January 6 hearings: Officials feared for lives after Trump's election pressure, panel says

House committee member says subpoenaing former vice president Mike Pence is 'certainly a possibility'

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  On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they storm the US Capitol in Washington. AFP

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  Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have already spoken to January 6 investigators. Whether they will appear in primetime is yet to be determined. Reuters

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  Rudy Giuliani, lawyer for former president Donald Trump, gives a press conference in the car park of the Four Seasons landscaping company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after Joe Biden was declared as winner of the 2020 presidential election, which he claimed was false. As a result of these claims, Mr Giuliani can no longer practice law in the state of New York. EPA

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  Donald Trump meets Clint Hickman, vice chairman of Arizona's 4th District, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr Hickman said that he refused to take calls from the White House and Mr Trump, who he said was trying to overturn the battleground state's results. AP

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  Four days before the Capitol riot, Donald Trump placed a call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked the official to 'find' 11,780 votes to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the battleground state. The House committee investigators have already interviewed election officials in the state. AP

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  Ruby Freeman was an employee of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections in Atlanta, Georgia, during the 2020 presidential election. After the state went to Joe Biden, Donald Trump accused Ms Freeman of stealing ballots in a call with Brad Raffensperger, who told Mr Trump that he was being misled by claims on social media. Reuters

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  Kimberly Guilfoyle, engaged to Donald Trump's son, boasted to a Republican operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped fuel the January 6 Capitol riot. She may be called to testify. AFP

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  Kash Patel, chief of staff to former acting secretary of defence Christopher Miller, gave a deposition on Capitol Hill to the committee on December 9, 2021. Members of the committee and staff members had been meeting with Mr Patel and 'Stop the Steal' organiser Ali Alexander. Getty Images / AFP

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  The Willard Hotel in Washington played home to a 'war room' set up by advisers of Donald Trump and has become the focus of the congressional investigation into the January 6 attack. AFP

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  Former White House chief strategist in the Trump administration Steven Bannon leaves a federal courthouse in Washington after being indicted on two counts of contempt of Congress. EPA

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  Roger Stone, a former adviser and confidant of Donald Trump, gave a deposition before the committee in which he repeatedly pled the Fifth Amendment when questioned. Getty Images / AFP

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  Bennie Thompson was chosen by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to lead the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack on the US Capitol. Getty Images / AFP

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  Bennie Thompson meets Liz Cheney, vice-chair of the select committee, Adam Kinzinger and Jamie Raskin on Capitol Hill. The committee voted unanimously to recommend contempt of Congress charges for former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark for defying his subpoena, refusing to answer questions and failing to hand over documents to the committee. Getty Images / AFP

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  Liz Cheney, committee chairman Bennie Thompson and other members of the committee speak to reporters after meeting with Nancy Pelosi. Reuters

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  Republican Scott Perry of Pennsylvania helped promote theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, resulting in millions of tax dollars spent on recounts in the state. Election workers there were also threatened with violence. Reuters

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  Lawyer John Eastman spoke with Donald Trump's personal legal representative Rudy Giuliani at the January 6 'Stop the Steal' rally in Washington. During the melee, Mr Eastman emailed Greg Jacobs, aid to vice president at the time Mike Pence, to say that it was Mr Pence's fault that the riot was taking place because he refused to block the election's certification results. Reuters

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  Before Mike Pence could certify the Electoral College votes before Congress, the last step in the process before Joe Biden was to be sworn in, rioters breached the US Capitol. Outside the chamber doors, a person was shot and police officers were beaten and trampled as some rioters yelled: 'Hang Mike Pence!' EPA

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  Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said he has no intention of complying with a subpoena to appear before the committee and missed a scheduled deposition. Committee members voted unanimously to pursue criminal contempt charges against Mr Meadows for refusing to give evidence. AFP

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  In a legal setback, a federal appeals court ruled against Donald Trump, demanding he turn over White House records to the committee. AP

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  Fox News host Sean Hannity sent text messages to the White House during the January 6 insurrection. AP

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  The Oath Keepers is a US militia group that recruits former members of the military and law enforcement, with many participating in the January 6 attack. The committee has sent a subpoena to its founder, Stewart Rhoades, and several members have been arrested. AP

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  The select committee subpoenaed Enrique Tarrio, naming him as leader of the Proud Boys, an extremist group that responded to Donald Trump’s call to descend on Washington and which played a central role in the attack on the Capitol. EPA

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  US Olympic swimmer Klete Keller can be seen, with arms extended and wearing a blue kerchief covering his face, during the attack on the US Capitol. He pled guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding and is co-operating with the committee. AFP

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  House select committee member Liz Cheney told CNN that a witness said Donald Trump's daughter and former White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, pleaded with her father to put a stop to the violence that took place on January 6. Getty Images / AFP

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  On January 9, 2021, Twitter banned Donald Trump after he tweeted his support for the rioters. Reuters

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  'Stop the Steal' organiser Ali Alexander gave a deposition on Capitol Hill to the committee. Getty Images / AFP

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  Stephanie Grisham, former White House Press Secretary under former US president Donald Trump, leaves the O'Neill House office building following a meeting with the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. Reuters

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  John Eastman, a lawyer for former president Donald Trump, possibly broke legal and ethical rules relating to the 2020 election. AP

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  Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman, admitted to speaking with Donald Trump on January 6 but refuses to speak with the committee. Reuters

Donald Trump's relentless pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election led to widespread personal threats against election workers and local officials who fended off his efforts, a congressional panel said on Tuesday.

The House of Representatives special committee heard emotional testimony from election workers who felt their lives were in danger after their personal information was published online following Mr Trump's defeat.

"Pressuring public servants into betraying their oaths was a fundamental part of the playbook,” the committee’s chairman, Bennie Thompson, said of Mr Trump and his allies.

"A handful of election officials in several key states stood between Donald Trump and the upending of American democracy.”

The committee has spent nearly a year investigating the deadly January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

In a series of hearings outlining its findings, the panel has described how Mr Trump was responsible for fuelling the anger that led to the riot.

His pressure campaign on election workers was most intense in the state of Georgia, where Democrat Joe Biden narrowly won after years of Republican presidential.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy, Gabriel Sterling, testified about becoming two of Mr Trump's top targets as he floated conspiracy theories and they refused to back down to his pressure.

The committee played audio of the call where Mr Trump asked the officials to “find 11,780” votes that could flip the state to prevent Mr Biden’s election victory.

“There were not votes to find,” Mr Raffensperger said.

He said he and his team went through “every single allegation” and down every “rabbit hole” that Mr Trump and his allies presented to state election officials.

But Mr Trump would not accept it. He told Mr Raffensperger that it could only be dishonesty or incompetence that they could not find the necessary amount of votes.

Competing against his lies was like a “shovel trying to empty the ocean", Mr Sterling said.

He said he could not convince even some of his own family members that the election outcome was valid.

The hearing also examined how Mr Trump’s threats put state officials in danger.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson described how her “stomach sunk” when she heard the sounds of protesters outside her home one night after the election when she was putting her child to bed.

She wondered if they had guns or were going to attack her house.

“That was the scariest moment,” not knowing what’s going to happen, Ms Benson said.

Another Michigan official, Senate majority leader Mike Shirkey, told the committee about receiving 4,000 text messages after Mr Trump published his phone number online.

Bryan Cutler, the Pennsylvania House Speaker, said his information was also revealed online, prompting protesters to show up at his house when his 15-year-old son was home alone.

Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified in person at the hearing, spoke about phone calls from Mr Trump and his allies asking him to decertify Arizona’s legitimate electors and replace them.

Mr Bowers said he repeatedly asked Mr Trump’s attorneys to show evidence of widespread fraud, but they did not provide any.

Mr Bowers said people stood outside his house with loudspeakers and said one man with a gun verbally threatened his neighbour.

He teared up as he spoke of his daughter, who he said was “gravely ill", and his wife becoming upset as people swarmed outside.

Witness Rusty Bowers, Arizona House Speaker, gets emotional as he answers questions. EPA

As the House of Representatives select panel focuses attention on what it says was an illegal scheme backed by Mr Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, a poll shows most Americans believe the former president should face charges.

In three earlier hearings, Trump advisers said they had warned him of the illegality of trying to overturn Democrat Joe Biden's victory by persuading then vice president Mike Pence to block a normally pro forma process.

One committee member, Adam Schiff, told CNN on Sunday that calling in Mr Pence was “certainly a possibility”.

“We're not excluding anyone or anything at this point,” Mr Schiff said.

Mr Pence faced intense pressure from Mr Trump to break with history and refuse on January 6 to formally certify Mr Biden's victory.

But even after Trump supporters stormed the building, with some chanting “Hang Mike Pence”, he refused to leave the complex and returned to the Senate chamber late at night to carry out the certification.

Mr Trump remains as divisive a political figure as ever, inspiring furious loyalty among followers and great disdain from his critics.

The public's division came through starkly in a new ABC News/Ipsos poll about the committee's work.

The poll, taken on June 17 and 18, found that 58 per cent of Americans believed Mr Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the January 6 events, up from 52 per cent in April.

But while nearly all Democrats said Mr Trump bore considerable responsibility for the January 6 riot, only a quarter of Republicans agreed.

And significantly, only 9 per cent of Americans said they were following the hearings very closely.

- News agencies contributed to this report.