for any opening statement she
would care to offer.
Rep. Cheney: Thank you very
much.
Today we will begin examining
president trump's effort to
overturn the election I exerting
pressure on state officials and
legislatures.
Donald Trump had a direct and
personal role in this effort as
did Rudy Giuliani, as did John
Eastman.
In other words, the same people
who were attempting to pressure
vice president Mike pence to
reject electoral votes
illegally, were also
simultaneously working to
reverse the outcome of the 2020
election at the state level.
Each of these efforts to
overturn the election is
independently serious.
Each deserves attention both by
congress and by our department
of justice.
But as a federal court has
already indicated, these efforts
were also part of a broader plan
and all of this was done in
preparation for January 6.
I would note two points for
particular focus today.
First, today you will hear about
calls made by president trump
officials of Georgia and other
states.
As you listen to these tapes,
keep in mind what Donald Trump
already knew at the time he was
making those calls.
He had been told over and over
again that his stolen election
allegations were nonsense.
For example, this is what former
attorney general bill Barr said
the president about allegations
in Georgia.
>> We took a hard look at this
ourselves and based on our
review of it including the
interviews of the key witnesses,
the Fulton county allegations
were -- had no merit.
The ballots under the table were
legitimate ballots.
They weren't in a suitcase.
They had been pre-opened for
eventually feeding into the
machine.
All of this stuff into the water
leak and the subterfuge, we
thought was confusing but there
was no evidence of a subterfuge
to create an opportunity to feed
things into the account.
So we didn't see any evidence of
fraud in the Fulton county
episode.
Rep. Cheney: Richard Donoghue
told Donald Trump this.
>> And I said something to the
effect of, sir, we've done
dozens of investigations,
hundreds of interviews.
The major allegations are not
supported.
Rep. Cheney: Told by his
advisors he had no basis for
stolen election claims yet
continue to pressure officials
to change the results.
You will hear about a number of
threats and efforts to pressure
state officials to reverse the
election outcome.
One of our witnesses today,
Gabriel sterling, explicitly
warned president trump about
potential violence on January 6
-- January 1 -- 2020.
You will see excerpts from that
video repeatedly today.
>> It had all gone too far.
All of it.
Joe genoa asked for Chris Krebs,
a patriot, to be shot.
A twentysomething tech in
gwinnett county has death
threats and a noose saying he
should be hung for treason
because he was transferring a
report on batches from ems to a
county computer to read it.
It has to stop.
Mr. President, you have not
condemned these actions or this
language.
Senators, you have not condemned
this language or these actions.
This has to stop.
We need to -- we need you to
step up and show some.
My boss, secretary
raffensperger, his address is
out there.
They have people doing caravans
in front of their house, come
onto their property.
It has to stop.
This is elections.
This is the backbone of
democracy and all of you who
have not said a damn word are
complicit in this.
Rep. Cheney: The point is this
-- Donald Trump did not care
about the threats of violence.
He did not condemn them.
He made no effort to stop them.
He went forward with his fake
allegations anyway.
One more point, I would urge all
of those watching today to focus
on the evidence the committee
will present.
Don't be distracted by politics.
This is serious.
We cannot let America become a
nation of conspiracy theories
and thug violence.
I want to thank our witnesses
today for all of your service to
our country.
Today all of America will hear
about the selfless actions of
these men and women who acted
honorably to uphold the law,
protect our freedom, and
preserve our constitution.