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THE CASE AGAINST TRUMP: The prime-time hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack was the first salvo in what will be a weekslong effort to convince Americans that former President Donald Trump corruptly attempted to subvert the Constitution and remain in power against the will of the people. “January 6th was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt, as one rioter put it shortly after January 6th ‘to overthrow the government,’” said Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). “The violence was no accident. It represents Trump's last stand, most desperate chance to halt the transfer of power.” The highly produced made-for-TV event was unlike most congressional hearings. It featured numerous sound bites from interviews with former Trump administration officials as well as a 10-minute video of fresh footage of the riot from the documentary filmmaker behind the movie Restrepo. In Thompson’s opening statement, he played a clip of former Attorney General William Barr in which Barr said he told Trump repeatedly his claims of election fraud were “bullshit,” and in a later clip he said they were “complete nonsense.” “We can't live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view, unsupported by specific evidence that the election — that there was fraud in the election,” Barr said. In a subsequent clip later in the hearing, Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was asked about Barr’s assessment. “It affected my perspective,” she replied. “I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.” PROUD BOYS AND OATH KEEPERS WERE IN CONTACT WITH TRUMP INNER CIRCLE, JAN. 6 CHAIRMAN SAYS CHENEY FOR THE PROSECUTION: Vice Chairwoman Rep Liz Cheney (R-WY) performed the role of prosecutor, laying out the committee’s case to the jury, in this case, the American people. Cheney walked through what each of the upcoming hearings would focus on, arguing that Trump’s false claims of massive election fraud was the primary factor that spurred his supporters to attempt to block certification of the Electoral College results. “Those who invaded our Capitol and battled law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump had told them that the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful president,” said Cheney. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.” “On the morning of January 6th, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain president of the United States, despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election, and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power,” she said. “Over multiple months, Donald Trump oversaw and coordinated a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power. In our hearings, you will see evidence of each element of this plan.” TRUMP ACCUSES JAN. 6 COMMITTEE OF BURYING 'POSITIVE WITNESSES AND STATEMENTS' MILLEY PRESSURED TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE: Cheney said the evidence will show that not only did Trump refuse against all advice and the pleas of lawmakers to tell the mob to stand down, he also “placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended.” According to clips of Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley’s video testimony, it was Vice President Mike Pence, not Trump, who was calling for reinforcements. “He was very animated. And he issued very explicit, very direct, unambiguous orders,” said Milley. “Get the military, get the guard down here, put down this situation.” In contrast, Milley said his conversation with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows that day was all about spin. “He said, we have, we have to kill the narrative [that] the vice president is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative that, you know, that the president is still in charge and that things are steady or stable or words to that effect,” Milley said. “I immediately interpret that as politics, politics, politics. Red flag for me personally.” Read full opening statements here. SIX NOTABLE MOMENTS FROM THE HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE'S PRIME-TIME HEARING Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Victor I. Nava. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what's going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue! HAPPENING TODAY: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Singapore (which is 12 hours ahead of Washington, D.C., time) for the annual Shangri-La Dialogue sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. This evening, Singapore time, Austin was scheduled to meet face to face with his Chinese counterpart, Minister of National Defense Gen. Wei Fenghe. Both Austin and Wei are scheduled to make major policy speeches, Austin on Saturday, (later tonight east coast time), and Wei on Sunday. Austin’s address, "Next Steps for the United States' Indo-Pacific Strategy," will be livestreamed by the Pentagon at 8:35 p.m. tonight. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also scheduled to deliver virtual remarks to the conference at 4 a.m. EDT. Full agenda here. UKRAINE FACING 40% DECLINE IN HARVEST, ZELENSKY WARNS 'MILLIONS' COULD STARVE HOW DOES THIS END? Veteran New York Times war correspondent Carlotta Gall, who has been reporting from the front lines in Ukraine, is predicting the Russia-Ukraine war will likely rage for several years, given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s obsession with “restoring” Ukraine to Russia. “In my experience, Putin won’t stop, and he won’t give up,” Gall said in a Q-and-A for the Times’s daily Ukraine update. “He’ll keep throwing more at it even if he loses a lot of people and a lot of equipment. He’s got a big country. He’s got a huge arsenal of weaponry.” “I’m guessing that we’ll have a few more months of this through the summer, where Russia will keep inching forward and eating up a kilometer or two a day. So they might take Luhansk, they might take more of Donetsk,” Gall predicted. “And by the end of the summer we might see them decide to slow down and harden the lines, as they say. Once it becomes a hardened line, you get more mines, you get more defenses, it’s very difficult for either side to push through. So the line will stay more or less as it is.” “So I think we have several years of war ahead, even if it slows at times. And certainly this summer is going to be very brutal for both sides.” PUTIN THE GREAT, OR VLAD THE DESTROYER: In a town hall meeting with young entrepreneurs and scientists in Moscow, Putin portrayed himself as a modern day Peter the Great, the 17th-century Russian czar who captured land from Sweden, where he later founded St. Petersburg. “When he founded the new capital, none of the European countries recognized this territory as part of Russia; everyone recognized it as part of Sweden,” Putin said. “However, from time immemorial, the Slavs lived there along with the Finno-Ugric peoples, and this territory was under Russia’s control.” Having just come from a multimedia exhibition marking the 350th anniversary of the birth of Russia's first emperor, Putin began to wax rhapsodically about how it is now up to him to restore lands that should be Russian, while not mentioning Ukraine by name. “Clearly, it fell to our lot to return and reinforce as well,” he said with a smirk. Putin also expanded on his argument that Ukraine was not actually a sovereign nation, because it is a puppet of the West, again speaking in generalities about the characteristics of sovereign nations, while not mentioning Ukraine specifically. OPINION: DECLARING HIMSELF A MODERN PETER THE GREAT, PUTIN OFFERS A NEW THREAT TO ESTONIA ‘HOURS OF HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT’: One of the more emotional moments in last night’s Jan 6. hearing came from one of the in-person witnesses, Caroline Edwards, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who suffered a concussion and traumatic brain injury fighting off the rioters. Edwards, who described herself as a “proud granddaughter of a marine that fought in the Battle of the Chosun reservoir,” said she couldn’t believe she was witnessing a “war scene,” like “something out of the movies.” “I'm trained to detain a couple of subjects, and handle a crowd. But I'm not combat-trained. And that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any law enforcement officer has ever trained for,” she testified. “There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. They were, you know, they had - I mean, I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood. I was catching people, as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos. I can't even - I can't even describe what I saw. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that, as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle.” CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER DESCRIBES 'SLIPPING IN PEOPLE'S BLOOD' DURING JAN. 6 RIOT WHY THEY CAME: The Jan. 6 committee is attempting to establish that Trump supporters, in particular the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, came to Washington to carry out a coordinated attack aimed at stopping the electoral vote count and were acting on what they believed were orders from the president. The hearing ended with a video montage of some of the rioters explaining why they came in their own words: Here’s a sample: - Robert Schornack, sentenced to 36 months probation: “What really made me want to come was the fact that I had supported Trump all that time. I did believe that the election was being stolen. And Trump asked us to come. You know, Trump has only asked me for two things. He asked me for my vote. And he asked me to come on January 6.”
- Eric Barber, charged with theft and unlawful demonstration in the Capitol: “He personally asked for us to come to D.C. that day. And I thought, for everything he's done for us, if this is the only thing he's going to ask of me, I'll do it.”
- John Wright, awaiting trial for felony civil disorder and other charges: “I know why I was there. And that's because he called me there. And he laid out what is happening in our government. He laid it out.”
- George Meza, Proud Boy: “I remember Donald Trump telling people to be there, I mean, to support.”
- Unidentified male: “We were invited by the President of the United States.”
HISTORIC AFRICOM NOMINEE: The four-star nominations keep coming, as the current crop of combatant commanders reach retirement age. The latest is President Joe Biden’s pick of Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael E. Langley to get his fourth star and become commander, U.S. Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany. Langley is currently commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Langley would be the first black Marine to reach the four-star rank. Seven black Marines have reached the three-star rank of lieutenant general, according to USNI news. Other nominations sent to the Senate this week included Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton to be the next commander, U.S. Strategic Command; Vice Adm. Stuart Munsch for promotion to admiral and to be commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Europe and Africa; and Lt. Gen. James Hecker for promotion to general and to be commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa. The Army has recommended Biden nominate Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams to be the next commander of U.S. Army in Europe and Africa. Williams, the current superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, would be the first black soldier to lead that command, if nominated and confirmed. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The RundownWashington Examiner: Six notable moments from the House Jan. 6 committee's prime-time hearing Washington Examiner: Trump accuses Jan. 6 committee of burying 'positive witnesses and statements' Washington Examiner: Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were in contact with Trump inner circle, Jan. 6 chairman says Washington Examiner: Capitol Police officer describes 'slipping in people's blood' during Jan. 6 riot Washington Examiner: Michigan GOP candidate for governor Ryan Kelley arrested by FBI on Jan. 6 charges Washington Examiner: IAEA says Iran on the verge of dealing ‘fatal blow’ to reviving nuclear deal Washington Examiner: Iran 'nuclear provocations' may force Biden into Trump's maximum pressure strategy Washington Examiner: Three foreign nationals sentenced to death by pro-Russian rebels in Donbas Washington Examiner: Russia opens more than 1,100 'crimes against the peace' cases against Ukrainians Washington Examiner: Ukraine facing 40% decline in harvest, Zelensky warns 'millions' could starve Washington Examiner: Milley says US to train Ukrainians on rocket artillery Washington Examiner: Hackers break into Russian airwaves to blare Ukrainian national anthem Washington Examiner: Turkey threatens US allies and partners as Ukraine war gives Erdogan leverage Washington Examiner: North Korea’s ‘unprecedented’ missile launch rate to renew military standoff Washington Examiner: Trevor Reed, who was detained in Russia, is pushing the Biden administration to bring others home Washington Examiner: Five Marines killed in aircraft crash in California Washington Examiner: All crew members survive Navy helicopter crash in desert near Arizona-California border Washington Examiner: Opinion: Declaring himself a modern Peter the Great, Putin offers a new threat to Estonia Washington Post: Key Areas Battered In Eastern Ukraine Reuters: Finland Plans To Build Barriers On Its Border With Russia Stars and Stripes: U.S. Approves Sale Of $120 Million In Warship Parts To Taiwan, Irking China CNN: U.S. Officials Say They Are Seeking 'Guard Rails' With Beijing Ahead Of Defense Secretary's Meeting With Chinese Counterpart New York Times: Aggressive Chinese Jets Stir Worries Of A Mishap Military.com: Supercharging Military Pay Raises Because of Inflation Being Weighed in Congress Air Force Magazine: Modular Weapons Could Improve Surge Capacity, Bunch Says in Exit Interview Air Force Magazine: Concerned Lawmakers Want to Know: How Soon Will the Air Force Replace Old ‘Doomsday’ Planes? 19fortyfive.com: The Russian Military Wants to Dominate the Arctic 19fortyfive.com: Boeing's KC-46: U.S. Air Force's Problematic New Refueler 19fortyfive.com: Russia's Su-75 Checkmate Stealth Fighter May Never Fly 19fortyfive.com: 3 Good Reasons Why The F-35 Was Not Featured In Top Gun: Maverick 19fortyfive.com: Opinion: Give Ukraine a Chance to Win The Dispatch: Opinion: Henry Kissinger’s Long History of Appeasing Dictatorships CalendarFRIDAY | JUNE 10 11 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Are Sanctions on Russia Working?" with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Molly Montgomery; and Svitlana Zalischuk, adviser to the Naftogaz CEO https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/are-sanctions-on-russia-working 8:35 p.m. Singapore — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivers a speech on "Next Steps for the United States' Indo-Pacific Strategy,” at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore https://www.defense.gov/News/Live-Events WEDNESDAY | JUNE 15 Brussels, Belgium — Two day meeting of NATO defense ministers begins with a working dinner in which partners Finland, Georgia, Sweden, Ukraine and the European Union. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin attends in person. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is scheduled to brief reporters both days. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news 12:00 p.m. — Hudson Institute virtual event: “The Ambassadors Series: A Conversation with Swedish Ambassador,” with Karin Olofsdotter, Ambassador of Sweden to the United States; and Michael Doran, senior fellow and director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, Hudson Institute https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-event-a-conversation WEDNESDAY | JUNE 22 10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee full committee markup of H.R.7900, the FY2023 NDAA http://www.armedservices.house.gov TUESDAY | JULY 19 Aspen Meadows Resort, Colorado — Aspen Strategy Group three-day (19-22) Aspen Security Forum with Air Force Chief of Staff Charles Q. Brown; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Army Gen. Richard Clarke, commander U.S. Special Operations Command; Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Kay Bailey Hutchison, former U.S. ambassador to NATO; and others. https://www.aspensecurityforum.org
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“I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” |
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Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), one of two Republican members of the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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