The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol interviewed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for several hours Tuesday in a meeting that included discussion of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
“I spoke to the January 6th committee to ensure they included the full record of how stolen election claims damage our democracy — whether in 2016, 2018, or 2020. While liberals in Washington, D.C. remain focused on Trump, conservatives should focus on the kitchen table issues that really matter to the American people,” Raffensperger, a Republican who is the state’s top elections official, said in a statement.
The meeting was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The interview lasted four hours, Raffensperger’s office said, and they discussed the call this year in which Trump pressured Raffensperger to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in Georgia while repeatedly berating state officials.
In a recent book, Raffensperger wrote that he felt Trump was threatening him in the call. He now faces a Trump-endorsed primary challenger in his re-election bid next year.
The House committee has interviewed or deposed numerous people about the events leading up to the Jan. 6 riot and the attack itself.
Earlier Tuesday, the chair of the House committee, Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has begun cooperating. His cooperation comes not long after former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the committee’s questions.
If he is convicted, Bannon could face as long as a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
Garrett Haake and Julia Jester contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
