Also expect Jim Banks — McCarthy’s initial pick to be ranking member on Jan. 6 committee — to testify.
GAETZ, who has defended the detained Jan. 6 defendants, is also expected to testify here.
THOMPSON and CHENEY seated alongside as they prepare to testify at Rules Committee in support of Bannon contempt referral.
CHENEY begins with genial note to Republican colleagues: "We've been through a lot together. We're not just colleagues. We're friends."
Cheney emphasizes that Trump had the right to challenge his defeat in court. But ...
"What he did thereafter had no precedent in our history."
CHENEY says her GOP colleagues are just trying to keep their heads down and not anger Trump or "Kevin McCarthy … who has been especially active in attempting to block the investigation."
"I ask each one of you to step back from the brink."
GAETZ says that he thinks the Jan. 6 committee wants to target McCarthy for criminal sanctions by accusing him of obstructing the panel.
MCGOVERN asks Jordan to say "the election was not stolen."
Jordan refuses. "I never said it was stolen."
McGovern pushes and Jordan again refuses.
MCGOVERN: "How many times did you talk to the president before, during or after the attack on the Capitol, or was it all three?"
JORDAN: "I talked to the president after the attack."
MCGOVERN: "I was the last person off the floor on Jan. 6. I came face to face with these people in the speaker’s gallery," he said describing them as "what evil looks like."
JORDAN: "I talk to the president all the time. I talked to him that day. My understanding is from my memory, I talked to him after the attack happened and we were removed from the chamber. I had nothing to do with any of this."
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Smocks, who has been detained since January, described his upbringing in the segregated south. He invoked MLK and noted some plea deals cut by white rioters like Brandon Straka.
But Chutkan thoroughly rejected his claims. She noted his extensive criminal history and the brazenness of his threats.
“People died fighting for civil rights,” she said. “For you to hold yourself up as somehow a soldier in that fight is audacious.” politico.com/news/2021/10/2…
Troy SMOCKS, a black defendant who is being sentenced for making threats related to Jan. 6, is using his sentencing hearing to argue that he's being punished more harshly for his crime than white Jan. 6 defendants.
Smocks says he was raised in segregated south and just wants "to be treated equally."
"Brandon Straka ... He was allowed to plead guilty to a class 3 misdemeanor with a $500 fine. Again, he’s a white guy. This is racism."
SMOCKS has been detained since January 15. He has an extensive criminal history. He's about to receive a sentence from Judge Tanya Chutkan.
@joshgerstein@heatherscope THOMPSON lays down a marker — criminal contempt for those who defy committee:
"I want other witnesses to understand something very plainly: if you’re thinking of following the path Mr. Bannon has gone down, you’re on notice that this is what you’ll face" politico.com/news/2021/10/1…
"Mr. Bannon’s and Mr. Trump’s privilege arguments do...appear to reveal 1 thing: they suggest that Pres. Trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of January 6th. And this committee will get to the bottom of that"
JUST IN: The Jan. 6 select committee has released its report and resolution calling for BANNON to be referred to DOJ for criminal contempt charges. docs.house.gov/meetings/IJ/IJ…
The House and Trump both drew from the Mazars ruling to support their cases today >>>
IMPORTANT: As the committee notes, there are *many* subjects lawmakers could ask Bannon about that clearly have no conceivable relationship to 'executive privilege' at all.
Jan. 6 defendant Daniel Rodriguez plans to argue at trial that he was acting under Donald Trump’s authority. That argument has really flown with judges so far.
Rodriguez admitted in an FBI interview that he tased Officer Fanone as he was being dragged through the Jan. 6 mob.
His lawyer tonight says the interview (which she appended to her filing) should be suppressed because he wasn’t properly Mirandized.
Some key passages:
A very important “not” was missing from the above tweet. The argument has not flown with judges.