January 6 committee: Trump, allies pressured state officials to overturn 2020 election results News
Sgt. Dana M Clarke // Public domain
January 6 committee: Trump, allies pressured state officials to overturn 2020 election results

The US House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol Tuesday heard live testimony from four witnesses involved in processing the 2020 election results. The select committee’s fourth hearing focused on former President Donald Trump’s efforts to influence election workers and local officials to overturn the 2020 general election in several key states.

The select committee heard testimony from Arizona’s Republican House speaker Rusty Bowers, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy Gabe Sterling and former Georgia election worker Wandrea “Shay” Moss. Each witness testified to the pressure they faced from either Trump or his supporters following the 2020 election.

The hearing began with Bowers testifying to repeated phone calls from Trump and his allies asking Bowers to decertify Arizona’s vote count. Specifically, Bowers recalled Trump asking him to replace the legitimate slate of electors—state officials who submit the official vote count to the Electoral College—with Trump electors. Bowers refused and asked instead that Trump provide evidence of the alleged voter fraud. Neither Trump nor his allies ever provided Bowers with legitimate evidence.

Raffensperger testified to a similar experience in the Georgia vote count. Raffensperger recalled that Trump and his allies called him and repeatedly pressed him to find additional votes to overcome President Joe Biden’s victory in the state. Raffensperger explained that Trump’s requests were moot because, “[t]here were not votes to find.”

Sterling and Moss testified that the pressure from the Trump campaign affected election officials’ everyday lives. Their testimony was coupled with video testimony from election officials spanning other states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. Election officials testified to people protesting the election results outside of their homes and sending threatening messages. Moss explained that she no longer serves as an election official, stating: “It has affected my life in a major way, in every way, all because of lies.”

The fifth select committee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23.