day deadline that would matter. Everyone knew that bell county would lawfully continue past election day, claiming the county election that would stop. As these were a key part of President Trumps premeditated plan. On election day, just after 5 00 p. M. , mr. Fitton indicated that he spoke about the statement, sending along again, just talk to them about the draft below. This plan to declare victory President Trumps for Campaign Manager. President trump planned aearly as july that he would say he won thelection even if he lost. And just a few days before the election, steve bannon, a former strategist and outside advisor to President Trump spoke to a group of his associates. From china. That does not mean he is the winn