Panel to focus on effort to pressure state officials
The Jan. 6 select committee will present testimony Tuesday on how former President Donald Trump started a campaign to pressure state election officials through lawsuits, political pressure and direct phone calls to overturn the 2020 presidential election, said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
Kinzinger appeared Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopolous” to talk about the committee’s work, revealing that he — one of only two Republicans on the panel — and his family had received a death threat several days ago.
The committee meets Tuesday to hear from witnesses who saw firsthand how the former president’s campaign tried to undermine the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president.
The forum will probably highlight testimony on how former Energy Secretary Rick Perry reportedly sent a text message to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to launch an “aggressive strategy” to keep Trump in office.
Perry’s plan was to have states with Republican-led legislatures that had not declared a winner install their own electors who would rule Trump the winner, according to a leaked text message.
The former president’s son Donald Trump Jr. was also in on the gambit, according to texts revealed by the House committee.
“Republicans control 28 states Democrats 22 states. Once again Trump wins,” the president’s son texted to Meadows, “We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021.”
At the same time, the Trump campaign began to file a rash of lawsuits in state courts across the country, challenging the voting results. That effort, led in part by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani failed almost immediately.
In addition to the litigation, the ex-president called Michigan lawmakers who had certified the election and asked them to rescind their votes. His campaign attempted to have Michigan voting machines seized.
In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who oversaw that state’s election, fielded the now-infamous call from Trump in which he pressured the official to “find” him just enough votes to overtake Biden in the state. Raffensberger and his top deputy, Gabe Sterling, are expected to testify.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told Raffensberger on a recorded call.
On “This Week,” Kinzinger said he believed the effort by Trump and his inner circle rose to the level of criminal acts.
“I certainly think the president is guilty of knowing what he did, seditious conspiracy, being involved in these,” he said.
Kinzinger, who plans to leave Congress once his term is over, has said there’s been a “lack of leadership” on behalf of the Republicans.
“My party has utterly failed the American people at the truth,” he told Stephanopoulos. “It makes me sad, but it’s fact.”