Jan. 6 hearings, Day 4 recap Panel links Trump to fake electors plan

Multiple people have told the Jan. 6 committee they pushed back against the Trump team’s effort to corrupt the 2020 presidential election because of their faith, or deeply held beliefs. But when Republican lawmaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers testified to that, it was literal.

Bowers, speaker of the Arizona House, told the committee Tuesday of his revulsion toward Rudy Giuliani’s request that he replace Biden electors in the state with Trump ones. Giuliani never provided proof of any kind that votes were stolen, and instead appealed, Bowers testified, to their shared partisan affiliation.

“On more than one occasion throughout all this that has been brought up,” Bowers said, when Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) asked him why he considered Giuliani’s ask an affront, “and it is a tenet of my faith. That the Constitution is divinely inspired. My most basic foundational beliefs. And for me to do that — because someone just asked me to? [It] is foreign to my very being. I will not do it.”

Bowers is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose scriptures call the Constitution divinely inspired, “in order to prepare the way for the Restoration of the Gospel,” according to the church’s website. “Constitutional law should be befriended,” it reads in one place, and “The Lord caused the Constitution to be established” in another.

Mormonism, unlike the major denominations in the United States, was born in this country, founded in the early 1800s in the state of New York. Members of the church looked to the Constitution as a beacon for their freedom. Joseph Smith, the founder of the faith, made several prophesies that it would be saved by members of the church.

The stories shared during Tuesday’s hearing were meant to evoke sympathy — and were a reminder that the defense of American democracy in the wake of former president Donald Trump’s false allegations of fraud rested on the shoulders of courageous individuals.

As Philip Bump writes, the two election workers, mother Ruby Freeman and daughter Shaye Moss, who testified Tuesday, along with three Republican officials, reminded us that individuals contributed their own small power to an aggregate that managed to deflect the unchecked anger and the concentrated power of the president of the United States.

Moss and Bowers testified before the House committee in part as a condemnation of Trump’s efforts. But they were also there, the committee made clear, to demonstrate that the collective action of honorable Americans at the state and local level is the only backstop we have against a collapse into authoritarianism.

As Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the panel, said at the beginning of the hearing: “A handful of election officials in several key states stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy.”

Tuesday’s witnesses did not seek out attention — they were just doing their jobs. And they were targeted by Trump for doing so.

Part of the argument being made by the committee was that Trump bore the blame for they way in which these officials had been targeted. But the committee also used the stories to make one of its first prescriptive suggestions for avoiding a future attempt by a president to illegally retain power, an essential part of its mandate: state-level officials must both be protected and must themselves protect the Constitution.

Read more from Philip here.

It is unclear whether former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who could be a bombshell witness for the Jan. 6 committee, will actually appear publicly. A person close to Cipollone said that he had been “cooperative with the committee, with President Trump’s permission” but that “there are serious institutional concerns and privilege issues. And those have been recognized by the committee.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has disputed accusations from the committee that the senator was directly involved with a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. At the Tuesday hearing, the committee published transcripts of text messages that investigators say show a Johnson staffer asking a staffer for Vice President Mike Pence if the senator could present fake elector certifications during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

“The senator had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office. This was a staff to staff exchange. His new Chief of Staff contacted the Vice President’s office,” Johnson press secretary Alexa Henning wrote in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.

Henning did not contest the authenticity of the text messages, saying instead that Johnson was not involved in the “creation” of the fake elector certificates themselves. Henning’s statement does not contest the committee’s core claim, which is that Johnson lobbied the vice president to accept fake elector certificates in an effort to subvert the 2020 election.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) praised election worker Ruby Freeman for her service to the country and also her courage after facing death threats and more harassment from Trump supporters wanting her to help change the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“Thank you for your courage,” she said Tuesday in her closing testimony. “Thank you for your strength. Thank you for being here today. It means so much for everyone to hear your story. So thank you for that. We have had tremendous testimony today.”

Cheney said Freeman’s testimony of not succumbing to pressure — even at her home — by those supporting the former president to break the law is proof of her commitment to America’s electoral process.

“We’ve been reminded that we’re a nation of laws, and we’ve been reminded by you and by Speaker Bowers and Secretary of State Raffensperger, Mr. Sterling [Georgia state official Gabe Sterling], that our institutions don’t defend themselves,” Cheney said.

Cheney also criticized those close to Trump whom the committee has requested to testify for their refusal to answer questions that would provide further insight into the former president’s efforts to prevent the election results from being certified.

We got an interesting moment at the end of the hearing, when Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the committee’s vice chair, went direct to camera to pressure former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to testify, saying she knows that former president Donald Trump doesn’t want the public to hear his testimony. The committee is still in discussions with Cipollone.

Cipollone was often berated by Trump and had a fraught relationship with the former president, but he has largely stayed quiet after Jan. 6 and has rejected many opportunities to speak out. Getting him to testify would be a significant win, people on the committee have said.

The committee’s narrative strategy has been defined by its decision to frame the story of President Donald Trump’s bid to overturn the results of the election in the words of Republicans and his top allies. It’s also been defined by the committee’s ability to draw out emotional testimony from live witnesses in the hearing room, about the tragic life moments caused by Trump’s actions.

In Tuesday’s hearing, Arizona House Speaker Russell “Rusty” Bowers (R) spoke tearfully about receiving threats to his family, as his daughter was seriously ill. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) described the harassment directed at his wife and talked about how people broke into his daughter-in-law’s home. “My son has passed, and she’s widowed and has two kids, so we’re very concerned about her safety also,” Raffensperger said.

Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss’s voice quivered as she talked about the toll Trump’s false claims about her work as a Georgia election worker took — and continue to take — on her and her mother. The committee played video of her mother, Ruby Freeman, from her private interview with investigators. “I’m scared to give my name during food orders,” Freeman said. “I’ve lost my name and my reputation, and I’ve lost my sense of security.”

At least in the hearing room, it’s been these moments that have resonated most. If the committee does ultimately change minds, it might not be through facts but feeling.