The January 6 House select committee held its final hearing for the month, sharing new details about former president Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure top justice department officials to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The panel outlined how Trump directed his wide-ranging bid to strong-arm the Department of Justice into overturning the election, making it the most brazen attempt by a sitting president since Watergate to manipulate the U.S. law enforcement apparatus to cling to power.
There were five hearings this month. Through each hearing, investigators presented a meticulous account of Trump’s efforts to cling to power after losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.
The panel showed how Trump and his allies explored every possible way to promote lies about widespread election fraud. This included pressuring his vice president Mike Pence, and leaning on state election officials and justice department leaders.
There was much testimony from top officials who resisted Trump’s efforts. The committee showed how Trump repeatedly tried to use the Justice Department to interfere in the election. He badgered leaders of the department to act on false, unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. This included pushing wild internet hoaxes. He also explored naming a conspiracy theorist to serve as a special counsel to investigate election fraud, further perpetuating his own web of lies.
Justice Department officials kept telling Trump they had investigated and proven wrong his allegations of fraud. Trump pushed back, saying they did not need evidence.
“Just say the election is corrupt and leave the rest to me,” Trump told Justice Department officials.
When they refused to follow his demands, Trump instead embraced a plan to remove the acting attorney general and install his own loyalist, Jeffrey Clark.
This fifth public hearing showed a portrait of an embattled Justice Department that tried frantically to stave off a constitutional crisis driven by the U.S. president, who refused to step down from power.
The committee said this is just the beginning.
Six hearings were originally planned, but the hearings have sparked a flood of new information and tips about the insurrection, the committee said, therefore necessitating additional hearings next month.
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