These were just some of the details from the Commission’s fourth hearing on Tuesday, 6 January. Arizona House Speaker Rasti Bowers, a Republican who was actively rooted in Donald Trump’s re-election in 2020, testified before the January 6 commission that the former president had repeatedly tried to pressure him to take steps to – a move he refused to make because it would be clearly illegal. “This is a tragic parody,” Bowers told the panel, recalling the utter stupidity and level of incompetence shown by Trump and his lawyers. Bowers was among several state-level politicians who were pressured to abuse the legislature to overturn the election results and instead of falsely electing Trump-affiliated constituencies. Bowers testified that one of Trump’s lawyers, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, told him: “We have a lot of theories, we just don’t have the evidence.” Bowers also testified that when he stood his ground and refused to summon Arizona lawmakers to do so, another of Trump’s lawyers, the embarrassed college professor John Eastman, told him “just do it and let the courts decide.” ». “You are asking me to do something against my oath and I will not break my oath,” Bowers recalled answering to Trump, Giuliani and others. The Jan. 6 commission kicked off its fourth hearing Tuesday, showing how close former President Donald Trump came to achieving his goal. President Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said that “the pressure of civil servants to betray their oath was a fundamental part of Trump’s game book” and that “only a handful of officials … stood between Donald Trump and the overthrow of American Republic. “ Thompson also warned that Trump’s authoritarian threat continues as Big Lie conspiracy theorists continue to vote to run for office locally, where they could stand in the way of validating legitimate election results. Thompson set a recent example – a New Mexico county commissioner (and leader of the “Cowboys for Trump” who stormed the Capitol building last year) who refused to certify the results of the local primary and had to be annulled by the Supreme Court. state last week. Bowers, the top lawmaker in the Arizona House of Representatives, recalled a phone call in which Trump and his team pressured Bowers to set up a fake legislature with the explicit goal of overturning the state election results. Bowers described talks with Eastman and Giuliani, who urged the Arizona politician to replace the “electorate” of the electoral college who were to vote for Joe Biden with an alternative group that promised allegiance to Trump. On Tuesday, the commission showed an email that appears to show how Trump’s strategy was based on smoke and mirrors when the data was not gathered. “The fact that we have multiple voter lists demonstrates the uncertainty of either. That should be enough,” Eastman wrote in a Trump campaign spokesman. The commission highlighted an email from renowned Conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, written just two days after the November 3, 2020 election, that showed how this plan was working from the beginning. In it, he asked Eastman to draft a legal note outlining an innovative way for state legislatures to take control of the electoral process. “Because the legislatures have not been able to regain this constitutional duty and appoint the electorate,” he wrote. “What do you say about that? A movement is revolting. But it needs constitutional support.” The campaign of pressure also continued to the end — with the help of members of Congress. The commission’s investigators received a text message in which an employee of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) tried to coordinate with an employee of Vice President Mike Pence to get a list of “alternate” voters just hours before Congress to officially certify the results of the 2020 election with Pence in the court. Trump’s group of followers followed this path because the National Archives apparently did not accept them. “Johnson must give something to VPOTUS, please advise,” Sean Riley wrote from Johnson’s staff to Chris Hodgson at noon on June 6, 2021. “Alternative ballot for MI and WI because the archivist did not receive them.” “Do not give him that,” Hodgson replied. Brad Rafensperger, Georgia’s foreign minister, whom Trump called in January 2021 to ask him to “find 11,780 votes” to reverse the election and reverse his defeat, told the committee he fully supported Trump in 2020. However, he claimed that the election in his state was conducted professionally – and that Trump was wrong. “There were no votes to be found; the numbers are the numbers. “The numbers do not lie,” Raffensperger testified. “Twenty-eight thousand Georgians missed the presidential race, but voted against it in other races; that’s why President Trump was unlucky.” Raffensperger wrote a book about the ordeal last year, saying: “Now he has directly attacked the election itself. He was asking me, as Georgia’s foreign minister, to “find 11,780 votes” – enough to claim a victory in our state. On Tuesday, the state election official also described how angry Trumpists bombarded his wife with disgusting sexual messages and stormed their dead son’s home, scaring their bride. Over the weekend, Trump himself went on the defensive, making many bizarre posts on his own Truth Social Twitter app targeting Raffensperger. “My phone call to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, with many other people, including many lawyers, to my knowledge on the line, was absolutely PERFECT and appropriate. YES, it was a PERFECT CALL “, he published on Sunday. Then there is the unusual call that Trump made to the then Georgian election investigator, Francis Watson, while her team was examining allegations of electoral fraud. The commission said it had evidence that Trump’s team followed suit with an absurd plan to send Secretary of State Make America Great Again’s investigative team, including coins and MAGA hats with autographs. White House officials were able to intervene. Co-chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) noted how Trump’s public targeting of Bowers and Rafensperger led to death threats against these officials and their families. “We can not let America become a nation of conspiracy theorists and violent criminals,” he said. The hearing ended with the emotional testimony of two former election workers in Fulton County, Georgia, a mother and daughter who were falsely accused by Trump and Giuliani of secretly conspiring to sneak into suitcases with illegal ballots. Shaye Moss, whom Giuliani publicly identified by her name, told the committee that conspiracy theories had a devastating effect on her family. “It turned my life upside down,” Moss said. “I no longer give my business card. I do not transfer calls. I do not want anyone to know my name. I do not want to go anywhere with my mom. I do not go to the grocery store at all. I have not gone anywhere at all. I have gained about 60 kilos. “I’m just not doing anything anymore.” Moss’s mother, Ruby Freeman, also had to leave her home for two months after the FBI told her it was not safe to stay at her home. “There is nowhere to feel safe,” Freeman said. “Do you know how it feels to be targeted by the President of the United States?”
