Jan. 6 Committee invites Newt Gingrich to 'voluntary' interview over possible role in election fraud claims

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The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is inviting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to a "voluntary" interview over his possible role in the election fraud claims that were made by then-President Trump after the 2020 election, Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., announced on Thursday.

An announcement from the committee states that it has evidence allegedly showing that Gingrich was in contact with several senior advisors to then-President Trump about television advertisements "that relied upon and amplified known false claims about fraud in the 2020 election."

The announcement also alleges that Gingrich was involved "in various other aspects of the scheme to overturn the 2020 election and block the transfer of power, including after the violence of Jan. 6. Thompson said that the committee would like to conduct a "voluntary transcribed interview" with Gingrich during the week of Sept. 19.

The Jan. 6 Committee is asking Gingrich for "other communications you may have had with the White House, President Trump, the Trump legal team or any other persons involved in the events of January 6th."

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is interviewed on the "Fox & Friends" television program. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Thompson said in a Sept. 1 letter to Gingrich that the Jan. 6 committee has obtained communications between himself and people including Jared Kushner and Jason Miller, where he allegedly "provided detailed input into television advertisements that repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election."

"These advertising efforts were not designed to encourage voting for a particular candidate. Instead, these efforts attempted to cast doubt on the outcome of the election after voting had already taken place. They encouraged members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election. To that end, these advertisements were intentionally aired in the days leading up to December 14, 2020, the day electors from each state met to cast their votes for president and vice president," the letter states.

In one alleged communication obtained by the committee from Gingrich to people including Kushner and Miller that was made in response to a "proposed script for a television advertisement about election fraud," he wrote that "the goal is to arouse the country’s anger through new verifiable information the American people have never seen before[.] . . . If we inform the American people in a way they find convincing and it arouses their anger[,] they will then bring pressure on legislators and governors."

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Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Thompson alleged that Gingrich "sought to arouse anger" a week after Gabe Sterling, chief operating officer in the Georgia Secretary of State's Office, said that "[s]omeone is going to get hurt. Someone is going to get shot. Someone is going to get killed."

The Mississippi Congressman also said that the committee has information suggesting that Gingrich was "involved in the fake elector scheme."

The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 hearing in the Cannon House Office Building. The bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack On the United States Capitol has spent nearly a year conducting more than 1,000 interviews, reviewed more than 140,000 documents day of the attack. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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"Is someone in charge of coordinating all the electors? Evans makes the point that all the contested electors must meet on [D]ecember 14 and send in ballots to force contests which the house would have to settle," Gingrich allegedly wrote to former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone.

After the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Gingrich allegedly emailed former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows at 10:42 p.m. and asked, "[a]re there letters from state legislators about decertifying electors[?]," Thompson said.