Byrne told The Epoch Times in an interview that his eight hours of closed-door testimony covered a wide range of topics—from his meeting with the president on Dec. 18, 2020, to his concerns over the integrity and safety of election equipment.
Byrne, who was the latest witness to testify before the committee, described the meeting as “surprisingly friendly, cordial, and professional.”
“Notwithstanding the fact that we weren’t going to agree“ about the Nov. 3, 2020, election, ”we agreed that there was a lot for me to fill in from Nov. 4 until Jan. 7 [2021]. I think they seemed to be appreciative,” he told The Epoch Times on July 16.
The White House Meeting
Byrne had hoped to engineer a meeting with Trump when he used a prior invitation from a staffer to tour the White House with former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell. The trio met with Trump in the Oval Office after the president happened to walk by, Byrne told The Epoch Times in an exclusive interview the day before his testimony.“I was the guy that everyone should be looking into,” he said. “I’m the guy who pulled that famous meeting together. I’m the guy who presented the options.”
The proposal put forth at the meeting was to dispatch a team of cybersecurity specialists from the Department of Homeland Security to the six counties where questions of voter fraud had surfaced.
Byrne’s group presented Trump with executive orders signed by former President Barack Obama in 2015 and Trump in 2018 regarding foreign interference in a U.S. election, which they said granted the president authority to launch such an investigation.
“That was the upshot of our discussion,” Byrne said. “That was the cat.”
Rudy Giuliani, a former Trump lawyer and New York City mayor, was called to the White House two days after that to assess the documents and provide his opinion.
“I read through them carefully, I came back, and I said it’s clear to me that there’s not enough [evidence] here,” Giuliani said in his July 14 radio program.
The Militia Member
On the morning of Jan. 5, 2021, the day before protests and the breach at the U.S. Capitol, Byrne said he was contacted by a person claiming to be part of a militia, who told him that a group of 10,000 people with firearms were “coming in to take the city.”The committee appeared surprised to hear about the militia, Byrne said.
Byrne said he talked the militia out of the plan after the man expressed a willingness to follow his direction.
“You’re willing to take an order, whatever I say?” Byrne recalled asking the man, who he said agreed.
‘Untrustworthy’ Election
The Jan. 6 committee at one point asked Byrne if he still believes “the election in 2020 was rigged.”“I said: ‘Absolutely. I believe our entire election apparatus is untrustworthy,'” he said. “It’s not about Democrats or Republicans.
“In a friendly way, I think we came to a realization that they’re seeing the world as lawyers, and I’m seeing it as a business person.
“I think that they may have extended a bit of an olive branch, and I very much reciprocated.
“I hope I found for America an off-ramp for the tension that’s brewing.”
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