Let's listen to the chairman,
congressman Bennie Thompson.
Chair Thompson: The select
committee to investigate the
January 6 attack on the united
States capital 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 hearing.
That afternoon.
-- Good afternoon.
In our last hearing we told the
story of a scheme driven by
Donald Trump pressure former
vice president Mike pence to
illegally overturn the election
results.
We showed that when the pressure
campaign failed and Mike pence
fulfilled his constitutional
obligation, Donald Trump turned
a violent mob loose on him.
We showed that the mob came
within roughly 40 feet of the
vice president.
Today, we will show that what
happened to Mike pence wasn't an
isolated part of Donald Trump's
scheme to overturn the election.
In fact, pressure on public
servants into betraying their
oats was a fundamental part of
the playbook -- both -- oaths
was a fundamental part of the
playbook.
Several stood between Donald
Trump and the upending of
American democracy.
It is important to remember when
we count the votes for
president, we count the votes
state-by-state.
For the most part, the
candidates who win the popular
vote in a state wins all the
state's electoral college votes
and whoever wins the majority of
the electoral college votes wins
the presidency.
So when Donald Trump tried to
overturn the election results he
focused on just a few states.
He wanted officials at the local
and state level to say the vote
was tainted by widespread fraud
and throughout the result --
throw out the results, even
though we showed last week there
wasn't any voter fraud could
have overturned the election
results.
And like Mike pence, these
public servants wouldn't go
along with Donald Trump's scheme
.
When they wouldn't embrace the
big lie and substitute the will
of the voters with Donald
Trump's will to remain in power,
Donald Trump worked to ensure
they faced the consequences.
Threats to people's livelihood
and lives, threats of violence
that Donald Trump knew about and
amplified.
And in our other hearings, we
can't just look backward at what
happened in late 2020 and into
early 2021 because the danger
hadn't gone away.
Our democracy endured a mighty
test on January 6 and in the
days before.
We say our institutions held but
what does that really mean?
Democratic institutions aren't
abstractions or ideas.
They are local officials who
oversee elections, secretaries
of state, people in whom we
placed our trust that they will
carry out their duties.
But what if they don't?
Two weeks ago, New Mexico held
its primary elections.
One county commission refused to
certify the results, citing
vague unsupported claims dealing
with dominion voting machines.
The court stepped in saying new
Mexico law are required the
commission to certify the
results.
Two of the three members of the
commission finally relented.
One still refused, saying his
vote "Isn't based on any
evidence.
It's not based on any facts.
It's only based on my gut
feeling and my own intuition and
that's all I need."
By the way, a few months ago,
this county commissioner was
found guilty of illegally
entering the capitol grounds on
January 6.
This story reminds us of a few
things.
First, as we've shown in our
previous hearings, claims that
widespread voter fraud tainted
the 2020 presidential election
have always been a lie.
Donald Trump knew they were ally
and kept amplifying them -- new
they were a lie and kept
amplifying them anyway.
The relentless, destructive
pressure campaign on state and
local officials was all based on
a lie.
Donald Trump knew it.
He did it anyway.
Second, the lie hasn't gone
away.
It is corrupting our democratic
institutions.
People who believe that life are
now seeking position -- that lie
are now seeking positions of
public trust and as is seen in
New Mexico, their oath to the
people they serve will take a
backseat to their commitment to
the big lie.
If that happens, who will make
sure our institutions don't