Thursday’s Jan. 6 hearing promised to prove that former President Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Driving the News: “President Trump convened the crowd, gathered the crowd and lit the flames,” said Vice President Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Before outlining a seven-point plan on how the panel will publicly show that Trump has tried to cancel the 2020 elections and prevent a transfer of power to newly elected President Biden.
- The final hearing, which is likely to be the most explosive, will focus on Trump’s concrete actions while the violence continues.
Between the lines: Cheney deliberately presented the most humiliating evidence against the former president.
- The committee wants Americans to see not only a Republican but also the daughter of a former Republican vice president, detailing Trump’s involvement and directly linking him to the Capitol attack.
The commission’s plan from January 6 is to argue:
- Trump spreads false information about the 2020 elections
- Trump has tried to appoint loyalists to the Justice Department so that the department can “support his false election claims.”
- Trump has pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to help cancel the election.
- Trump has called on U.S. election officials and lawmakers to change election results.
- Trump’s legal team “instructed Republicans in many states to create fake ballot papers and submit them to Congress and the National Archives.”
- Trump called and gathered the crowd in the District of Columbia and directed them to march to the Capitol.
- Trump ignored requests for help from his team and did not take action to stop the violence.
What to watch … Cheney and President Benny Thompson (D-Miss.) Also reviewed new information about Trump’s actions and his inner circle, including:
- Testimonies to Trump administration aides that the former president “didn’t really want” to turn down the rebels shouted at aides who called on him to take action and said protesters who called for “hanging Mike Pence” may have “The right idea”.
- Evidence that Trump aides knew he was “too dangerous to be left alone” and should be “cut off” by those who promote his stolen campaign allegations.
- Videos and audio recordings of closed-door testimonies of former Attorney General Bill Barr, former White House aides Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, and former Trump campaign aide Jason Miller, who said Trump has been repeatedly told the election failed , including from his own campaign.
- Evidence showing how members of Trump’s cabinet have considered invoking the 25th Amendment after Jan. 6 to remove him from office.
Key moments from the committee’s hearing on 6 January
Misdemeanors: Cheney said many Republicans in the House of Representatives have asked for pardon from Trump for his roles in seeking to cancel the election.
- She named Representative Scott Perry (R-Penn.), Who refused to comply with the commission’s subpoena.
Indications: Bar was shown in detail about three discussions he had with Trump after November 3, 2020. “I told the president [his claims of fraud] it was nonsense and I didn’t want to be a part of it. … That’s one of the reasons I decided to quit when I did. “
- Ivanka Trump: “I respected Chief Prosecutor Bar. I accepted what he said.
- Kushner said he had seen former White House adviser Pat Chipolon threaten to resign over Trump’s calls to cancel the election “to whine”.
- The then chairman of Trump’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Millie, described in detail a conversation with then-Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows: “He said we should kill the story that the vice president makes all decisions, . “
- Miller described in detail how Trump was told “quite rudely” by his experts that he would “lose.”
Witnesses: U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered a head injury on Jan. 6, described being hit by a violent mob, her head thrown into the Capitol steps, knocked unconscious, and sprayed pepper and tear gas is released.
- “I slipped into people’s blood,” Edwards said. “It was a massacre. It was chaos. I can’t even describe what I saw.”
- British director Nick Custed, who was featured in the far-right Proud Boys on Jan. 6, said he was “confused” that “several hundred Proud Boys are marching on the Capitol” before Trump’s Jan. 6 speech even begins, as what his team had to cover.
- The committee hinted that it had revealed that the group had gone to reconnoiter the Capitol’s premises – showing intent to attack.
What are they saying:
- “Although some former Trump officials say they did not expect violence on January 6, the evidence suggests otherwise, as you will see … The White House received specific reports in the days leading up to January 6,” Cheney said.
- Cheney also warned his Republican counterparts: “I say this to my Republican counterparts: There will come a time when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonesty will remain.
The big question: What kind of legislative action does the committee ultimately prosecute and who does Biden’s Department of Justice decide to prosecute?
- Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Chairman of the Progressive Assembly of Congress, told Axios and other reporters that “absolutely” there should be criminal referrals against Trump and others “involved in the conspiracy.”
- “Anyone who was part of this conspiracy, who insisted on pardoning the president, who knew exactly what was happening and was part of its facilitation, must be brought to justice. They must be prosecuted. “
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