Panel to show pressure on Pence ‘directly contributed’ to attack

The House Jan. 6 committee will use its third June hearing to make the case that then-President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on his vice president to overturn the 2020 presidential election “directly contributed” to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U. S. Capitol, which put Mike Pence’s life in danger, aides said on Wednesday.

Committee aides said Thursday’s hearing will focus on how Mr. Trump had driven the pressure campaign against Mr. Pence despite being told by lawyers in the White House counsel’s office that the vice president did not have the authority to unilaterally subvert the election results.

The committee plans to move from the origination of the theory put forward by Trump attorney John Eastman that Mr. Pence had the authority to overturn the election results through Mr. Trump’s weekslong pressure campaign that led to the insurrection.

Aides said that the hearing would include new materials about what Mr. Pence was doing on Jan. 6, including his whereabouts.

Committee aides said they also intend to demonstrate at the hearing that there’s an “ongoing threat” to democracy from people advocating the false view that the 2020 election was rigged.

Greg Jacob, who served as counsel to Mr. Pence when he was vice president, and J. Michael Luttig, a retired judge and informal Pence adviser, will testify before the committee on Thursday. While former Pence chief of staff Marc Short is not testifying Thursday, aides said that his deposition testimony is expected to be shown.

Much of Thursday’s presentation will be led by Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California. A committee counsel also will be asking questions during Thursday’s hearing.

Committee aides said the panel once again planned to weave live witness testimony with depositions the panel has on video. On Tuesday, the committee teased video from former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann saying that he had told Mr. Eastman on Jan. 7 that he should “get a great effing criminal defense attorney.”

J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press A video clip of former President Donald Trump is shown Monday as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held its second hearing to reveal its findings of a yearlong investigation at the Capitol in Washington. The committee’s third hearing is scheduled for Thursday.