>> the select committee to investigate the january 6th attacks on the united states capital will be in order. without objection the chair is on the rise to declare the committee in recess at any point. pursuant to house deposition authority regulation can, the chair announces the committee's approval to release the deposition material presented during today's hearing. good morning. last week the select committee laid out a preview of our initial findings about the conspiracy overseeing and directed by donald trump, to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and block the transfer of power, a scheme unprecedented in american history. my colleagues and i don't want to spend time talking about ourselves during these hearings, but as someone who is run for office a few times, i can tell you at the end of a campaign it all comes down to the numbers. the numbers tell you the winner and a loser. for the most part the numbers don't lie. but if something doesn't add up with the numbers, you go to court to get resolution. and that's the end of the line. we accept those results. that's what it needs to respect the rule of law. that's what it means to seek elective office in our democracy. democracy. because those numbers aren't just numbers. they are votes. they are your votes. they are the will and the voice of the people, and the very least we should expect from any person seeking a position of public trust is the acceptance of the will of the people, win or lose. donald trump didn't. he didn't have the numbers. he went to court. he still didn't have the numbers. he lost. but he betrayed the trust of the american people. he ignored the will of the voters. he lied to his supporters and the country. and he tried to remain in office after the people had voted him out, and the courts upheld the will of the people. this morning will tell the 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. an attack on the american people by trying to rob you of your voice in our democracy. and in doing so lit the fuse the lead to a horrific violence of january 6, when a mob of his supporters storm the capital sent by donald trump to stop the transfer of power. today, my colleague from california ms. lofgren and our witnesses will detail the select committees findings on these matters. but first i will recognize our distinguished vice chair ms. cheney of wyoming for any opening statement she would care to offer. >> thank you very much, mr. cha. last week as the chairman noted our committee begin outlining a seven part plan overseen by president trump to overturn the 2020 election. today we will begin looking at the initial part of that plan. president trump's ever to convince millions of americans that the election was stolen from him by overwhelming fraud. a federal court has already reviewed elements of the committee's evidence on this point, , and said this, quote, n the months following the election numerous credible sources from the president's inner circle, the agency leadership and statisticians, informed president trump and dro evidence of election fraud, closed court. sufficient overturn the 2020 presidential election. the court opinion methodically document east of the principal reasons for that conclusion, and i would urge all those watching to read it. today we will begin to show the american people some of our evidence. today you will hear much more from a former attorney general bill barr's recorded testimony. and you will hear in greater detail what others in the department told president trump, that his claims of election fraud or nonsense. you also are much more from president trump's own campaign experts who had also concluded that his fraud claims could not be supported. let me focus briefly unjust three points now. first, you will hear firsthand testimony that the president campaign advisers urged him to await the counting of votes and not to declare victory on election night. the president understood even before the election that many more biden voters had voted by mail because president trump ignored the advice of his campaign experts and told his supporters only to vote in person. donald trump kneeled before the election that the counting of those -- new -- would not begin until late in the day and would not be complete for multiple days. this was expected, reported and widely known. you will also testimony president 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. and insist that the vote counting stop. to falsely claim everything was fraudulent. he falsely told the american people that the election was not legitimate. in his words, quote, a major fraud. millions of americans believed him. second, pay attention to what donald trump and his legal team said repeatedly about dominion voting machines. far-flung conspiracies with deceased venezuelan communist allegedly pulling the strings. this was, quote, complete nonsense, as bill barr said. president trump's own campaign advisers come his department of justice and is cybersecurity experts all told him the same thing, here for example, his white house lawyer eric herschmann, use was shared by many of the trump team whom we interviewed. >> i thought the dominion stuff was, i notice any evidence whatsoever to sustain those allegations. >> and third, as mike pence's staff started to get a sense for what donald trump had planned for january 6th, they called the campaign experts to give them a briefing on election fraud and all the other election claims. on january 2 the general counsel of the trump campaign, matthew morgan, this is a campaigns chief lawyer, summarized with the campaign had concluded weeks earlier, that none of the arguments about fraud or anything else could actually changed the outcome of the election. >> general discussed on that topic was whether the fraud, abuse or irregularities, if aggregated favorably to the campaign without the outcome determinative. and i think everyone assessment in the room at least amongst the staff, marc short, myself and greg jacob was that not sufficient to be outcome determinative. >> as is obvious to him this was before the attack on the capitol. capitol. the trump campaign legal team knew there was no legitimate argument, fraud, irregularities or anything to overturn the election. and yet president trump went ahead with his plans for january 6th anyway. mr. chairman, hundreds of our countrymen have faced criminal charges. many are serving criminal sentences because they believed what donald trump said about the election, and they acted on it. they came to washington, d.c. at his request. they marched on the capitol at his request. and hundreds of them besieged and invaded the building at the heart of our constitutional republic. as one conservative editorial board put it recently, quote, mr. trump betrayed his supporters by conning them on january 6th, and he is still doing it. another conservative editorial board that is long supported president trump said last week, donald trump, coal, won't stop insisting that the 2020 was stolen, even though he is offered no proof that that is true. and this, donald trump now,, quote, clings to more fantastical theories such as the neste scissors debunked 2000 mule, even as recounts in arizona, georgia and wisconsin confirmed trump lost. those are the correct conclusions to draw from the evidence gathered by this committee. we have much more evidence to show the american people on this that we can reasonably show in one hearing. but today we will begin. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> without objection, the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, ms. lofgren for an opening statement. >> well, thank you, mr. chairman. in our open carry we gave an overview of our investigation into the january 6th attack, the plot to overthrow the election was complex and had many parts which we will explore in the remaining weeks. today we examine the false narrative that the 2020 election was, quote, stoler. former president trump's blend overturn the election relied on a sustained effort to deceive millions of americans with knowingly false claims of election fraud. all elements of the plot relied on convincing his supporters about these false claims. today, we will demonstrate the 2020 election was not stolen. the american people elected president joe biden. we will present evidence that mr. trump's claims of election fraud were false, that he and his closest advisers knew those claims were false, but they continue to peddle them anyway, right up until the moment before a mob of trump supporters attacked the capital. we will also show that the trump campaign used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fight in the courts. but the trump campaign didn't use the money for that. the big lie was also a big ripoff. the former president laid the groundwork for these false claims well in advance of the election, as early as april 2020 mr. trump claimed that the only way he could lose an election would be as a result of fraud. >> do you know the things we're bundling on all the things that are happening with votes imail, where thousands of votes are gathered and i'm not going to say which party does it, but thousands of votes are gathered and their coming and there jumped in a location of that all of a sudden you lose elections if you think you're going to win. >> the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. remember that. it's the only way we're going to lose this election. >> this is going to be a fraud like you've never seen. did you see what's going on? take a look at west virginia mailmen selling the palace. they're being sold, being dumped and rivers. this is a horrible thing for our country. >> this is not -- >> this is not going to end well. >> mr. trump decided even before the election that regardless of the facts and the truth, if you lost the election he would claim it was rigged. mr. trump was right about one thing. it did not end well. on election night mr. trump claimed even before the votes were counted that his loss was result of fraud. on thursday with testimony from attorney general barr about the department of justice investigation of mr. trump's fraud claims. barr told trump correct directly his claims are bs. yet after hearing the truth and that morning from the ag, mr. trump continue to battle the false claims of fraud. you will hear detailed testimony from attorney general barr describing the various election fraud claims the department of justice investigated. he will tell you how he told mr. trump repeatedly that there was no merit to those claims. mr. barr will tell us that mr. trump's election night claims of fraud were made without regard to the truth, and before it was even possible to look for evidence of fraud. .. it didn't stop him from pushing the false claim and urging his supporters to quote, like hell. to quote, take back their country. after he lost the election various legal challenges will me were made.you'll hear testimony from a renowned republican board who explained the normal process by which candidates challenge an election. rather than rather than accept the results of an election and the decisions of the courts mister trump pursued a different strategy: he tried to convince the american people the election had been stolen. many of his supporters believe him and many still believe him today.the attack on january 6 was a direct and predictable result of mister trump's decision to use false claims of election fraud to overturn the election and claim power. mister chairman, i yieldback . >> thank you very much. i'm now welcome our first witness. we are joined today by former fox news politics editor chris steigerwald. built stallion, president trumps armor campaign manager was subpoenaed to be here and was in washington this morning prepared to testify. kevin marino, mister steffy and his attorney is with us here today. thank you for coming and he was advised, he has advised us that mister stepien's wife went intolabor this morning . mister stepien had to travel unexpectedly to be with his wife and we wish them the best. due to the depth and rigor of our investigation, these several hours of mister stepien's testimony from when we interviewed him in february we will bepresenting that testimony today . i'll mouse swear in our witness. the witness will please stand and raise his righthand . >> do you swear or affirm on under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to hear is the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth will help you god ? thank you. you may be seated. let the record reflect the witness answered in the affirmative. i now recognize myself for questions. i want to start by showing a video that tells the story of what was going on in thetrump white house on election night in november 2020 . >> do you remember where you were on the night of the election november 3 ? >> i was at the white house. >> do you know where specifically over the course of that night you spent your time in the white house ? >> there was an event that was organized in the restaurant so i moved between the residence room, off the residence where some family members were. >> i take it the president was upstairs in the residence . >> he was upstairs. we were on the first floor so not upstairs. we room were mostly with the brothers anda couple of people who wouldbe coming in and out . >> what were people expecting that day when you got to the white house ? >> i think that there was simply for people who showed up there on election night there was a more positive environment. i think people were a little bit nervous not knowing what was going to happen with the red wave or the red mirage or whether debate was being carried out. >> the fox news decision desk is calling arizona forjoe biden . that is a big gap for the biden campaign. >> arizona was called, do you remember that? >> i do. >> what do you remember when arizona was called? >> there was surprise that it was called. >> who was surprised? >> most everyone in the room. >> were you one of them? >> yes. >> that shift the atmosphere or attitude in thewhite house ? >> completely. >> can you describe that? >> because fox news was the first one to go out and say that. >> so was there to anger directed at fox news rather than disappointment that maybe the campaign loss arizona ? >> all of the above. >> so both anger and disappointment. >> both disappointment with fox and concern that maybe our data or our numbers weren't accurate. >> were you in the white house residence or past midnight of the early morning hours of november 4? >> yes. it went beyond midnight, yes. >> you remember rudy giuliani being at the whitehouse on election night and into the early hours the next morning ? >> i do. >> what you remember about when he came ? >> he ... i have heard that he was upstairs in that affirmation reception area. and he was looking to talk to the president and it was suggested instead that he come talk to several of us down off the map room. >> you said you had heard mister giuliani wanted to talk tothe president and he wasdirected your way. did you end up talking to mister giuliani ? what was that conversation ? >> a lot of conversations were directed my way. >> a few of us, myself, jason miller, mister clark, mark meadows gathered in a room off the map room to listen to whatever he presumably wanted to say to the president. >> was there anyone in that conversation who in your observation had had too much to drink ? >> mayor giuliani. >> tell me more about that, what was your observation about his potential intoxication during that discussion about what the president should say when he addressed the nation on election night?>> the mayor was definitely intoxicated but i did not know that his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president for example. >> was he part of any discussions with the people i mentioned, mister stepien, mister meadows about whether the president shouldmake any speech on election night ? >> i spoke to the president. but i spoke to the president several times that night. >> there are suggestions i believe it was to go to mayor giuliani to declare victory. >> it was far too early tobe making any calls like that . ballots were still being counted. ballots were stillgoing to be counted for days . and it was far too early to be making any predictions like that. >> i remember saying that to the best of my memory i would say we should not go to declare victory until we had a better sense of the numbers . >> can you be more specific about thatconversation in particular with what mayor giuliani said and anybody else in the room's response ? >> i think effectively mayor giuliani was saying we want it. where did all the votes come from? we need to go say thatwe want . and essentially that anyone who didn't agree with that position was being weak. >> what was your view ofthe time as to what we should or so shouldn't say ? >> i don't know that i had a firm view as to what he should say in that circumstance. the results were still being counted. it was becoming clear that the race would not be called on election night. >> i believe, my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted. it's too early to tell. too early to call the race. but you know, we were proud of the race we ran and we think we are in good position . we will have more to say about this the next day, whatever, whenever we had something to say. >> and that anybody who was part of that conversation disagree with your message? >> yes. >> who was that? >> the president disagree with that. i don't recall the particular words. people i was wrong, he told me so and that he was going to go in a different direction. >> 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. >> mister stirewalt, did president trump have any basis todeclare victory on november 4, 2020 ? >> thank you. mister stepien also testified mister president trump had no basis fordeclaring victory at that point in time . >> i believe, my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted . it's too early to tell. too early to call the race. but you know, we were proud of the race we ran. and you know, we think we're in good position. we will have more to say about this the next day, whenever we had something to say. >> thank you. mister stirewalt, after the voteswere counted, who won the presidential election of 2020 ? >> joseph biden junior of the great state of delaware. >> thank you. that's the bottom line. we had an election, mister trump lost but he refused to accept the results of the democraticprocess . pursuant to section 5c of house resolution 503, i now recognize the gentleman from california missed lofgren for questions. >> thank you mister chairman. i'd like you to explain a term that was thrown around a lot during the election and that was the so-called red mirage. what does that mean? >> in the 40 or 50 years let's say that americans have increasingly chosen to vote by mail or early or absentee, democrats prefer that method of voting more than republicans do. basically in every election republicans win election day and democrats win the early vote then you wait and start counting and it depends which one you first but usually it's election day votes that get counted first and you see republicans shoot ahead at the process of bailing and binding and unbinding all those mail-in votes pennsylvania refused to count the votes first so you wait for a