Rep. Boebert was present for ‘early stages’ of Jan. 6th discussions, former Trump aide testifies

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was among a group of Republican lawmakers who met with White House aides and Trump campaign officials in the weeks after the 2020 election to discuss whether then-Vice President Mike Pence could delay certification of the election, a former top presidential aide told the House committee investigating the Capitol riot.

Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified that her boss and several House members and members-elect were present at meetings convened “sometime after Thanksgiving” in 2020, when “meeting participants had come in prepared with information about ways that they think the vice president could approach certifying the Electoral College votes.”

Transcripts of interviews Hutchinson conducted in February and March with the congressional Select Committee to Investigate the Capitol riot were included in a lengthy legal filing by the committee, which was made public this week.

When asked which members of Congress were involved in discussions “raising this idea of the vice president doing anything other than just counting electoral votes on Jan. 6,” Hutchinson named U.S. Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Boebert, adding they “are the four members that immediately jump out at me. Again, I’m trying to hone in specifically on the beginning stages of this, these conversations.”

Boebert, who has denied playing any role in the insurrection, was first elected in November 2020 and was formally sworn in on Jan. 3, 2021.

“Let me be clear,” she said. “I had no role in the planning or execution of any event that took place at the Capitol or anywhere in Washington, DC on January 6th. With the help of my staff, I accepted an invitation to speak at one event but ultimately, I did not speak at any events on January 6th.”

Boebert was one of several Republican lawmakers who were scheduled to speak at a rally on the Ellipse, across from the White House on the morning of Jan. 6th, but a rally headlined by Trump ran over its scheduled time and she didn’t have the chance.

Prior to the capital being breached, Boebert delivered a four-minute speech on the House floor challenging the electoral votes from Arizona, arguing that the state’s legislature hadn’t approved some procedural changes made by election officials and ordered by judges in response to the pandemic.