Trump’s lobbying campaign on states in the spotlight at Jan. 6 Capitol riot hearing

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WASHINGTON — The congressional committee investigating the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, shifted its focus Tuesday to the pressure Donald Trump was putting on state officials as he sought to remain in the White House despite losing the election. of 2020.

It was the fourth of at least six hearings scheduled this month for the nine-member House select committee after a nearly year-long investigation into the deadly attack by thousands of supporters of the then president.

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Three state election officials from Trump’s Republican Party will testify about the intense pressure they faced from Trump and his supporters at the time.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Gabriel Sterling, director of operations for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, would testify as a panel.

The committee will also hear from Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, a Georgia state poll worker who sued over threats she said she faced after her state endorsed Trump’s rival, Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election. .

Trump held a raucous rally on January 6, urging his supporters to march on Capitol Hill.

He had used that date, when Vice President Mike Pence would meet with lawmakers at the seat of government to formally certify the elections, as a last chance to cling to the White House despite his defeat at the polls.

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The seven Democrats and two Republicans on the committee have used the hearings to build a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat amounted to illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics.

Biden in November 2020 defeated Trump in both Georgia and Arizona, two states that had recently backed Republicans in presidential elections. Trump and his associates pressured officials in those states to overturn election results, in part through an effort to come up with alternative lists of voters backing Trump.

‘FIND’ ENOUGH VOTES

Trump called Raffensperger on January 2, 2021, and told Georgia’s top election official to “find” enough votes for him to win Georgia, and Raffensperger remains a frequent target of Trump’s criticism. Last month, however, the secretary of state stopped a Trump-backed challenger, Republican House member Jody Hice, from winning the GOP primary while running for re-election.

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“President Trump and his allies waged a pressure campaign based on lies, and these lies led to threats that put state and local officials and their families at risk,” a committee aide told reporters in a conference call on Thursday. Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. to preview the audience.

Trump has denied wrongdoing, while repeating false accusations that he lost only because of widespread fraud benefiting Biden. Trump and his supporters, including many Republican members of Congress, dismiss the Jan. 6 panel as a political witch hunt, but the panel’s supporters say it is a necessary investigation into a violent threat to democracy.

Committee members have also said the hearing will look at the role of Mark Meadows, a former Republican House member who served as one of Trump’s White House chiefs of staff.

Different members of the select committee have led cross-examinations at each of the hearings to date. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff will take office on Tuesday.

The evidence against Trump could potentially be crucial in an ongoing criminal investigation by the Justice Department into the alleged bogus election plot.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis, and Howard Goller)