Thread by @JordanOnRecord

The @January6thCmte is back at 1 p.m. today for a hearing focused on the plan to send slates of "alternate electors." Witnesses include Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump told to "find" votes for him.

Today's first panel of witnesses have filed in. Hearing to start shortly.

Chairman @BennieGThompson says when Trump faced resistant from Pence, he turned to trying to get states to send "alternate electors." And when people wouldn't go along with that, he threatened them with retribution.

Without mentioning him by name, Rep. Thompson talks about Couy Griffin, the Otero County (NM) commissioner who was sentenced last week for his role in the #CapitolRiot. Griffin voted the same day not to certify the results of the county's 2022 primary election.

AG Bill Barr, in video deposition, said he told Trump the DOJ had reviewed the election fraud allegations in Fulton County, Georgia, and found they had "no merit."

Vice Chair @RepLizCheney: "We cannot become a nation of conspiracy theories and thug violence."

.@RepAdamSchiff says when Trump failed to get any state officials to go along with his "alternate electors" plan, he and associates put together groups of them anyway and drew up false certificates. References Judge Carter calling it a "coup in search of a legal theory."

.@RepAdamSchiff: Donald Trump and his lies are "a cancer on the body politic."

Michigan State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey says after he told Trump he wouldn't break the law for him, Trump posted his personal cell phone on social media. Says he got 4,000 messages, many threatening.

Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Bryan Cutler says his family had to disconnect their phone after his personal information was posted online. He had to have his lawyer tell Rudy Giuliani to stop calling him (he didn't).

First witness will be Rusty Bowers, the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives. Rep. Thompson says Bowers campaigned for Trump and wanted him to win. Rep. Schiff will handle questioning.

Rep. Schiff is asking Rusty Bowers about the statement Trump put out earlier claiming Bowers told him the election was "rigged" and he won Arizona.

Bowers says "anyone, anywhere, at any time who says I said the election was rigged isn't telling the truth."

Rusty Bowers says he denied Trump and Giuliani's request to hold an official committee hearing in Arizona on their false voter fraud claims.

"I didn't want to be used as a pawn," Bowers says.

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers: “It is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired. Of my most basic, foundational beliefs. So for someone to ask me to do that just because they’ve asked me to is foreign to my very being. I will not do it.”

Bowers has identified at least three different Trump lawyers who were on the calls pressing him to help overturn the election:

* Rudy Giuliani
* John Eastman
* Jenna Ellis

Rusty Bowers says he told John Eastman he was being asked to do something that had never happened in the history of the country without any evidence.

Eastman's response: "Just do it and let the courts figure it out."

Cassidy Hutchinson, a Mark Meadows aide, told the committee members of Congress sat in on the meetings about putting together false slates of electors in states where Trump lost. Doesn't specify who, though.

Robert Sinners, a Trump Campaign staffer, says he now feels like a "useful idiot." Wouldn't have gone alone with any of the fake electors stuff if he'd realize the campaign's three main lawyers had essentially washed their hands of it.

Committee displays side-by-side photos of the real and fake electoral ballots from multiple states. They also have text messages about Trump's people wanting them to be flown to D.C. and handed directly to VP Pence.

Rusty Bowers says when he learned a false slate of electors from Arizona had sent fake ballots to D.C., he though of the book "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

"This is a tragic parody," he said.

Rusty Bowers emotionally reads a letter he wrote. In it, he asks, "How could I face [God] in the wilderness of life" knowing he'd asked his advice and not taken it?

Bowers talking about the threats he and his family have received. He's been called a pedophile. A man with militia insignia and a pistol stood outside his home. Says he had a daughter who was very ill who was troubled by all of it.

The next witness will be Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. @BennieGThompson says Trump had a particular obsession w/ Georgia. Trump eventually urged Raffensperger in a phone call to "find" the exact number of votes he needed to win.

Raffensperger says all 5 million ballots in Georgia were counted by machines, hand recounted and then, after a request by Trump, recounted through the machines again. Three counts, all of which showed Trump fell short, Raffensperger says.

Also here is Gabriel Sterling, the COO of the Georgia Secretary of State's office. Sterling became "irate" over the torrent of threats. He eventually made a public statement pleading for Trump to disavow the threats. Instead, Trump tweeted again about "massive" fraud in Georgia.

Rep. Schiff moving on now to Giuliani's "suitcase of ballots" conspiracy theory, which we've heard a lot about from all the DOJ lawyers, including Bill Barr, who had to investigate it (and determined there was nothing to it).

Gabriel Sterling says the secretary of state's office review 48 hours of surveillance footage from the State Farm Arena in Fulton County. All of it showed normal ballot counting. No water main break. No suitcases full of ballots.

Sterling says recounts showed ballot counting in Fulton County had an error rate of 0.009%.

Gabriel Sterling says trying to compete with Trump's massive bully pulpit to correct the lies he was telling about ballot counting in Georgia was "like a shovel trying to empty the ocean."

Sterling describes the familiar experience of trying to convince someone who believed Trump's election lies, in this case an attorney. After knocking down every conspiracy theory, attorney still said, "I just know in my heart they cheated."

The committee plays audio of Trump on a phone call with Raffensperger's chief election investigator saying she'll be praised "when the right answer comes out."

Now getting into the call between Trump and Raffensperger. This is the "find the votes" call. Call lasted 67 minutes.

During call, Trump repeated multiple election fraud conspiracy theories about, among other things, dead people and underage people voting. Raffensberger said they found 4 dead voters (Trump claimed 10,000) and zero underage voters (Trump claimed 66,000).

During call, Trump also threatened Raffensperger with the possibility of criminal charges. Another Trumpworld attorney, Lin Wood, tweeted that Raffensperger and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp would be going to jail.

Raffensperger talking about the many threats he received. His email and phone were doxxed. His wife received "disgusting" sexualized threats. Someone broke into his daughter-in-law's house.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on why he didn't back down in the face of threats from Trump supporters: "Sometimes the job requires you to stand up and take the shots for following the law. So that's what we did."

The day's final witness, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, is sworn in. She and her mother, Ruby Freeman, were both election workers in Georgia in 2020. They were targeted by Rudy Giuliani, and Trump mentioned her name specifically in Raffensperger call more than a dozen times.

Giuliani told members of the Georgia State Senate that Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, were passing around USB ports on election night "as if they were vials of heroin or cocaine." Said it was obvious to him they were committing crimes.

Moss says she learned about the video of Giuliani at the same time she learned there were threats being made. She checked her Facebook messages and found people saying she and her mother should be called, saying she should be "glad it's 2020 and not 1920."

In Raffensperger call, Trump mentioned Moss and her mother 18 times. At one point, he called Moss "a professional vote scammer and hustler."

Shaye Moss, in tears, says after Trump and Giuliani targeted her and her mother she can't go out in public anymore. She's afraid to give out her name. She doesn't even go to the grocery store anymore.

"It's affected my life in a major way. In every way. All because of lies."

Moss' mother, Ruby Freeman, said she was always known as "Lady Ruby." She had T-shirts made up with that printed on it.

Freeman: “I have it in every color. I wore that shirt on election night. I haven’t worn it since. I’ll never wear it again.”

Ruby Freeman: “I’ve lost my name. I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security. All because a group of people, starting with #45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye to push their lies about how the election was stolen.”

Freeman had to leave her home of 21 years because of all the threats against her. People also showed up at Moss' 70-year-old grandmother's house. They forced their way in claiming they were "going to make a citizen's arrest" on Moss and Freeman.

Ruby Freeman: “There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you? The president of the United States is supposed to protect every American, not target one. But he targeted me, Lady Ruby.”

Vice Chair @RepLizCheney contrasting the courage of Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman in testifying today when people like Mike Flynn, John Eastman and others either pleaded the Fifth or, like Steve Bannon, declined to appear altogether.

Cheney ends her statement by putting pressure on former White House counsel Pat Cipollone to testify publicly before the committee. He did an interview earlier this year, but hasn't agreed to a public hearing.

Chairman @BennieGThompson with a preview of Thursday's hearing: "We will hear on Thursday that Donald Trump was also the driving force behind and effort to corrupt the Justice Department." Witnesses will include former acting deputy AG Richard Donoghue.

Lady Ruby getting hugs and support from Officer Harry Dunn and all the members of the committee after the hearing.

The committee's next hearing is Thursday at 3 p.m. It will cover the efforts to "corrupt" the Justice Department — the witnesses and evidence that were originally scheduled for last Wednesday.

FULL STORY: Elected officials from four different states — AZ, MI, GA, PA — told the @January6thCmte that either a Trump lawyer or the president himself called them and pressured them to join scheme to overturn the election. wusa9.com/article/news/n…