[House Prints 117-6]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                  BUSINESS MEETING TO CONSIDER THE SELECT 
                         COMMITTEE'S FINAL REPORT

=======================================================================

                                MEETING

                                 OF THE

                          SELECT COMMITTEE TO
                      INVESTIGATE THE JANUARY 6TH
                             ATTACK ON THE
                         UNITED STATES CAPITOL

                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                           DECEMBER 19, 2022

                               __________

                            Serial No. 117-6

                               __________

Printed for the use of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 
                6th Attack On the United States Capitol
                                     

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT] 
                                     

        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                               __________


                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
50-119                     WASHINGTON : 2022                     
          
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 SELECT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE JANUARY 6TH ATTACK ON THE UNITED 
                             STATES CAPITOL

               Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi, Chairman
                    Liz Cheney, Wyoming, Vice Chair
                        Zoe Lofgren, California
                       Adam B. Schiff, California
                        Pete Aguilar, California
                      Stephanie N. Murphy, Florida
                         Jamie Raskin, Maryland
                       Elaine G. Luria, Virginia
                        Adam Kinzinger, Illinois
                            
                            COMMITTEE STAFF

                    David B. Buckley, Staff Director
      Kristin L. Amerling, Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
               Hope Goins, Senior Counsel to the Chairman
           Joseph B. Maher, Senior Counsel to the Vice Chair
             Timothy J. Heaphy, Chief Investigative Counsel
                      Jamie Fleet, Senior Advisor
               Timothy R. Mulvey, Communications Director
           Candyce Phoenix, Senior Counsel and Senior Advisor
 John F. Wood, Senior Investigative Counsel and Of Counsel to the Vice 
                                 Chair

Katherine B. Abrams, Staff		Thomas E. Joscelyn, Senior Professional 	 
    Associate                             Staff Member
Temidayo Aganga-Williams, Senior	Rebecca L. Knooihuizen, Financial 	 
    Investigative Counsel		  Investigator
Alejandra Apecechea, Investigative	Casey E. Lucier, Investigative Counsel 
    Counsel				Damon M. Marx, Professional Staff Member	
Lisa A. Bianco, Director of Member 	Evan B. Mauldin, Chief Clerk
    Services and Security Manager	Yonatan L. Moskowitz, Senior Counsel
Jerome P. Bjelopera, Investigator	Hannah G. Muldavin, Deputy 
Bryan Bonner, Investigative Counsel	  Communications Director
Richard R. Bruno, Senior 		Jonathan D. Murray, Professional Staff
    Administrative Assistant		  Member
Marcus Childress, Investigative 	Jacob A. Nelson, Professional Staff Member
    Counsel				Elizabeth Obrand, Staff Associate
John Marcus Clark, Security		Raymond O'Mara, Director of External
    Director				  Affairs
Jacqueline N. Colvett, Digital		Elyes Ouechtati, Technology Partner 
    Director				Robin M. Peguero, Investigative Counsel	
Heather I. Connelly, Professional	Sandeep A. Prasanna, Investigative Counsel
    Staff Member			Barry Pump, Parliamentarian
Meghan E. Conroy, Investigator		Sean M. Quinn, Investigative Counsel
Heather L. Crowell, Printer 		Brittany M. J. Record, Senior Counsel
    Proofreader				Denver Riggleman, Senior Technical Advisor
William C. Danvers, Senior 		Joshua D. Roselman, Investigative Counsel
    Researcher				James N. Sasso, Senior Investigative Counsel
Soumyalatha Dayananda, Senior 		Grant H. Saunders, Professional Staff 
    Investigative Counsel		  Member
Stephen W. DeVine, Senior Counsel	Samantha O. Stiles, Chief Administrative 
Lawrence J. Eagleburger, 		  Officer
    Professional Staff Member		Sean P. Tonolli, Senior Investigative 
Kevin S. Elliker, Investigative           Counsel
    Counsel				David A. Weinberg, Senior Professional Staff 
Margaret E. Emamzadeh, Staff 		  Member
    Associate				Amanda S. Wick, Senior Investigative 
Sadallah A. Farah, Professional 	  Counsel
    Staff Member			Darrin L. Williams, Jr., Staff Assistant
Daniel A. George, Senior 		Zachary S. Wood, Clerk
    Investigative Counsel
Jacob H. Glick, Investigative 
    Counsel
Aaron S. Greene, Clerk
Marc S. Harris, Senior 
    Investigative Counsel
Alice K. Hayes, Clerk
Quincy T. Henderson, Staff 
    Assistant
Jenna Hopkins, Professional Staff 
    Member
Camisha L. Johnson, Professional 
    Staff Member                                                              
                      
                      CONTRACTORS & CONSULTANTS

                             Rawaa Alobaidi
                             Melinda Arons
                              Steve Baker
                            Elizabeth Bisbee
                              David Canady
                             John Coughlin
                             Aaron Dietzen
                              Gina Ferrise
                           Angel Goldsborough
                             James Goldston
                              Polly Grube
                          L. Christine Healey
                             Danny Holladay
                              Percy Howard
                              Dean Jackson
                           Stephanie J. Jones
                              Hyatt Mamoun
                               Mary Marsh
                               Todd Mason
                              Ryan Mayers
                              Jeff McBride
                               Fred Muram
                             Alex Newhouse
                              John Norton
                             Orlando Pinder
                               Owen Pratt
                              Dan Pryzgoda
                              Brian Sasser
                            William Scherer
                              Driss Sekkat
                              Chris Stuart
                            Preston Sullivan
                              Brian Young

                           Innovative Driven
                            
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                   Statements of Members of Congress

The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress 
  From the State of Mississippi, and Chairman, Select Committee 
  to Investigate the January 6th Attack On the United States 
  Capitol........................................................     1
The Honorable Liz Cheney, a Representative in Congress From the 
  State of Wyoming, and Vice Chair, Select Committee to 
  Investigate the January 6th Attack On the United States Capitol     2
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren, a Representative in Congress From the 
  State of California............................................     7
The Honorable Adam B. Schiff, a Representative in Congress From 
  the State of California........................................     9
The Honorable Adam Kinzinger, a Representative in Congress From 
  the State of Illinois..........................................    10
The Honorable Pete Aguilar, a Representative in Congress From the 
  State of California............................................    12
The Honorable Stephanie N. Murphy, a Representative in Congress 
  From the State of Florida......................................    13
The Honorable Elaine G. Luria, a Representative in Congress From 
  the State of Virginia..........................................    14
The Honorable Jamie Raskin, a Representative in Congress From the 
  State of Maryland..............................................    16

                           Committee Business

Final Report.....................................................    19

 
    BUSINESS MEETING TO CONSIDER THE SELECT COMMITTEE'S FINAL REPORT

                              ----------                              


                       Monday, December 19, 2022

                     U.S. House of Representatives,
 Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack On 
                                 the United States Capitol,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:07 p.m., in the 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi Caucus Room, room 390, Cannon House Office 
Building, Hon. Bennie G. Thompson (Chairman of the Committee) 
presiding.
    Present: Representatives Thompson, Cheney, Lofgren, Schiff, 
Aguilar, Murphy, Raskin, Luria, and Kinzinger.
    Chairman Thompson. A quorum being present, the Select 
Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United 
States Capitol will be in order.
    Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare the 
Committee in recess at any point.
    Pursuant to House Deposition Authority Regulation 10, the 
Chair announces the Committee's approval to release the 
deposition material presented during today's meeting and, 
further, its approval to release deposition material that 
accompanies the release of the Select Committee's final report.
    Good afternoon, and may God bless the United States of 
America.
    To cast a vote in the United States is an act of faith and 
hope. When we drop that ballot in the ballot box, we expect the 
people named on the ballot are going to uphold their end of the 
deal. The winner swears an oath and upholds it. Those who come 
up short ultimately accept the results and abide by the rule of 
law.
    That faith in our system is the foundation of American 
democracy. If the faith is broken, so is our democracy.
    Donald Trump broke that faith. He lost the 2020 election 
and knew it. But he chose to try to stay in office through a 
multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the 
transfer of power.
    In the end, he summoned a mob to Washington and, knowing 
they were armed and angry, pointed them to the Capitol and told 
them to ``fight like hell.'' There is no doubt about this.
    This afternoon, my colleagues will present our key 
findings, reminding you of some of the information we presented 
in earlier hearings and telling you how it fits in our broader 
conclusions.
    Those conclusions have helped shape the Committee's final 
report, which we will adopt today pursuant to House Resolution 
503, which established the Select Committee nearly a year-and-
a-half ago. I expect our final work will be filed with the 
Clerk of the House and made public later this week.
    Beyond that release, the Select Committee intends to make 
public the bulk of its nonsensitive records before the end of 
the year. These transcripts and documents will allow the 
American people to see for themselves the body of evidence we 
have gathered and continue to explore the information that has 
led us to our conclusions.
    This Committee is nearing the end of its work, but, as a 
country, we remain in strange and uncharted waters. We have 
never had a President of the United States stir up a violent 
attempt to block the transfer of power.
    I believe, nearly 2 years later, this is still a time of 
reflection and reckoning. If we are to survive as a Nation of 
laws and democracy, this can never happen again.
    How do we stop it?
    This Committee will lay out a number of recommendations in 
its final report, but beyond any specific details and 
recommendations we present, there is one factor I believe is 
most important in preventing another January 6th: 
accountability.
    So, today, beyond our findings, we will also show that 
evidence we have gathered points to further action beyond the 
power of this Committee or the Congress to help ensure 
accountability under law, accountability that can only be found 
in the criminal justice system.
    We have every confidence that the work of this Committee 
will help provide a road map to justice and that the agencies 
and institutions responsible for ensuring justice under the law 
will use the information we have provided to aid in their work.
    For those of you who have followed this Committee's work, I 
hope we have helped make clear that there is a broader kind of 
accountability--accountability to all of you, the American 
people.
    The future of our democracy rests in your hands. It is up 
to the people of this country to decide who deserves the public 
trust, who will put fidelity to the Constitution and democracy 
above all else, who will abide by the rule of law no matter the 
outcome.
    I am grateful to the millions of you who have followed this 
Committee's work. I hope we lived up to our commitment to 
present the facts and let the facts speak for themselves.
    Let me say in closing, the women and men seated around me 
on this dais are public servants in the most genuine sense. 
They have put aside politics and partisanship to ensure the 
success of this Committee in providing answers to the American 
people.
    I especially want to thank and acknowledge our Vice Chair, 
who has become a true partner in this bipartisan effort, Ms. 
Cheney of Wyoming.
    I also recognize her for any opening statement that she 
would care to offer.
    Vice Chair Cheney. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank 
you for your tremendous leadership of this Committee. I know we 
all have benefited greatly from your wisdom and your wise 
counsel, so thank you very much.
    In April of 1861, when Abraham Lincoln issued the first 
call for volunteers for the Union Army, my great-great-
grandfather, Samuel Fletcher Cheney, joined the 21st Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry.
    He fought through all 4 years of the Civil War, from 
Chickamauga, to Stones River, to Atlanta. He marched with his 
unit in the Grand Review of Troops up Pennsylvania Avenue in 
May of 1865 past a reviewing stand where President Johnson and 
General Grant were seated.
    Silas Canfield, the regimental historian of the 21st Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, described the men in the unit this way. He 
said, ``They had a just appreciation of the value and advantage 
of free government and the necessity of defending and 
maintaining it. And they enlisted, prepared to accept all the 
necessary labors, fatigues, exposures, dangers, and even death, 
for the unity of our Nation and the perpetuity of our 
institutions.''
    I have found myself thinking often, especially since 
January 6th, of my great-great-grandfather and all those in 
every generation who have sacrificed so much for the unity of 
our Nation and the perpetuity of our institutions.
    At the heart of our Republic is the guarantee of the 
peaceful transfer of power. Members of Congress are reminded of 
this every day as we pass through the Capitol Rotunda. There, 
eight magnificent paintings detail the earliest days of our 
Republic.
    One, painted by John Trumbull, depicts the moment in 1783 
when George Washington resigned his commission, handing control 
of the Continental Army back to Congress. Trumbull called this 
``one of the highest moral lessons ever given the world.'' With 
this noble act, George Washington established the indispensable 
example of the peaceful transfer of power in our Nation.
    Standing on the West Front of the Capitol in 1981, 
President Ronald Reagan described it this way: ``The orderly 
transfer of authority, as called for in the Constitution, 
routinely takes place, as it has for almost two centuries, and 
few of us stop to think how unique we really are. In the eyes 
of many in the world, this every-four-year ceremony that we 
accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.''
    Every President in our history has defended this orderly 
transfer of authority--except one. January 6, 2021, was the 
first time one American President refused his constitutional 
duty to transfer power peacefully to the next.
    In our work over the last 18 months, the Select Committee 
has recognized our obligation to do everything we can to ensure 
this never happens again.
    At the beginning of our investigation, we understood that 
tens of millions of Americans had been persuaded by President 
Trump that the 2020 election was stolen by overwhelming fraud. 
We also knew this was flatly false.
    We knew that dozens of the State and Federal judges had 
addressed and resolved all manner of allegations about the 
election. Our legal system functioned as it should, but our 
President would not accept the outcome.
    Among the most shameful of this Committee's findings was 
that President Trump sat in a dining room off the Oval Office 
watching the violent riot at the Capitol on television. For 
hours, he would not issue a public statement instructing his 
supporters to disperse and leave the Capitol despite urgent 
pleas from his White House staff and dozens of others to do so. 
Members of his family, his White House lawyers, virtually all 
those around him, knew that this simple act was critical. For 
hours, he would not do it.
    During this time, law enforcement agents were attacked and 
seriously injured, the Capitol was invaded, the electoral count 
was halted, and the lives of those in the Capitol were put at 
risk.
    In addition to being unlawful, as described in our report, 
this was an utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of 
duty. Evidence of this can be seen in the testimony of 
President Trump's own White House Counsel and several other 
White House witnesses.
    No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can 
ever serve in any position of authority in our Nation again. He 
is unfit for any office.
    The Committee recognizes that our work has only begun; it 
is only the initial step in addressing President Trump's effort 
to remain in office illegally. Prosecutors are considering the 
implications of the conduct that we describe in our report, as 
are citizens all across our Nation.
    In 1761, John Adams wrote, ``The very ground of our 
liberties is the freedom of elections. Faith in our elections 
and the rule of law is paramount to our Republic.'' Election 
deniers, those who refuse to accept lawful election results, 
purposely attack the rule of law and the foundation of our 
country.
    The history of our time will show that the bravery of a 
handful of Americans doing their duty saved us from an even 
more grave constitutional crisis. Elected officials, election 
workers, and public servants stood against Donald Trump's 
corrupt pressure.
    Many of our Committee's witnesses showed selfless 
patriotism, and their words and courage will be remembered. The 
brave men and women of the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan 
Police, and all the other law enforcement officers who fought 
to defend us that day saved lives and our democracy.
    Finally, I wish to thank my colleagues on this Committee. 
It has been a tremendous honor to serve with all of you. We 
have accomplished great and important things together, and I 
hope we have set an example.
    I also want to thank all of those who have honorably 
contributed to the work of our Committee and to our report. We 
have accomplished much over a short period of time. Many of you 
sacrificed for the good of our Nation. You have helped make 
history and, I hope, helped to right the ship.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentlewoman yields back.
    As you know, this is our final meeting of our Committee. 
Over the course of the last year-and-a-half, we have presented 
evidence in nine public hearings, testimony from our brave law 
enforcement officers, senior White House and campaign 
officials, and many others. Today, we are prepared to share our 
final findings with you.
    But before we do so, it is important to remember what we 
have learned and, critically, exactly what happened at the 
United States Capitol on January 6th.
    Without objection, I include in the record a video 
presentation of some of the key evidence our investigation has 
uncovered.

    Officer Edwards. There were officers on the ground. They were 
bleeding. They were throwing up. I mean, I saw friends with blood all 
over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood.
    Officer Fanone. As I was swarmed by a violent mob, they ripped off 
my badge. They grabbed and stripped me of my radio. They seized 
ammunition that was secured to my body. They began to beat me with 
their fists and with what felt like hard metal objects.
    Mr. Stone. The key thing to do is to claim victory. No, we won. 
Fuck you. Sorry. Over. We won. You're wrong. Fuck you.
    Attorney General Barr. Right out of the box on election night, the 
President claimed that there was major fraud underway. I mean, this 
happened, as far as I could tell, before there was actually any 
potential of looking at evidence.
    Mr. Stepien. I didn't think what was happening was necessarily 
honest or professional at that point in time. So that led to me 
stepping away.
    Mr. Morgan. Generally discussed on that topic was whether the 
fraud, maladministration, abuse, or irregularities, if aggregated and 
read most favorably to the campaign, would that be outcome-determinant? 
And I think everyone's assessment in the room, at least amongst the 
staff--Marc Short, myself, and Greg Jacob--was that it was not 
sufficient to be outcome-determinative.
    Secretary of Labor Scalia. I told him that I did believe, yes, that 
once those legal processes were run, if fraud had not been established 
that had affected the outcome of the election, then, unfortunately, I 
believed that what had to be done was concede the outcome.
    Ms. Lofgren. What were the chances of President Trump winning the 
election?
    Mr. Stirewalt. After that point?
    Ms. Lofgren. Yes.
    Mr. Stirewalt. None.
    President Trump. So what are we gonna do here, folks? I only need 
11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.
    Mr. Raffensperger. The numbers are the numbers. The numbers don't 
lie. We had many allegations, and we investigated every single one of 
them.
    Mr. Schiff. Did one of them make a comment that they didn't have 
evidence but they had a lot of theories?
    Mr. Bowers. That was Mr. Giuliani.
    Mr. Schiff. And what exactly did he say, and how did that come up?
    Mr. Bowers. My recollection, he said, ``We've got lots of theories. 
We just don't have the evidence.''
    You are asking me do something that has never been done in history, 
the history of the United States, and I am going to put my State 
through that without sufficient proof?
    Mr. Giuliani. There is a tape earlier in the day of Ruby Freeman 
and Shaye Freeman Moss and one other gentleman quite obviously 
surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they are vials of heroin 
or cocaine.
    Mr. Schiff. In one of the videos we just watched, Mr. Giuliani 
accused you and your mother of passing some sort of USB drive to each 
other. What was your mom actually handing you on that video?
    Ms. Moss. A ginger mint.
    Ms. Freeman. Do you know how it feels to have the President of the 
United States target you? The President of the United States is 
supposed to represent every American, not to target one.
    Attorney General Barr. I made it clear I did not agree with the 
idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which 
I told the President was bullshit.
    Acting Attorney General Rosen. He wanted to talk about that he 
thought the election had been stolen or was corrupt and that there was 
widespread fraud. And I had told him that our reviews had not shown 
that to be the case.
    Mr. Donoghue. And I said something to the effect of, ``Sir, we've 
done dozens of investigations, hundreds of interviews. The major 
allegations are not supported by the evidence developed.''
    Mr. Cipollone. Well, my first thought was, this is a terrible idea. 
Jeff Clark cannot be installed as Acting Attorney General of the United 
States.
    Mr. Heaphy. You ultimately told us that you described this meeting 
as a--or, not this meeting--the Georgia letter that was proposed as an 
F'ing murder-suicide pact. Do you remember using the term ``murder-
suicide pact''?
    Mr. Cipollone. Yes.
    Crowd. Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
    Mr. Heaphy. Was it your impression that the Vice President had 
directly conveyed his position on these issues to the President, not 
just to the world through a dear-colleague letter, but directly to 
President Trump?
    Mr. Short. Many times.
    Mr. Cipollone. My view is that the Vice President didn't have the 
legal authority to do anything except what he did.
    Mr. Herschmann. And I said to him, ``Hold on a second. I want to 
understand what you're saying. You're saying that you believe the Vice 
President, acting as President of the Senate, can be the sole decision 
maker as to, under your theory, who becomes the next President of the 
United States?'' And he said, ``Yes.'' And I said, ``Are you out of 
your F'ing mind?''
    Mr. Jason Miller. The President was--you know, all the attention 
was on what Mike would do or what Mike wouldn't do.
    Mr. Wood. There is a telephone conversation between the President 
and the Vice President; is that correct?
    Voice. Yes.
    Ms. Trump. The conversation was pretty heated.
    Mr. Tonolli. I apologize for being impolite, but do you remember 
what she said her father called him?
    Ms. Radford. The P word.
    Crowd. Bring out Pence! Bring out Pence!
    Ms. Matthews. It was clear that it was escalating and escalating 
quickly.
    Crowd. Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
    Ms. Matthews. So, then, when that tweet, the Mike Pence tweet, was 
sent out, I remember us saying that that was the last thing that needed 
to be tweeted at that point. It felt like he was pouring gasoline on 
the fire by tweeting that.
    Voice. They've gained access to the second floor, and I've got 
public about 5 feet from me down below.
    Voice. OK, copy. They are on the second floor. Moving in now. We 
may want to consider getting out and leaving now. Copy?
    White House Security Official. The members of the VP detail at this 
time were starting to fear for their own lives. There were calls to say 
goodbye to family members, so on and so forth.
    Mr. Aguilar. Approximately 40 feet, that's all there was, 40 feet, 
between the Vice President and the mob.
    Mr. Luttig. Donald Trump and his allies and supporters are a clear 
and present danger to American democracy.
    Mr. Harvin. We got derogatory information from OSINT suggesting 
that some very, very violent individuals were organizing to come to 
D.C.
    Ms. Hutchinson. As Mr. Giuliani and I were walking to his vehicles 
that evening, he looked at me and said something to the effect of, 
``Cass, are you excited for the 6th? It's going to be a great day.'' I 
remember looking at him and saying, ``Rudy, could you explain what's 
happening on the 6th?'' And he had responded something to the effect 
of, ``We're going to the Capitol. It's going to be great. The 
President's going to be there. He's going to look powerful.''
    Voice. We were invited by the President of the United States!
    Mr. Barber. He personally asked for us to come to D.C. that day. 
And I thought, for everything he's done for us, if this is the only 
thing he's going to ask of me, I'll do it.
    Mr. Ayres. Well, basically, you know, the President, you know, got 
everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down. So we basically 
were just following what he said.
    Voice. We've lost the line. We've lost the line. All PD, get back.
    Mrs. Luria. Within 15 minutes of leaving the stage, President Trump 
knew that the Capitol was besieged and under attack.
    Vice Chair Cheney. So are you aware of any phone call by the 
President of the United States to the Secretary of Defense that day?
    Mr. Cipollone. Not that I'm aware of, no.
    Vice Chair Cheney. Are you aware of any phone call by the President 
of the United States to the Attorney General of the United States that 
day?
    Mr. Cipollone. No.
    Vice Chair Cheney. Are you aware of any phone call by the President 
of the United States to the Secretary of Homeland Security that day?
    Mr. Cipollone. I am not aware of that, no.
    Mr. George. Did you ever hear the President ask----
    General Kellogg. No.
    Mr. George. [continuing]. For the National Guard?
    General Kellogg. No.
    Mr. George. Did you ever hear the President ask for a law 
enforcement response?
    General Kellogg. No.
    General Milley. You've got an assault on the Capitol of the United 
States of America, and there's nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?
    Crowd. Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
    Ms. Hutchinson. I remember Pat saying something to the effect of, 
``Mark, we need to do something more. They're literally calling for the 
Vice President to be F'ing hung.'' And Mark had responded something to 
the effect of, ``You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He 
doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.''
    Vice Chair Cheney. Who on the staff did not want people to leave 
the Capitol?
    Mr. Cipollone. On the staff?
    Vice Chair Cheney. In the White House.
    Mr. Cipollone. I can't think of anybody, you know, on that day who 
didn't want people to get out of the Capitol, you know, particularly 
once the violence started. No. I mean----
    Mr. Schiff. What about the President?
    Vice Chair Cheney. Yes.
    Mr. Cipollone. Well, she said the staff, so I answered----
    Vice Chair Cheney. No, I said in the White House.
    Mr. Cipollone. Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I thought you said who 
else on the staff.
    I can't reveal communications. But, obviously, I think, you know--
yes.
    Mr. Herschmann. I said, ``Good, John. Now I'm going to give you the 
best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life. Get a great 
F'ing criminal defense lawyer. You're gonna need it.''
    Vice Chair Cheney. General Flynn, do you believe in the peaceful 
transition of power in the United States of America?
    General Flynn. The Fifth.
    Voice. We've got another officer unconscious at the Terrace, West 
Terrace.
    President Trump. I don't want to say the election's over. I just 
want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the 
election's over, OK?

    Chairman Thompson. The Chair now recognizes the gentlewoman 
from California, Ms. Lofgren, for an opening statement.
    Ms. Lofgren. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Over the last 18 months, the Select Committee has conducted 
a congressional investigation of enormous scale seeking to 
uncover the depth and breadth of ex-President Trump's multi-
part plan to reverse the lawful outcome of the 2020 
Presidential election. We have compiled an immense volume of 
documents collected from countless individuals, law enforcement 
agencies, and Federal and State authorities.
    Many of our efforts to get the evidence required litigation 
in Federal court, including the U.S. Supreme Court. We have 
taken the testimony of hundreds of witnesses. While we couldn't 
show them all during the hearings, we focused on those who were 
most central, including our ex-President's White House aides, 
his senior Department of Justice officials, and senior members 
of his campaign.
    Based on this assembled evidence, the Select Committee has 
reached a series of specific findings. Now, many of these 
findings pertain to what has been called the ``Big Lie''--the 
enormous effort, led by ex-President Trump, to spread baseless 
accusations and misinformation in an attempt to falsely 
convince tens of millions of Americans that the election had 
been stolen from him.
    Beginning even before the election and continuing through 
January 6th and thereafter, Donald Trump purposely disseminated 
false allegations of fraud in order to aid his effort to 
overturn the 2020 election.
    Ex-President Trump's decision to declare victory falsely on 
election night wasn't a spontaneous decision; it was 
premeditated. The Committee has evidence that ex-President 
Trump planned to declare victory and to unlawfully call for the 
vote-counting to stop and that he told numerous allies about 
his intent in the weeks before the election.
    The Committee found that Mr. Trump raised hundreds of 
millions of dollars with false representations made to his on-
line donors. The proceeds from his fundraising, we have 
learned, have been used in ways that we believe are concerning. 
In particular, the Committee has learned that some of those 
funds were used to hire lawyers.
    We have also obtained evidence of efforts to provide or 
offer employment to witnesses. For example, one lawyer told a 
witness the witness could in certain circumstances tell the 
Committee that she didn't recall facts when she actually did 
recall them. That lawyer also did not disclose who was paying 
for the lawyer's representation, despite questions from the 
client seeking that information. He told her, ``We are not 
telling people where funding is coming from right now.''
    We have learned that a client was offered potential 
employment that would make her ``financially very comfortable'' 
as the date of her testimony approached by entities that were 
apparently linked to Donald Trump and his associates. These 
offers were withdrawn or didn't materialize as reports of the 
content of her testimony circulated. The witness believed this 
was an effort to affect her testimony, and we are concerned 
that these efforts may have been a strategy to prevent the 
Committee from finding the truth.
    Throughout the post-election period, ex-President Trump was 
told repeatedly by his campaign advisors, Government officials, 
and others there was no evidence to support his claims of 
election fraud.
    Even since our last hearing, the Select Committee has 
obtained testimony from new witnesses who have come forward to 
tell us about their conversations with ex-President Trump on 
this topic. Here is one of his senior advisors, Hope Hicks.

    Ms. Hicks [continuing]. Seeing evidence of fraud on a scale that 
would have impacted the outcome of the election. And I was becoming 
increasingly concerned that we were damaging--we were damaging his 
legacy.
    Mr. Wood. What did the President say in response to what you just 
described?
    Ms. Hicks. He said something along the lines of, you know, ``Nobody 
will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won't matter. The only 
things that matters is winning.''

    Ms. Lofgren. Despite all that, he continued to purposely 
and maliciously make false claims, sometimes within a day of 
being told that a particular claim was false and unsupported by 
the evidence.
    By the time the electoral college met to cast its votes on 
December 14, 2020, a number of President Trump's senior staff, 
Cabinet officials, and members of his family were urging him to 
facilitate a peaceful transition to the incoming 
administration. He disregarded their advice, and he continued 
to claim publicly that the election had been stolen from him.
    Numerous State and Federal courts evaluated and rejected 
the Trump campaign's claims of voter fraud, including 11 judges 
appointed by ex-President Trump himself. Many of these courts 
issued scathing opinions criticizing the lack of evidence that 
ex-President Trump and his allies had advanced to support their 
claims.
    Numerous individuals associated with these efforts have 
since acknowledged that they were unable to find sufficient 
evidence of fraud to affect the election results, including in 
testimony to this Select Committee.
    Still, ex-President Trump repeated those false claims and 
tried to convince his supporters the election was stolen. This 
was an attempt to justify overturning the lawful election 
results.
    Donald Trump knowingly and corruptly repeated election 
fraud lies, which incited his supporters to violence on January 
6th. He continues to repeat his meritless claim that the 
election was stolen even today and continues to erode our most 
cherished and shared belief in free and fair elections.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentlewoman yields back.
    The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. 
Schiff, for an opening statement.
    Mr. Schiff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Building on his constant repetition of the Big Lie, 
President Trump engaged in an unprecedented effort to obstruct 
the joint session on January 6th, the proceeding where his 
electoral loss would be certified by Congress.
    This effort began in part in the States, which hold, count, 
and ultimately determine the winners of Presidential elections. 
Many State officials were targeted by President Trump and his 
campaign: the local election workers he accused baselessly of 
election fraud, the State officials he pressured to stop the 
count or to find votes that didn't exist, and the State 
legislative officials he urged to disregard the popular will of 
the voters and their oath of office in order to name him the 
winner instead.
    Here are the Select Committee findings about President 
Trump's State pressure campaign.
    President Trump and his enablers repeatedly pressured State 
officials to take action to overturn the results of the 
election. The most dramatic example of this campaign of 
coercion was the President's January 2, 2021, call to Georgia 
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the President 
urged the secretary to ``find 11,780 votes'' he needed to 
change the outcome in that State.
    During that call, President Trump again repeated conspiracy 
theories about the election that his own appointees at the 
Department of Justice had already debunked. Trump also made 
what Secretary Raffensperger accurately considered a threat, 
suggesting that Raffensperger and his attorney could be subject 
to criminal prosecution if they didn't follow through with his 
demands.
    Then, in repeated telephone calls and in-person meetings, 
Donald Trump pressured State elections officials and State 
legislators to alter official election results.
    But courageous public servants, including Republicans like 
Rusty Bowers, held firm and refused to put Donald Trump over 
their oath to the Constitution.
    When Donald Trump's pressure campaign did not achieve the 
results he wanted, he oversaw an effort to obtain and transmit 
false electoral college ballots to Congress and the National 
Archives. The false ballots were created by fake Republican 
electors on December 14th, at the same time the actual 
certified electors in those States were meeting to cast their 
votes for President Biden.
    By that point in time, election-related litigation was over 
in all or nearly all of these States, and Trump campaign 
election lawyers realized that the fake slates were 
unjustifiable on any grounds and may be unlawful.
    In spite of these concerns and the concerns of individuals 
in the White House Counsel's Office, President Trump and others 
proceeded with this plan. The Select Committee has developed 
evidence that these intentionally false documents were 
transmitted to multiple officers of the Federal Government and 
were intended to interfere with the proper conduct of the joint 
session, where the existence of so-called ``competing slates'' 
of electors would serve as a pretext for legitimate electoral 
votes to be rejected.
    President Trump repeatedly attacked State and local 
officials who refused to do his bidding, as well as local 
elections workers who he baselessly accused of fraud.
    As Ruby Freeman and the testimony of other elections 
officials so powerfully demonstrated, the people who drew 
President Trump's ire or were the subject of his lies faced 
real-world consequences, including public harassment and death 
threats. Some of these elections workers and officials have 
been forced to leave their homes. Others have been forced to 
leave the jobs they loved.
    Take a listen to Ms. Freeman's story.

    Ms. Freeman. Now I won't even introduce myself by my name anymore. 
I get nervous when I bump into someone I know in the grocery store who 
says my name. I'm worried about who's listening. I get nervous when I 
have to give my name for food orders. I'm always concerned of who's 
around me. I've lost my name, and I've lost my reputation.

    Mr. Schiff. The treatment of Ms. Freeman and her daughter 
Shaye Moss and so many others around the country was callous, 
inhuman, inexcusable, and dangerous. Those responsible should 
be held accountable.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. 
Kinzinger, for an opening statement.
    Mr. Kinzinger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Certainly one of the many important components of our 
Federal Government is the Department of Justice. It is the body 
that is responsible for enforcing our laws and investigating 
criminal wrongdoing.
    For this reason, it is of the utmost importance that our 
Department of Justice operates as a fair and neutral body that 
enforces our Federal laws without fear or without favor.
    It is this critical function that President Trump sought to 
corrupt as he sought to use the Department of Justice to 
investigate and prosecute purported election fraud and to help 
him convince the public that the election was stolen.
    The Select Committee has made the following findings with 
respect to the Department of Justice.
    In the weeks immediately following the 2020 election, 
Attorney General Bill Barr advised President Trump that the 
Department of Justice had not seen any evidence to support 
Trump's theory that the election was stolen by fraud. No 
evidence.
    Over the course of the three meetings in this post-election 
period, Attorney General Barr assured President Trump that the 
Justice Department was properly investigating claims of 
election fraud. He debunked numerous election fraud claims, 
many of which the President would then go on to repeat 
publicly. And he made clear that President Trump was doing ``a 
great, great disservice to the country'' by pursuing them.
    After Attorney General Barr's resignation, President Trump 
requested that the acting leadership of the Department, Jeffrey 
Rosen and Richard Donoghue ``just say the election was corrupt, 
and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.'' In 
other words, just tell a small lie to put the facade of 
legitimacy on this lie, and the Republican Congressmen and I 
can distort and destroy and create doubt all ourselves.
    Between December 23rd and January 3rd, President Trump 
called or met with them nearly every day and was told 
repeatedly that the Department investigations showed no factual 
support for Trump's fraud allegations. Mr. Rosen and Mr. 
Donoghue told him that the fraud claims were simply untrue.
    As Mr. Rosen and Mr. Donoghue continued to resist, 
President Trump then tried to install a loyalist named Jeffrey 
Clark to lead the Department as Acting Attorney General.
    On several occasions, Clark met with the President, 
apparently along with Representative Scott Perry, without 
authorization, promising to take the actions that Barr, Rosen, 
and Donoghue had refused to take.
    In particular, Mr. Clark intended to send a letter that he 
had drafted with the help of a political appointee that the 
White House installed at DOJ with just weeks left in the 
administration.
    Mr. Clark intended to send the letter to officials in 
numerous States, informing them, falsely of course, that the 
Department had identified ``significant concerns'' about the 
election result in their State and encouraging their State 
legislatures to come into special session to consider 
appointing Trump rather than Biden electors.
    Here is Acting Deputy Attorney General Donoghue describing 
his reaction to Mr. Clark's proposed letter.

    Mr. Donoghue [continuing]. And drafting letters without the 
knowledge of what the Department had actually done in terms of 
investigations, that he was being reckless. And I recall toward the end 
saying, ``What you are proposing is nothing less than the United States 
Justice Department meddling in the outcome of a Presidential 
election.''

    Mr. Kinzinger. Knowing that existing Department leadership 
would not support his false election claims, President Trump 
offered Mr. Clark the job of Acting Attorney General.
    In a dramatic January 3rd meeting in the Oval Office, 
Rosen, Donoghue, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, and White 
House lawyer Eric Herschmann strongly objected to the 
appointment of Jeffrey Clark as Acting Attorney General.
    Mr. Clark pleaded his case and offered to send the letter 
that he had drafted. The White House Counsel called the Clark 
letter a ``murder-suicide pact.''
    Numerous White House and Department of Justice lawyers all 
threatened to resign if Mr. Clark was appointed. Donald Trump 
would be leading a graveyard. It was only after the threat of 
mass resignations that President Trump rescinded his offer to 
Mr. Clark.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. 
Aguilar, for an opening statement.
    Mr. Aguilar. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Former President Trump's multi-part plan didn't stop with 
the States or with the Department of Justice. It touched nearly 
every component of our Federal system, ranging from the courts 
to Congress, to his own Vice President, Mike Pence.
    In the weeks before January 6th, Mr. Trump turned to the 
man who had served him loyally for 4 years. He embraced an 
illegal scheme proposed by John Eastman and others, who 
concocted an unfounded legal theory that the Vice President 
could reject Joe Biden's electoral votes during the joint 
session.
    When Vice President Pence and many others, including 
Trump's own lawyer John Eastman, told him, correctly, that this 
was unlawful, former President Trump spearheaded an 
unprecedented pressure campaign to coerce him to do it anyway, 
ultimately culminating in a dangerous threat to Mr. Pence's 
life on January 6th.
    These are the Select Committee's findings with respect to 
the pressure campaign against the Vice President.
    John Eastman admitted in advance of the 2020 election that 
Mike Pence could not lawfully refuse to count official 
electoral votes. But he nevertheless devised a meritless 
proposal that deployed a combination of bogus election fraud 
claims and the fake electoral ballots to say that Mike Pence, 
presiding over the joint session, could reject legitimate 
electoral votes for President-elect Biden.
    But, still, President Trump accepted and repeated Eastman's 
theory and used it to pressure the Vice President to take 
unlawful action. In multiple heated conversations, President 
Trump directly pressured Vice President Pence to adopt the 
Eastman theory and either reject the electors or send them back 
to the State legislatures.
    The Vice President consistently resisted and repeatedly 
told the President that he did not possess the authority to do 
what President Trump directed.
    This culminated in an angry phone call on the morning of 
January 6th between President Trump and Vice President Pence 
during which the former President repeatedly berated Mr. Pence 
by cursing and leveling threats.
    White House staffer Nick Luna was one of the many witnesses 
who heard the call as it happened. Take a listen to Mr. Luna's 
testimony.

    Mr. George. Did you hear any part of the phone call, even if just 
the end that the President was speaking from?
    Mr. Luna. I did, yes.
    Mr. George. All right. And what did you hear?
    Mr. Luna. So, as I was dropping off the note, my memory--I remember 
hearing the word ``wimp.'' Either he called him a wimp--I don't 
remember if he said, ``You are a wimp,'' ``You'll be a wimp.'' ``Wimp'' 
is the word I remember. And something to the effect--this is--the 
wording is wrong--``I made the wrong decision 4 or 5 years ago.''

    Mr. Aguilar. In the face of the Vice President's 
resistance, the former President and others exerted both 
private and public pressure to change his mind. In his speech 
on the Ellipse on the afternoon of January 6th, former 
President Trump told the crowd that Vice President Pence needed 
the ``courage to do what he has to do.''
    Once the riot began, President Trump deliberately chose to 
issue a tweet attacking Mr. Pence, knowing that the crowd had 
already grown violent.
    Almost immediately thereafter, the crowd around the Capitol 
surged, and between 2:30 and 2:35 p.m. the Metropolitan Police 
line on the West Front of the Capitol broke. This was the first 
time in MPD history that a line like this had broken.
    Rioters at the Capitol were heard chanting ``Hang Mike 
Pence'' through the afternoon.
    As a result of this unrest, Vice President Pence was forced 
to flee to a secure location, where he actively coordinated 
with law enforcement and other governmental officials to 
address the on-going violence.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back.
    The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida, Mrs. 
Murphy, for an opening statement.
    Mrs. Murphy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Ultimately, President Trump did not succeed in bending 
State and Federal officials to his will. At every turn, State 
officials, the Department of Justice, Mike Pence, and many 
others stood up for the rule of law and resisted the 
President's wishes. In that way, our American institutions held 
after the 2020 election.
    But that did not stop President Trump. Instead, he turned 
to his supporters, those who believed his lies about a stolen 
election. He summoned a crowd to the Nation's capital on 
January 6th, hoping that they would pressure Congress to do 
what he could not do on his own.
    The Select Committee has made the following findings on 
this issue.
    Two years ago today, in the early morning hours of December 
19th, Donald Trump sent a tweet urging his supporters to travel 
to Washington for a protest on January 6th. ``Be there, will be 
wild!'' he tweeted.
    Between December 19th and January 6th, the President 
repeatedly encouraged his supporters to come to Washington.
    The President's December 19th tweet galvanized domestic 
violent extremists, including members of the Oath Keepers, the 
Proud Boys, and organized militia groups. These individuals 
began organizing to come to the capital in large numbers with 
the specific intent to use violence to disrupt the 
certification of the election during the joint session.
    Prior to January 6th, the FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Capitol 
Police, D.C. government, and other law enforcement agencies 
gathered substantial evidence suggesting the risk of violence 
at the Capitol during the joint session. These included 
warnings like the following:
    ``Their plan is to literally kill people. Please, please 
take this tip seriously and investigate further.''
    ``President Trump supporters have proposed a movement to 
occupy Capitol Hill.''
    ``Alert regarding the VP being a dead man walking if he 
doesn't do the right thing.''
    ``I saw several other alerts saying they will storm the 
Capitol if he doesn't do the right thing.''
    In the days leading up to January 6th, President Trump's 
advisors explicitly told him that he should encourage his 
supporters to be peaceful that day. But he refused.
    One witness, Hope Hicks, provided the Committee with 
records of her text messages on January 6th. In one exchange 
with another staffer, he texted her, ``Hey. I know you're 
seeing this. But he,'' referring to President Trump, ``really 
should tweet something about [b]eing NON-violent.''
    ``I'm not there,'' Hicks replied. ``I suggested it several 
times Monday and Tuesday and he refused.''
    When Ms. Hicks came in to provide testimony to the 
Committee, we asked her about this exchange. Her explanation is 
that the ``he'' in this text wasn't the President but, rather, 
it was Eric Herschmann.
    Take a listen to her testimony.

    Mr. Wood. When you wrote, ``I suggested it several times''--and the 
``it'' presumably means that the President say something about being 
non-violent. You wrote, ``I suggested it several times Monday and 
Tuesday and he refused.'' Tell us what happened.
    Ms. Hicks. Sure. I didn't speak to the President about this 
directly, but I communicated to people like Eric Herschmann that it was 
my view that it was important that the President put out some kind of 
message in advance of the event.
    Mr. Wood. And what was Mr. Herschmann's response?
    Ms. Hicks. Mr. Herschmann said that he had made the same, you know, 
recommendation directly to the President and that he had refused.
    Mr. Wood. Just so I understand, Mr. Herschmann said that he had 
already recommended to the President that the President convey a 
message that people should be peaceful on January 6th, and the 
President had refused to do that?
    Ms. Hicks. Yes.

    Mrs. Murphy. The public will be able to review this in the 
transcripts and see the perspective Eric Herschmann gave before 
we took Hope Hicks's testimony.
    Despite having knowledge of the threats of violence 
presented by the crowd gathered on January 6th, President Trump 
gave an incendiary speech, declaring without basis that the 
election had been stolen and encouraging his supporters to 
``fight like hell.''
    During the speech and immediately thereafter, President 
Trump stated his intention to travel to the Capitol with his 
supporters in an effort to influence the joint session.
    The Select Committee has developed evidence indicating that 
President Trump did, in fact, intend to go to the Capitol on 
the afternoon of January 6th and that he repeatedly expressed 
that intention during the afternoon and in the days prior.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentlewoman yields back.
    The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Virginia, Mrs. 
Luria, for an opening statement.
    Mrs. Luria. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    All of President Trump's efforts came to a head on the 
afternoon of January 6th. Standing on the stage of the Ellipse, 
President Trump told tens of thousands of angry supporters that 
the election was stolen, that they had the power to change that 
if they marched to the Capitol, and that they wouldn't have a 
country anymore if the Presidency was taken away him. He told 
them he would be there with them. Then, as the crowd descended 
on the Capitol, President Trump watched it on television.
    Despite pleas from his senior advisors, from lawmakers on 
the Hill, and from his own children, President Trump would not 
issue a public statement instructing his supporters to disperse 
and leave the Capitol.
    Mr. Trump's failures span the period from 1:10 p.m., when 
his speech ended and he instructed his supporters to march to 
the Capitol, to 4:17 p.m., when he finally begrudgingly told 
his supporters to go home.
    For 187 minutes, he actively disregarded his constitutional 
obligation to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. 
As we have established through months of investigation, that is 
because the mob wanted what President Trump wanted: to impede 
the peaceful transition of power.
    These are the Select Committee's findings about President 
Trump's dereliction of duty.
    From the outset of the violence and for several hours that 
followed, people at the Capitol, people inside President 
Trump's administration, elected officials of both parties, 
members of President Trump's own family, and even Fox News 
commentators who were sympathetic to President Trump all tried 
to contact the White House to urge him to do one singular 
thing, the one thing that all of these people immediately 
understood was required: instruct his supporters to leave the 
Capitol.
    The President repeatedly refused pleas, as he watched the 
violence at the Capitol on television.
    During the day, the President never spoke with National 
Guard, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, or 
any law enforcement agency. At no point during the day, or any 
other, did he issue any order to deploy any law enforcement 
agency to assist.
    Multiple witnesses, including President Trump's White House 
Counsel, testified to these facts. You heard White House 
employees who had been speaking directly with President Trump 
state that ``he didn't want anything done.''
    The President was making phone calls that afternoon, but 
they weren't to law enforcement officials. Rather, President 
Trump continued to call his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Both 
President Trump and Mr. Giuliani spoke with congressional 
leaders, even after the violence had begun, to encourage them 
to continue delaying the session.
    Approximately 3 hours after being informed of the violence 
at the Capitol--hours during which, as our evidence has shown, 
Donald Trump sat in his dining room and watched the violence on 
television--the President released a video statement, in which 
he again repeated that the election was stolen, told his 
supporters at the Capitol that he loved them, and ultimately 
suggested that they disperse.
    This statement had an immediate impact on elements of the 
crowd, many of whom have testified that it led them to depart 
the Capitol.
    At 6:01 p.m., President Trump sent his last tweet of the 
day. He did not condemn the violence. Instead, he attempted to 
justify it.
    ``These are the things and events that happen when a sacred 
landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously 
stripped away,'' he wrote. ``Remember this day forever!''
    There is no doubt that President Trump thought that the 
actions of the rioters were justified. In the days after 
January 6th, he spoke to several different advisors, and in 
those conversations, he minimized the seriousness of the 
attack.
    Here is new testimony from another one of the President's 
senior advisors, Kellyanne Conway.

    Mr. George. You said you talked to the President the next day. Tell 
us about that conversation on the 7th.
    Ms. Conway. Yes. I don't think it was very long. I just said, that 
was just a terrible day, I'm working on a long statement. I said it's 
crazy.
    Mr. George. What did he say?
    Ms. Conway. ``No, these people are upset. They're very upset.''

    Mrs. Luria. In the days following the attack, President 
Trump also expressed a desire to pardon those involved in the 
attack. Since then, he has suggested that he will do so if he 
returns to the Oval Office.
    In summary, President Trump lit the flame, he poured 
gasoline on the fire, and sat by in the White House dining room 
for hours watching the fire burn. Today, he still continues to 
fan those flames. That was his extreme dereliction of duty.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentlewoman yields back.
    The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. 
Raskin, for an opening statement.
    Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I want to thank you for your extraordinary leadership of 
this Committee. Generations to come will praise you and the 
Vice Chair for your unswerving devotion to the rule of law.
    Several months ago, you tasked several of our Members in a 
subcommittee with bringing recommendations to the full 
Committee about potential referrals to the Department of 
Justice and other authorities based on evidence of criminal and 
civil offenses that has come to our attention over the course 
of our investigation. We are now prepared to share those 
recommendations today.
    Mr. Chairman, let me begin with some relevant background 
considerations to our criminal referrals. The dangerous assault 
on American constitutional democracy that took place on January 
6, 2021, consists of hundreds of individual criminal offenses. 
Most such crimes are already being prosecuted by the Department 
of Justice.
    We propose to the Committee advancing referrals where the 
gravity of the specific offense, the severity of its actual 
harm, and the centrality of the offender to the overall design 
of the unlawful scheme to overthrow the election compel us to 
speak. Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go 
to jail and the masterminds and ring leaders get a free pass.
    Mr. Chairman, as you know, our Committee had the 
opportunity last spring to present much of our evidence to a 
Federal judge, something that distinguishes our investigation 
from any other congressional investigation I can recall. In the 
context of resolving evidentiary privilege issues related to 
the crime-fraud doctrine, in the Eastman case, U.S. District 
Court Judge David Carter examined just a small subset of our 
evidence to determine whether it showed the likely commission 
of a Federal offense. The judge concluded that both former 
President Donald Trump and John Eastman likely violated two 
Federal criminal statutes. This is the starting point for our 
analysis today.
    The first criminal statute we invoke for referral, 
therefore, is title 18, section 1512(c), which makes it 
unlawful for anyone to corruptly obstruct, influence, or impede 
any official proceeding of the U.S. Government. We believe that 
the evidence described by my colleagues today and assembled 
throughout our hearings warrants a criminal referral of former 
President Donald J. Trump, John Eastman, and others for 
violations of this statute. The whole purpose and obvious 
effect of Trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence, and 
impede this official proceeding, the central moment for the 
lawful transfer of power in the United States.
    Second, we believe that there is more than sufficient 
evidence to refer former President Donald J. Trump, John 
Eastman, and others for violating title 18, section 371. This 
statute makes it a crime to conspire to defraud the United 
States, in other words, to make an agreement to impair, 
obstruct, or defeat the lawful functions of the U.S. Government 
by deceitful or dishonest means.
    Former President Trump did not engage in a plan to defraud 
the United States acting alone. He entered into agreements, 
formal and informal, with several other individuals who 
assisted him with his criminal objectives. Our report describes 
in detail the actions of numerous co-conspirators who agreed 
with and participated in Trump's plan to impair, obstruct, and 
defeat the certification of President Biden's electoral 
victory.
    That said, the subcommittee does not attempt to determine 
all of the potential participants in this conspiracy, as our 
understanding of the role of many individuals may be incomplete 
even today because they refused to answer our questions. We 
trust that the Department of Justice will be able to form a far 
more complete picture through its own investigation.
    Third, we make a referral based on title 18, section 1001, 
which makes it unlawful to knowingly and willfully make 
materially false statements to the Federal Government. The 
evidence clearly suggests that President Trump conspired with 
others to submit slates of fake electors to Congress and the 
National Archives. We believe that this evidence we set forth 
in our report is more than sufficient for a criminal referral 
of former President Donald J. Trump and others in connection 
with this offense.
    As before, we don't try to determine all of the 
participants in this conspiracy, many of whom refused to answer 
our questions while under oath. We trust that the Department of 
Justice will be able to form a more complete picture through 
its own investigation.
    The fourth and final statute we invoke for referral is 
title 18, section 2383. The statute applies to anyone who 
incites, assists, or engages in insurrection against the United 
States of America and anyone who gives aid or comfort to an 
insurrection.
    An insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the 
United States. It is a grave Federal offense anchored in the 
Constitution itself, which repeatedly opposes insurrections and 
domestic violence and indeed uses participation in insurrection 
by office holders as automatic grounds for disqualification 
from ever holding public office again at the Federal or State 
level.
    Anyone who incites others to engage in rebelling, assists 
them in doing so, or gives aid and comfort to those engaged in 
insurrection is guilty of a Federal crime. The Committee 
believes that more than sufficient evidence exists for a 
criminal referral of former President Trump for assisting or 
aiding and comforting those at the Capitol who engaged in a 
violent attack on the United States.
    The Committee has developed significant evidence that 
President Trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transition of 
power under our Constitution. The President has an affirmative 
and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the 
laws be faithfully executed. Nothing could be a greater 
betrayal of this duty than to assist in insurrection against 
the constitutional order. The complete factual basis for this 
referral is set forth in detail throughout our report.
    These are not the only statutes that are potentially 
relevant to President Trump's conduct related to the 2020 
election. Depending on evidence developed by the Department of 
Justice, the President's actions could certainly trigger other 
criminal violations.
    Nor are President Trump and his immediate team the only 
people identified for referrals in our report. As part of our 
investigation, we asked multiple Members of Congress to speak 
with us about issues critical to our understanding of this 
attack on the 2020 election and our system of constitutional 
democracy. None agreed to provide that essential information.
    As a result, we took the significant step of issuing them 
subpoenas based on the volume of information particular Members 
possessed about one or more parts of President Trump's plans to 
overturn the election. None of the subpoenaed Members complied, 
and we are now referring four Members of Congress for 
appropriate sanction by the House Ethics Committee for failure 
to comply with lawful subpoenas.
    Mr. Chairman, we understand the gravity of each and every 
referral we are making today, just as we understand the 
magnitude of the crime against democracy that we describe in 
our report. But we have gone where the facts and the law lead 
us, and inescapably they lead us here.
    Accordingly, Mr. Chairman, in light of these facts, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Chairman be directed to transmit to 
the United States Department of Justice relevant Select 
Committee records in furtherance of these criminal referrals.
    Chairman Thompson. Without objection, so ordered.
    Mr. Raskin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I now yield back.
    Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back.
    Pursuant to notice, I now call up the Select Committee's 
final report, pursuant to section 4(a) of House Resolution 503.
    The Clerk shall designate the report.
    [The clerk designated the report.]
    Chairman Thompson. Without objection, the report will be 
considered read and open to amendment at any point.*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    * The Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the 
January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is available at https:/
/www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf.
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    I now recognize the gentlewoman from Virginia, Mrs. Luria, 
for a motion.
    Mrs. Luria. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee 
favorably report to the House the Select Committee's final 
report, which includes the Committee's legislative 
recommendations and criminal referrals of Donald J. Trump and 
others, pursuant to section 4(a) of House Resolution 503.
    Chairman Thompson. The question is on the motion to 
favorably report to the House.
    Those in favor, say ``aye.''
    Those opposed, ``no.''
    In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it.
    Mrs. Luria. Mr. Chairman, I request a recorded vote.
    Chairman Thompson. A recorded vote is requested. The clerk 
will call the roll.
    [The clerk called the roll, and the result was announced as 
follows:]

                     Select Committee Rollcall No. 6
                Motion by Mrs. Luria to Favorably Report
                      Agreed to: 9 ayes and 0 noes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          Members                               Vote
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ms. Cheney, Vice Chair....................................          Aye
Ms. Lofgren...............................................          Aye
Mr. Schiff................................................          Aye
Mr. Aguilar...............................................          Aye
Mrs. Murphy (FL)..........................................          Aye
Mr. Raskin................................................          Aye
Mrs. Luria................................................          Aye
Mr. Kinzinger.............................................          Aye
Mr. Thompson (MS), Chairman...............................          Aye
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Chairman Thompson. The motion is agreed to.
    Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the 
table.
    Without objection, staff is authorized to make any 
necessary technical or conforming changes to the report to 
reflect the actions of the Committee.
    The Chair requests those in the hearing room remain seated 
until the Capitol Police have escorted Members from the room.
    There being no further business, without objection, the 
Select Committee stands adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 2:16 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

                                 [all]