The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot is set to begin its third public hearing today. Before the hearing, a video was released Wednesday showing a congressman giving a tour to one rioter on Jan. 5, 2021.
Here’s the latest:
Updated 3:20 p.m. EST — Vice President Mike Pence's life was in danger during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as a confidential informant from the Proud Boys shared with the FBI that if they had found him, they would have killed him.
For the first time, it was explained how close rioters got to Pence on the day of the attack as a graphic showed while taking an evacuation route, Pence was 40 feet from rioters.
Greg Jacob was with the vice president on the day of the attack at the Capitol and also shared that Pence refused to leave the Capitol while his staffers followed orders and entered the Secret Service vehicles.
Jacob also shared that Pence had not received a call from Trump at any point of the attack on the Capitol.
Updated 2 p.m. EST — Jacob shared in his testimony that the claim that Pence had the ability to throw out disputed electoral votes was nothing short of false.
He shared that every election had been examined to see if this “power” had been used before and they did not find anything. Jacob also shared that he finds it hard to believe the founders of the nation would give power to one person to select the president after winning independence from George the Third.
The claim was brought to President Trump by a law professor John Eastman who claimed in a memo that Pence had the power. Several depositions were shown disputing Eastman’s claims, including one by White House lawyer Eric Herschmann who called the proposition insane.
In his deposition, Herschmann also shared that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had called him the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, to discuss the theory. He said Giuliani admitted to him that the theory was most likely wrong.
However, Giuliani then went out before crowds that same morning with Eastman to declare the opposite, continuing to push for Pence to overturn the election.
Jacob and former VP Chief of Staff Marc Short also shared that Pence had informed Trump of his intentions to not overturn the election, and despite this Trump continued his efforts to pressure him into obeying his order.
Updated 1:17 p.m. EST — Thursday’s hearings opened with clips of former Vice President Mike Pence condemning Trump’s claims that he had the power to overturn the election during an event.
Deposition of former counsel to Pence, Greg Jacob, was shown, in which he shared that he had been present when Trump was informed that what he had proposed to Pence — overturning the election — was illegal.
During opening statements, clips of protestors chanting “hang Mike Pence” were shown after Trump gave a speech attempting to pressure Pence into overturning the election.
Updated 11 a.m. EST — The tour seen in the video has long been questioned, and more so after the released video seemed to challenge the findings of the U.S. Capitol Police.
The footage in question shows Georgia GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk giving a tour to the future rioter just a day before the insurrection.
Due to the conflicting findings, the committee has requested information from Loudermilk, but there has been no report on if he will or has complied.
In portions of the released video, the rioter, who was outside the Capitol screaming threats about Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 6, could be seen taking photos of tunnels, hallways, and staircases inside the Capitol complex.
The man has not been identified, but the committee was said to have interviewed him, according to CNN. But the committee has not said whether or not the man entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The third public hearing is set to begin at 1 p.m. EST. It will feature several witnesses as the committee looks to show the pressure put on former Vice President Mike Pence by former President Donald Trump to overturn the election.
Witnesses included Greg Jacob, a former counsel to Pence, and retired Judge Michael Luttig, who served for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and as an informal advisor for Pence.
The select committee canceled its hearing on Wednesday, but the committee's Vice Chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming), shared a video on Twitter breaking down the plan for Thursday's hearing.
"The select committee will examine President Trump's relentless effort on January 6 and in the days beforehand to pressure Vice President Pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes," Cheney said.
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