WASHINGTON — The House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection wants former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to submit to an interview about his alleged involvement in “aspects” of attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson asked Gingrich in a letter Thursday to appear for a voluntary interview during the week of Sept. 19.
“The committee has obtained information indicating that you have knowledge about former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and we write to seek your voluntary cooperation,” wrote Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.
The committee said in an announcement that it has evidence Gingrich, a Republican who was speaker from 1995 to 1999 and a candidate for president in 2012, took part in “advertising efforts” designed to cast doubt on the outcome of the election after voting had concluded.
Gingrich’s activities, it said, also included involvement in efforts to encourage members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election.
Some advertisements were broadcast in the days leading up to Dec. 14, 2020 — the day electors from each state met to cast their votes for president and vice president, the committee said.
The letter tells Gingrich that some of the information the committee has includes email messages he exchanged with former Trump senior advisers.
Thompson, in his letter to Gingrich, claims the former speaker remained involved in election-overturn efforts even on the evening of Jan. 6. He said the committee knows Gingrich emailed Trump’s then-chief of staff Mark Meadows at 10:42 p.m. — after the Capitol had been cleared of rioters — regarding letters from state legislators “about decertifying electors.”
“Accordingly, you appear to have been involved with President Trump’s efforts to stop certification of the election results even after the attack on the Capitol,” Thompson writes.
