Pence advisors are scheduled to testify
Trump supporters stand on the U.S. Capitol Police armored vehicle as others take over the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, as the Congress works to certify the electoral college votes.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The select committee is expected to feature a mix of live witnesses and pre-taped interviews like the first two hearings, with two of Pence’s former advisors scheduled to testify in person.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and its vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are also expected to speak. Cheney suggested last week that the actions of attorney John Eastman, who was advising Trump on the election, will play a prominent role in the hearing.
Two associates of Pence are slated to testify in person on Thursday. The first is Greg Jacob, former counsel to the vice president, who in an email on the day of the riot told Eastman, “Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.”
The other witness is J. Michael Luttig, a retired judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit who had been an informal advisor to Pence in the lead-up to Jan. 6.
Committee member Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., is expected to take a lead in Thursday’s hearing.
— Kevin Breuninger
Jan. 6 probe will ask Supreme Court justice’s wife Ginni Thomas to testify ‘at some point,’ chairman says
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 21: (L-R) Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife and conservative activist Virginia Thomas while he waits to speak at the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Select committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., revealed that the panel will ask Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to speak with congressional investigators.
Ginni Thomas has come under intense scrutiny in recent months following reporting on her efforts to challenge the 2020 election results — including by sending a series of frantic texts to then-President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“We think it’s time that we would, at some point, invite her to come talk to the committee,” Thompson told a group of journalists Thursday morning, NBC News and other outlets reported.
Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., agrees that the committee should talk to Ginni Thomas, a Cheney aide told CNBC.
The forthcoming invitation is based on “information we have come upon” about the conservative justice’s spouse, Thompson reportedly said. He did not specify when the committee planned to send its invitation.
A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
— Kevin Breuninger
Pence’s reaction takes center stage at third hearing
In this image from video, Vice President Mike Pence speaks as the Senate reconvenes after protesters stormed into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021.
Senate Television via AP
Select committee aides told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the latest hearing will delve into one of Trump’s theories — rejected by most top legal minds and ultimately by Pence himself — that the vice president could unilaterally refuse to count Electoral College votes from disputed states.
Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, was tasked with presiding over a joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College results. He stoked Trump’s fury when he said in a letter just before the proceedings that he cannot claim “unilateral authority” to throw out electoral votes.
The nine-member committee will plans to show how Trump heaped pressure on Pence to follow this theory, and how that helped stoke the Capitol riot and “put Pence’s life in danger,” an aide said. The panel is also expected to unveil new material documenting Pence’s moves at the Capitol as the insurrection was unfolding.
— Kevin Breuninger
