Officials from Georgia secretary of state’s office interviewed by Jan. 6 panel: report

Officials from the Georgia secretary of state’s office have reportedly been interviewed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, and Frances Watson, the former top investigator for the secretary of state’s office, sat with the panel to discuss former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting which cited citing an official briefed on the conversations.

The two officials reportedly spoke to the congressional investigators for hours.

News of Sterling and Watson speaking to the committee comes after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that he had sat with the panel for more than four hours. He revealed scant details regarding the conversation but did say he spoke at length about his call with Trump on Jan. 2 in which the then-president encouraged him to “find” 11,780 votes.

Sterling, a Trump critic who made headlines last year for slamming the then-president over his voter fraud claims, spoke with the committee about Georgia’s election infrastructure and disinformation that infiltrated the state, according to GBP News.

They specifically discussed conspiracies regarding vote tabulation in State Farm Arena, Rudy Giuliani making false statements to state lawmakers during hearings, and criticism of the election results in Fulton County.

Watson reportedly spoke about her conversation with Trump in December 2020, when the then-president said, “Whatever you can do Frances, it would be — it’s a great thing… The people of Georgia are so angry at what happened to me.”

“They know I won by hundreds of thousands of votes,” Trump added, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Jan. 6 select committee is ramping up its investigation. Earlier this week the House voted to hold former Trump chief-of-staff in criminal contempt after he refused to sit for a deposition with the panel.

Meadows is now the second person to be held in contempt in the House, following ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the panel, revealed on Twitter last week that the committee has met with almost 300 witnesses.

Thread for those interested in the @January6thCmte‘s progress: The Committee has already met with nearly 300 witnesses; we hear from four more key figures in the investigation today. We are conducting multiple depositions and interviews every week. (1/4)

— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) December 9, 2021