Trump campaign launched ‘all-out effort’ to pressure state leaders on election results: Baier
‘Special Report’ host Bret Baier unpacks Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers’ testimony in ongoing January 6 hearings.
In a Tuesday hearing with the Jan. 6 Committee, state officials testified about a deluge of harassment and attacks they faced for not going along with former President Donald Trump's pressure to overturn the 2020 election.
The hearing included information on the roles Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and GOP Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson's office played in Trump's efforts to reject their states' electors. And officials yet again rebutted Trump's unfounded claims the election was stolen.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led questioning in the Tuesday hearing. Among the other witnesses were Arizona House Speaker Russell Bowers and Georgia Secretary of State Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling. Georgia election worker Shaye Moss testified herself in a second witness panel.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led a Jan. 6 Committee hearing Tuesday that highlighted the effects former President Donald Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election had on officials' families. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Dealing with doxxing
"After the election, my email, my cell phone was doxxed. And so I was getting texts all over the country," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Schiff during his questioning.
"Eventually my wife started getting the texts and hers typically came in as sexualized threats, which were disgusting," Raffensperger added. "We met in high school. We were married over 40 years now. And so they started going after her. I think just to probably put pressure on me — why don't you just quit, walk away?"
But Raffensperger was far from the only official to face a similar situation, according to committee depositions played on video during the hearing.
Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey detailed in a video the fallout of when Trump tweeted his personal phone number.
"All I remember is receiving over, just shy of 4,000 text messages over a short period of time, calling to take action," Shirkey said
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testified that Trump supporters broke into his widow daugher-in-law's home after the 2020 presidential election. (Fox News)
TRUMP BLASTS JAN. 6 COMMITTEE, MIKE PENCE IN SPEECH TO EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN GROUPS
Pennsylvania House Speaker Brian Cutler, a Republican, received "daily voicemails from Trump's lawyers," after the election, according to the committee. Cutler said in a committee video there were multiple protests outside his district office and home, and "all of my personal information was doxxed online."
"We had to disconnect our home phone for about three days because it would ring all hours of the night," Cutler said.
Moss provided perhaps the most emotional testimony of the hearing.
Moss said she received a "lot of threats wishing death upon me, telling me that, you know, I'll be in jail with my mother."
"A lot of them were racism," she also said. "A lot of them were just hateful."
Moss said the harassment she faced deeply affected her, making her afraid to even go out of her home for fear she may be recognized.
Republicans' roles
Bowers, meanwhile, testified that Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., asked him on Jan. 6, 2021, if he would be willing to publicly support the decertification of Arizona's electors.
A staffer from the office of Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., communicated with an aide for former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6 about potentially delivering a fake slate of electors to the vice president. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"He asked if I would sign on both to a letter that had been sent from my state and/or that I would support the decertification of the electors," Bowers said. "And I said I would not," he continued.
Johnson's office was also involved in similar efforts, the committee revealed.
A Johnson staffer texted a staffer for Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, saying Johnson wished to deliver to the vice president fake electoral votes from Michigan and Wisconsin. The vice president's aide told the staffer not to deliver the votes.
Johnson's spokesperson denied he had involvement in the creation of alternate electors.
"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," Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a tweet.
The Jan. 6 Committee Tuesday discussed former President Donald Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 presidential election results before Jan. 6. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
False claims refuted
While Schiff questioned Raffensperger, the congressman played audio from a call between Trump and the secretary of state from before Jan. 6. On the call, Trump claimed that about 5,000 dead people voted in Georgia.
Raffensperger noted that Trump's legal team claimed more than 10,000 dead people voted in the state, before saying the grand total was only four.
"We found two dead people when I wrote my letter to Congress. That's dated Jan. 6," Raffensperger said. "And subsequent to that, we found two more. That's one, two, three, four people, not 4,000, but just a total of four. Not 10,000, not 5,000."
In addition, Raffensperger responded to the Trump claim that 18,000 ballots were smuggled out of voting centers through "suitcases," calling it "categorically false."
Trump response
Former President Donald Trump's spokesman responded to the Jan. 6 Committee's hearing in a tweet Tuesday.
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"The J6 Unselect Committee is turning to the least credible and biggest shamster, Adam Schiff, to lead today’s circus," Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich said. "No facts. No substance. Just more lies and deception out of a Democrat Party that’s drunk on power."
Up next
Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said that the next hearing, on Thursday, will focus on Trump's efforts to use the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 election results.
Fox News' Kelly Laco contributed to this report.
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