The Jan. 6 committee convened for its last hearing before the midterm elections in a 2 1/2-hour presentation that ended with the panel voting to subpoena former President Donald Trump himself.
The event recapped previous hearings, in which the committee made the case that former “President Trump had a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before Election Day, before he knew the election results,” as Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) said in her opening statement.
Here are six takeaways from Thursday’s hearing.
SECRET SERVICE GIVES CONGRESS TROVE OF ELECTRONIC MESSAGES AROUND JAN. 6: REPORT
1. Committee votes to subpoena Trump
The series of nine hearings were capped off with a vote to subpoena the former president in a bid to learn new information from the person at the center of the investigation. The vote was unanimous.
“He tried to take away the voice of the American people and choose to be the president and replaced the will of the voters with his will to remain in power,” said Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS). “He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6. So, you want to hear from him. The committee needs to do everything in our power to tell the most complete story possible and provide recommendations to help ensure that nothing like Jan. 6 ever happens again.”
News of the vote broke during the hearing. Trump will likely not comply and could be legally protected under presidential confidentiality privileges.
2. New Secret Service documents reveal agency was aware of danger posed by rally crowd
The over 1 million emails and audio files the Secret Service handed over to the committee showed that agents were aware that some of the people attending the “Stop the Steal” rally on the White House Ellipse had weapons and that officials were monitoring internet chatter that suggested violence was imminent.
Comments on the website “thedonald.win” in the lead-up to the rally threatened violence. They included “gallows don’t require electricity” and “patriots will be there, armed to the teeth. And if the filthy commie maggots try to push their fraud through, there will be hell to pay.” Some specifically targeted Congress, saying, “Our ‘lawmakers’ in Congress can leave one of two ways: 1. in a body bag. 2. after rightfully certifying Trump the winner.”
“By the morning of Jan. 6, it was clear that the Secret Service anticipated violence. It felt like the ‘calm before the storm,’ one agent predicted,” said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who presented this part of the hearing.
Secret Service exchanges also noted that a large number of people at the rally on Jan. 6 were congregating outside the Ellipse, refusing to pass through the metal detectors in a suggestion that they had weapons on them. The agency was also monitoring threats against Vice President Mike Pence, with one agent noting that Trump’s comment about Pence lacking courage was “probably not going to be good for Pence.”
3. Panel airs tense footage of House Democratic leadership during Capitol riot
The committee showed never-before-seen footage of congressional leaders attempting to get more law enforcement to control the mob.
The video shows Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) discussing the damage to the Capitol as they watched the riot on television.
The clips also show them making phone calls to then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, and acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller asking for more personnel to secure the building.
JUST IN: Jan. 6 Committee shares previously unseen footage of congressional leaders from both parties while Capitol was breached by rioters.
“It’s just horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States,” Speaker Pelosi said. https://t.co/HMTUlyeFrp pic.twitter.com/0l81M6JNJu
— ABC News (@ABC) October 13, 2022
4. Panel looking into ‘potential obstruction’ over motorcade incident
Rep. Peter Aguilar (D-CA) said that the forthcoming report the committee will publish this year will include the review of “potential obstruction” and “advice given not to tell the committee” about an alleged incident recounted in a previous hearing as part of Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony.
Hutchinson recalled that Secret Service official Tony Ornato told her that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the vehicle taking him back to the White House after his rally speech because he wanted to be taken to the Capitol.
“We will address this matter in our report,” Aguilar said.
5. Trump adviser Roger Stone said, ‘Let’s get right to the violence,’ before election
New documentary footage showed Trump adviser Roger Stone saying on Nov. 1 that the former president needed to declare victory no matter what, declaring, “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”
In a later clip, he said of the election, “I say f*** the voting, let’s get right to the violence. We’ll have to start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean.”
Stone invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in his interviews with the committee and would not say if he was in communication with Trump in the lead-up to Jan. 6.
“Although we don’t yet have all the relevant records of Roger Stone’s communications, even Stone’s own social media posts acknowledge that he spoke with Donald Trump on 27 Dec. as preparations for Jan. 6 were underway,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
6. Trump pressed for immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan and Somalia after election
The hearing shed more light on a Nov. 11 memo that would have set into motion the “immediate withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and Somalia.
The panel suggested that Trump would not have taken this action if he believed he legitimately had a chance of staying in office. Journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa reported last year how the memo came as a shock to national security officials. This was the first time this detail was introduced at a Jan. 6 committee hearing.
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Several of the committee members will not return to Congress for the next term in January. Cheney (R-WY) lost her primary to Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) announced last year that he would not seek reelection. Other members are locked in competitive races, including Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL).
This hearing was originally going to take place on Sept. 28 but was postponed due to Hurricane Ian when it posed a threat to Murphy’s district. Since the last public hearing on July 21, the committee interviewed new witnesses and collected more evidence. One of the witnesses interviewed whose involvement did not come up in the hearing was Ginny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
