Jan. 6 committee takes swings at Trump

On Thursday, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot accused former President Donald Trump of pushing then–Vice President Mike Pence to reject the 2020 election results presented to Congress. A vice president doing so would have created a constitutional crisis, retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig said. On Monday, the committee played a video testimony in which Bill Stepien, Trump’s former campaign manager, said he encouraged Trump to ask voters to vote by mail.

What is the committee trying to prove? The members also wanted to show that Trump’s pressure on Pence led rioters to try to attack the vice president and directly contributed to them storming the U.S. Capitol. A poll by Politico and Morning Consult taken after the first day of hearings last week showed the spectacle wasn’t having the intended effect. The percentage of Americans who blame Trump for the riot steadily declined over the past 18 months and edged even lower after the first televised hearing. “In terms of public opinion, there are few remaining persuadable voters on the issue, and those tuning into the latest news cycle do not appear to be among them,” Morning Consult editor Cameron Easley wrote.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta and Esther Eaton’s report in The Stew on the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot.