As the January 6 committee approaches the final week of public testimony, some committee members believe they will be able to make a direct connection between two of its top subjects: Former President Donald Trump and his Oath keeper acolytes.
Representatives Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), both members of the committee, appeared on NBC’s Meet the press and CNN’s State of the Union Sunday to preview the panel’s upcoming public testimony week. Their position comes two days after Trump’s last White House adviser Pat Cipollone gave testimony nearly nine hours before the committee, a key figure in the bomb blast witness Testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson last month.
Murphy would not confirm to Chuck Todd how much of Hutchinson’s testimony Cipollone confirmed, but she did note that the public will hear more than he and others’ testimony during Tuesday’s hearing. She said the focus would be on “domestic violent extremists,” especially those heeding Trump’s call to Washington to protest the election results.
Murphy said: “We’re going to give the body of evidence we have about how the president’s tweet in the late hours of December 19 about ‘stay there, be wild’ was an alarm bell for these people.” She referred to a tweet Trump sent out urging his supporters to come to DC on January 6.
“Big protest in DC on January 6th,” he wrote. “It’s going to be wild there!”
“We’ll go into detail about what got them to do – how it got them organized, as well as who else is amplifying that message,” Murphy said.
Lofgren repeated that announcement on State of the Union, told host Jake Tapper how the committee will bring the case to the public about Trump’s complicity with the Oath-Keepers during this week’s hearings — including whether Trump knew the polar militia Have you been to the Capitol or not?
“We will be connecting the dots in these hearings, between these groups and those trying to overturn the election within the government,” she said. “I think you have to come to your own conclusion, but based on the events leading up to that day, I think that would be a reasonable conclusion.”
Lofgren also said the committee will likely hear from a former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who told the committee he would appear before them after Trump relinquished executive privileges. Who it won’t hear from: Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers imprisoned on charges of ambitious conspiracy. Rhodes agreed to speak to the committee only if his testimony was televised.
“This could be a pitch to roll out,” Lofgren said, likening it to a “free release” card. “I’m just saying we’ve got information from Mr. Rhodes.”
