["Hutchinsons testimony of the deeply detailed plans of January 6
and the inaction of those in the White House in response to the
violence show just how close we came to a coup," said one
pro-democracy organizer.]
[[link removed]]
‘BOMBSHELL AFTER BOMBSHELL’ DROPPED AS JAN. 6 TESTIMONY HOMES IN
ON TRUMP GUILT
[[link removed]]
Brett Wilkins
June 28, 2022
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]
_ "Hutchinson's testimony of the deeply detailed plans of January 6
and the inaction of those in the White House in response to the
violence show just how close we came to a coup," said one
pro-democracy organizer. _
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to supporters near the White
House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C., Brendan Smialowski/AFP
via Getty Images
DEMOCRACY DEFENDERS RESPONDED TO Tuesday's testimony by a former Trump
administration aide before the January 6 committee by demanding that
the former president and his co-conspirators be held to account in the
face of increasingly incriminating evidence of their culpability for
the 2021 insurrection.
Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as a special assistant to Mark Meadows,
former President Donald Trump's last chief of staff, revealed what the
consumer advocacy group Public Citizen described
[[link removed]]
as "bombshell after bombshell" during her in-person testimony to
members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th
Attack on the United States Capitol.
Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen and co-chair
of the Not Above the Law Coalition, said
[[link removed]]
in a statement that "in the reams of evidence against Trump and his
allies, Hutchinson's testimony of the deeply detailed plans of January
6 and the inaction of those in the White House in response to the
violence show just how close we came to a coup."
"Her testimony comes at a critical point in the hearings, showing the
conspirators knew what they were doing was illegal, and knew it could
result in violence, yet they proceeded anyway," she added. "And that
once the violence was ongoing, the president refused to act."
Among other things, Hutchinson testified that:
* Trump knew that heavily armed supporters were in Washington, D.C.
to attend the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the January 6
attack and was infuriated that Secret Service agents were trying to
bar them from the event;
* When Secret Service agents told Trump they would not take him to
the Capitol, he became physically aggressive with one of them, telling
him "I'm the fucking president" and grabbing the steering wheel of the
presidential limousine;
* Despite pleas from top aides—including White House counsel Pat
Cipollone's warning that "people are going to die, and blood is going
to be on your fucking hands"—Trump refused to act as the Capitol was
overrun; and
* Meadows and attorney Rudy Giuliani sought preemptive presidential
pardons for their roles in Trump's effort to overturn the 2020
presidential election.
"Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows were warned repeatedly of
anticipated violence on January 6th yet did nothing," Common Cause
president Karen Hobert Flynn said
[[link removed]]
in response to Hutchinson's testimony. "They were informed of
semi-automatic rifles and pistols—AR-15s and Glocks—being carried
by members of the audience on the Ellipse, hours before his speech,
yet Trump incited the crowd and called on his heavily armed audience
to march on the Capitol and 'fight like hell.'"
Hobert Flynn continued:
The armed and vicious mob he sent to the Capitol on January 6th was
the final desperate act in a monthslong, multi-layered criminal
conspiracy by former President Trump and his henchmen to ignore the
will of the American people and overturn the legitimate results of the
2020 election by any means.
His actions and inaction as the insurrection unfolded, outlined in
sworn testimony to the January 6 select committee, [are] jaw-dropping,
un-American, and yet another warning to us all. Just when we think
accounts of the actions of the former president and his inner circle
can get no worse, we learn that in fact it can.
Gilbert of Public Citizen said that "Hutchinson's testimony blows any
notion of plausible deniability surrounding January 6 out of the
water. She said Trump knew his rally crowd was armed, but said they
weren't there to hurt him. He encouraged an armed crowd to go to the
Capitol, and told them that he would be with them."
Progressives said Tuesday's testimony underscored the imperative for
accountability for Trump and members of his inner circle.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) tweeted
[[link removed]] that
Trump "knew dangerous weapons were headed to the Capitol. He knew
Congress was the target. He said the VP deserved to be hung for
upholding the Constitution. He attacked a member of his Secret
Service. He incited an insurrection."
Common Cause's Hobert Flynn asserted that "the former president and
his co-conspirators must be held accountable by the Justice Department
and any other authority with jurisdiction, including by state or local
officials where parts of this scheme were plotted and carried out."
Echoing Hobert Flynn, Gilbert said that Hutchinson's testimony "makes
it absolutely clear that Donald Trump remains a danger to our
democracy and to our nation."
She added, "There must be accountability for the criminal conspiracy
to steal our votes that ultimately led to the violence on January 6
that we now know the administration anticipated, and that Trump
encouraged."
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel
free to republish and share widely.
* Jan 6 Testimony; Cassidy Hutchinson; 2021 Insurrection;
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]
INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT
Submit via web
[[link removed]]
Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]
Twitter [[link removed]]
Facebook [[link removed]]
[link removed]
To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]
