Pence aides say Trump pushed his V-P to overturn loss

WASHINGTON • Then US President Donald Trump pressured Vice-President Mike Pence to overturn his 2020 election defeat despite being told repeatedly that Mr Pence had no authority to do so, aides to Mr Pence have told the congressional committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Members of the Democratic-led House of Representatives select committee said Mr Trump continued his pressure campaign even though he knew a violent mob of his supporters was threatening the Capitol as Mr Pence and lawmakers met to formally certify Mr Joe Biden's victory in the November 2020 election.

The crowd rampaging through the Capitol chanted "Hang Mike Pence" and erected mock gallows outside the building.

Panel member Representative Pete Aguilar said a confidential informant told the FBI afterwards that members of the Proud Boys - an extremist group whose members were among the first to break into the building - would have killed Mr Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had they reached either of them.

Mr Pence's Secret Service detail whisked him and his family down back stairways and through hallways to a secure location in the Capitol complex, passing within 12m of the crowd, Mr Aguilar said.

Mr Pence was determined not to leave the Capitol until the election certification was completed and refused instructions from Secret Service agents to shelter inside an armoured car, just to be certain they would not remove him, his then chief counsel Greg Jacob told the committee.

Mr Trump never called to check on Mr Pence's safety while the vice-president was under siege in the Capitol, Mr Jacob said on Thursday. Mr Pence and his wife, Karen, reacted "with frustration" to that, he added.

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," Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's chairman, said on Thursday. "That courage put him in tremendous danger."

Separately, Mr Thompson told reporters that the committee should ask Mrs Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to testify.

Mrs Thomas' 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 Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, while repeating his false accusations that he lost the election only because of widespread fraud that benefited his Democrat rival, Mr Biden.

The former president and his supporters - including many Republican members of Congress - dismiss the Jan 6 panel as a political witch hunt. Mr Trump's accountability for the Jan 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 J. 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 Judge Luttig, who was an informal adviser to Mr Pence.

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," Mr Aguilar said.

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, BLOOMBERG