Witness Intimidation?
From the NY Times…..
The seventh public hearing by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot focused on how Donald J. Trump and his allies turned their efforts toward summoning a mob of his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the election after they had exhausted all legal avenues. Relying on testimony from Trump aides, right-wing media commentators and militia members, the committee demonstrated how Mr. Trump’s public statements led his supporters to believe the election had actually been stolen and storm the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification.
Here are the four main takeaways from the hearing:
A Trump Tweet Mobilized the Crowd for Jan. 6
In the early morning hours of Dec. 19, 2020, Mr. Trump put out a tweet calling on his supporters to come to Washington on Jan. 6.
“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “Be there, will be wild!”
The committee demonstrated how the tweet served as a rallying cry for Mr. Trump’s supporters — including extremist organizations and right-wing media commentators….
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New Evidence Showed Plans to Go to the Capitol
The committee presented new evidence that showed Mr. Trump and his allies had more extensive plans than previously known for him and his supporters to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Documents obtained by the committee showed that a tweet was drafted for Mr. Trump — which he saw — that called on his supporters to march to the Capitol after his address.
“Making a big speech at 10:00 A.M. January 6 south of the White House,” the draft tweet said. “Please arrive early. Massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!!”
The tweet was never sent, but the committee suggested it was just one piece of evidence showing that, in the days leading up to Jan. 6, Mr. Trump and his allies had discussed plans for him to go to the area around the Capitol after the rally on the Ellipse….
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More Warnings Against Witness Tampering
As she did at the end of the previous hearing two weeks ago, Representative Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair, warned against witness tampering in her closing statement — and this time her message was aimed directly at Mr. Trump.
Ms. Cheney said that a witness — whom she declined to identify other than to say the person’s testimony had not been made public so far — had gotten a call in the last two weeks from Mr. Trump. The witness, Ms. Cheney said, received the call after the last hearing, in which Cassidy Hutchinson, a former West Wing aide, provided damning testimony about Mr. Trump.
Ms. Cheney said that the witness declined to pick up Mr. Trump’s call or respond to it. But the witness told his or her lawyer, who alerted the committee. The committee then passed the information along to the Justice Department, which on Tuesday declined to comment.
“Let me say one more time, we will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously,” Ms. Cheney said…