January 6 committee will grill Ex-Overstock CEO on Friday about White House meeting with Mike Flynn and Sidney Powell where participants talked about ‘seizing voting machines’: Panel kicks off its seventh hearing today
Patrick Byrne is a close ally of Donald Trump's and helped push his claims the 2020 presidential election was rigged
He was apparently present at a December 18, 2020 White House meeting in which Trump and his allies discussed seizing voting machines
The former chief executive will speak with the committee behind closed doors
Byrne was formed to step down from Overstock after disclosing his past romantic involvement with convicted Russian spy Maria Butina
The December meeting will be a focus of Tuesday afternoon's hearing for the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol
By ELIZABETH ELKIND, POLITICS REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 09:27 EDT, 12 July 2022 | UPDATED: 09:35 EDT, 12 July 2022
The January 6 committee will meet with former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne behind closed doors at the end of this week, it was reported Tuesday.
Byrne is a close ally of Donald Trump's and was present at a White House meeting on December 18 in which the then-president and a group of formal and informal advisers discussed ways to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, CNN reports.
He was forced to step down from his position as chief executive of the online furniture store in 2019 after disclosing that he was romantically involved with a woman who was convicted of being a Russian spy, Maria Butina.
The December 18 meeting will be a focus of Tuesday afternoon's hearing for the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
There are reportedly no parameters set for Byrne's Friday meeting with lawmakers.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the January 6 committee for confirmation.
The committee's normal process involves a closed-door deposition as its first step before any possible consideration of a public hearing.
Tuesday's report does not make clear whether it's Byrne's first time before the panel, or if he will be bound under oath.
+4
View gallery
Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock, will meet with the January 6 committee behind closed doors, CNN reported
+4
View gallery
He's a close ally of former President Donald Trump and reportedly helped push his 2020 election fraud lies
RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 2 Next
 Nearly half of Republican primary voters want someone other...  Mexico's president brings up 'grievances that are not easy...  Elon Musk hits back at Donald Trump saying 'it's time for...
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Share
The former chief executive has been accused of actively pushing Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was 'rigged' in favor of President Joe Biden.
Alongside Byrne, the Oval Office meeting was attended by former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, as well as his disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The meeting was described to CNN as 'forceful,' having erupted into 'fighting' and shouting matches as White House officials clashed with the ex-president's conspiracy theorist allies.
Ideas floated at the meeting included seizing voting machines for government inspection and installing Powell as a special counsel to investigate election fraud, committee aides have said.
Byrne's attendance at the meeting was not disclosed until Tuesday.
+4
View gallery
Byrne was also reportedly present at a December 18 White House meeting during which January 6 committee aides say the idea of appointing Sidney Powell as special counsel for election fraud was floated
Aides said the committee's afternoon hearing will also focus on a tweet sent out by Trump after the heated meeting.
'Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,' he touted in the early hours of December 19. 'Be there, will be wild!'
+4
View gallery
Byrne stepped down from his position at Overstock after disclosing his romance with convicted Russian spy Maria Butina
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone was pressed about the December 18 meeting during his own closed-door deposition with the committee last Friday.
Multiple accounts suggest Cipollone and his team threatened the ex-president with resignations in the face of his election fraud claims.
He reportedly made his skepticism of Trump and his allies' plot abundantly clear to the committee.
Excerpts from Cipollone's deposition, which was videotaped, could be shown at Tuesday's hearing.
It's the panel's seventh hearing, and the only one expected this week after former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson claimed last week that Trump directed his supporters toward the Capitol while knowing they were armed, and got into a physical altercation with his security detail when Secret Service agents stopped him from joining the mob.
Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin told NBC News that Cipollone corroborated 'almost everything' that came up in the panel's last six hearings, including Hutchinson's explosive account.
'He had the opportunity to say whatever he wanted to say, so I didn’t see any contradiction there,' the Maryland Democrat said.
He and fellow Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy will lead Tuesday's hearing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Read more: Exclusive: Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne to meet with January 6 investigators - CNNPolitics Cipollone corroborated virtually everything from Hutchinson, Jan. 6 panel member says
Share or comment on this article: January 6 committee will grill Ex-Overstock CEO on Friday about Trump White House meeting: Report |
