Former US president Donald Trump pressured Mike Pence to overturn his 2020 election defeat, despite being told repeatedly his vice-president had no authority to do so, a probe into the attack on the Capitol has been told.
Aides to Mr Pence gave the evidence on Thursday (local time) at the Democratic-led House of Representatives select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Members of the committee said Mr Trump continued his pressure campaign even though he knew a violent mob of his supporters was threatening the Capitol.
This was the same day that Mr Pence and other politicians met to formally certify President Joe Biden's victory in the November 2020 election.
The nine-member committee has used the first three of at least six public hearings expected this month to build a case that Mr Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat amounted to illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics.
"Mike Pence said no. He resisted the pressure. He knew it was illegal. He knew it was wrong," said Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairperson.
"That courage put him in tremendous danger."
Mr Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, while repeating his false accusations that he lost the election only because of widespread fraud that benefited Mr Biden.
He and his supporters — including many Republican members of Congress — dismiss the January 6 panel as a political witch hunt.
Marc Short, who was Mr Pence's chief of staff, said in videotaped testimony that Mr Pence told Mr Trump "many times" that he did not have the authority to stop the vote certification in Congress as the Republican president sought.
Gregory Jacob, Mr Pence's lawyer, said the main proponent of that theory — outside lawyer John Eastman — admitted in front of Mr Trump two days before the attack that his plan to have Mr Pence halt the procedure would violate the law.
Mr Trump's accountability for the January 6 riot is "incidental to his responsibility and accountability for his attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election from the American people", retired US Appeals Court Judge Michael Luttig told the committee.
"It is breathtaking that these arguments even were conceived, let alone entertained by the president of the United States at that perilous moment in history," said Mr Luttig, who was an informal adviser to Mr Pence.
The committee played chilling video showing some of the Trump supporters in the crowds of thousands of people who descended on the Capitol baying for Mr Pence to be pulled out of the building, or hanged.
Mr Trump said his VP lacked 'courage'
Committee members said Mr Trump's comments against Mr Pence fuelled their anger.
"You'll also hear that the president knew there was a violent mob at the Capitol when he tweeted at 2:24pm that the vice-president did not have the quote, 'courage' to do what needed to be done," said Democratic Representative Pete Aguilar, a committee member leading questioning of the witnesses.
The certification on January 6 had become a focus for Mr Trump, who saw it as a last-ditch chance to retain the presidency despite his loss at the polls.
His supporters flocked to Washington to rally with the Republican president, who had made repeated false claims that the election was stolen through widespread voting fraud.
They stormed the Capitol, attacked police and sent Mr Pence and other politicians fleeing for their safety.
Mr Pence did not follow Mr Trump's instructions to scrap the certification of votes.
The hearing also examined the emergence of a plan advocated by Trump associates, including attorney John Eastman that Mr Pence could unilaterally reject certified electors from certain states where results had been challenged.
Separately, Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's Democratic chairperson, told reporters on Thursday that the committee should ask Virginia "Ginni" Thomas — wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — to testify.
Ms Thomas's involvement in conservative politics and reported ties to people involved with Mr Trump's challenge to the election outcome have raised questions about whether her husband should recuse himself from Supreme Court decisions related to such matters.
Mr Pence said in February that Mr Trump — under whom he served as vice-president for four years — was wrong to believe that the vice-president had the power to reverse the election's outcome.
"I had no right to overturn the election," Mr Pence told an audience in Florida in a video played by the committee last Thursday.
The attack on the Capitol delayed certification of the election for hours, injured more than 140 police officers and led to several deaths.
More than 840 people have been arrested and charged so far.
The onslaught marked the only time in US history that power was not passed peacefully from one president to another.
Reuters/ABC
