Tuesday, March 26

Jan 6 hearings – live: Trump says Capitol riot ‘greatest movement’ in history as new violent footage leaked


Jamie Raskin doesn’t say whether the Jan 6 Committee will get Mike Pence to testify

With just hours to go before the start of the House January 6 select committee’s first prime-time hearing, former president Donald Trump took to Truth Social to claim the violent attack on the Capitol perpetrated by his supporters was “not simply a protest” but actually “the greatest movement” in US history.

Meanwhile, videotaped depositions from Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, could be presented publicly in the first of six public hearings.

According to committee aides, Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Liz Cheney will play excerpts of testimony taken from close confidantes of the ex-president at the outset of Thursday’s prime-time televised hearing, consisting of “a small … but meaningful portion” of the evidence in the committee’s possession.

Members of the committee are reportedly also sitting on roughly 14,000 hours of unreleased Capitol Police bodycam footage, which is expected to be released when the hearing gets underway at 8 pm ET Thursday.

A former GOP insider tells The Independent that Donald Trump will “lose his mind” when he watches the January 6 committee hearings on the Capitol riot on Thursday evening and realises no one is there to interject on his behalf.

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Brad Raffensperger in talks to appear in-person for Jan 6 hearing

Georgia’s top election official Brad Raffensperger, who memorably dug his heels in when Donald Trump attempted to bully him to “find” the votes in the southern state during the former president’s failed attempt to decertify the results of the 2020 election, could be among some of the in-person witnesses called upon by the House January 6 select committee.

Politico first reported on how the Georgia Secretary of State is in talks with the panel investigating the Capitol riot after he was reportedly subpoenaed, along with top deputy Gabriel Sterling, according to the news outlet.

Mr Raffensperger could potentially provide details in his public testimony about the call he took from the former president on 2 January 2021, where the one-term president reportedly prodded the Georgian politician to secure him a victory in his state.

Raffensperfer, who beat out a Trump-backed candidate in a primary campaign last month, also stood before a special grand jury earlier this week as part of the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation into Trump’s Georgia election pressure.

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 19:15

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Opinion: Impeachment didn’t work. Here’s why the January 6 hearings probably will

It’s been two years, six months and six days since The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg took his seat for the first of a series of hearings that Democrats hoped would end Donald Trump’s presidency.

Now, the DC correspondent writes, House Democrats — and two Republican allies — have their third and perhaps final chance to bring about some measure of accountability for the man who by most accounts tried to end American democracy.



House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected both Banks and Jordan, citing the possibility that both men would be called as witnesses in the investigation. But rather than pick two other equally Trumpy Republicans to serve on the committee instead, McCarthy took his ball and went home in a fit of pique. Now, no Republicans who denied the legitimacy of Biden’s victory or denied the seriousness of the attack on the Capitol sit on the committee, which means these hearings — unlike the prior Trump impeachment hearings — won’t have anyone sabotaging them from the inside.

And perhaps that means the third time will indeed be the charm.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 19:04

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Trump calls Jan 6 attack ‘greatest movement’ in US history hours ahead of hearing

Just hours before the House January 6 select committee was about to broadcast the first of six nationally televised hearings, Donald Trump came out raging that the very event the panel has spent the better part of year investigating was “the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again”.

The former US president took to Truth Social, which is currently the only social media platform where he is currently not blocked from airing his grievances.

In addition to slamming the “Unselect Committee” for misrepresenting the violent insurrection, which left more than 150 officers with injuries, the one-term president repeated “The Big Lie” that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen.

“The Unselect Committee didn’t spend one minute studying the reason that people went to Washington, D.C., in massive numbers, far greater than the Fake News Media is willing to report, or that the Unselects are willing to even mention, because January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

“It was about an Election that was Rigged and Stolen, and a Country that was about to go to HELL..& look at our Country now!”

Read the full report from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg below:

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 18:16

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Twitter blocks Jan 6 committee’s request for company’s internal Slack messages

Twitter is fighting back against the January 6 House Select Committee request for the social media company’s internal messages, including Slack messages concerning how they moderated tweets regarding the 2021 insurrection, according to a report.

The company is claiming its First Amendment rights to reject the committee’s request, Rolling Stone reported.

Committee members have grown frustrated at the pushback from Twitter, as they think the messages can help them show how online extremism boosted the violence and chaos on that day.

Twitter said in a statement to the magazine that “since last year, we have had an ongoing, productive engagement with the Select Committee, and have provided appropriate, relevant information to contribute to this important investigation”.

Gustaf Kilander has more on the social media giant digging its heels in against the Jan 6 committee.

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 17:45

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Republican arrested for role in Capitol riot hours before first Jan 6 hearing

The FBI arrested Republican Ryan Kelley and charged the Michigan gubernatorial candidate on misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the 6 Jan riot at the US Capitol, according to a criminal complaint filed on Thursday as was reported by The Detroit Free Press.

Video footage of the Michigan Republican reportedly surfaced where Mr Kelley was visible at the Capitol on the day of the violent January 6 insurrection.

Federal agents raided and searched Mr Kelley’s Michigan home just hours before the first public hearing of the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot was to get underway.

In federal court records, Mr Kelley is described as being an active participant in the chaos that unfolded outside and inside of the Capitol, and that agents from the FBI opened up an investigation into his conduct within days of the riot, The Detroit Free Press reported.

“At approximately 2:20 pm, Kelley continued to gesture to the crowd, consistently indicating that they should move towards the stairs that led to the entrance of the U.S. Capitol interior spaces,” the criminal complaint reads.

Prosecutors have reportedly filed four charges against Mr Kelley, including: knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building; disorderly and disruptive conduct; knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against person or property in a restricted building or grounds; and willfully injuring or committing depredation against property of the US.

If Mr Kelley is found guilty and is convicted, he could serve a maximum punishment of up to 10 years in federal prison.

Read the full report from Graig Graziosi below:

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 17:12

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Rep Raskin: ‘There will be multiple breakthroughs and epiphanies’

While appearing on MSNBC ahead of the January 6 hearings, Rep Jamie Raskin informed Chris Hayes that the televised event will reveal some major “epiphanies” and “breakthroughs” that were otherwise unknown to the general populace.

“One of my Republican colleagues who’s not on our committee told me about 15 minutes ago that he was a little bit jealous that I was on a bipartisan committee where the two sides are actually working together,” said the Maryland congressman while appearing on All in With Chris Hayes on Wednesday night.

“I think there will be multiple breakthroughs and epiphanies for people along the way. And at the end, I think everybody is going to be able to answer for himself or herself — including members of Congress — is this something that we ever want to allow to happen again? And if not, they are going to have to listen to the final act of our committee which is we will be issuing recommendations on what should be done in order to fortify ourselves against coups and insurrections in the future.”

Just days earlier, Rep Raskin, a member of the House select committee, had teased that the panel had uncovered damning evidence during a Q&A with The Washington Post.

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 17:01

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Jan 6 committee teases unreleased video footage of Capitol riot

Lawmakers on the January 6 committee are sitting on unreleased on-the-ground footage of the Capitol riot that is expected to be released to the public during its hearings, which begin Thursday evening.

News of the unreleased footage was first reported by Good Morning America on Thursday morning, just hours before the committee’s first public hearing on Capitol Hill.

According to ABC News, the footage obtained by the panel includes the moments during which a crowd of previously peaceful Trump supporters turned into a violent mob who attacked the Capitol resulting in the deaths of several members of law enforcement.

In addition to the more than 1,000 people who were interviewed by the committee who were either directly or indirectly involved in the US Capitol insurrection, the pandel has reportedly also obtained roughly 14,000 hours of Capitol Police bodycam video.

The Independent’s John Bowden has more below:

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 16:41

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Navarro complains about legal fees in letter to judge: ‘I’ll be eating dog food if I stay out of jail’

Peter Navarro, the former economic adviser to Donald Trump, told a federal judge on Wednesday that he is “at a severe disadvantage” and is facing trouble putting together a team of legal experts.

In a letter to judge Amit Mehta of the DC district court, Mr Navarro argued that although he remained without legal representation, the prosecution has begun filing motions to push for a speedy trial.

The justice department last Friday indicted Mr Navarro for contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with a congressional subpoena from the select committee investigating the 6 January riot at the US Capitol. He was arrested on Friday morning as he was boarding a plane to Nashville.

Mr Navarro said in his letter that he is “very actively seeking a legal team” but facing “a number of hurdles”. Earlier, he had hinted at defending himself to avoid paying a large sum in legal fees.

Continue reading the full story from The Independent’s Alisha Rahaman Sarkar below.

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 16:14

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Trump lands in New Jersey ahead of counterprogramming effort

Donald Trump arrived in New Jersey Thursday, hours before the first January 6 public hearing was scheduled to air.

The former US president was seen in a video meeting with House Republican Conference Chair and Trump ally Elise Stefanik, who has accused the January 6 select committee’s public hearings of being performative by scheduling the televised proceedings during prime time rather than being focused on uncovering the truth.

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 15:45

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Four key questions for the January 6 committee hearings to answer

Over the year and a half since a mob of former president Donald Trump supporters assaulted police officers and overran the seat of America’s legislative branch in hopes of stopping certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, the nine-member panel has amassed a staff of more than 40 personnel — including many investigators and former prosecutors — working in teams to untangle multiple lines of inquiry regarding the facts and circumstances which led to the worst attack on the Capitol since Major General Robert Ross ordered British troops to set it ablaze in 1814.

Here are some questions the panel will need to answer over the course of its’ public hearings, as reported by Andrew Feinberg here:

Johanna Chisholm9 June 2022 15:25


www.independent.co.uk

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