WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Election operations officials have told the House Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol how supporters of Donald Trump threatened, insulted and harassed them after they refused to help the former US president “overturn” the result of the 2020 presidential election.
Arizona House of Representatives Speaker Russell Bowers told the committee how supporters of Donald Trump had compromised the smooth running of his office by inundating it with calls and emails.
“We received more than 20,000 emails and tens of thousands of messages and text messages, which saturated our offices. We were unable to work, or at least to communicate,” said Russell Bowers.
The commission is now interested in the pressures that the former president exerted on the representatives of several states, while he sought to retain power after his defeat in the November 2020 election.
Russell Bowers said he was harassed in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack, with protests held outside his home, a gunman taking sides with his neighbor, threats and insults continuing against him as his daughter was critically ill .
“It was disturbing. Very disturbing,” said Russell Bowers, who campaigned for Donald Trump in 2020, indicating that he had wanted to see the former president elected.
Recounting conversations in which Donald Trump and his close advisers, including the former president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and adviser John Eastman, urged him to reconsider the election results, Russell Bowers said he had replied, “What you are asking me to do is against my oath and I will not betray my oath.”
Audio and video recordings in which people close to Donald Trump, and the former president himself, could be heard calling on officials to reconsider the election results, were also released to the commission.
Election operations officials in the state of Georgia have also testified to the pressure exerted on them and the false statements made by Donald Trump’s camp about the conduct of the elections in the state.
(With Doina Chiacu and contributions from Rose Horowitch and Linda So; French version Camille Raynaud)
by Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan