Key revelations about attorney John Eastman's role in effort to overturn election from Thursday's January 6 hearing

The House select committee investigating the deadly January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob presented a series of significant revelations during a hearing on Thursday about conservative Trump attorney John Eastman.

The revelations provide new insight into Eastman's role as a central figure in the effort led by former President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The hearing focused on the intense pressure campaign that Trump directed at then-Vice President Mike Pence in an effort to compel Pence to help carry out a plan to overturn the election results.

The committee walked through how Eastman put forward a legal theory that Pence could unilaterally block certification of the election -- a theory that was roundly rejected by Trump's White House attorneys and Pence's team, but was nevertheless embraced by the former President.

Willing to tolerate violence to overturn election Former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann told the commitee that Eastman indicated to him he was willing to accept violence in order to overturn the 2020 election.

The committee played video from Herschmann's deposition where he described a conversation with Eastman about his claims that Pence could overturn the election in Congress.

"I said, 'Are you out of your effing mind?'" Herschmann said. "That was pretty blunt. I said, 'You're completely crazy.' I said, 'You're going to turn around and tell 78-plus million people in this country that your theory is this is how you're going to invalidate their votes. Because you think the election was stolen?'"  

Herschmann said he told Eastman: "They're not going to tolerate that. You're going to cause riots in the streets."

"And he said words to the effect of, 'There's been violence in the history of our country in order to protect the democracy, or to protect the republic,'" Herschmann said.

Eastman continued to push for ways to delay certifying the 2020 election even after rioters were cleared from the Capitol on January 6, 2021, former Pence counsel Greg Jacob testified.

Jacob, who appeared before the committee to give testimony on Thursday, was asked during the hearing if he heard anything further from Eastman after the riot had been put down.