Jan 6 hearings: Ivanka Trump recalls father called Pence ‘a wimp’ in final call
The third public hearing of the January 6 House select committee on Thursday featured bombshell testimony regarding a pressure campaign by Donald Trump and law professor John Eastman to get former vice president Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee has sought to demonstrate that Mr Trump knew he lost the election, yet nonetheless “oversaw a scheme” to overturn the result “when the vice president refused to go along with it” and that “he [Mr Trump] unleashed a violent mob against Pence at the Capitol”.
Members of Mr Trump’s family and staff testified about a “heated” call with Mr Pence that morning, after which the president rewrote his rally speech with sharp lines about his vice president.
He later sent a tweet causing angry rioters to surge forward, with some coming within 40ft of Pence as he was evacuated.
The day after the failed attempt to overturn the election, Mr Eastman emailed asking for a pardon, which he did not receive.
The committee also sent a request to Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, a conservative activist and lawyer.
