Jan Committee Day 3 …The Search For Spock? …nah, the search for “HANG MIKE PENCE!!!

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Rioters chant “HANG MIKE PENCE!”

It was a dramatic climax.

In the United States Capitol, rioters had overwhelmed the police. The Secret Service was only 40 feet away from the vice president and his staff as they hurried to get them into a car and out of there before the rioters could get any closer.

However, Mike Pence, the Vice President, declined.

He was adamant about getting the government’s work done, including the vote count that would confirm the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, whom Pence had campaigned against.

And he did it against Trump’s unparalleled pressure. When the insurgents broke into the Capitol, Trump tweeted further pressure on Vice President Pence.

Knowing that the rioters had broken into the Capitol, Trump tweeted, “Pence didn’t have the fortitude to do what should have been done.”

On January 6, 2019, committee leaders said that Trump had broken the law by attempting to exert pressure on Vice President Pence.

A White House official later said on video that the tweet was like “pouring fuel on the fire.” His advisors, though, were urging him to send in something to quell the unrest instead. Instead, Trump chose to ramp things up.

In its third session on Thursday, the Jan. 6 committee recounted, in graphic detail, what had happened on Jan. 6.

Below are four key points that emerged from the testimony:

If Pence hadn’t resisted, the country would have been in shambles.

Pence was put under intense pressure to reject the electors’ votes for president or to send the matter back to the states, both of which he had no jurisdiction to do under the Constitution.

The role of the vice president in this process is ceremonial, as laid out by the 12th Amendment and the Electoral Count Act, and not one that gives him the power to fundamentally change the results of an election.

On Thursday, witnesses testified that American democracy would have been greatly harmed if Pence had caved to the pressure.

Pence’s attorney, Greg Jacob, said that there would have been both immediate and far-reaching repercussions if election results had been determined by a single individual. This would have included political upheaval in the form of litigation and civil unrest in the streets.

Despite the serious dangers he faced, Pence was adamant about avoiding that.

Pence was given advice on the vice presidency by retired judge J. Michael Luttig on January 6. Luttig told the panel that Trump, his associates, and his fans continue to pose “a clear and present danger to democracy” with their statements.

Even still, it felt a little off to have the story recounted without Trump and Pence, two of the major players.

Following the hearing, former Obama administration acting solicitor general Neal Katyal stated on MSNBC, “He obviously did the right thing on Jan. 6,” Neal Katyal, former acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, said on MSNBC after the hearing. “Great. But the idea that he can sit on the sidelines during this hearing and not tell the American people … not tell the Justice Department what actually happened in his words, to me, I find unforgivable. So, it’s great to lionize him for what he did last year, but I want to know, and I want to hear from him what actually happened in his own words

There was a lot of pressure from on high.

There was public and private pressure from Trump on Pence. In addition to his tweet at 2:24 p.m. on January 6, Trump mentioned Vice President Pence eleven times in his speech that day.

Multiple witnesses, including Trump’s daughter Ivanka, testified to a “heated” phone call between Trump and Pence on January 6, and Trump tweeted multiple times in the days leading up to that date aimed at Pence. Trump also lied in a statement about Pence agreeing with him about the power the vice president had.

To get Pence to do what he wanted, Trump resorted to bullying tactics. Trump allegedly called Pence a “wimp” because Pence lacked the “courage” to overturn the election, according to witnesses.

The committee effectively communicated the extent to which Trump’s statements had an impact on the throng of his fans who had stormed the Capitol.

One rioter can be heard on camera stating, “If Pence caved, we’re going to drag m through the streets,” one rioter is heard saying on video. “You politicians are going to be dragged through the streets.”

Unnervingly, the committee also revealed a comment from an informant who said the Proud Boys “would have killed Mike Pence if given the chance.”

After the riot, the pressure on Pence did not let up at all.

In addition to Trump’s tweet, Pence’s attorney Jacob stated that John Eastman, the attorney who conceived of and encouraged Trump to go through with this scheme, urged him to persuade Pence to delay certification and return the matter to the states.

When Jacob showed Pence the email, Pence said, “That’s rubber room crap.”

Before the rioters stormed the Capitol, Jacob had warned Eastman, “because of your b* we are in this predicament.”

In response, Eastman placed the blame on Vice President Pence, saying that he was to blame for the siege since he had refused to do what he and Trump had requested.

Fourth, the committee started outlining Eastman’s (and maybe Trump’s) possible criminal responsibility.

Eastman’s suspicion that Pence didn’t have the right to accomplish what Eastman was requesting was supported by a number of facts.

Jacob testified that on January 5, Eastman told him he wouldn’t want a Democratic vice president to do the same thing and that he didn’t think they or Pence could legally do it.

Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann stated that Eastmann said, “There’s been violence in the history of our country to safeguard our republic,” in response to Herschmann’s warning that there would be rioting if Eastmann’s memo was implemented.

In the wake of the violence, Eastman wrote to Mayor Rudy Giuliani to request clemency. To be clear, he was not. At least one hundred times when he was questioned by the committee on January 6th, Eastman claimed Fifth Amendment protection.

According to Jacob, Eastman made clear that he and Trump were asking Pence to do something that was well beyond his scope of power. Jacob inquired as to if Eastman had informed Trump of this, to which Eastman replied, “I did, but once he [Trump] gets something in his brain, it’s hard to get it out.”

It is “more probable than not,” according to a non-binding decision from a federal judge earlier this year, that Trump and Eastman plotted and “corruptly attempted to impede” Congress before and on January 6.

Dozens of people have been found guilty of interfering with a Congressional investigation or a public proceeding, both serious felonies. The question now is what will happen and how likely it is that Trump will be prosecuted by the Justice Department.

However, the committee and the Justice Department have not worked together effectively thus far. Department officials wrote a letter to the committee expressing frustration that they have yet to receive transcripts they requested.

That “complicates the Department’s ability to investigate and punish anyone who participated in criminal conduct in regard to the January 6 attack on the Capitol,” the report concluded.

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