Jan. 6 transcripts: Trump wanted to trademark ‘rigged election’ and other key findings

CNN
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The House January 6 committee on Friday released another wave of witness interview transcripts.

The new release is part of a steady stream of transcript drops that the House select committee has put out over the past week, complementing the release of its sweeping 845-page report.

The latest transcript drop comes as the panel winds down its work with the House majority set to change hands from Democrats to Republicans next week at the start of the new Congress.

The transcripts released so far have shed new light on how the House committee conducted its investigation of the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol – and new details about what key witnesses told the panel.

Here are some of the highlights from the latest disclosures:

Trump wanted to trademark ‘Rigged Election!’ days after 2020 election, emails provided to Jan 6 committee show

Then-President Donald Trump wanted to trademark the phrase “Rigged Election!” days after Election Day in 2020, according to emails provided by Jared Kushner to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol.

On November 9, 2020, then-Trump aide Dan Scavino emailed Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, with the request from Trump.

“Hey Jared! POTUS wants to trademark/own rights to below, I don’t know who to see – or ask…I don’t know who to take to,” the email from Scavino reads, according to a transcript of Kushner’s testimony to the committee, which was released by the panel on Friday.

Two phrases were bolded in the email: “Save America PAC!” and “Rigged Election!”

Kushner forwarded the request and discussed it on an email chain that included Eric Trump, the President’s son; Alex Cannon, a Trump campaign lawyer; Sean Dollman, the chief financial officer of Trump’s 2020 campaign, and Justin Clark, a Trump campaign lawyer.

“Guys – can we do ASAP please?” Kushner writes.

Eric Trump responded saying “Both web URLs are already registered. Save America PAC was registered October 23 of this year. Was that done by the campaign?”

Dollman responds: “‘Save America PAC’ is already taken/registered, just confirming that. But we can still file for ‘Save America.’”

Kushner’s response, according to the transcript, was “Go.”

Ginni Thomas explains why she was ‘disgusted’ with Pence in text sent days after January 6

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, told the committee that when she said she was “disgusted” with then-Vice President Mike Pence in a text on January 10, 2021, she wasn’t referring to his refusal to stop the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s win, but rather to her frustration with him not talking up election fraud claims. There was no evidence of widespread election fraud in the election.

“I was frustrated that I thought Vice President Pence might concede earlier than what President Trump was inclined to do,” Thomas said, according to a transcript released Friday. “And I wanted to hear Vice President Pence talk more about the fraud and irregularities in certain states that I thought was still lingering.”

“I wasn’t focused on the Vice President’s role on January 6th,” she said, when asked specifically if the text – previously reported by CNN – was connected to how he handled that day.

At another point in the interview, Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin asked Thomas what specific episodes of fraud concerned her.

“I can’t say that I was familiar at that time with any specific evidence,” she said, pointing instead to what she heard from “friends on the ground” and “grassroots activists” who had “found things suspicious” at polling places.

“I don’t know specific instances,” she said. “But certainly I think we all know that there are people questioning what happened in 2020, and it takes time to develop an understanding of the facts.”

The committee had only limited questions about Ginni Thomas’ interactions with her husband and his role on the Supreme Court – an area she would likely be able to decline to answer questions about, given the confidentiality allowed for married couples.

Justice Thomas had no idea she was texting Meadows, Ginni Thomas told the investigators.

“He first learned of my text messaging with Mark Meadows in March when he was in the hospital and this committee released them,” she said in her interview.

Ginni Thomas told Jan. 6 committee she regretted text messages she sent to Mark Meadows after 2020 election

Ginni Thomas told the House select committee she regretted the text messages she was sending to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after the election.

“I regret the tone and content of these texts … I really find my language imprudent and my choices of sending the context of these emails unfortunate,” Thomas said.

Thomas’ mea culpa to the committee, captured in a transcript of her September interview that was released publicly Friday, marks a rare moment of public reflection from one of the more intriguing avenues the House panel pursued, after obtaining Meadows’ texts. Thomas, a longtime conservative activist, had been sending Meadows messages about challenging the election’s results. She explained to the committee at her interview she was concerned about a concession of the election before accusations of fraud were fully explored.

“It was an emotional time. I was probably just emoting,” she said, in response to direct questions from Rep. Adam Schiff. “Some of these are just things I was showing were moving through the movement and I’m regretting that they became public … Certainly I didn’t want my emotional texts to a friend released and made available.”