Jan. 6 Latest: Trump Promised ‘Praise’ if Official Found Fraud

Mike Dorning, Billy House and Chris Strohm
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(Bloomberg) -- The Jan. 6 committee focused its hearings Tuesday on Donald Trump’s effort to pressure state officials to overturn 2020 election results, concentrating on extraordinary efforts in Georgia and Arizona.

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Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his top deputy, Gabriel Sterling, who received an infamous hour-long call from Trump demanding that they “find” the 11,780 votes he needed to defeat Joe Biden in the state, testified live.

Arizona Republican House Speaker Rusty Bowers also testified on pressure from Trump and Rudy Giuliani to get the state legislature to retroactively override voters’ presidential pick. Bowers was one of five recipients this year of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his resistance. So was another witness scheduled to testify, Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss, who received death threats and racist taunts after Trump falsely accused her and her mother of rigging the election with “suitcases” of ballots. State and federal investigators disproved the allegations.

Key developments:

  • Cheney Is Paying the Price for Crossing Trump in Her Home State

  • Jan. 6 Panel to Detail Trump Efforts to Alter Election

Trump Promised Justice Official ‘Praise’ if She Found Fraud (3:33 p.m.)

Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows wanted to send a “s—load of POTUS stuff” to Georgia’s election investigators, Representative Adam Schiff said during the hearing.

A White House aide told the panel Meadows planned to send autographed “MAGA hats” after he scheduled a call between the chief elections investigator with Trump.

In the call, the former president told Frances Watson it was an “important thing for the country” for her to find fraudulent ballots.

“When the right answer comes out you’ll be praised,” Trump said to Watson. “Whatever you can do, Frances. It would be a great thing.”

Schiff said the White House staff ultimately intervened to make sure the merchandise did not make its way to Georgia.

Justice Officials Told Trump There Was No Fraud (2:59 p.m.)

Top Justice Department officials told Trump that his claims of election fraud in Georgia were false, including that vote counters secretly pulled ballots from a suitcase late at night, according to video of testimony.

Former Attorney General William Barr said the department conducted an investigation into the suitcase claim and determined it had no merit.

Byung J. Pak, who served as U.S. attorney in Atlanta during and in the days after the election, said the investigation included interviews with witnesses. Richard Donoghue, who served as acting deputy attorney general after Barr resigned, said he told Trump that there was no suitcase and that it was a container of valid ballots.

Raffensberger also said the state’s investigations of fraud -- including Trump’s assertions that dead people voted -- found nothing substantive.

“We found two dead people. Subsequent to that, we found two more,” Raffensperger said.

Arizona Official Twice Denied Trump’s Ask on Election (2:19 p.m.)

Bowers said he told Trump twice that he would not de-certify the election.

In the second call with the former president, Bowers told him he supported him, voted for him, but that he would not do anything illegal for him.

“You are asking me to do something that is counter to my oath,” Bowers said.

Bowers testified that overturning the election would be a violation to the Constitution he believes is “divinely inspired.” “For me to do that because someone just asked me to is foreign to my being,” Bowers said. “I will not do it.”

Bowers Refused Trump Team Plea on Arizona Electors (2:01 p.m.)

Bowers recalled Trump legal adviser John Eastman urging the Arizona legislature vote overturn the result.

“That we would de-certify the electors because we had plenary authority to do so,” he said.

Bowers said he refused.

“You’re asking me to do something that has never been done in the history of the United states -- and I am going to put my state through that without sufficient proof? And that is going to be sufficient for me?” Bowers told Eastman.

Bowers also said he got a call from GOP Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona asking him to sign-on to a letter or support decertification of electors, “and I said I would not.”

Trump, Guiliani ‘Never’ Provided Evidence of Fraud Claims (1:43 p.m.)

Bowers refuted a Trump claim that he told the president in November 2020 that the election had been rigged and Trump had won Arizona.

“I did have a conversation with the president -- that certainly isn’t it,” Bowers said during questioning. “That is not true.”

Bowers said that in the call with Trump and Giuliani, Trump said “give the man what he needs” when Bowers asked for the names of undocumented migrants and dead people they claimed had voted. Despite promises that they would give him proof of fraud, Bowers said he “never” received evidence from them backing their claims.

Trump Team Worked to Appoint Alternate Electors (1:34 p.m.)

Committee investigator Josh Roselman said in a video that Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell asked fellow lawyer Eastman to write a memo to get states to appoint alternate electors.

The memo was part of the broad effort by Trump and his inner circle to pressure state election officials, which included phone calls, public statements and in-person presentations, according to a video montage shown by the committee.

The committee played audio from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Booker, who defended her state’s certification of Biden’s victory, even after armed protesters massed outside her house demanding the results be reversed.

In a unique circumstance of this hearing, Booker is one of four recipients this year of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award who is either participating in person, or with taped testimony about their efforts to defend democracy.

Panel vice chair Liz Cheney, Bowers and Moss were also among this year’s five recipients. The only one not appearing at this hearing is Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Trump’s Efforts Put State Officials in ‘Danger’ (1:20 p.m.)

State election officials were the target of “a dangerous and escalating campaign of pressure” orchestrated by Trump and his inner circle, Representative Adam Schiff said.

“The state pressure campaign and the danger it posed to state officials and at state capitols around the nation, was a dangerous precursor to the violence we saw on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol,” said Schiff, a California Democrat.

Trump Had ‘Direct and Personal Role’ With State Officials (1:10 p.m.)

Cheney said Trump had a “direct and personal role” in efforts to pressure state officials and state legislatures to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“Each of these efforts to overturn the election is independently serious; each deserves attention both by Congress and our Department of Justice,” Cheney said.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said Trump pressured state and local officials to say the vote was tainted by widespread fraud, despite no indication those claims were true.

“In fact, pressuring public servants into betraying their oaths was a fundamental part of the playbook,” Thompson said.

Trump Pressure on State Officials Is in Spotlight (12:30 p.m.)

Potentially illegal threats Trump made in a widely reported call to Raffensperger four days before the Capitol insurrection are likely to be a focus of the hearing. Audio of the conversation was leaked shortly afterward.

Raffensperger wrote in a memoir published last year that he perceived as threats warnings from Trump about the perils of resisting the former president. During the call, Trump told Raffensperger that it was “very dangerous” to hold news conferences telling the public investigations hadn’t turned up any reason to change the vote result in Georgia.

“I felt then -- and still believe today -- that this was a threat,” Raffensperger wrote in his book, “Integrity Counts.”

In the six weeks following Trump’s November 2020 loss to Biden in Georgia, Raffensperger and his top staff held twice-daily news conferences on the results and pushed back on voter fraud claims.

Raffensperger overcame an all-out Trump effort to oust him from office this year, defeating US Representative Jody Hice, a Trump ally, to win the Republican nomination for re-election.

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