[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
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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
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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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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]