周二下午，众议院1月6日举行的最新一次委员会听证会重点关注当时的总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)推动主要州官员拒绝2020年选举结果的“前所未有”的努力，包括一项创造“假”选举人名单以推翻乔·拜登(Joe Biden)胜利的计划。
加利福尼亚州民主党众议员亚当·希夫(Adam Schiff)主持了听证会，亚利桑那州和佐治亚州的共和党官员提供了现场证人证词，显示与特朗普“弥天大谎”有关的压力运动一直持续到1月6日之前。
一些最令人信服的证词来自一对在佐治亚州做选举工作的母女。他们用深刻的个人术语描述了他们在成为特朗普的目标后经历的威胁的影响。
该小组播放了特朗普盟友的录音证词，辩称他直接参与了他所知道的毫无根据的努力，即让关键州向国会发送假的特朗普选举人，以取代合法的拜登选举人。
“他的行为是否犯罪，最终将由其他人来决定，”希夫在结束语中说。“但他的所作所为毫无疑问是违反宪法的。这是不爱国。从根本上说，这不符合美国精神。”
本尼·汤普森主席。，称“迫使公务员背叛誓言是剧本的基本部分”，并警告说，只有几个关键州的选举官员“站在唐纳德·特朗普和颠覆美国民主之间。”
以下是周二听证会的一些要点:
亚利桑那州众议院议长援引信仰，回忆他如何不会否认就职宣誓
特朗普周二在社交媒体平台Truth Social上声称，亚利桑那州众议院议长、共和党人拉斯迪·鲍尔斯(Rusty Bowers)告诉他选举被操纵，鲍尔斯表示，这是“错误的”，特朗普的团队声称亚利桑那州存在广泛的欺诈行为，但从未向他提供任何证据。
鲍尔斯说:“在任何地方，任何人，任何时候，谁说我说选举被操纵了，那都不是真的。”
他回忆起与特朗普选举律师约翰·伊士曼(John Eastman)的谈话，伊士曼试图说服他，亚利桑那州有一项法律允许他推翻他所在州的结果，他坚持认为他不会违背自己的就职誓言，取消拜登的选举人资格。
“我说，‘你想让我做什么?’他说，‘就这么做吧，让法庭来解决。’"
鲍尔斯一度强忍泪水，讲述了他被迫违背誓言的压力，以及家门外“令人不安”的抗议活动对家人造成的影响。
“宪法是神授的，这是我信仰的宗旨，也是我最基本的信仰之一，”鲍尔斯作证说。“所以对我来说，这样做是因为有人要求我这样做，这对我来说是陌生的。我不会做的。”
在亚利桑那州的一些立法者绕过他，向国会和国家档案馆发送了一份“假”选举人名单，意图是时任副总统迈克·彭斯拒绝认证这些州的投票后，鲍尔斯将其描述为“悲剧性的模仿”
鲍尔斯回忆说，特朗普的律师朱利安尼告诉他，“我们有很多理论，但我们没有证据。”"
这位亚利桑那州共和党人接着大声朗读了他2020年12月的日记中的一段。
“我不想靠作弊成为赢家，”他读道。“我不会玩弄我宣誓效忠的法律，也不会玩弄任何人为的欲望来偏离我内心深处的基本愿望，即遵从上帝的意志，因为我相信他引导我的良心去拥抱。否则，我怎么能在人生的荒野中接近他，因为我知道我请求他的指导只是为了证明自己是一个懦夫，在捍卫他引导我走的道路。”
共和党证人将特朗普与假选举人阴谋联系起来，详细描述了他们如何应对特朗普及其盟友的压力
怀俄明州共和党副主席利兹·切尼(Liz Cheney)在开幕词中说，该委员会将提供证据，证明特朗普在一项计划中“发挥了直接和个人的作用”，该计划要求关键州向国会发送假选举人，并要求副总统迈克·彭斯推翻选举结果，“鲁迪·朱利安尼(Rudy Giuliani)和约翰·伊斯曼(John Eastman)也是如此。”
似乎是这一点的一部分，该委员会播放了共和党全国委员会主席罗娜·麦克丹尼尔(Ronna McDaniel)被问及向国会发送“假”选举人以取消拜登胜利的计划的录音证词，并回应说特朗普正在就该计划进行通话。
“他把电话转给了伊斯曼先生，然后他开始谈论帮助竞选团队聚集这些临时选民的重要性，以防正在进行的任何法律挑战改变任何州的结果，”麦克丹尼尔回忆道。
“这场运动起了带头作用，我们只是在帮助他们，”她补充道，似乎试图让RNC远离这种努力。
众议院特别委员会认为，RNC“在总统的直接要求下”协助特朗普协调假选举人的阴谋
证词很重要，因为特朗普有时也试图与自己的律师保持距离，但根据麦克丹尼尔的说法，他亲自参与了关于这一努力的电话。
证词还详细描述了特朗普打给佐治亚州选举官员的电话，突显了他在施压活动中的作用。
2021年1月2日，该委员会播放了特朗普与佐治亚州国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格之间长达67分钟、现已臭名昭著的电话录音，特朗普在电话中告诉拉芬斯珀格，他需要在佐治亚州“找到”11，780张选票——只比他落后拜登的票数多一票——这样他就可以被宣布赢得这场选举，该州的三次独立计数证实他输了。
这个电话似乎遵循了特朗普提供虚假选举阴谋的循环，Raffensperger平静地向他解释每个阴谋都不准确。特朗普一度向Raffensperger暗示，他的不作为可能意味着他要承担刑事责任。
该委员会表示，Raffensperger是几个告诉特朗普他关于欺诈的说法是错误的共和党人之一，但他仍然继续传播这些说法。
该委员会还播放了特朗普试图说服佐治亚州国务卿首席选举调查员弗朗西斯·沃森(Frances Watson)扭转败局的电话音频。
“你知道，你现在拥有这个国家最重要的工作，”特朗普告诉她，他继续错误地公开宣布胜利。
“当正确的答案出来时，你会受到表扬，”特朗普对沃森说。
母女选举工作者二人组描述了有针对性的攻击的影响
前富尔顿县选举工作人员叶莎·莫斯被朱利安尼和其他共和党人错误地指控选举舞弊，并在选举之夜在亚特兰大走私“手提箱”非法选票，她的母亲鲁比·弗里曼坐在她身后，告诉成员们他们的生活是如何被谎言改变的。
“当我看到视频时，我说的第一句话当然是‘为什么?他们为什么要这么做?“这是怎么回事，””莫斯回忆道。
莫斯随后描述了她在网上收到的威胁和仇恨信息的冲击——在她10年的选举工作者生涯中，她从未遇到过这种情况。
“我感觉很糟糕，”莫斯说。“我只是为我的妈妈感到难过，我为选择这份工作感到可怕，我总是想帮助别人，永远在那里，从来没有错过一次选举，我只是觉得是我的错，让我的家人陷入这种境地。”
两名妇女告诉委员会，她们现在害怕使用她们的名字，联邦调查局告诉弗里曼，由于受到威胁，她不得不离开家两个月。
弗里曼说:“我已经失去了安全感，这一切都是因为从45号和他的盟友鲁迪·朱利安尼开始的一群人决定让我和我的女儿叶莎做替罪羊，来推销他们自己关于总统选举是如何被盗的谎言。”
公职人员讲述了特朗普支持者对抗议活动的恐吓和推文
当选官员详细描述了他们收到或目睹其他人收到的威胁，这些威胁是特朗普拒绝州选举人的压力运动的结果。
佐治亚州国务卿办公室首席运营官加布里埃尔·斯特林(Gabriel Sterling)回忆起让他谴责特朗普欺诈指控的那一刻，并在2020年12月的新闻发布会上动情地说出了对选举官员的威胁。
他说，这是一条推文，针对的是他认识的一个“累死骆驼”的承包商。
“上面有他的名字，‘你犯了叛国罪，愿上帝宽恕你的灵魂’，随着一个绞索慢慢扭曲的GIF，因为缺乏更好的词，我失去了它，”斯特林说。“我只是生气了。”
宾夕法尼亚州众议院议长、共和党人布莱恩·卡特勒(Bryan Cutler)在一份录音证词中表示，他的所有个人信息都在网上被篡改，他家外面发生了多起抗议活动。该委员会播放了一场抗议活动的音频，参与者在其中喊道:“布莱恩·卡特勒，我们在外面。”
卡特勒说:“我们不得不中断家里的电话大约三天，因为它会整夜不停地响，会充满信息。”
密歇根州民主党国务卿乔斯林·本森(Jocelyn Benson)也描述了她家外面有抗议者的感觉。
“我的胃沉了下去，我想，‘是我，’”她在证词中告诉委员会。“这种不确定性是恐惧的原因。比如，他们带枪来了吗?他们要攻击我的房子吗?”
共和党参议员罗恩约翰逊，共和党众议员安迪比格斯涉及假选举人?
随着该委员会公布其调查结果，它表明共和党议员如何参与了推翻选举的阴谋。
亚利桑那州众议院议长鲍尔斯作证说，他在2021年1月6日早上接到亚利桑那州众议员安迪·比格斯的电话，问他是否支持取消选举人资格。鲍尔斯告诉比格斯他不会。
该委员会还出示证据表明，威斯康星州参议员罗恩·约翰逊(Ron Johnson)试图在1月6日之前，将威斯康星州和密歇根州的“假”特朗普选举人名单交给彭斯。
约翰逊的工作人员肖恩·赖利和彭斯的助手克里斯·霍奇森之间的短信显示在屏幕上，赖利写道，约翰逊想交出这两个州的假选举人。
“不要给他，”便士的助手回答。
约翰逊的发言人亚历山大·亨宁(Alexa Henning)否认约翰逊参与了伪造候选人名单的活动，并声称他“不知道”这份名单会被送到办公室。
“参议员没有参与创建一个备用的选举人名单，也没有预知它会被送到我们的办公室。这是员工之间的交流。他的新幕僚长联系了副总统办公室。副总统办公室说不要给他，我们没有给他。没有采取进一步的行动。故事结束，”亨宁告诉美国广播公司新闻。
戏弄听证会仍将举行，下一次听证会将于周四举行，切尼向前特朗普白宫法律顾问帕特·西波尔隆(Pat Cipollone)施加压力，要求他在委员会面前出庭，并补充说，他们“肯定”特朗普不希望发生这种情况。
Dramatic details and key takeaways from Tuesday's Jan. 6 hearing
The latest House Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday afternoon focused on what it said was then-President Donald Trump's "unprecedented" effort to push key state officials to reject the results of the 2020 election -- including a scheme to create slates of "fake" electors to overturn Joe Biden's victory.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led the hearing, which featured live witness testimony from Republican officials from Arizona and Georgia to show the pressure campaign related to Trump's "big lie" extended to well before Jan. 6.
Some of the most compelling testimony came from a mother-daughter pair who worked as election workers in Georgia. They described in deeply personal terms the impact of threats they experienced after being targeted by Trump.
And the panel aired taped testimony from Trump allies to argue he was directly involved in what he knew was a baseless effort to have key states send fake Trump electors to Congress to replace legitimate Biden ones.
"Whether his actions were criminal will ultimately be for others to decide," Schiff said in his closing remarks. "But what he did was without a doubt unconstitutional. It was unpatriotic. It was fundamentally un-American."
Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that "pressuring public servants into betraying their oaths was a fundamental part of the playbook" and warned only a handful of election officials in key states "stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy."
Here are some key takeaways from Tuesday's hearing:
Arizona House speaker invokes faith, recalling how he wouldn't deny oath of office
After Trump claimed Tuesday on his social media platform Truth Social that Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, had told him the election was rigged, Bowers said that was "false" and that Trump's team claimed widespread fraud in Arizona but never provided him with any evidence.
"Anywhere, anyone, at any time, who said that I said the election was rigged, that would not be true," Bowers said.
He recalled conversations with Trump election lawyer John Eastman, who tried to convince him there was a law in Arizona that would have allowed him to overturn results in his state, and his maintaining that he would not break his oath of office and decertify electors for Biden.
"I said, 'What would you have me do?' He said, 'Just do it and let the courts sort it out.'"
At one point, Bowers fought back tears as he described the pressure placed on him to betray his oath and the impact "disturbing" protests outside his home had on his family.
"It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired, one of my most basic foundational beliefs," Bowers testified. "And so for me to do that because somebody just asked me to is foreign to my very being. I will not do it."
After some lawmakers in Arizona went around him to send a slate of "fake" electors to Congress and the National Archives, with the intention of then-Vice President Mike Pence refusing to certify votes in those states, Bowers described it as a "tragic parody."
Bowers recalled Trump lawyer Giuliani telling him, "'We've got lots of theories, but we just don't have the evidence.'"
The Arizona Republican then went on to read aloud a passage from his journal from December 2020.
"I do not want to be a winner by cheating," he read. "I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to with any contrived desire towards deflection of my deep, foundational desire to follow God's will as I believe he led my conscience to embrace. How else will I ever approach Him in the wilderness of life knowing that I asked of His guidance only to show myself a coward in defending the course he led me to take."
Republican witnesses tie Trump to fake electors plot, detail how they responded to pressure from Trump and his allies
In her opening statement, Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said the committee would provide evidence that Trump "had a direct and personal role" in a scheme to have key states send fake electors to Congress and for Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results, "as did Rudy Giuliani, as did John Eastman."
Appearing to be part of that point, the committee aired taped testimony of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel being asked about the scheme to send "fake" electors to Congress to decertify Biden's win and responding that Trump was on a call about the plan.
"He turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of -- helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing change the results of any states," McDaniel recounted.
"The campaign took the lead, and we just were helping them in that role," she added, appearing to try to distance the RNC from the effort.
The House select committee argued the RNC assisted Trump in coordinating the fake electors plot "at the president's direct request."
The testimony is important as Trump has also tried to distance himself, at times, from his own attorneys, but, according to McDaniel, he was personally involved in a call about the effort.
The testimony also detailed Trump's calls to Georgia election officials highlight his role in the pressure campaign.
The committee played audio clips of the 67-minute, now-infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump told Raffensperger he needed to "find" 11,780 votes in Georgia -- just one vote over the margin by which he trailed Biden -- so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts in the state confirmed he lost.
The call appeared to follow a cycle of Trump offering false election conspiracies and Raffensperger calmly explaining to him that each one was not accurate. At one point, Trump suggested to Raffensperger that his inaction could mean he was criminally liable.
Raffensperger was among several Republicans who told Trump his claims about fraud were false, the committee said, but he continued to spread them anyway.
The committee also aired audio from a call in which Trump tried to convince Frances Watson, the Georgia secretary of state's lead elections investigator, to reverse his loss.
"You know, you have the most important job in the country right now," Trump told her as he continued to falsely and publicly claim victory.
"When the right answer comes out, you'll be praised," Trump said to Watson.
Mother-daughter election worker duo describe impact of targeted attacks
Former Fulton County election worker Shaye Moss, who was falsely accused by Giuliani and other Republicans of election fraud and smuggling "suitcases" of illegal ballots in Atlanta on election night, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who was sitting behind her, told members how their lives were changed by the lies.
"When I saw the video, of course the first thing that I said was, 'Why? Why are they doing this? What's going on?'" Moss recalled.
Moss then described the onslaught of threats and hateful messages she received online -- a situation she had never been in during her 10 years as an elections worker.
"I felt so bad," Moss. "I just felt bad for my mom and I felt horrible for picking this job and being the one that always wants to help and always there and never missing out on one election, I just felt like it was my fault for putting my family in this situation."
Both women told the committee they are now scared to use their names, and Freeman was told by the FBI she had to leave her home for two months because of threats.
"I've lost my sense of security, all because a group of people starting with No. 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen," Freeman said.
Public officials recount intimidation of protests, tweets from Trump supporters
Elected officials detailed the threats they received or witnessed others received as a result of Trump's pressure campaign to reject state electors.
Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer in the Georgia secretary of state's office, recalled the moment that made him decry Trump's claims of fraud and emotionally speak out about the threats made toward election officials in a press conference in December 2020.
It was a tweet, he said, targeting a contractor he knew that "broke the camel's back."
"It had his name, 'you committed treason, may God have mercy on your soul,' with a slowly twisting GIF of a noose and, for a lack of a better word, I lost it," Sterling said. "I just got irate."
Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler, a Republican, said in a taped deposition that all of his personal information was doxxed online and multiple protests happened outside of his home. The committee aired audio from one protest in which participants shouted, "Bryan Cutler, we are outside."
"We had to disconnect our home phone for about three days because it would ring all hours of the night, it would fill up with messages," Cutler said.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, described the feeling of having protesters outside her home as well.
"My stomach sunk, I thought, 'it's me,'" she told the committee in a deposition. "The uncertainty of that was why it was the fear. Like, are they coming with guns? Are they going to attack my house?"
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs involved in fake electors?
As the committee unveils its findings, it has suggested how Republican lawmakers were involved in scheme to overturn the election.
Bowers, Arizona's House speaker, testified he received a call from Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, asking Bowers if he'd support the decertification of electors. Bowers told Biggs he would not.
The committee also showed evidence that Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., attempted to deliver slates of "fake" Trump electors from Wisconsin and Michigan to Pence ahead of Jan. 6.
Text messages between Johnson staffer Sean Riley and Pence aide Chris Hodgson were displayed on-screen in which Riley wrote that Johnson wanted to hand over fake electors from the two states.
"Do not give that to him," the Pence aide replied.
Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Johnson, denied that Johnson had any involvement in the creation of fake alternate slates of electors and claimed he had "no foreknowledge" it was going to be delivered to the office.
"The senator had no involvement in the creation of an alternate slate of electors and had no foreknowledge that it was going to be delivered to our office. This was a staff to staff exchange. His new Chief of Staff contacted the Vice President's office. The Vice President's office said not to give it to him and we did not. There was no further action taken. End of story," Henning told ABC News.
Teasing hearings still to come, the next of which is on Thursday, Cheney put pressure on former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone to appear before the committee, adding that they are "certain" Trump wouldn't want that to happen.
