Speaking at the Day 9 of the Capitol Riots Hearings, Rep. Zoe Lofgren said that former president Donald Trump had planned “well in advance” to declare victory by disregarding the actual vote count. She said that Trump consulted one of his outside advisers, conservative activist Tom Fitton, to draw out a strategy for election night several days before the elections. 

Also read: January 6 hearings Day 9: Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson opening statement

Among the new evidence presented before the House in this regard was an October 31, 2020, email from Fitton to Trump that declared the former president a premature winner. The statement was later taken up by Trump to announce publicly on the night of the election that he had won.

“We had an election today—and I won,” Fitton’s email memo presented at the hearing read. It also indicated a plan by which only the votes “counted by the Election Day deadline” would matter in the final result.

Lofgren also said that former Vice President Mike Pence and his aides were deputed to defend when a declaration in that regard would be made. Pence’s counsel, Greg Jacob, claimed that the former president’s chief of staff Marc Short was figuring out “a way of avoiding” having Pence talk on the election results prematurely.

Also read: January 6 hearing Day 9: Liz Cheney says Donald Trump was ‘central cause’ of Capitol attack

She added that Jacob later to Short on Election Day saying that Pence must not be seen as having “decided questions concerning disputed electoral votes prior to the full development of all relevant facts.”

The hearing opened with a statement from the Chairman of the House Select Committee Bennie Thompson who said that a number of new shreds of evidence will be presented today which will give a broader context on Donald Trump’s ‘state of mind’, ‘intention’ and ‘motivation’ on the day of the January 6 riots.