Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) deleted a tweet Thursday that accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of allowing CNN, or as Steube put it, the “Communist News Network,” to build a TV set in Statuary Hall. CNN had actually used a green screen displaying that section of the U.S. Capitol.
“In case you forgot the sham #January6thcommitteehearings are purely for TV ratings, Pelosi let The Communist News Network build a full TV set where Abraham Lincoln’s desk once stood,” Steube wrote.
Steube’s tweet included a picture of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and others discussing the third public hearing by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in front of the green screen displaying Statuary Hall.
The hearing on Thursday explored tensions between former President Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence over Trump’s pressure campaign to get Pence to throw out the results of the 2020 election.
Trump and Pence experienced a rift when Pence resisted Trump’s insistence that his then-vice president block the certification of electoral votes that declared Joe Biden the next president, an action that lawyers told the Trump administration was unconstitutional.
Pence was the target of threats and insults during the Jan. 6 insurrection, when people marched on the Capitol chanting “hang Mike Pence.” The committee said he was “unwavering” in his resistance to Trump’s belligerent calls to abuse his position.
“We’re fortunate for Mr. Pence’s courage on Jan. 6,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee chairman, during the hearing. “Our democracy came dangerously close to catastrophe.”
Trump and Pence have experienced further turbulence in their relationship since the end of the Trump administration, and both figures supported opposing candidates in the Georgia Republican gubernatorial primary. Pence’s endorsed candidate, incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp, defeated Trump’s choice, former Sen. David Perdue.
Both men have also been rumored to be planning 2024 presidential runs.