Monday 13 June 2022 04:37 PM January 6 committee shares video of aides saying a drunk Giuliani told ... trends now

Monday 13 June 2022 04:37 PM January 6 committee shares video of aides saying a drunk Giuliani told ... trends now
Monday 13 June 2022 04:37 PM January 6 committee shares video of Trump aides saying a drunk Giuliani told ... trends now

Monday 13 June 2022 04:37 PM January 6 committee shares video of Trump aides saying a drunk Giuliani told ... trends now

The January 6 committee opened its Monday hearing with videotaped depositions of Donald Trump's advisers claiming he declared a premature victory on election night 2020 on the advise of a drunk Rudy Giuliani.

Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney claimed Trump 'rejected the advice of his campaign experts on election night' in favor of advice from 'an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani' who told him to declare victory that night and insist the vote count be stopped 'to falsely claim everything was fraudulent.'

Trump did hold an unprecedented press conference at the White House on election night where he claimed with absolutely no proof that the vote count was rife with 'fraud on the American public.' 

Playing a video deposition from the former New York Mayor himself, Giuliani takes a large sip of water before answering that 'yes' he was at the White House residence in the early morning hours of November 4.

'It went over beyond midnight, yes,' Giuliani said. 

The panel also played video from the deposition of former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, who dropped out of the hearing at the last minute after his wife went into labor.

Stepien told House investigators that he had heard Giuliani was 'upstairs' in a reception area looking to 'talk to the president.' 

He recalled huddling with former Trump adviser Jason Miller, Justin Clarke and ex-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows 'to listen to whatever Rudy presumably wanted to say to the president.'

Miller was asked if he observed anyone in that meeting had too much to drink - to which he named Giuliani as well. 

Asked if he himself recalled the meeting, Giuliani told House investigators: 'I - I - I mean I spoke to the president. They may have been present. But I spoke to the president several times that night.'

Stepien said he encouraged Trump to say: ' It's too early to tell, too early to call the race. But you know, we are proud of the race we we ran and we think we're in in good position. And we'll have more to say about this.'

He said Trump disagreed with that plan. 

'This morning, we'll tell the story of how Donald Trump lost an election, and knew he lost an election, and as a result of his loss decided to wage an attack on our democracy,' Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson said in his opening statement.

Former ABC News president James Goldston was seen arriving on Capitol Hill Monday morning ahead of the second hearing.

Axios reported last week that lawmakers recruited Goldston - who also helmed Good Morning America and Nightline as executive producer - to shape their mountains of evidence into a 'blockbuster' presentation.

The most highly-anticipated testimony was expected to come from former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, but he was forced to withdraw less than an hour before the hearing was meant to start after his wife went into labor.

'Mr. Stepien was in town and preparing for his testimony here today in response to a subpoena when he got a call that his wife had gone into labor. He notified committee council and he immediately headed to hospital to be with her,' his lawyer told reporters outside of the hearing room.

US Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), (L) Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol, and Vice Chairwoman Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) preside over a House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol, in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 13

US Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), (L)

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