Jan. 6 committee chair says panel spoke to William Barr

Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Thompson was asked by host Margaret Brennan if the panel intended to speak with Barr regarding a draft of an executive order by the Trump administration that would have deployed the National Guard to seize voting machines.

“Well, yes, we do. To be honest with you, we’ve had conversations with the former attorney general already,” Thompson said.

“We’ve talked with Department of Defense individuals. We are concerned that our military was part of this big lie on promoting that the election was false,” he said. “So if you are using the military to potentially seize voting machines, even though it’s a discussion, the public needs to know.”

Brennan asked Thompson whether the Jan. 6 panel had evidence that someone in the U.S. military was working on this potential plan to seize voting machines.

“We have information that between the Department of Justice, a plan was put forward to potentially seize voting machines in the country and utilize Department of Defense assets to make that happen,” Thompson said.

He clarified that there did not appear to have ever been an operational plan in place but said there was “reason enough to believe that it was being proposed.”

Updated 1:35 p.m.