The 2020 Insights from the Causal Committee on Judgment Investigations: President Trump, the House Committee on Investigating Election Corruptcies, and a Reply to Ms. Cheney

Even though he is not on the ballot, Trump made it all about himself as he claimed that he did not want to overshadow Republican candidates. At an event in Ohio for a GOP Senate candidate, Trump gave a speech filled with demagoguery, exaggerated claims that America was in decline, and false positives about the 2020 election. If he’s indicted in a series of criminal probes into his conduct, he’ll begin to claim that he’s the victim of fascist state-style persecution.

The committee is considering referring criminals to the Justice Department, but it will be prosecutors who make the final decision, Cheney said. We will find out if Congress can complete work on reforms, such as the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022, that renders some of the mechanisms Trump was counting on incapable of doing damage in the future. We will watch to see if voters send a clear message to Washington in the upcoming election that will be in the next couple of years. Right now, January 6 has not been a major issue in most of the campaigns.

The almost complete removal of oppositional checks leaves the committee ill suited to what is really a very delicate task. The Jan. 6 march on the Capitol was both a protest questioning the integrity of the 2020 election (protected by the First Amendment) and a violent assault on the integrity of the 2020 election (punishable by law).

There wasn’t enough evidence to support the claims. They were baseless as judges repeatedly recognized them. In none of these 62 cases was President Trump able to establish any viable claims of election fraud sufficient to overturn the results of the election. In those hearings, we shared with you the words used by judges around the country in rejecting the Trump campaign’s claims.

The committee puts all these contexts together. Ms. Cheney recently complained that Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, “is, right now, campaigning for election deniers.” You either believe in and support our constitution or you do not. It is not illegal to question the integrity of an election, but a person who does do so is not necessarily an enemy of democracy.

In June the committee chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, opened the hearings by mentioning that he had taken an oath “to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.” He added that “that oath was put to the test on Jan. 6.”

The panel looked at the way in which the Trump administration had spread doubt about the election, testing different theories about challenging the results, leaning on state officials to change the vote, and organizing supporters to intimidate Congress.

Unlike previous hearings, which focused on specific aspects of Mr. Trump’s attempts to overturn the election, members will attempt to portray the entire arc of the plan, demonstrating Mr. Trump’s involvement in every step — even before Election Day.

The hearing comes at a pivotal moment, weeks before midterm elections in which control of Congress is at stake and as time is running out for the panel to complete its work, including an extensive report on its findings. Should Republicans succeed in their drive to win the House majority, they would be all but certain to disband the committee in January and shut down any official accounting by Congress for the largest attack on the Capitol in centuries.

The committee is looking at three potential and rarely tried criminal charges against the former president, including insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the federal government, sources told CNN last week. The committee considered whether or not to bring charges against Trump allies, such as attorney John Eastman and former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, who are suspected of being involved in a fake election scheme. And Schiff said on Sunday the panel would also consider possible ethics and legal sanctions against others, including Republican lawmakers who defied committee subpoenas.

The footage of congressional leaders mobilizing to ensure that Congress could both fulfill its constitutional duty by certifying the election results and protect the Capitol and the people inside provides a stark contrast to the actions of Trump that day. The committee shared evidence that Trump ignored the pleas from his advisors to make a statement to put an end to the violence.

Cheney explained that the committee is “obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion. And every American is entitled to the answers, so we can act now to protect our republic.”

And select committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, argued that Trump “is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on January 6th. We would like to hear from him.

The committee aired previously unseen footage from Fort McNair, the DC-area Army base where congressional leaders took refuge during the insurrection and scrambled to respond to the unfolding crisis.

The footage was never-before-seen and showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders scrambling to get more police and national guard forces to repel the rioters on Capitol Hill.

There were two phone calls between Pelosi and Mike Pence when he took on a leadership role in coordinating the emergency response.

The new footage showed Schumer dressing down then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. During the heated phone call, Schumer implored Rosen to intervene with Trump and tell him to stop the mob. Pelosi said that the pro- Trump rioters were breaking the law at the instigation of the president.

“I think the events at the Capitol, however they occurred, were shocking and it was something that, as I mentioned in my statement, that I could not put aside,” said Chao, one of the former members of Trump’s Cabinet whose recorded testimony lawmakers aired on Thursday.

I believe in this country. I believe in a peaceful transfer of power. I believe in democracy. And so I was a — it was a decision that I made on my own. End videotape.

The Secret Service and Mark Meadows in Committee on Capitol Hill Insurrection: Observing Trump’s Incitement of the Mob

Hutchinson’s testimony had been some of the most damning against Trump during the summer hearings, as she provided detailed accounts about Trump’s actions on the day of January 6.

I said to Mark that he couldn’t possibly think that we were going to pull this off. Like, that call was crazy.’ He shook his head when he looked at me. He knows it is over and he is like ‘No,Cass, you know.’ He knows he lost. But we’re going to keep trying,’” Hutchinson told the committee.

Hutchinson also said that she witnessed a conversation between Meadows and Trump where he was furious the Supreme Court had rejected a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election result.

“So the President said I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark” he said. This is embarrassing. Take it and figure it out. We have to figure it out. I don’t want people to know that we lost. [End videotape]

Since our last hearings, the select committee has received greater cooperation from the Secret Service. The Secret Service erased all text messages from this period as soon as the attack on the Capitol happened in the months following, even though documents and materials related to January 6th were already requested by the Department of Justice.

While there are still questions surrounding erased text messages from Secret Service agents around the insurrection, the panel obtained messages and emails showing the agency receiving warnings before January 6, 2021, about the prospect of violence, as well as real-time reports of weapons in the crowd ahead of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse.

The committee shared a text from Jason Miller, a communications adviser to Mark Meadows, that read: “I GOT THE BASE FIRED UP,” and sent a link to a webpage that had violent comments about Jan. 6.

We’ve obtained new documents from the Secret Service, real time chats that underscore the threat they knew the Vice President would be facing because of the President’s escalating incitement of the mob. After Trump’s tweet, one agent in the Secret Services Intelligence Division immediately warned, POTUS just tweeted about Pence; probably not going to be good for Pence.

The committee played previously unseen video from its deposition of Pence’s counsel, Greg Jacob. In the clip, Jacob describes how he and Pence’s then-chief of staff Marc Short had prepared, ahead of time, for Trump to declare victory on Election Night, regardless of the results.

Now following this conversation, Mr. Jacob drafted a memo to Mr. Short, which the Select Committee got from the National Archives. On November 3rd, Election Day, a memo was sent to the Vice President stating that it was essential that he not be perceived as having decided about the disputed electoral votes in time for the election. A few days before the election Mr. Trump consulted with Tom Fitton, a person who was an inside adviser to him.

“It is essential that the Vice President not be perceived by the public as having decided questions concerning disputed electoral votes prior to the full development of all relevant facts,” the memo reads.

The committee also revealed new emails conservative legal activist Tom Fitton sent to two Trump advisers a few days before the election. One email contains a draft statement for Trump to declare victory on Election Night.

Despite saying for months that they wanted to hear from Thomas, members of the panel downplayed the significance of her testimony following her interview, and it was clear ahead of Thursday that she was not expected to be a central part of the hearing that was instead solely focused on Trump.

But her absence was notable considering the panel did use testimony from several other high-profile witnesses who had been interviewed since the committee’s most recent hearing earlier this summer.

WASHINGTON — The case against Donald J. Trump was strong and damning, mainly due to testimony from his own advisers, allies and even relatives.

The big news out of the final hearing was that after a lengthy investigation, the members of the committee were convinced there was enough evidence to charge former President Trump on four things:

There is a chance that those who watched were moved. Before the hearings, just 48% of independents in an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll said they thought Trump was to blame a “great deal” or “good amount” for what happened that day. According to the survey, the percentage of people blaming Trump went from 18% to 53% after several hearings.

Reply to the Select Committee on ‘Does Donald Trump have a Right to be a President?’ – Robert Stone, Tom Fitton, and Rob Thompson, Chairman Bennie Thompson

How Times reporters cover politics. Editors rely on journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. If you support a movement, donate money to a candidate or raise money for an election cause, this is what you can do.

The final public meeting of the January 6 committee ended with a simple conclusion: All roads lead to Donald Trump.

Tom Fitton, leader of the right-wing group Conservatives for America, said that the American people have given him the honor of re-elected to president of the United States by the deadline.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., noted in his opening remarks that the panel was convening as a “formal committee business meeting,” which meant that in addition to presenting evidence, it could also hold a committee vote on further investigative actions.

After a vote on his truth social platform, Trump called the committee a “total bust” and criticized them for waiting until now to ask him to testify.

One of Donald Trump’s closest associates knew his intentions as well. Roger Stone is a political operative with a reputation for dirty tricks. He was sentenced to three years in prison in November for lying to Congress and other crimes. He’s also a longtime adviser to President Trump and was in communication with President Trump throughout 2020. The President pardoned Roger Stone on December 23, 2020. And recently the Select Committee got footage of Mr. Stone before and after the election from Danish filmmaker, Christopher Gilbranson [ph], pursuant to a subpoena.

The President of the United States of America (Urg TGKVD3y) and the Case of the “Finding Joe Biden, I Know He’s a Winner”

“I am pretty sure it is still up in the air,” Stone said. “When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Nine-tenths of the law is possession. No, we didn’t win.

At times, President Trump acknowledged the reality of his loss after the election. Although he publicly claimed that he had won, privately, he admitted that Joe Biden would take over as President. The picture was captioned “urg TGKVD3y.”

Evidence showed that Trump was told multiple times there was no evidence of election fraud. He raised $250 million from his fans on the false claims that the election was stolen, according to the committee.

The Communications Director recalled Trump’s comment “I popped into the Oval just to give the president the headlines and see how he was doing.” And he was looking at the TV and he said, ‘Can you believe I lost to this f***ing guy?’ “

“I vaguely remember him mentioning that he was a professor, and then essentially he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states,” McDaniel said.

The Secret Service, the President, and the Proud Boys: Paula-McCarlo, Kevin McCarthy, and Donald Trump During the January 6 Violence

The Secret Service received tips about violence. In December, a Secret Service field office shared a tip that had been received by the FBI. The source said the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, planned to march into D.C. with weapons.

The Secret Service said that a large group of people near the Washington Monument would not enter the rally area because they would find banned items in the crowd. Mr. Trump knew this. His Secret Service had told him about it that morning.

Do you think this is true? After being informed that members on the House floor were wearing tear gas masks, Speaker Pelosi said to Clyburn, “I think you’re a good guy.”

The people who protect the president of the United States were against the idea of putting themselves in that situation. The documents show how agents were getting ready to take Trump to the Capitol later that afternoon. The agents were told to wear their protective gear.

In the midst of chaos. Kevin McCarthy urged Donald Trump to leave the capitol. McCarthy called Trump’s adult children to try to save their father from the violence. We showed you a description of what McCarthy had said about his conversations with Trump during the violence.

He told Kevin that they were more upset about the election than he was. You’ve seen widespread reports that Kevin McCarthy and the president had a swearing conversation. That’s when the swearing in began, because the president said, no, I’m. I’m Ok with this.

Trump was the central player. The hearing heard more about the state of mind of then- President Trump after he lost the election.

“Trump tried to take away the will of the voters in order to remain in power, even though they voted for him,” said Thompson. “He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6.”

This happened over and over again, and our committee’s report will document it, purposeful lies made in public directly at odds with what Donald Trump knew from unassailable sources, the Justice Department’s own investigations and his own campaign. Donald Trump repeated this nonsense to a lot of people.

The Committee on the Investigation of the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol: The Commission acted on the lies of the President and of the State of the American Dream

She said “our nation cannot only punish foot soldiers who rampage through our Capitol.” We chip away at the foundation of the Republic with every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former president.

The Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol will be in order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare the committee in recess at any point. Pursuant to House Deposition Authority Regulation 10, the chair announces the committee’s approval to release the deposition material presented during today’s hearing.

God bless the United States of America. Four months ago, this committee started to present our findings to you, the American people. Some people watching the committee’s investigation would wrongly think that the investigation was a partisan exercise, that’s what we understood from the beginning.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. President Trump’s efforts to get state officials and the Department of Justice to change their minds about the results of the election were not limited to the big lie. The president created a scheme to get fake electors to cast electoral votes in states that he lost.

How do we know this? How have we been able to present such a clear picture of what took place? Because of the testimony we’ve heard and that we’ve presented to you through these proceedings, because of the documentary evidence we’ve gathered and also made available to you, the American people.

The Congressional Investigation of Donald Trump’s Decline into Love: Comments on Recent Investigations and Possible Investigations at the Department of Justice in the House of Representatives

Who has that been? Aides who’ve worked loyally for Donald Trump for years, Republican state officials and legislators, Republican electors, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, political professionals who worked at the highest levels of the Trump campaign, Trump appointees who served in the most senior positions in the Justice Department, President Trump’s staff and closest advisers in the White House, members of the — President Trump’s family, his own White House counsel.

Evidence shows that the testimony is not credible and the committee is reviewing additional material. The Secret Service was monitoring this kind of online activity and was sharing and receiving the results of that effort. Intelligence about the joint session of Congress derived from social media and other sources was shared with other agencies.

But ultimately, the vast majority cooperated with our investigation, and what we’ve shown you over the last four months has been centered on the evidence, evidence that has come overwhelmingly from Republican witnesses. In June, I told you the investigation was not about politics. It’s not about party.

There is one more difference between today and yesterday. In order to possibly hold a committee vote on further investigative action based on the evidence presented today, we are convened as a formal committee business meeting.

And according to public reporting, the Department of Justice has been very active in pursuing many of the issues identified in our prior hearings. Our committee may ultimately decide to make a series of criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, but we recognize that our role is not to make decisions regarding prosecution.

What Did One President Trump Do Before The January 6th Reionized? A Brief History of the State of Washington, D.C. Giuliani

He was personally and substantially involved in all of it. Exactly how did one man cause all of this? Today we will focus on President Trump’s state of mind, his intent, his motivations, and how he spurred others to do his bidding, and how another January 6th could happen again if we do not take necessary action to prevent it. I would suggest you focus on a few points when you view our evidence today.

Many of those who stepped forward to help, including Rudy Giuliani, knew they never had real evidence sufficient to change the election results. They admitted they were still attempting to find that phantom evidence on January 5th. Mr. Giuliani’s license to practice law was suspended due to his false claims of election fraud.

The committee has shown evidence that President Trump was aware of the risk of violence. The FBI, US Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police and other agencies all gathered and disseminated intelligence, suggesting the possibility of violence at the Capitol prior to the riot. We will show you a sample of the evidence we’ve received.

Third, please consider today who had a hand in defeating President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, Vice President Pence, Bill Barr, Jeff Rosen, and others at the Department of Justice, State Republican officials, White House staff who blocked proposals to mobilize the military to seize voting machines and run new elections, our Capitol Police, aided by the Metropolitan Police, other federal law enforcement, and our National Guard, who arrived later in the afternoon.

All of the people that were involved had a hand in stopping Donald Trump. This leads to a question. Why would Americans think that our republic is vulnerable to another attack? Why should we think that those institutions are not going to fail next time? This is one of the key lessons of this investigation.

The institutions only last if men and women are of good faith. We have no guarantee that these men and women will be in place next time. Donald Trump did something in 2020 that no president has been able to do before.

And also, please consider this. The rulings of our courts are respected and obeyed because we as citizens pledge to accept and honor them. Most importantly, our president, who has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws, swears to accept them. What happens when the president disregards the court’s rulings as illegitimate, when he disregards the rule of law?

That breaks our republic, my fellow citizens. As you examine the evidence this morning, also consider this. President Trump knew from unassailable sources that his election fraud claims were false. He admitted he had lost the election. The actions he took were in line with his belief. Claims that President Trump actually thought the election was stolen are not supported by fact and are not a defense.

Not only did the courts reject President Trump’s fraud and other allegations, his Department of Justice appointees, including Bill Barr, Jeffrey Rosen, and Richard Donoghue did as well. President Trump knew what was true. He heard what all his experts and senior staff were telling him. He made a deliberate decision to ignore the courts, the Justice Department, his campaign leadership, and to try and overturn the election despite being aware of his loss.

Those who planned to overturn our election and brought us to the point of violence must also be accountable. With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former president, we chip away at the foundation of our republic. Indefensible conduct is defended. Excused are inexcusable conduct. Without accountability, it all becomes normal and it will recur.

Where is our nation? Where are we going? Where do we stand today? Why did Donald Trump tell us that he wasn’t going to vote that night?

We should consider where our nation is in its history as we watch the evidence. Consider whether we can survive for another 246 years. Most people don’t have the right to get away in most places on Earth. America is an exception, and America continues only because we bind ourselves to our founders’ principles, to our Constitution.

We recognize that some of the principles are more important than any single American who has ever lived. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

Thank you for taking the time to thank me. We begin the meeting right after the election, by returning to election night in November 2020. As the chairman noted, we’ve previously presented testimony about how the election results were expected to come in that night. In certain states, ballots cast by mail before Election Day would be counted only after the polls closed that evening.

That meant that election results would not be known for some time. Although President Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, and Jared Kushner had advised Donald Trump to encourage mail in voting by Republicans, President Trump did not do so. You have to begin videotape.

I just remember generally, you know, you had people arguing that we had a — a very, very robust get out the vote effort and that, you know, mail in ballots could be a good thing for us if we looked at it correctly.

I invited Kevin McCarthy to join the meeting, he being of like mind on — on the issue with me, in which we made our case for — for why we believed mail in balloting, mail in voting not to be a bad thing for his campaign, but, you know, the President’s mind was made up. [End videotape]

It was expected that the initial counts in a few states would be more Republican and that this would cause a false sense of superiority for President Trump. But as the results of the absentee ballots that were later counted, there could be trends towards Vice President Biden as those mail in ballots were counted.

Donald Trump was told by his advisers that he had no factual basis to claim victory, and should wait for the remaining ballots to be counted. Bill steppedien is the campaign manager. Begin the videotape.

It was far too early to be making any calls like that. There were still ballots to be counted. Ballots were still going to be counted for days. And it was far too early to be making any proclamation like that. I believe my recommendation was to say that votes were still being counted. It’s too early to tell, too early to call the race.

This is a fraud on the American public. This is bad news for our country. We were preparing to win the election. This election was a victory for us. [applause] We want all voting to stop. [End videotape]

Before election results were known, I was told there was a possibility that a declaration of victory within the White House could be pushed for by some. He was trying to figure out a way of not having to opine on a topic when he might not have enough information to do so. End the videotape.

We now know that President Trump knew that ballot counting would continue past the election, and that the counting on election night must stop before millions of votes were counted. On Election Day, just after 5 pm, Mr. Fitton indicated he’d spoken with the President about the statement.

And just a few days before the election, Steve Bannon, a former Trump chief White House strategist and outside adviser to President Trump, spoke to a group of his associates from China and said this. [Begin videotape]

I want the Attorney General to close ballot places in all 50 states. It’s going to be no, he’s not going out easier. If Biden is winning, Trump is going to do some crazy shit. [End videotape]

All hell will break loose tomorrow. The point of attack is now, and we’re going to have a fight tomorrow. I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to happen like you think it’s going to happen. Ok. It’s going to be quite extraordinarily different. The only thing I can say is strap in. You have made this happen and tomorrow it’s game day.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Question of January 6: Roger Stone’s Conversations with the President in Washington, D.C., via a Facebook Messenger Message

I think it’ll be and I really think it’s up in the air. The key to success when that happens is to claim victory. It’s at least 70% of the law for possession.

Even though we don’t have all of Stone’s communications, his own social media posts acknowledge that he spoke with Trump on the eve of January 6th. In this post, you can see how Roger Stone talked about his conversations with President Trump.

He wrote, “I also told the President exactly how he can appoint a special counsel with full subpoena power to ensure those who are attempting to steal the 2020 election through voter fraud are charged and convicted and to ensure Donald Trump continues as our President.” By now, we know the idea for a special counsel was something that had been going on for a while.

Roger Stone had direct ties to two groups responsible for violently attacking the Capitol, the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. They have been charged with a crime. What is a seditious conspiracy?

As we all know now, the Oath Keepers did play a specific role in January 6th and had stashed weapons in Virginia for further violence that evening. On that day, the Secret Service prepared for the president’s speech at Ellipse the next day. A Secret Service deputy chief instructed agents to add certain objects to the list of items that would be prohibited at the rally site, including ballistic vests, tactical vests, armored or not, and ballistic helmets.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys, and the White House: A Big-Lie About Donald Trump’s 2020 Presidential Campaign

Roger Stone’s connection with Enrique Tarrio and the Proud Boys is well documented by video evidence, with phone records the Select Committee has obtained. Tarrio is one of the Proud Boys that has been charged with crimes related to the January 6th attack. Tarrio sent a message to Proud Boys saying we did that.

He also visited the White House on December 12th. He posted a disturbing video that claimed he was responsible for the attack. This video, posted on January 6th, was apparently created prior to the attack. This big lie, President Trump’s effort to convince Americans that he had won the 2020 election began before the election results even came in. It was intentional.

It was planned. It was not based on election results or any evidence of actual fraud affecting the results or any actual problems with voting machines. It was a plan concocted in advance to convince his supporters that he won. There are people who seem to know about the plan in advance that are playing a crucial role in the events of January 6. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

The — I know that the President when the networks called it, of course, he was informed about the — the network decision. That afternoon at some point, myself And a handful of other folks went over and sat down with the President and communicated that the odds of us prevailing in legal challenges were very small.

There is a discussion going on in the Oval. And the President says, I think — it could have been Pompeo, but he says words to the effect of, yeah, we lost. We need to allow the issue to be decided by the next guy.

After the election, I went into the Oval to see how the President was doing and give him the attention he wanted. And he was looking at the TV and he said, can you believe I lost to this effing guy?

A memo from Johnny McEntee to Douglas Macgregor: Getting US forces out of Afghanistan and Somalia before the Biden inauguration

Knowing that he had lost and that he had only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business. President Trump issued an order for large-scale US troop withdrawals. He did not pay attention to the consequences for governments who are on the front lines of the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

Knowing he was leaving office, he acted immediately and signed this order on November 11th, which would have required the immediate withdrawal of troops from Somalia and Afghanistan, all to be complete before the Biden inauguration on January 20th. As you watch the clips, remember that General Kearny was the national security adviser to the vice president and had served as the chief of staff to the National Security Council.

Are you aware of a memo that the President signed in November of 2020 that ordered troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan and Somalia?

So I think you might have seen some things where there’s a memo or something from Johnny McEntee to Douglas Macgregor. You have a task to get US forces out of Afghanistan. When you first met Colonel Douglas Macgregor, was it fair to say you discussed the decision not to go to war in Afghanistan?

DOD leadership was not going to take any of those steps without an order after he responded back to you on the same day.

I explained in language that should be in the order while I was in the meeting with McEntee, and this was my answer to him. If the President wants it to happen, he needs to write an order.

I drew on the paper some key statements for him. You know, the President directs. Is this a word for boilerplate language?

McEntee duly takes it up, brings it in to the President. The President signs it and boom, it’s over — faxed over e-mail, scanned over. Kash Patel delivers it to me.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Senate Select Committee on Hearing: “It was a complete failure of the First Order to withdraw from Afghanistan” [End videotape]

And I proceeded to tell the PPO and proceeded to tell Macgregor that If I ever saw anything like that, I would do something physical. That was a huge disservice to the nation. And by the way, that was a very contested issue. There were people who did not agree with getting out of Afghanistan.

I appreciate their concerns. The memo said that an immediate departure would be a disaster. It’s the same situation as what Biden went through. It would have been a debacle. [End videotape]

It wasn’t an order for immediate withdrawal. It would have been terrible. President Trump signed the order. These are the highly consequential actions of a President who knows his term will shortly end. President Trump learned from the press that there was no evidence of fraud or improper conduct that would change the outcome of the election.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

How much of the campaign was misstated? We didn’t find anything that would change the results in key states, so what did we learn?

I received a call from Mr. Meadows who was inquiring if I was finding anything. And I remember sharing with him that we weren’t finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.

Stepien added: “We’d have to, you know, relay the news that, yeah, that tip that someone told you about those votes or that fraud or, you know, nothing came of it. That would be our job as, you know, the truth telling squad and, you know, not — not a fun job to be, you know, much — it’s an easier job to be telling the president about, you know, wild allegations. It’s hard to tell him that it was not true on the back end.

What was generally discussed on that topic was whether the fraud, maladministration, abuse or irregularities if aggregated and read most favorably to the campaign, would that be outcome determinative. And I think everyone’s assessment in the room, at least amongst the staff, Marc Short, myself, and Greg Jacob, was that it was not sufficient to be outcome determinant. [End videotape]

The Case for Election Fraud: Donald Trump’s Disappointed Success During the December 11th Trump-Hopf Event, as Declared by the Secret Service

Look, it’s the right of any candidate to litigate genuine election disputes. Nobody argues that, but President Trump’s litigation was completely unsuccessful. In our past hearings, we said that the committee had identified a number of election lawsuits that were filed by the Trump campaign and its allies. The 61 losses and one victory that resulted from those cases did not affect the outcome for any candidate.

It’s strong language criticizing the lack of evidentiary support for the claims of election fraud in those lawsuits. The federal appeals court in Pennsylvania stated that the charges required specific allegations and proof. We have neither here. The judge wrote that the court had allowed the former president to make his case and that he had lost on the merits.

The claims were described as speculation and that votes for President Trump may have been destroyed, discarded or switched to vote for Vice President Biden. A federal judge in Michigan disciplined 9 attorneys, including Sidney Powell, who made false allegations in an election fraud case, calling it a historic and profound abuse of the judicial process.

Recently, a group of distinguished Republican intellectuals lawyers, former judges and elected officials, issued a report confirming the findings of the courts. In their report, they looked at each election challenge and determined that it was lost not stolen. They failed to present evidence of fraud or inaccurate results that would invalidate the 2020 Presidential election.

On December 11th, Trump’s allies lost a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court that he regarded as his last chance at success in the courts. The message from the Secret Service shows how upset President Trump was with the outcome. Yup, POTUS is pissed. Breaking news, Supreme Court denied his lawsuit.

He is livid now. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to chief of staff Mark Meadows, was present for that conversation and described it in this way. [Begin videotape]

The case had been rejected by the Supreme Court. Mr. Meadows and I were in the White House residence at a Christmas reception. And as we were walking back from the Christmas reception that evening, the President was walking out of the Oval Office and we crossed paths in the Rose Garden colonnade.

The President was fired up about the Supreme Court decision. And so I was standing next to Mr. Meadows, but I had stepped back. So I was probably two or three feet catty-cornered, diagonal from him. The President is angry about the decision, he asked why we didn’t call more, and he also pointed out that the decision was wrong.

December 14th was the day that the states certified their votes and sent them to Congress. And in my view, that was the end of the matter. I didn’t see — you know, I — I thought that this would lead inexorably to a new administration.

I told him that I thought the Electoral College had met, which means that the president and vice president will be elected, and that he likely wouldn’t have any choice but to pursue litigation.

A Videotape of the ‘Trump Voting Campaign’ by Gene Scalia, Secretary of Labor, AdS/CFT, and a Presidential Campaign against Election Fraud

Secretary of Labor Gene Scalia, the son of late Justice Scalia, visited President Trump in mid-December and explained the situation clearly. Begin the videotape.

So, I had put a call in to the president. I might have called on the 13th. I told him that he needed to acknowledge that President Biden had prevailed after we spoke on the 14th. But I communicated to the president that, you know, when that legal process is exhausted and when the electors are — have voted, that that’s the point at which that outcome needs to be expected.

I told him that I believed that if fraud had not been discovered, then it was time to concede the outcome, and I thought that this was what he wanted. End videotape.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The turning point was during the middle of December. President Trump made a decision, a choice, to ignore the courts and his advisers and to push forward to overturn the election. The plans to overturn the election were part of a plan to make sure that he stayed in power.

The rhetoric of a stolen election would frame the entire operation, sowing doubt among his supporters about the legitimacy of Biden’s victory and creating a basis for going to court and leaning on state officials. Trump’s team constantly discussed and deliberated over how to achieve their goal.

I raised the voting machines that were found to be among the most disturbing, because I saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations. I told them it was crazy and they were wasting their time on something that was doing a grave disservice to the country.

A company that we have is very suspect. It’s called Virginia and its name is “Dominion.” With the turn of a dial or the change of a chip, you could press a button for Trump and the vote goes to Biden. What type of system is this?

The Big Vote Dump in Detroit versus the big vote dump in Georgia, where more Absentee ballots were cast than there were voters

We talked about Antrim County again. The hand recount had taken place at that time, so that was also done at that point. But we cited back to that to say, you know, this is an example of what people are telling you and what’s being filed in some of these court filings that are just not supported by the evidence.

In addition, there is the highly troubling matter of Dominion voting systems. In one Michigan county alone, 6,000 votes were switched from Trump to Biden, and the same systems are used in the majority of states in our country.

I went into this and would, you know, tell him how crazy some of these allegations were and how ridiculous some of them were. I’m talking about some of the ones that were easy to blow up like the fact that more Absentee Votes were cast in Pennsylvania than there were Absentee ballots request. There was never — there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were.

There were more votes than there were voters. Think of that. You had more votes than people who voted for you. That’s an easy one to figure, and it’s by the thousands.

He dubbed it the big vote dump in Detroit. And that — you know, he said people saw boxes coming in to the counting station at all hours of the morning. And I said, Mr. President, there are 630 precincts in Detroit. And unlike elsewhere in the state, they centralized the counting process so they’re not counted in each precinct.

With regard to Georgia, we looked at the tape. We interviewed the witnesses. There is no suitcase. The president had said that the suitcase had fraudulent ballots and it was rolled out under the table. I told him there was no suitcase. You can watch that video multiple times.

There is no suitcase. They place the ballots in a wheeled bin, which is used to move the ballots around the facility. There’s nothing suspicious about that at all.

Election officials removed boxes, suitcases, and Democrats from under a table. You all saw it on television, totally fraudulent. End videotape.

We all recall, for example, President Trump’s tape recorded call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The US Justice Department told President Trump multiple times that his allegations of fraud in Georgia were false.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

What Do We Want to Do? – Searching for More Votes: Jan 6 Commission Hearing Transcript at the Library of the Yale Law Library

So, look, now all I want to do is this. I just want to find more votes than we have because we won the state. Look, we need only 11,000 votes. We have far more than that as it stands now. We will have more and more. So, what are we going to do here, folks? If I only need 11,000 votes.

I want to find 11,780 votes. It’s an extraordinary demand since the president already knew that there was no real basis for it. No one could think it would be legal for the secretary of state to simply find the votes the president needed in order to win.

That’s what it is. That is a criminal offense. You can’t let that happen. That’s — that’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk. End the videotape.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Why did President Donald Trump forcefully reject Clark’s proposal for a presidential election? How did he respond to the officials and the White House switchboard?

When the officials wouldn’t help him, President Trump decided to install Jeff Clark as an acting attorney general just to make up for it. We know that Trump was doing it for a specific reason so that Clark could use the Justice Department’s authority to get the states to flip their votes.

For example, when Richard Donoghue and Jeff Rosen, both appointed by President Trump, learned of Mr. Clark’s proposal, here’s why they said they forcefully rejected it. Begin videotape.

I remember telling you that what you’re proposing is nothing less than the United States Justice Department trying to influence the outcome of a presidential election. This was not based on fact. This was actually contrary to the facts as developed by department investigations over the last several weeks and months.

The entire leadership of the Department of Justice threatened to leave, so the President relented. I yield back.

This was done with both knowledge and participation from the President. The chair of the RNC testified that the president called her to try and arrange for the fake electors to meet to cast their votes.

When I received the call — again, I don’t remember the exact date — it was — it was from the White House switchboard and it was President Trump who had contacted me.

John Eastman, the Greatest Threat to Washington, D.C., March 6, 2015: An Email to the Vice President to Tell the World What He Did

In America’s proud democratic history, no President has ever done what Trump did: try to install himself in office by disputing the results of a free and fair election, Cheney said.

Here is John Eastman fraudulently instructing tens of thousands of angry protesters that the Vice President could change the election outcome on January 6th. Donald Trump knew that what he was planning was not allowed, according to Dr. Eastman. John was testifying before us.

In writing, Dr. Eastman confirmed this. Do you advise the president that the VP doesn’t have power to make his own decisions, as was implied by the email written on January 6? Dr. Eastman replied, he’s been so advised.

She apologized for being impolite, but do you remember what her father said to the Vice President?

In the end, all these people, the Department of Justice officials, state elections’ officials, his own Vice President, stood together in the face of enormous pressure. But as we now know, President Trump had already summoned tens of thousands of his supporters to Washington on January 6 to take back their country.

Days before January 6, the President’s senior advisers at the Department of Justice and FBI, for example, received an intelligence summary that included material indicating that certain people traveling to Washington were making plans to attack the Capitol. This summary noted online calls to occupy federal buildings, rhetoric about invading the Capitol building, and plans to arm themselves and to engage in political violence at the event.

So during these calls, I — I only remember in hindsight because he was almost like clairvoyant. During one of the calls, Norquist says the greatest threat is an assault on the Capitol. I will never forget it. The end of videotape.

One agent’s email is likely to be an issue with the crowd because they have stuff that isn’t coming through. Just a thought. By 9:30 that morning, agents reported more than 25,000 people outside the rally site. The Secret Service reported that the crowd was at the mall but not in line.

The head of the President’s Secret Service protective detail, Robert Engel, was specifically aware of the large crowds outside the magnetometers. He passed that information along to Tony Ornato who worked for Mark Meadows in the chief of staff’s office. The documents we got from the Secret Service made it clear that the crowd was armed and the agents were aware of it. Take a look at what they were seeing and hearing on the ground.

One report from the rally site at 7:58 a.m. said, some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks. According to the person who spoke at 9:30 a.m., there could have been pepper spray and/or plastic riot shields. At 11:23 a.m., agents also reported possible armed individuals, one with a glock, one with a rifle.

A man with a gun was reported over the next hour, as well as a person with an assault rifle on his person and a person who had a pistol on his hip.

The Federal Protective Service, an agency tasked with protecting federal buildings, was alert about the arrest of a protester with a gun minutes before President Trump began his speech. During the speech, weapons related arrests continued. The man with a rifle was taken into custody by the United States Park Police. These agents remarked on the number of weapons that had been seized that day, speculating that the situation could get worse.

If I had seen that, I would have flipped it to someone at the White House, or if I had seen that, I would have reported it to the Secret Service. Continue the videotape.

The same day Jason Miller sent his text message, agents received reports about a spike in activity on another platform called Parler. It was December 30th. The agent received a report about Parler’s violent rhetoric directed at government people and entities, including Secret Service protectees.

The president of the Jan 6 protest over the 2020 presidential election was guilty of bribery and theft: a witness-to-mob story

That story is damning. Witnesses testified that Trump knew that the January 6 protest over the 2020 election had spun out of control into violent chaos and was told repeatedly that he should ask rioters to leave. He did not do it for long, even after he watched the carnage on television.

They were fired up. They were angry. They feel like the election was rigged, that it was stolen, and he went on about that for a bit. End video.

The president knew how the crowd was angry and he had made it worse. He knew that they believed that the election had been rigged and stolen because he had told them falsely that it had been rigged and stolen. And by the time he incited that angry mob to march on the Capitol, he knew they were armed and dangerous, all the better to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

An intelligence executive summary of a call to the Secret Service for a high-velocity, low-power, violent attack at the Ellipse rally

The gentleman walks away from the group. At this point our — in our meeting, we’ll take a brief recess. The chair declared the committee in recess for 10 minutes due to an order from the committee of today. In a break. The chair recognized the gentleman for his opening statement.

As the time for the Ellipse rally approached, an email was circulated among intelligence officials, including Secret Service intelligence official, attaching communications among rally goers that specifically contemplated violence. One post on TheDonald.win said that Trump had given them marching orders. “Basically if you’re east of the Mississippi, you can and should be there.

He was angry because we weren’t letting people with weapons through the mags, which the Secret Service considers to be weapons. I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, you know, I don’t f’ing care that they have weapons.

They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f’ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the magazines away. [End videotape]

Thank you and the police, law enforcement and the military for your assistance, I would love to have those tens of thousands of people allowed. You’re doing a good job. [Applause] I’d love for them to be able to come with us. Is that possible? Can you allow them to come up?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

White House Press Secretary Kaeh McEnany: An Exchange with the President About the August 21, 2016 Capitol Violation Exit from the Oval Office

There’s no scenario where that action is benign, and there’s no scenario where an American president should have engaged in that conduct. It didn’t matter to President Trump whether he believed the election had been stolen or not. This could not be justified on any basis for any reason. You can recall that during our summer hearings, Mr. Trump tried to lead the mob to the Capitol but was told it was too dangerous by the Secret Service. As we detailed in testimony from the Metropolitan Police and White House personnel during our July 21st hearing, information about the altercation was widely known, so widely known that one former White House employee with national security responsibilities explained that this information was in fact water cooler talk in the White House complex.

They told me that the president was angry on the drive up. Mr. Engle did not deny the fact that the president was irate.” Cassidy Hutchinson, a Metropolitan Police officer who was in the motorcade this summer, gave testimony that matches that of that of other sources.

And I will also note this. The testimony about advice not to tell the committee about this particular issue is being reviewed by the committee. We will address this matter in our report.

We were all very shocked to the point that we were confused. Because why? Because — because we just — one, I think the actual physical feasibility of doing it, and then also we all knew what that indicated and what that meant, that this was no longer a rally, that this was going to move to something else if he physically walked to the Capitol.

I’m not sure if you want to use the word coup, insurrection or whatever. This would move from a democratic to something else, and we were all aware of that. Why were we are alarmed?

When the president returned to the White House around 1:20, he entered the Oval Office and was told right then about the onset of violence at the Capitol. From that point until approximately 4:00 PM, over the next two hours and 40 minutes, the president stayed in the White House dining room attached to the Oval Office and watched this unprecedented assault take place at the Capitol.

Here’s Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, describing an — an exchange she had with the president as soon as he arrived back at the White House. [Begin videotape]

I recall himstating he wanted to walk and be part of the march, and that if he needed to he would ride the presidential limo. [End videotape]

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

What did the President of the United States Tell Washington during January 6th, 2015? Evidence from the Secret Service and the Select Committee on Capitol Hill Explosions

From the Secret Service, the Select Committee has also obtained important new evidence on this issue. It shows how frantic this hour must have been for the Secret Service, scrambling to get the president of the United States to back down from a dangerous and reckless decision that put people in harm’s way.

The president was told that he would leave for the Capitol in two hours. It wasn’t until 1:55 PM that the president’s lead Secret Service agent told them to stand down. “We are not doing an OTR to the Capitol.” By then rioters had breached the Capitol and were violently attacking the efforts of the brave men and women in law enforcement trying to resist the mob.

At 1:19, the president’s Emergency Operations Center sent an e-mail to Secret Service, national security, and military advisers, to the president and vice president informing them that “hundreds of Trump supporters stormed through metal barricades at the back of the Capitol building about 1:00 PM Wednesday, running past security guards and breaking fences.

I can’t talk about it, but I will say that people need to be told quickly that they need to leave the capitol.

Approximately when? People were coming to the Capitol in a violent way almost immediately after I found out.

I can’t think of anyone who didn’t want people to leave the Capitol on that day. I mean —

Oh, I’m sorry. I — I apologize. I thought you said who on — who else on the staff. Yeah, I — I can’t reveal communications, but obviously I think, you know — yeah. [End videotape]

You heard him say something, Pat. He doesn’t want to do anything more. He thinks they’re doing nothing wrong. [End videotape]

On January 6, Trump ignored warnings of violence. He wanted to lead the troops on a journey. As the attacks on Congress unfolded, a democrat from Maryland reminded viewers that he sat and watched television while his allies begged him to call off the troops. It wasn’t that Trump didn’t act on January 6; it was that he didn’t want to act. Can you believe it? Pelosi was heard saying to Thompson that day.

Some of the president’s most important political allies, family members, and senior staff begged him to tell his supporters to leave. They included Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and other allies at Fox News, his son Donald Trump Jr, the House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, others in Congress, and officials in the cabinet and the executive branch.

All of them made appeals to Donald Trump, which he rejected and he ignored. The Select Committee interviewed people who were in the dining room with Donald Trump, and all of them stated that he was watching violent battles on television. The chiefs of the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department did not get a call from him.

And to your knowledge, was the president in that private dining room the whole time that the attack on the Capitol was going on, or did he ever go to — again, only to your knowledge, to the Oval Office, to the White House Situation Room, anywhere else?

Yeah. What did they say, Mr. Meadows or the president, at all during that brief encounter with you in the dining room? What did you remember? I think they were — everyone was watching the TV. Do you know whether he was watching TV in the dining room when you talked to him on January 6th?

Was the violence on the screen on the television visible when you were in the dining room?

State Police and Federal Guard in Washington DC: Hey, boys, I’m coming in if you don’t bring me out, Governor Northam

We’re getting to be surrounded. The scaffolding will be taken to the north front. We aren’t going to be able to hold if we don’t get more weapons. People are gaining entry into the Capitol after a door was broken.

There has to be some way we can maintain the sense that people have that there is some security or some confidence that government can function and that we can elect the president of United States. Did we go back into session?

We did go back into session, but now everyone is putting on tear gas masks and preparing for an event. I’m trying to get more information.

I can’t. We need a area for the House members. They’re all walking over now through the tunnel. Bring her here. Hey, boys, we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out.

I’m going to call up the f’ing secretary of DOD. We have some Senators who are still in their hideaways. They need massive personnel now. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come too?

I have something to say, Mr. Secretary. The mayor of Washington DC will be calling me right now to see what she has going on in other police departments.

Hi, Governor. Nancy is this person. I am not sure if you have been approached about the Virginia National Guard. I still believe that you need the Ok of the federal government to arrive in another jurisdiction. Thank you.

They said someone was shot. It’s horrendous. And all at the instigation of the president of the United States. Ok, thank you, Governor. I’m very appreciative of what you’re doing. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay in touch. Thank you. Thank you.

You know, I was just talked to Governor Northam, and what he said is they sent 200 state police and a unit of the National Guard. They’re breaking windows and going in, obviously ransacking our offices and all the rest of that. That’s not much. The concern we have about personal harm.

Personal safety is — it just transcends everything. They’re breaking the law on a daily basis and quite frankly, they’re breaking the law at the president’s direction. If he could, he would at least have somebody.

The Attorney General should have a public statement that they should all leave the Capitol.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

I’m the Chief of Police at the Capitol Building. I’ve talked to the FBI and the State Department about a possible congressional investigation that Donald Trump did not end his job

I do not want to speak for the people that are going to be responsible for executing the operation, so I won’t. They’re experts because they are meeting on the ground. [Inaudible]

For a second, just pretend that it was the Pentagon or the White House that was under siege. As you make the plan, you can take people there logistically. We are trying to figure out how to finish this job today. We talked to another person about it. He’s not in the room right now, but he was with us earlier and said, you know, we want to expedite this So we could vote if they limited it to Arizona, then just move forward with the rest of the state.

The Capitol is the primary place to do it. We’re being told that it will take days for the Capitol to be back to normal. We’ve received bad reports about the House floor, defecation and all that sort of thing. I don’t think that that’s hard to clean up, but I do think it is more from a security standpoint of making sure that everybody is out of the building and how long will that take.

It may take days to get back after they clean up the poo poo in the Capitol.

Nancy, so I’m at the Capitol building. I’m literally standing with the Chief of Police of — you know, the US Capitol Police. He just informed me what you will hear through official channels, Paul Irving, your Sergeant-at-Arms, will inform you that their best information is that they believe that the House and the Senate will be able to reconvene in roughly an hour.

It was obvious to everyone that President Trump could end this. He was the only one who could not. Former aides publicly begged him to do so. Loyal allies called the administration to complain about something. But the President did not act swiftly. He did not perform his job. He didn’t take steps to make sure federal law was faithfully executed.

Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former chief of staff, also came forward and said that she had been lied to. [Begin videotape]

You know, I asked Kevin McCarthy who’s the Republican leader about this and — and he said he called –he finally got through to Donald Trump He said that you need to be on TV. You need to get on the platform. You’ve got to call these people off. The President said something to him. This is as it’s happening.

Furthermore, the committee contended in its hearings that Trump also helped to plot a nefarious scheme to use fake electors to subvert the election in Congress. When those efforts failed, after then-Vice President Mike Pence refused to wield powers he did not have, the committee argued that Trump called a mob to Washington and incited a vicious attack on the Capitol. Then, committee members argued, his inaction as the violence raged amounted to desecrating his sworn duty to protect Congress, the Constitution and the rule of law.

I’ve made it very clear to the President that he has responsibilities for his words and actions, no ifs, ands or buts. I asked him personally if he was responsible for what happened. Does he have bad things to say about what happened? He told me, he does have some responsibility for what happened and he need to acknowledge that.

2:24 p.m. Knowing the deadly riot was now bearing down on his own Vice President, President Trump composed and sent a tweet attacking Vice President Pence, accusing him of cowardice for not unilaterally rejecting Electoral College votes for Joe Biden and simply handing Trump the presidency. The impact was known and predictable.

The company detected a surge in violent hashtags, such as the one that read, “Execution of Mike Pence”, as the afternoon progressed. Anika has agreed to be named because she wants to publicly discuss the magnitude of the threats facing our people.

And after in response to this as well. I think that as many as many of Donald Trump’s messages did, it fanned the flames again. It was people who were already creating gallows who were willing to execute someone and looking for someone to be killed. Now, the individual was called upon then to begin this coup is now pointing the finger at another individual while they’re ready to do this.

Mike Pence has screwed us up. What happened at the Capitol, and when did the President lose his job? [End videotape]

Mike Pence is not a fan of Donald Trump. Mike Pence was a traitor. If you haven’t heard yet, Mike Pence has messed us up. What happened? What happened? I’m hearing that Mike Pence has messed with us. That’s the word I keep hearing reports that Mike Pence has screwed us. [End videotape]

The resignations of many members of the White House staff and other Trump appointees occurred because of the manner in which President Trump conducted himself that day. In the past, you’ve heard deputy National security adviser Matt Pottinger and deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Matthews explain why they quit on that day.

I was shocked by violence and the President’s apparent indifference to it. And now is the time for the President to be presidential. I thought he failed at doing it. I thought he failed at a critical time to be the sort of leader that the nation needed.

The Capitol’s events were shocking. I mentioned in my statement that it was something that I couldn’t let go of. And at a particular point, the events were such that it was impossible for me to continue given my personal values and my philosophy. I arrived in this country as a immigrant.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

When Donald Trump cried, he told us: I am going home, I’m going to bed, and I will see you in the morning’

We are delivering the President’s message. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. That’s what we ordered. [Inaudible] He says, go home. End videotape.

He said these are the things that happen, and gave the whole game away. Trump was telling us that the Vice President, the Congress, and all the injured and wounded cops, some of whom are with us today, got what was coming to us. According to Trump. January 6 should not be a day that lives in shame in infamy in our history, but rather in glory.

He wrote that he remembered this day as if he were talking about D-Day. It was obvious that Trump did not do anything to stop the violence. It was all justified, he thought. He incited it and he supported it. [Begin videotape]

Would it be possible for the president to go to the podium and speak to the nation at any moment between when the video statement was released and when you gave him that advice? Would that have been possible?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Jan 6 General Relatives to the First Hearings of the American Civil Libertarian Committee on the January 6th, 1863 Election

Our constitution strongly dislikes insurrection and rebellion. Article I gives Congress the power to call forth the militia to suppress insurrections. Anyone who swore an oath to defend the Constitution but then went against it is not allowed to hold a federal or state office.

It was President Lincoln, at the start of the Civil War in 1861, who best explained why democracy rejects insurrection. Insurrection, he said, is a war upon the first principle of popular government, the rights of the people. American democracy is for all Americans, not a single man. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The gentleman returns the favor. During this committee’s first hearing in July of last year, our witnesses were four police officers who helped repel the riots of January 6th. We asked them what they hoped to see the committee accomplish over the course of our investigation. The rioters were made to believe that the election process was rigged.

Officer Fanone asked for us to look into the actions and activities that took place on the day. Officer Hodges was concerned about who had the power. Officer Dunn told them to get to the bottom of what happened. We’ve worked for more than a year to get those answers. We’ve conducted more than a thousand interviews and depositions.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

Hearing a President’s Testimony: A Judicial Committee Report on John F. Flynn’s March with Oath Keepers

There’s precedent in American history for Congress to compel the testimony of a precedent — president. There is precedent for presidents to give testimony to Congressional investigators. We understand that a subpoena to a former president is an action that should not be underestimated.

That’s why we want to take this step in full view of the American people, especially because the subject matter at issue is so important to the American people and the stakes are so high for our future and our democracy. I was aware that the Vice Chair, Ms Cheney of Wyoming, was going to offer a motion.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The information that our committee has now allows us to answer many of the questions that Congress posed at the beginning. We have enough information to consider criminal referrals for more than one person and to recommend a range of legislative proposals to protect against another January 6th.

The central player must give testimony under oath. More than 30 people have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, and many of them did so in response to questions about their dealings with Donald Trump. Here are a few examples.

General Flynn testified before our committee after walking with Oath Keepers. [Begin videotape]

You will not discuss the same conversations you had with the President of the United States in the media with this committee.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/13/1125331584/jan-6-committee-hearing-transcript

The Committee on Investigating the Bannon & Navarro Corrigendaes for Contempt of the Court of a Special Jury

Other witnesses have also gone to enormous lengths to avoid testifying about their dealings with Donald Trump. Steve Bannon has been tried and convicted by a jury of his peers for contempt of Congress. He is scheduled to be sentenced for this crime later this month. Criminal proceedings about Peter Navarro are going on.

The resolution is accepted by everyone. Without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Chair requests that those in the hearing room remain seated until the Capitol Police have escorted members from the room. The committee stood adjourned without objection.

In addition, Zelizer is a professor of public affairs and history at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of more than 20 books, including an upcoming co-edited work on myth America: Historians take on the biggest lies and legends about our past. Follow him on Twitter @julianzelizer. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

Dramatic Moments of January 6, 2020: The Case of President Trump and the “Stop the Steal” Demonstration

The bipartisan panel held many public hearings in the last four months in an effort to learn the full story of what happened that day.

Unlike the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974, one of the most distinctive elements of Trump’s campaign to overturn the 2020 election is that so much of it happened in broad daylight.

Yet the committee managed to fill out the story in very important ways, providing shocking evidence and details as to how the events of those months were even more dangerous than we understood at the time.

On the day of the “Stop the Steal” rally, January 6, Trump knew that the protesters were armed and dangerous but did nothing to stop them. He was stopped by the Secret Service when he attempted to go to Capitol Hill. Cassidy Hutchinson said that the former president lunged at a Secret Service agent and tried to steer the car while being told he couldn’t go.

Trump and his attorneys, such as Rudy Giuliani, probed to see if various state officials would do their bidding. Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a staunch conservative who backed the administration, was unsettled as Giuliani and Trump pressured him during a phone call in late November 2020 to have the state legislature reconvene and invalidate the results in his state. The president’s lawyer John Eastman, who had written the road map for their attempted election steal, pressured Pence’s aides to have him reject the results.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/14/opinions/dramatic-moments-january-6-hearing-zelizer/index.html

The 2020 Election Campaign: When Donald Trump Becomes a Leader of the People, he Will Be With You and You Can’t Give Up

Continuum: January 6 was just one piece of a much larger story. The January 6 committee is more likely to investigate the 2020 election campaign than it is to be called the January 6 committee. This reframing is essential to understanding the months between November 2020 and January 2021.

We have learned that Trump understood what was happening. He was told many times about how he was making claims that were untrue and warned of the dangers he was taking. Barr and other conservative media figures, as well as his advisers, were privately urging him to stop.

The committee wanted to make sure that the committee was clear that the danger isn’t over in 2022. “There remains a clear and present danger to our electoral system and to democratic institutions,” Raskin said, “So, that is something that will come through in our final hearing. This is not ancient history we’re talking about; this is a continuing threat.” There’s a continued threat on many levels. The rhetoric of election denialism has taken hold of a lot of Republican candidates.

Republicans who subscribe to this agenda are also running for several key offices, ranging from gubernatorial positions to secretaries of state in key states such as Pennsylvania and Arizona, all of whom will play a key role in overseeing future elections. The former president is still a top contender for the Republican nomination.

The conclusion of the committee’s work marks a change in history, as Americans faced a choice regarding an attempt by a president to overrule the voice of the people and chain of peaceful protest.

The message that the mid-term elections convey is usually a referendum on the party in power, and this fall’s message seems to be catching on. The intentions of the party trying to regain power should be taken into account by voters. What they vote for will have an effect on the future of this country.

There will be a national election after two years of lawsuits, conspiracy theories, election audits and all manner of interference by people who don’t agree with Donald Trump. That test comes alongside the embrace of violent extremism by a small but growing faction of the Republican Party.

A nation tired of crises and anxious about its economy is voting Tuesday in an election that is more likely to divide the nation than unite it.

When people freely choose their leaders, elections often set the country on a new path and most of the time those leaders accept the results.

Democrats have two years to convince the nation that their policies will help out of crises if they lose on Tuesday. Republicans will be able to point to voters giving them a mandate to fix things where Biden has failed if they are given a majority in Congress. The GOP could find it’s way on the ballot in two years after repeated elections in which angry voters punish the party with the most power.

Above all, the midterm campaign turned on the cost of living crisis, with polls showing the economy by far the most important issue for voters, who are still waiting for the restoration of normality after a once-in-a-century pandemic that Biden had promised in 2020.

A gusher of news on job losses just before polls opened, including in the tech industry, worsened jitters about a slowdown that could destroy one of the bright spots of the Biden economy – historically low unemployment. Americans are already struggling with higher prices for food and gasoline and now must cope with the Federal Reserve hikes in interest rates that not only make credit card debt, buying a home and rent more expensive, but could tip the economy into a recession.

The economic situation threatens to set up a classic midterm election rebuke for a first-term president – and in some ways, this would be a sign that democracy is working. Elections have for generations been a safety valve for the public to express dissent with the country’s direction.

The day is likely to be a tough one for Biden. The president did not spend the final hours of the campaign battling to get vulnerable Democrats over the line in a critical swing state. The safe haven of Maryland is where his low approval ratings probably won’t hurt Democrats running for office. The venue of his final event, where he did stump for Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman, encapsulated his drained political juice as he contemplated a reelection campaign.

Biden thinks it will be difficult. “I think we’ll win the Senate and I think the House is tougher,” he said, admitting life would become “more difficult” for him if the GOP takes control of Congress.

Trump also vowed to make “a very big announcement” at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on November 15, which appears to be the worst kept secret in politics – that he will seek another term in the White House. The fact that a twice-impeached president, who left office in disgrace after legitimizing violence as a form of political expression, has a good chance of winning underscores the turbulence of our time.

Nancy Pelosi recalled when she was told her husband had been attacked with a hammer, the shadow of violence that hung over American policies since Donald Trump incited the Capitol insurrection was worsened. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, she also condemned certain Republicans for joking about it.

There is only one party that thinks the outcome of an election is a sham, and it’s in our democracy. That has to stop,” Pelosi said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is the likely next speaker if Republicans net the five seats they need for the House majority, blamed Democrats for heated political rhetoric as he laid out an aggressive agenda, targeting border security and relentless investigations in an exclusive interview with CNN. The conference members are already demanding impeaching Biden, he did not rule it out.

McCarthy told CNN that impeachment would never be used for political purposes. That doesn’t mean that something will not be used at any other time.

And Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who says he’s in line to be chairman of the permanent subcommittee on investigations if he wins reelection and Republicans take the Senate, said he’d use the power granted him, in what is likely to be a very narrowly decided election, to further crank up the partisan heat in Washington.

What Will the House Ways and Means Committee Detect in the Post-Wavelow Decay of Jan 6 2016? Defending the Ex-President’s Mob

There is something mystical about elections where differences are exposed, like debates and fierce campaigns. The expectation was that both sides would abide by the verdict of the people.

Could the act of sending criminal referrals to the DOJ risk furthering the perception of politicization of separate investigations into the aftermath of January 6?

A group of legislators who did not certify the presidential election and who still whitewash it nearly two years later are expected to wipe out the panel next month.

But before then, the panel is expected to release its final report on Wednesday. There could be another moment of vulnerability and embarrassment on Tuesday for the ex-president when the Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee meets to discuss what, if anything, to do with his tax returns that it finally received after a years-long court battle.

In its highly produced hearings, the committee – with its seven Democrats and two Republicans who split with their own party to take part – painted scenes of horrific violence and intense efforts by Trump to steal Joe Biden’s presidency.

A Capitol Police officer told how she had slipped on spilled blood during the melee caused when the ex-president’s mob smashed its way into the Capitol. A mother and daughter who worked as election workers in Georgia described how they faced racist threats after Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, accused them of vote stealing. Rusty Bowers, the outgoing Republican speaker of the Arizona state House, testified that Trump’s calls for him to meddle with the election were “foreign to my very being.”

Cassidy Hutchinson is a Republican who testified about Trump’s assault on the Constitution, frequently, it was Republicans who were with Trump in the West Wing. Mark Meadows was the ex-aide to the White House chief of staff. It was out of place. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.”

Should the Department of Justice move forward with criminal charges, it will cause an avalanche. Trump supporters, and the former President himself, will be livid.

“This is someone who in multiple ways tried to pressure state officials to find votes that didn’t exist. Democrats said on Sunday that this is someone who tried to interfere with a joint session, even inciting a mob to attack the Capitol. “If that’s not criminal, then I don’t know what it is.

Do GOP Commissioners Really Care about Donald Trump’s Insurrection During the November 6, 2017 Violence? The Case of Liz Cheney

Will an impression that Trump is being hounded by any referrals nearly two years after he left office help rally Republicans to his misfiring 2024 campaign?

And do Americans as a whole, at a time of national strain amid high inflation and the aftermath of a once-in-a-century pandemic, really care about events that rattled US democracy nearly two years ago?

On the first question, committee members – including Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney, who lost her seat in Wyoming over her determination to hold Trump to account – have long argued that it is performing a service for posterity and have left a strong impression they want to fatally damage his future political hopes.

The committee held a public hearing in July in which Cheney spoke. “Can a president who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of January 6 ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation again?”

Many of Cheney’s fellow Republicans didn’t acknowledge the ex-president’s conduct, suggesting that her sacrifice of her career may be in vain. Certainly, there was little sense during the compelling hearings that the public was as transfixed with this act of accountability as it was, for instance, with the Senate Watergate hearings in the 1970s that helped lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The dichotomy may be explained by the fact that conservative media distorts what really happened on January 6.

Americans rejected many of the candidates in the upcoming mid-term election who had amplified Trump’s false claims of election fraud, suggesting a desire to protect American democracy.

It is impossible to quantify how the committee’s work affected voters in November. It kept evidence of Trump’s insurrection in the news for the whole year, even as the ex-president launched a new campaign seen by some as a way to cast the probes into his conduct as politically motivated persecution. This is especially valuable as some pro-Trump Republicans, like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, escalate their attempts to distort what happened in the unprecedented attack on the Capitol.

This is a big investigation by the committee. The former prosecutor said there were huge amounts of evidence and witnesses being identified.

“I think it’s the detail that accompanies the referrals themselves and the report that will give a roadmap to DOJ. The DOJ has been late to the party and they are trying to catch up but the detail could be useful to them and will put a lot of pressure on them.

Future generations can judge the determination of the panel members and the courage of witnesses who told the truth if nothing else.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/19/politics/jan-6-committee-investigation-final-session/index.html

The Commission on Investigations of the 2016 Midterm Election: Report of a Defensive Democrat-Centrusted Senator, Donald J. Trump

“Unfortunately we now live in a world where a lie is Trump’s truth, where democracy is being challenged by authoritarianism,” the Illinois Republican said.

I fear that the great experiment will fall into the ash heap of history if our elected leaders do not search for a way out.

The committee released an executive summary of its report on Monday, and it plans to release the full report on Wednesday, as well as transcripts of committee interviews.

“Accountability that can only be found in the criminal justice system,” committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. said. “We think the work done by this committee will help provide a road map to justice and that the agencies and institutions that ensure justice under the law will use the information we’ve provided to aid in their work.”

Donald Trump destroyed that faith. He lost the 2020 election, but knew it. He chose to stay in office because of a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power. “In the end, he summoned a mob to Washington, and knowing they were armed and angry, pointed them at the Capitol and told them to ‘fight like hell.’ There is no doubt about this.

“President Trump was informed over and over again, by his senior appointees, campaign experts and those who had served him for years,” the executive summary states, “that his election fraud allegations were nonsense.” The panel relied on the testimony of some of Trump’s top advisers to build its case as well as the public record.

The video went through Trump’s attempts to block the election and showed how his attacks ended the lives of election workers.

Report of the Subpoenaed GOP Congressional Ethics Committee on 2022 Midterm Dem Demographics. The House Ethics Committee’s Report on Monday

Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona – one of the four subpoenaed GOP lawmakers that the panel referred to the House Ethics Committee on Monday – tweeted before the hearing that the committee was a “partisan sham.” Rep. Troy Nehls, a Texas Republican who boycotted the committee, called it a “partisan witch hunt.”

Cheney and Kinzinger were ostracized and pushed out of the party because they served on the committee. During the 2022 midterms, election denialism was a central campaign theme for the GOP rather than an issue candidates ran away from.

Kinzinger explained how his colleagues in the House were involved in the effort to overturn the election. He showed that Trump wanted theJustice Department officials to “put the facade of legitimacy” on his voter fraud claims so Republican congressmen would not doubt the outcome of the election.

No matter what Trump and his allies say, Democrats will forever be able to accurately assert that the panel’s findings, conclusions, its final report and its criminal referrals are bipartisan.

The committee’s full report will be released this week, according to Thompson. This will be a historical document that will be studied for generations. Never before has a sitting president tried to steal a second term.

So the committee said it’s releasing video summaries with each relevant piece of evidence. And it’s likely why the beginning of the hearing included so many clips of previously seen testimony from past hearings, almost like the recap of a prior season of a series on Netflix.

The current Congress ends on January 3, 2023, and that’s when the committee will cease to exist. But the Justice Department investigation, overseen by special counsel Smith, continues.

Four of the committee’s members will not be returning to Congress. Besides Cheney and Kinzinger, Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida is retiring, while Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia was one of the handful of House Democratic incumbents who lost their seats in the 2022 midterms last month.

The House Jan 6 Committee Finding Donald Trump Should be Charged with Multiple Pseudoscalar Offences: How My Generation Got Left Behind

Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter @JillFilipovic. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

After more than a year of digging through evidence to understand what happened on one of the darkest days in American history, the House January 6 committee has issued its findings: Former President Donald Trump aided an insurrection and should be charged with multiple felonies.

That conclusion is extraordinary, unprecedented and wholly necessary exactly two years after Trump sent a late-night tweet to his supporters to come to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021, promising that it “will be wild!”

Liz Cheney talked about what happened that day. Since John Adams became the president of the United States, the peaceful transfer of power has become a tradition in our nation, which has been a great democracy.

That a former President would encourage his followers to subvert American democracy and break our national tradition of a peaceful handover, though — that’s something for which there are political and legal solutions.

It is a basic sense that I do not want Trump to be indicted. It is not good for a nation to be trying and potentially imprisoning its former leaders, even unpopular ones. There is also the risk that charging Trump with crimes would create a cycle of recrimination and revenge from Republicans.

Allowing a leader to destroy the nation’s trust in elections is worse than that. If there is no penalty, what will prevent others from doing the same in the future?

There’s no proof that Trump regrets his actions. He continues to spread the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, and even before the 2022 midterms, he was planning to replay his election fraud claim if his favored candidates lost. He is running for President again, and if he wins, he may use his power to destroy American democracy as we know it.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/opinions/criminal-referrals-jan-6-committee-filipovic/index.html

The Trouble is In: The Victim’s Counsel in the era of Donald Trump and the Commission into the Crimes of the Maldacena

In the age of Trump, parts of the Republican Party have been hollowed out for conspiracy theorists, racists, antisemites, liars, religious extremists and adherents to the cult of MAGA.

The GOP didn’t bother with a platform in the presidential election due to its intellectual bankruptness, instead saying its policy positions are what Trump wants. Some Republican politicians, and voters seem to be okay with an America run by a dictator, provided that it is their guy.

But other Republicans understand just how big a monster they’ve created and don’t like where this horror story is going. They should make sure that the justice system in the US does its job.

There is no perfect playbook for how to handle such a situation. Nations that have been traumatised need truth and reconciliation. They don’t paper over and forget what happened.

Smith was appointed by Garland as a way to show independence from the investigation when Trump decided to run for president again.

“Our system of justice does not allow foot soldiers to go to jail and allow the masterminds to get a free pass, that is not what our system is,” said Jamie Raskin, who announced the referrals.

The Anisotropy of U.S. Politics Before Trump Comes On: Hope Hack, Communications Advisor in the Trump White House

The animosity of U.S. politics before Trump came on the scene has been shown by all of them’ resistance in the face of the rules.

Whether anything happens to them, though, is unclear since Republicans will control the iteration of the ethics committee in the next Congress and McCarthy is in line to be the next speaker.

That was something we’ve known for a while, but that was affirmed by Hope Hack, a former communications adviser in the Trump White House.

Hicks, whom we heard from for the first time Monday in the course of these hearings, said in taped testimony that she told Trump she was becoming concerned that these false claims of fraud were damaging his legacy.

“He said something along the lines of, ‘You know nobody will care about my legacy if I lose,’ ” Hicks said, ” ‘So that won’t matter, the only thing that matters is winning.’ “

“He was—he had—usually he had pretty clear eyes,” said Bill Stepien, the Trump 2020 campaign manager, according to written testimony released in a report by the committee. “Like, he understood, you know — you know, we told him where we thought the race was, and I think he was pretty realistic with our viewpoint, in agreement with our viewpoint of kind of the forecast and the uphill climb we thought he had.”

These aren’t people who are aligned with Democrats or were “Never Trump” or “Trump Haters,” as the former president likes to say. The testimony that’s been aired by the committee is almost always in contradiction to the opposite.

Eighty percent of Democrats and 55% of independents said they were paying “a lot” or “some” attention to the hearings. But 56% of Republicans said they were not.

The House Jan. 6 Subcommission on Sessions to the Special Counsel for Disclosing the Biden Effects of the January 6th Insurrection

Since he is one of President Joe Biden’s campaign opponents in twenty years, Attorney General Garland now faces a politically perilous decision on whether or not to indict Trump. Jack Smith, the special counsel Garland has appointed, will make recommendations on investigations of Trump.

They do not have to act on what the Jan. 6 committee recommends, though investigators are paying close attention to the details of its findings. The DOJ tends to stay pretty quiet about the details of ongoing investigations until they come to court, so don’t expect to hear much about the special counsel’s progress.

It’s up to voters to decide. Trump will likely retain support with his base. Republicans are the least likely to pay attention to these hearings. In a multi-candidate primary, Trump remains the front-runner for the GOP nomination.

Many of his preferred candidates lost in swing states when he was in legal trouble. So whether it’s because of the chaos that often surrounds him, the threat he presents to U.S. democracy and faith in its elections, or simply because his brand is not a winner in competitive states where Republicans likely need to win to take over the White House and Congress, Trump is at his most vulnerable point since winning the presidency six years ago.

And the members of this committee — some of whom won’t be returning to Congress because of the wrath, or potential wrath, of Trump’s base — certainly hope voters respond.

Concluding its final public meeting Monday, the House January 6 committee released a summary of its key findings — the conclusions of which are devastating, even if they lack all the details expected in the final report.

The final report should throw away any beliefs about the January 6th insurrection being exaggerated or that it was just an amateur effort. The committee’s recommendations are historic.

The committee found that the White House was deliberately slow to respond to the insurrection in the US Capitol due to the fact that Trump had made inflammatory statements on the internet.

Citing former President Ronald Reagan, a conservative icon, Rep. Liz Cheney, one of the panel’s two Republicans, argued that the “peaceful transfer of power” was a “miracle” of our system and only one President — Trump — had failed to abide by this process.

The findings were among the worst in presidential history. President Nixon engaged in abuses of power and the violations of law when he was in office, along with a sitting President being involved in a concerted effort to reverse his own election.

The committee concluded that Trump made history by committing an abuse of presidential power that threatened to ruin our democracy. The term “unprecedented” has been used too much, but it works in this case.

The “smoking gun” tape that allowed legislators to hear Nixon obstructing an investigation were enough in 1974 for politicians in both parties to say enough.

The discoveries that national security officials in the Reagan administration violated the Boland Amendment by sending money and arms to the Nicaraguan Contras caused Reagan’s approval ratings to plummet and put his legacy in jeopardy.

The President was only saved by the fact that the committee could not directly connect the illicit operation to him and by the fact that the administration mounted an effective public relations campaign to win back public support. Congressional Democrats decided that they wouldn’t pursue impeachment.

Even Clinton’s scandal, which was over an issue far less relevant than what faced Nixon or Reagan, clearly contradicted his public statements and legal testimony about the subject after DNA evidence emerged of his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Even 9/11 or the pandemic didn’t produce a serious political realignment. When a leader of a party is accused of abuse of power, polarization is often triumphant.

Another related challenge stems from what social scientists call “asymmetric polarization.” Republicans have moved to the right of the Democrats. And much of the extremism in the GOP has been tactical, where some party leaders have embraced a form of smashmouth partisanship with no guardrails as to what is permissible.

There is a small chance that the relevant party will change its ways or respond. It is worth remembering that Senate Republicans originally filibustered the plan to set up an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate January 6 and did not cooperate with the congressional committee set up instead.

The media is unable to lend itself to the sort of reaction that took place with Watergate. While there was a time, such as the 1970s, when professional journalists coalesced around the facts presented by a judicious investigation, those times are gone.

Partisan media outlets such as Fox News ignore the weight of evidence. Show hosts are more than willing to spin the news in a particular direction that satisfies political yearnings.

In the coming weeks, there will likely be stories that misrepresent what the committee discovered and that will promote conspiratorial claims with no basis in fact. The filter-less world of social media probably will offer ample opportunity to push disinformation that contradicts the harrowing stories found in the report.

And some of the forces that will check the impact of the report stem from a broader national culture that seems incapable of staying focused on issues for long. In our short attention span, everything must be new and fresh; we push the media from one issue to the other — and much of the news media happily oblige — with the lightning speed of TV commercials.

The January 6 committee already has experienced this challenge as dramatic televised hearings, which proved capable of shifting attention to how bad the coup attempt had been, were quickly drowned out by the latest celebrity scandal or news story coming from Washington. It’s difficult to keep a public eye on one topic because of the number of outlets for information.

The Watergate scandal was the most well-known story of our era, but in the midst of chaos, January 6 has become one of the many things that happened in our era.

Will the January 6 report challenge the Garland Conserved Derivatives and the Electorate? The question is whether it will change the fundamental principles of democracy

The question is whether this report will push Garland toward taking action to ensure accountability rather than focusing on concerns about fueling division within the electorate.

Given its expected dramatic findings, the January 6 report is certainly a stress test for the problematic state of our democracy. It is unlikely, however, to change the basic dynamics.