These hearings are finally opening people's eyes to the existential threat our democracy continues to face.
We must get the word out about these hearings to ensure Trump and his conspirators, who tried to overthrow the results of our election, are held to account. Tell all your friends. Share this email. This simple action can make all the difference in the world.
Opening the hearing, Chair Bennie Thompson pointed out something that should need no reminder: that in a democracy we resolve our differences at the ballot box, seek to win the next time when we lose, and that leaders—particularly Presidents—must uphold this basic principle.
Republican vice chair Liz Cheney, meanwhile, ridiculed the latest Trumpist Defense—that the then-President was ill served by unscrupulous advisors. “He is a 76-year-old man,” she scoffed, “not an impressionable child.” Testimony then continued to place Trump at the center of every dangerous decision.
THE INFAMOUS MEETING: With failed lawsuits leaving him no legal recourse and top officials urging him to concede the election, Trump did the opposite. On December 18, unknown to chief White House lawyers Pat Cipollone and Eric Herschmann, four of Trump’s most notorious enablers, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Michael Flynn and Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, slipped into the White House to urge Trump to fight on. When White House staffers caught on, the two sides clashed in a meeting — characterized by former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson as “unhinged” — that lasted over six hours.
Trump allies ‘screamed’ at aides
A “TERRIBLE IDEA FOR THE COUNTRY”: Giuliani, Powell, Flynn, and Byrne lobbied Trump to have the Department of Defense seize voting machines for alleged fraud and foreign interference and to name Sidney Powell special counsel to pursue all their baseless claims. White House lawyers blasted the ideas. When the meeting finally concluded, Rudy Giuliani was escorted by Mark Meadows off the grounds.
“I didn’t think she should be appointed to anything”
THE TWEET THAT SHOOK OUR WORLD: A day later, Trump made his decision to foment insurrection, issuing his infamous tweet, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” Extremist groups — including the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys — took this as a signal to join forces, coordinate, and get ready to fight. An unnamed Twitter employee, in testimony garbled to conceal his or her identity, recalls raising unheeded concerns that Trump’s tweet was a call for violence: “The December 19th tweet was sticking a flag in D.C. for his supporters,” the witness said.
Evidence of coordination
THERE’S GONNA BE A RED WEDDING: In response to Trump’s tweet, right wing media figures, including Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, began promoting the Jan. 6th protest and lusted publicly for a fight. The committee played a graphic compilation of various MAGA media figures compelling supporters from across the country to get to Washington to defend their president.
“One of the most historic events in American history”
OATH KEEPER’S TESTIMONY: Today’s live testimony featured Jason van Tatenhove, the Oath Keeper’s onetime media director. Van Tatenhove described the violent intentions behind a string of Oath Keeper euphemisms for their activities. Asked to elaborate, he finally said “Let’s stop mincing words. What it was going to be was an armed revolution. I mean people died that day. Law enforcement officers died that day. There were gallows set up in front of the Capitol. This was a spark for a civil war."
“They’re a violent militia”
LOST JOB, HOME: Also testifying today, Ohio resident Stephen Ayers described how Trump’s lies and online conspiracies convinced him the election was stolen, and how he was inspired by Trump’s December 19th tweet to come to Washington. Not intending to go to the Capitol, he attended the rally at the ellipse, then “basically, the president got everyone riled up, told everyone to head on down, so we were following what he said,” Ayres said. "Take the blinders off,” he cautioned as he closed his testimony. “Make sure you step back and see what's really going on before it's too late.”
“Definitely not for the better”
Related: Capitol rioter apologizes
TARGETING PENCE: Former Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence for Washington DC Donell Harvin recalled his discomfort at “very violent individuals” heading to Washington and extremist groups coming together. As January 6 approached, Trump pinned his hopes on Vice President Mike Pence refusing to certify the vote. He continued to press him on the matter. Trump met with White House advisor Stephen Miller, who was writing his rally speech, and apparently inserted language urging Pence to step in. This language was then removed, but following a tense call with Pence, who still refused to act, the language was reinserted. In the end, Trump mentioned Pence in his speech eight separate times.
The noose
“A SITTING PRESIDENT ASKING FOR CIVIL WAR”: In text messages revealed today, former Trump webmaster/campaign manager Brad Parscale expressed remorse for working to get the former president elected, and blamed Trump’s rhetoric for the death of protestor Ashli Babbitt.
“Yeah. But a woman is dead.”
Next week, the focus moves to Trump’s actions on January 6, with much more testimony expected from Pat Cipollone.
Congressman Raskin closed by observing that Trump is the first and only president in American history to call out a mob to disrupt the Electoral Vote Count and then mobilize extremists for an insurrection against his own government. Congresswoman Liz Cheney reminded the audience once again the multiple ways Trump sought to overturn the election, with Trump “participating in each substantially and personally."
Cheney also dropped news of yet another potentially indictable offense — Trump’s wholly illegal attempt to contact a Committee witness, a person whose identity has yet to be revealed.
Earlier, Cheney noted a shift in attitude among witnesses; that since recent testimony has been so convincing, witnesses are less reticent about revealing what they know. Interestingly, Thursday’s planned hearing has been pushed back to next week. At this writing, the reason given is important new evidence.
Please.
Get the word out about today’s hearing. The more people who know about the continued threat our democracy faces, the more people will take action to ensure it never happens again.
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