Trump privately knew he lost but publicly lied about election fraud: Jan. 6 committee member

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots will reveal evidence during their second public hearing that Donald Trump knowingly spread lies about his 2020 election loss.

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) told CNN that witnesses will testify that Trump was shown proof that he had legitimately lost the election but continued to make false claims of fraud, which he used to draw supporters to Washington, D.C., to a "Stop the Steal" rally on the day Congress was set to certify Joe Biden as the next president.

"We have direct testimony, some of which we will hear today that people had conversations directly with the former president to tell him that he did not win, and he was provided all of the information to show that, all of the data, the returns in a way that, you know, anyone who understands math would understand that he did not have the most votes and, therefore, he was not the winner," Luria said.

Those witnesses will show that Trump was aware that his claims were false, the committee member said.

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"I think what we will hear will show in the conversations he knew privately that he had lost yet he decided to go out into the public and continue to say that he won," Luria said, "and he's still doing that today, he's traveling around the country, having big rallies essentially telling the world that he won when the votes of the people were not in his favor."