Jan. 6 hearing evidence shows pressure Trump put on states and raises the issue of Johnson and fake electors

Sen. Ron Johnson wanted to hand-deliver fake electors' votes to Mike Pence on Jan. 6, texts reveal

• Minutes before Congress was set to begin certification of Joe Biden's victory on Jan. 6, 2021, an aide for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson told former Vice President Mike Pence's staff that Johnson wanted to hand-deliver to Pence votes from Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan who posed as fake presidential electors for Donald Trump.

• "Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS please advise," Sean Riley, Johnson's chief of staff, said in a text message to Pence staffer Chris Hodgson at 12:37 p.m. that day, according to evidence presented Tuesday by the House select committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol. "What is it?" Hodgson, a former legislative affairs director for Pence, replied. "Alternate slate of electors for MI and WI because archivist didn't receive them," Riley wrote back. Hodgson then told Riley: "Do not give that to him."

• The exchange offers a new glimpse into the Oshkosh Republican's involvement in Trump's effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election, a campaign to overturn the election results fueled by Trump's false claims of election fraud that triggered an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

• Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Johnson, contended Johnson 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," Henning wrote in a tweet. "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."

• "Ron Johnson actively tried to undermine this democracy. He literally tried to hand Mike Pence a slate of fake electors," Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin's lieutenant governor and a leading Democratic candidate for Johnson's Senate seat, tweeted. "I'm calling on him to resign," Barnes wrote in another tweet.

State election officials tell Jan. 6 committee of pressure, threats from Trump and allies

• In questioning, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers recalled Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani talking about election fraud: "We've got lots of theories, we just don't have the evidence." Bowers added, "I don't know if that was a gaffe or maybe he didn't think through what he said."

• The committee learned through testimony that Michigan Republican fake electors planned to hide overnight in the Michigan Capitol so they could cast their votes in the statehouse chambers the next day.

• Gabriel Sterling, of the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, told the committee that a video showing normal ballot counting at State Farm Arena in Atlanta was turned into a right-wing conspiracy theory that alleged election fraud in Georgia. Senior Justice Department officials repeatedly told Trump that allegations about fraud in Georgia were false. Deputy Attorney General Richard Donahue recalled in testimony how he told Trump in a phone call that what was described as a suitcase under a table was a wheeled bin that carries ballots.

• Ruby Freeman, a former Georgia election worker, says she no longer feels safe. In an impassioned plea, the Fulton County small business owner and 2020 election worker told the committee how unsafe she felt after being targeted by Trump and Giuliani. “There is nowhere I feel safe,” Freeman said. “Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” she asked. “The president of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me, Lady Ruby — a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen, who stood up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jan. 6 hearing shows pressure Trump put on states