The January 6th Committee focuses on then Vice President Mike Pence.

 Co-chairpersons addressed the meeting gathered in the Capitol building.

1:04 pm

Vice President Pence addressed the Federalist Society stating he does not have the legal right, nor the moral right to overturn a legitimate election vote by the American people.

1:05

Marc Short

1:07

There was a Twitter message by Trump after the violent insurrectine began focusing on Vice President Pence as an enemy to Trump.

Vice President Pence valued his oath of office and was supported before and after of many Republicans.

1:09 pm

January 6th is not an isolated incident with Rep. Pete Aguilar speaking. Explicit content in a video from January 6th. "Pence caved..." with a variety of swearing at the Vice President. The crowd received word that the Vice President was not on board to violate the USA Constitution and carry out a Coup against the incoming president.

The pressure on the Vice President was exceptional and he stood up to it. Trump stated Vice President Pence did not have the guts to carry out the coup.

1:13  Fomer Judge Littig to speak. He was a Pence supporter in protecting the USA Constitution. He is an appointee by Former President George W. Bush.

1:14 pm

Witnesses sworn in. The witnesses answered in the affirmative in swearing to tell the truth.

1:15 pm 

62 cases of litigation to reverse the election as a run up to January 6th. He finally latched onto the idea one man could select the President and that man was then Vice President Pence. Nothing stopped Trump regardless of the illegality of the entire scheme.

1:17 pm

Greg Jacob, former council to Vice Pesident Pence, testimony is about the methods used to handle objections to the electoral count. Trump's theory was evaluated and focused on one sentence in the USA Constitution that was poorly worded when drafted. The law that developed the Electoral College is not an amendment to the USA Constitution.

Since 1887, 3 U.S.C. 15 has set the method for objections by Members of Congress to electoral votes. During the Joint Session, lawmakers may object to individual electoral votes or to state returns as a whole. An objection must be declared in writing and signed by at least one Representative and one Senator. In the case of an objection, the Joint Session recesses and each chamber considers the objection separately for no more than two hours; each Member may speak for five minutes or less. After each house votes on whether to accept the objection, the Joint Session reconvenes and both chambers disclose their decisions. If both chambers agree to the objection, the electoral votes in question are not counted. If either chamber opposes the objection, the votes are counted.

1:20 pm

Judge Luttig in his written statement submitted to the committee said the idea one man, the Vice President, would instill an unelected president in office it would have caused a profound constitutional crisis and plunged the country into chaos.

Judge Luttig states there is a simple foundational proof of the USA. Profound truth, namely The Rule of Law in the United States of America is whether that foundational Rule of Law was supremely violated on January 6, 2021.

Had Vice President Pence obeyed the orders from his President and the President of the USA during the joint session of Congress of the USA on January 6, 2021 and declared the next president of the USA was Donald John Trump, would have plunged America into what Judge Luttig believes would be a revolution within a constitutional crisis. In his view, would have been the first constitutional crisis since the founding of the republic. The judge humbly states that was just one man's opinion. Judge Luttig has solid credentials that afford him that valued opinion.

1:27 pm

There were secondary electorates standing by to elect Trump. Eastman took up the issue. He stated it was non-sensical to believe the Vice President could carry out such a scheme. "Dual Slates of Electors"

Jacob states there were no dual slates of electors.

Trump's last lawyer, Mr. Herschmann states can dismiss Biden electors. Eastman lied because that was not a valid point of view. The fake electors had no legal weight as stated by Eastman later.

Judge Luttig states the fake electors did not have support from the US Constitution or the laws of the USA facilitated by the Vice President. He is aware of the passage from Eastman's memo. Eastman was wrong that there was historical precedent and legal authority for fake electors. There was no historical precedent from the beginning of the founding of 1789 that would support the Vice President of the USA to count fake electors.

1:33 pm

John Wood asked Judge Luttig to explain his analysis of his written statement. Mr. Wood states Mr. Eastman was inccorrect in his conclusion to have the Vice President acted unilaterally to place a president in the White House. Judge Luttig finds no basis in the USA Constitution for Dr. Eastman's assessment of the potential for fake electors. Eastman states the USA Constitution was unartfully written. The Judge states the USA Constitution is completely clear that the Vice President does not have the power to place a president in the White House.

Twelfth Amendment (click here)

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;-The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;-The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President-The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

100 years later, there is a law that today is viewed as a work in progress.

...During Reconstruction, (click here) the period after the Civil War, Congress faced contentious questions over whether Southern states appropriately appointed presidential electors. At other times, two sets of competing electors for different candidates were sent to Congress.

The Electoral Count Act was enacted in 1887 to streamline rules after the disputed presidential election of 1876.

But in recent years, the act has revealed some weaknesses.

The act allows members of Congress to object to counting votes from a state. They can do that if one member of the House and one Senator write an objection. The Electoral Count Act does not list what kind of objections are proper, leaving it to Congress to decide if objections are appropriate or not. If this kind of dispute arises, Congress can debate what to do with the electoral votes....

Judge Luttig states the language of the Twelfth Amendment is just that simple in the instruction as to how to count the Electoral Votes.

Greg Jocob states in 1876 there were layers of electoral votes that needed to be dealt with, hence the Electoral Count Act of 1887. The text in the 12th Amendment there is no ambiguity as to how to conduct the Electoral College. 

The framers of the USA Consitution had established three branches of government and the idea of one man, the Vice President, was powerful enough to decide the next president simply is not supported in all the history of the USA.

This is from the University of Virginia.

In the presidential election of 1876, (click here) Democrat Samuel Tilden ran against Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. At the end of election day, no clear winner emerged because the outcomes in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were unclear. Both parties claimed victory in those states, but Republican-controlled “returning” boards would determine the official electoral votes....

There is no theory permitted as the one proposed by Trump.

This is from the Smithsonian:

Lawmakers (click here) are citing the 19th-century crisis as precedent to dispute the 2020 election. Here’s a closer look at its events and legacy

On election night, Republican presidential candidate and Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes was losing so badly that he prepared his concession speech before turning in for the night. His party chairman went to bed with a bottle of whiskey. “We soon fell into a refreshing sleep,” Hayes later wrote in his diary about the events of November 7, 1876. “[T]he affair seemed over.”

But after four months of fierce debate and negotiations, Hayes would be sworn into office as 19th president of the United States. Historians often describe his narrow, controversial win over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden as one of the most bitterly contested presidential elections in history....

Eastman testimony states again that the idea of overthrowing the 2020 election would cause rioting in the streets.

Fox News host Sean Hannity (click here) repeatedly tried to rein in former president Donald Trump in text messages to his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in the days before and after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

In a letter requesting Hannity's testimony on Tuesday, the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection revealed several of the Fox News host's text messages to Meadows and others.

"We can't lose the entire WH counsel's office," Hannity wrote to Meadows on Dec. 31, apparently referring to White House lawyers' threats to quit over Trump's efforts to overturn the election....

"I do not see January 6 happening the way he is being told," Hannity wrote of Trump, before effectively encouraging the former president to accept defeat....

Jared about Pat Cipollone states he took it as whining rather than sincere objection. Jared never understood the brevity of Cipollone's statements about leaving the service of the White House.

1:58

Eastman never believed the nonsense he stated to Trump as a potential to overturn the election.

Judge Luttig states he believe the effort to overturn the 2020 election stated Eastman told Trump there was both legal and historic precedent to overturn the election. He believes as all the players lead by Mr. Eastman got wrapped around the axil by the historical evidence claim. Very simply this is what Judge Luttig said in short if he was advising the Vice President on January 6th and even the historical Vice President Jefferson and Adams had even Richard Nixon had done exactly what Trump wanted Pence to do, he would lay his body across the road before I would allow the Vice President to overturn the 2020 election on the basis of historical precedent. What everyone needs to know that the historical aspect of the argument of Mr. Eastman was the focus of the coup.

There was some belief that the Supreme Court would not allow the overthrow, but, it could have been less than unanimous and perhaps 7-2.

June 16, 2022

Washington - A lawyer advising President Donald Trump (click here) claimed in an email after Election Day 2020 to have insight into a “heated fight” among the Supreme Court justices over whether to hear arguments about the president’s efforts to overturn his defeat at the polls, two people briefed on the email said.

The lawyer, John Eastman, made the statement in a Dec. 24, 2020, exchange with a Wisconsin lawyer and Trump campaign officials over whether to file legal papers that they hoped might prompt four justices to agree to hear an election case from Wisconsin.

“So the odds are not based on the legal merits but an assessment of the justices’ spines, and I understand that there is a heated fight underway,” Eastman wrote, according to the people briefed on the contents of the email. Referring to the process by which at least four justices are needed to take up a case, he added, “For those willing to do their duty, we should help them by giving them a Wisconsin cert petition to add into the mix.”...

2:07

Mr. Short statement about Paul Ryan. Vice President Pence refused to go along with the idea he could determine the outcome of the election.

I personally am impressed by the integrity of the people surrounding the electoral vote in the face of enormous Trump corruption. The election and the USA Constitution was never in danger.

There is still danger as the Trumpees in the USA seek to have influence over the electorate in Secretary of State office and local voting authorities. It continues to be a problem and a concern. The American people, in voting, is being disregarded as the only authority to place their leadership.

I am very grateful to Judge Luttig for bringing the insight he has about the legal status of the Electoral College Count. That insight is invaluable to the American people to understand why this committee was so very important to the well being of our country and it's sovereign state.

Weeks of disruption by Trump to coup the 2020 election. Trump needs to be held for his desire to destroy the election, hence a coup, and quite possibly plung the country into chaos and possibly revolution. I might add that such a revolution would likely occur by the simply fact the White Supremacists would use it to kill minority members of our country. They would not have hestiated if there was a coup within the Capitol that day.

2:15 pm

Did Eastman tell Trump his ideas would violate the Electoral Count Act. Eastman stated he thought the Electoral Count Act was unconstitutional. Mr. Jacob raised concern about Eastman's statements to Trump. Mr. Jacob stated all that Eastman had was a few weakly worded text but no one would ever uphold the idea that an coup was legitimate within those text.

In the face of all the precautions stated to Trump, Trump continued to stir unrest with the crowd focusing on the Vice President to conduct the coup from within the Joint Meeting of Congress.

Mr. Jacob asks about the meeting on January 5th. Mr. Jacob was to meet with Mr. Eastman the next day. Mr. Jacob met with Mr. Eastman in Mark Shorts office. Mr. Eastman was in attendance of the meeting about 11 AM.  In the meeting with Mr. Jacob, Mr. Eastman stated he requested that the electorate count be interrupted in the meeting of January 5th. Mr. Eastman was there to ask the Vice President to refuse the electorate vote. Mr. Jacob stated the Electoral Count Act would require the electors to be sent back to the states. Conservatives, small government people and the strategy was walked through by Mr. Jacob. Eastman didn't believe the courts would get involved as it was up to the states to send the electors withn ten days. If the courts did not step in to resolve the coup, there would be no other authority to step in. There would be a House and Senate opposing each other and state legislators had no intention of overthrowing the election by the people. No state legislators were interested in the coup. Good. Mr. Jacob saw the courts stepping into the decisions. Mr. Jacob stated he wanted to agree with Eastman to that it was a terrible idea. Eastman only resigned to the fact that Mr. Jacob wasn't interested in the coup.

The January 5th meeting could have been pivotal to the coup. Eastman was the primary person involved in pushing the coup. He was interested in sending back to the states as history did not support the coup. Plenary Vice Presidential authority. The only way statutory law could be ignored if the Vice President has the penary authority to disregard the law.

Mr. Jacob met with Eastman the morning of January 5th and the Vice President was at his residence but then asked to the Oval Office. The Vice President stated he looked at all the options and there was no way around the Electoral College Count. Mr. Eastman stated he understood that no one was interested in the coup, but, the only viable option that might be palatable was sending it back to the states. There was no interest in that option either.

A day before he presides over a joint session of Congress (click here) to ratify Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, the vice president tried to lower the president’s expectations while seeking ways to mollify him.

What this boils down to is it is very important those elected to office value the democracy past any attempt to corrupt "the vote" of the people.

Mark Short was concerned Trump would lash out at the Vice President on January 6th. Secret Service was notified by Mark Short to the possibility. That is interesting. The Secret Service on January 6th was actively trying to find a path for Trump to the Capitol which proved impossible while at the same time the Secret Service to Pence was seeking to protect from any lash out by Trump or his supporters. It appears the two separate Secret Service groups had no idea what the other was focused on. There was no collusion by the two separate Secret Service groups.

2:39 pm 10 minute break of the committee

The DOJ is requiring all witness interviews.

2:51 The committee enters the room.

Trump Tweet stated the Vice President could come through for us. It could be sent back to the states. Trump called for extreme courage from his supporters. He was leading them. This is not simple communication, these are requests to his followers for loyalty and action on their part. Courage requires certain emotional loyalty to an idea in this case.

Mr. Jacob went to the Vice President's residence on January 6th. The Vice President had a call with Trump and Mr. Jacob was in the residence to proof a statement by Pence written overnight.

Eric Herschmann ws called to the Oval Office as the family of the president was there. The meeting was loose and casua according to Ivanka Trump. Ivanka witnessed a conversation when she was called to the Oval Office the second time and it was a very hostile conversation with Pence. It was a different tone than Ivanka was used to hearing from Trump when speaking to the Vice President. Herschmann stated Ivanka appeared uncomfortable with Trump's talk with Pence. Following the call Mr. Jacob stated the Vice President after the call with Trump was still resolute to the legal process of the Electoral College.

"All Vice President Pence has to do is send the Electoral College back to the states....Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us..." 

Rhinos and stupid people were Pence's advisory circle according to Trump. The gallows went up at the US Capitol and the chant "Hang Mike Pence" ensued.

Mark Meadows knew the violence was occurring at 2 PM if not earlier. Meadows informed Trump and Trump wrote that Pence was the issue. Followers in military gear considered Pence having voted against Trump and betrayed the people of the United States and they would never forget.

The insurgents had a list of those they wanted to hold to their form of justice. White House staff told the committee Trump went down the hallway and in teh corridor into the outer oval of the White House and looked as though he was going to the Oval Office. Staff was told not to communicate with the media. Staff thought Trump should tweet something to the crowd. The tweet Trump sent out was about the disloyality of Mike Pence to the president at 2:22 pm.

Mark Meadows was informed and left his office. The Vice President in the Capitol was removed from the Senate Chamber to his office across the hall because the crowd surged when they received the tweet from Trump. It is estimated the crowd in the Capitol doubled.

3:09 pm

The east Rotunda door was breached at 2:25 pm and Vice President Pence was removed to stairs to a secure location. The Vice President and his team stayed in the secure location for four hours. Vice President was very close to the insurgents behind doors. The Vice President's life was in danger. The Proud Boys would have killed Mike Pence if given a chance. W-1 stated there were other they would have killed if given a chance. Pence was in a secure location and after Trump requested the insurgence to leave the Capitol Vice Persident Pence returned to the Joint Meeting of the Congress.

Vice President Pence was not about to be driven from the US Capitol to ensure the world of his duty and loyality to the USA. Congressional leaders were consulted by the Vice President as he continued to conduct the business of the day.

Mr. McCarthy stated those at the White House was not taking the insurrection as seriously as they should. Mr. Jacob stated in an email to Eastman the Capitol was under seige thanks to the plan for the coup. Eastman in turn stated it was the fault of the Vice President's staff as the people of the country were not given transparency.

"Once he (Trump) gets something in his head it is not easy to change."

The point about the debate regarding Arizona was not completed in two hours. As a result of the insurgency Eastman wanted Pence to continue with the vote being sent back to the states. That would require another ten days of delay in returning the vote back to the states. Vice President Pence stated the Eastman insistence to return the vote to the states, "That is rubber room stuff." Basically, and especially after the insurrection, Eastman was certifically crazy.

The statement of the State of the Vote...by Vice President Pence. 

A variety of Bible verse were considered for the strength of the day of January 6th.

Herschmann stated he told Eastman he would need a good criminal lawyer after repeating his words, of "Orderly Transition." Eastman called Guiliani to add his name to the pardon list. Eastmann did not receive his pardon. As a consequence Eastman basiccally refused cooperation with the committee and pled the 5th Amendment protected him.

Court made the finding that Trump and Eastman conspired to coup the election of 2020. It was a coup in search of a legal theory.

Mr. Jacob stated there would be short term outcomes as well as long term outcomes if Vice President Pence did as requested by Trump. Short term was chaos and facing states that dissolved the vote of their states. Long term it would have a significant impact on the USA's election outcomes.

3:30 pm

Statement by Rep. Aguilar. Then closing statement by Chairwoman Cheney. Judge Carter states Eastman and Trump pressure campaign targeted every tier of state legislators as well. Fake electoral officers will be examined.

Trump's closest aids urged him to leave office peacefully as a man that loves his country more than itself. That didn't happen.

Chairman Thompson provided a closing statement. He thanks the witnesses for their honorable testimony. He believes the danger of such an act can be an ongoing threat because it depends on honorable people that loves their country.

Judge Luttig states he was honored on January of 2021 to come to Vice President and prayed. He prayed the same prayer to his wife this morning on his way to the US Capitol. He believes Trump and his supporters are a clear and present danger to the USA democracy. The former president and his allies pledged in the presidential election of 2024 if the former president or his annointed successor were to lose that election they would attempt to overturn the 2024 election in the way they disrupted the 2020 electorial count. Judge Luttig takes pledges of violence seriously. A judge would. He believes Trumps allies are already carrying out that pledge in plain view of the American people. There are exact words spoken by the allies to Trump as warned in their pledge. 

https://january6th.house.gov/tip-line

The January 6th Committee has a tip line for all to access with whatever information they may deem important.

3:43 pm Committee meeting was adjorned.

Vice President was brought up by the January 6th Committee. This is a recent interview with Former Vice President Al Gore.