1/6 panel to hear from Raffensperger, others Trump pushed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House 1/6 committee is set to hear from the caretakers of American democracy — elections workers and local officials — who fended off Donald Trump’s pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election, at times despite frightening personal attacks.

Capitol resume Tuesday to probe Trump’s relentless effort to undo Joe Biden’s victory in the most local way — by leaning on officials in key battleground states to reject ballots outright or to submit alternative electors for the final tally in Congress.

Embattled Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is scheduled to testify about Trump’s phone call asking him to “find 11,780” votes that could flip the state to prevent Biden’s election victory.

Raffensperger, with his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizona’s Republican state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, are scheduled to be key witnesses, along with Wandrea “Shay” Moss, a former Georgia election worker who, with her mother, have said they faced such severe public harassment from Trump allies they felt unable to live normal lives.

Schiff, who will lead much of Tuesday’s session, said that the hearing will also dig into the “intimate role” the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, had in the plot to pressure Georgia state legislators and elections officials.

Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official, rebuffed Trump’s request that he “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state — a request caught on tape during a phone call days before the Jan.

Bowers is expected to discuss the pressure he faced to overturn Arizona’s results — requests from Trump advisers that the Republican state leader on Monday called “juvenile.”.

In an interview with the AP after arriving in Washington ahead of the hearing, Bowers said he is expected to be asked about a call with Trump during which lawyer Rudy Giuliani floated an idea to replace Arizona’s electors with those who would vote for Trump.

Conservative law professor John Eastman, a lawyer for Trump, pushed the fake electors in the weeks after the election.