Steven Mnuchin testifies he talked to Pompeo about 25th Amendment despite Pompeo denial

Brady Knox

December 27, 05:41 PM December 27, 05:59 PM

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testified to the Jan. 6 committee that he talked to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about invoking the 25th Amendment against President Donald Trump despite Pompeo's denial.

The contradiction was found in the Tuesday dump of a number of testimony transcripts, which included that of Mnuchin.

Former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, former Attorney General William Barr, and former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao also testified to the committee that they didn't recall any conversations about the 25th Amendment.

The apparent contradiction could lead to legal trouble for Mnuchin or Pompeo.

SUDDENLY, DEMOCRATS AREN’T CONCERNED ABOUT THE 25TH AMENDMENT

"Do you recall talking to Secretary Pompeo in General Milley's presence about the 25th Amendment?" Mnuchin was asked by the committee.

"I mean, I do recall speaking to Secretary Pompeo about the 25th Amendment. I don't recall it being in that circumstance, and I surely don't recall that I stopped the conversation when General Milley came up," he replied.

However, the conversation doesn't appear to have gone very far.

"[The 25th Amendment] came up very briefly in our conversation. [Pompeo and I] both believed that the best outcome was a normal transition of power, which was working, and neither one of us contemplated in any serious format the 25th Amendment," he added

He also admitted that he wasn't entirely familiar with the amendment, saying that the "only research I did out of curiosity was I googled it."

The 25th Amendment allows the president's Cabinet to deem him or her "unable to discharge the powers and duties" of office through a majority vote, ousting them in favor of the vice president.

Top Republicans refusing to come to Trump's defense after criminal referrals

Ryan King

December 20, 07:56 AM December 20, 08:24 AM

A number of top Senate Republicans are refusing to come to former President Donald Trump's defense in the wake of the Jan. 6 committee making a number of criminal referrals to the Justice Department.

After the referrals were made Monday, top party officials refused to defend Trump, sidestepped questions about the former president's woes, and called for the DOJ to have the final say on what happens next.

“The entire nation knows who is responsible for that day. Beyond that, I don’t have any immediate observations," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared in response to questions about the referrals.

'THESE FOLKS DON'T GET IT': TRUMP DISMISSES JAN. 6 CRIMINAL REFERRALS, SAYS IT ONLY MAKES HIM STRONGER

On Monday, the Jan. 6 committee unveiled criminal referrals for Trump to the Department of Justice on four categories of criminal conduct: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and inciting an insurrection.

Trump unsuccessfully prodded Senate Republicans to oust McConnell, but the Kentucky sage managed to overcome an effort to usurp his seat from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) earlier this year. Some Republicans aligned with him echoed similar sentiments.

“It’s up to Justice now,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) said, per the Hill. “[The panel] interviewed some credible witnesses.”

“I think the referrals are not as important as the report. The report’s important, even though it came out of a partisan process,” Sen Rob Portman (R-OH) told the outlet. "The testimony is the testimony, and they were able to get the testimony from most of the people they wanted — not everybody but most — and I think most of the significant figures.”

Back in early 2021, seven Republican senators voted to convict Trump and remove him from office during the second impeachment for his actions surrounding the Capitol riot — a higher rate of party defections than in the House. Unsurprisingly, many of those senators appeared open-minded to the referral.

“I am not a lawyer and certainly not a prosecutor,” outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who voted to convict, said, the Hill reported. “I don’t know the legal basis of it, but you know what I think of what the president did that day."

“Obviously they spent considerable time and [went into] great detail over many months they have investigated this,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) contended, according to the Hill. “I think it’s going to be important for us to read this report that will be coming out Wednesday."

Trump himself shrugged off the referrals, proclaiming "what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger," and chalked up the development as "a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party." Criminal referrals are ultimately nonbinding. It will be up to the DOJ to decide whether or not to bring forward charges.

Special counsel Jack Smith has been appointed to oversee the DOJ's sprawling investigation of the Jan. 6 riot and coinciding efforts to overturn the 2020 election — an inquiry done in tandem with the Jan. 6 committee's review. He is expected to weigh criminal charges against Trump in that matter, as well as the other investigation he is overseeing pertaining to the Mar-a-Lago document saga.

The Jan. 6 committee is expected to release the final report of its findings on Wednesday.

Donald Trump is 'absolutely guilty' of a crime ahead of Jan. 6 report release: Kinzinger

Ryan King

December 15, 08:27 AM December 15, 08:31 AM

Former President Donald Trump is "absolutely guilty" of a crime in relation to the Jan. 6 riots, committee member and outgoing Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger made the comments during an interview this week, discussing how Trump pressured officials at the Justice Department to say the election was "stolen" and sat in the Oval Office "actively resisting pressure" to quell the rioters.

"I have to caveat it with that I'm not a Justice Department official. They have different levels of standards," Kinzinger told CNN. "I think he is absolutely guilty. And if he is not guilty of some kind of a crime, I mean, what we've basically said is presidents are above the law and they can do everything short of a coup as long as it doesn't succeed."

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN ANNOUNCES LAST PUBLIC MEETING AHEAD OF FINAL REPORT

"[Trump] knew what was happening prior to Jan. 6, he pressured the Justice Department officials to say, 'Hey, just say the election was stolen and leave the rest to me,'" Kinzinger continued. "Then you look at the 187 minutes where he sat in his office, not indecisive, I think indecisive would be probably complementary. He was actively resisting pressure from his family and from his staff to stop that from happening."

The Jan. 6 committee is poised to hold its final public meeting on Dec. 19 and is expected to unveil any criminal referrals from its investigation. It has reportedly been mulling criminal referrals for Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney John Eastman, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark.

Then, on Dec. 21, the panel will release its long-anticipated final report, committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told reporters this week. Criminal referrals are nonbinding, and it will be up to law enforcement agencies to decide whether or not to move forward with criminal charges.

Even if the DOJ doesn't pursue criminal charges against Trump, Kinzinger insisted the committee's efforts will not have been in vain.

"The information that who is responsible — that's very important. Showing the American people the true nature of what happened — that's very important. Where I think this work is going to actually echo the loudest though is not even necessarily tomorrow," Kinzinger added. "It's going to echo through the history books."

As the panel wraps up its work, newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith is spearheading the DOJ's investigations related to Trump, including Trump's actions surrounding the Capitol riot and coinciding efforts to thwart the 2020 election. Trump, who launched his 2024 campaign last month, has denied wrongdoing and blasted both Smith and the Jan. 6 committee for conducting a witch hunt.

Kinzinger opted not to vie for reelection in the midterm elections and is set to depart Congress in January.

Trump on trial: Here are 7 key demands made of Donald in his subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee

Ryan King

October 22, 11:58 AM October 22, 11:58 AM

The Jan. 6 committee made good on its pledge to subpoena former President Donald Trump on Friday.

At the finale of the public hearing last week, committee members sent shockwaves throughout the Beltway by declaring their intention to subpoena Trump for testimony and documents. During the hearing, they lambasted him for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and the coinciding efforts to overturn the 2020 election and insisted his testimony was needed.

"In short, you were at the center of the first and only effort by any U.S. President to overturn an election and obstruct the peaceful transition of power, ultimately culminating in a bloody attack on our own Capitol and on the Congress itself," the panel wrote in a letter to Trump accompanying the subpoena.

JAN. 6 COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS DONALD TRUMP

Trump is required to deliver the requested documents by Nov. 4 and give testimony on Nov. 14.

At the heart of its demands, the panel wants Trump to sit for testimony and turn over his communications during the time surrounding the riot. But in the subpoena, investigators laid out 19 specific document demands to ensure their ask was crystal clear. Here are the top seven demands.

1. Communication on Jan. 6

Trump is required to turn over every single communication he had on Jan. 6, 2021, including through phone calls, text messages, and applications such as Signal. The panel wants the messages regardless of whether he was "an active or passive participant" in the communication.

2. Documents about the Justice Department and 2020 election

The panel is demanding all documents or communications Trump may have had about the DOJ or the 2020 election, sent through Signal or other means. No timeline was given in the broad demand.

3. Communications on state certifications

Messages sent between Sept. 1, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021, about plans to impede upon state certifications of elections or efforts to prop up an alternative elector scheme must be sent to the committee.

4. Efforts to summon people to Washington

Investigators want Trump to hand over communications that entail "efforts to encourage or summon individuals to travel" to Washington, D.C., on the day of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. They gave a time frame of Nov. 3, 2020, to Jan. 6, 2021.

5. Documents about losing lawsuits

The committee is demanding all documents and communications between Nov. 3, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021, that "in any way" discuss losing lawsuits about the 2020 election.

6. Messages with key supporters

In one of their demands, panelists name-dropped a slew of Trump supporters who have been key figures of interest in its sprawling investigation. The panel wants any communications Trump had between Nov. 3, 2020, to Jan. 20, 2021, that involved Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, Cleta Mitchell, or Patrick Byrne.

7. Information on communication devices

Likely to ensure it has a full grasp of Trump's communication tactics, the panel is demanding information "sufficient to identify every telephone or other communication device" that the former president utilized between Nov. 3, 2020, to Jan. 20, 2021.

So far, Trump has been tight-lipped about whether he will comply with the Jan. 6 committee's comprehensive request. He has hired Dhillon Law Group to help handle the squabble with the panel, Politico reported. The firm has represented others, such as Michael Flynn and Sebastian Gorka, who have found themselves in the committee's crosshairs.

The panel has cited historical precedents in which presidents have complied with congressional demands and indicated it believes it would prevail against a legal challenge. Trump has ripped the panel, blasting it for unfairness.

“The double standard of the Unselects between what has taken place on the ‘Right,’ and what has taken place with [the] radical Left, lawless groups such as antifa, Black Lives Matter, and others, is startling and will never be acceptable, even to those who will be writing the history of what you have done to America,” Trump wrote in a lengthy statement following news of the plans to subpoena him.

You can read the full subpoena below:

Trump zings McCarthy for ‘foolish decision’ to pull GOP picks for Jan. 6 committee

Ryan King

June 20, 05:20 PM June 20, 08:45 PM

Former President Donald Trump is blaming House Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for the absence of Republican representation on the Property Jan. 6 committee.

As the panel holds a summertime established of hearings, in the course of which associates have sought to connect the former president's efforts to obstacle the effects of the 2020 election to the Capitol riot, Trump excoriated McCarthy's conclusion to withdraw his picks for the committee following Property Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) turned down them very last calendar year.

TRUMP CORRECTS Document, Says HE Has not ENDORSED MCCARTHY FOR SPEAKER

“This committee, it was a terrible selection not to have illustration on that committee,” Trump stated in a recent job interview with conservative communicate demonstrate host Wayne Allyn Root. “That was a quite, quite foolish choice because they check out to faux like they are legit, and only when you get into the internal workings [do] you say, ‘What type of a issue is this?’ Just a 1-sided witch hunt.”

Final summer months, McCarthy introduced five GOP picks for the Jan. 6 committee: Reps. Jim Financial institutions (IN), Jim Jordan (OH), Rodney Davis (IL), Troy Nehls (TX), and Kelly Armstrong (ND). But Pelosi rejected Banking companies and Jordan.

The minority chief decried the move as "an egregious abuse of power" and threatened to withdraw all his picks if Pelosi did not back down. But the speaker did not budge, prompting McCarthy to abide by by way of on his danger and go away the committee absent of Trump-supporting associates.

Reps. Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL), two Republicans who have been seriously important of Trump, ended up additional to the panel, giving it a bipartisan edge. They have supported these types of moves as subpoenas towards substantial-profile Republicans and keeping in contempt of Congress Trump allies Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who have defied all those needs.

For the duration of the interview, Trump also clarified that he has not endorsed McCarthy for speaker if Republicans get back management of the House. McCarthy's bid to become the following speaker has been fulfilled with resistance among the some of his Republican colleagues, specially from "MAGA" firebrand Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) and Matt Gaetz (FL).

Trump stressed that he only endorsed McCarthy's reelection in California's 20th Congressional District just two weeks back and has not produced a pick for speaker.