January 6 Select Committee Hearings I-V

 

Men from the
Attorney General's 
office

There will be no hearing today--and no more in June.  There should be a few more in July after the committee of legislators does its groundwork.  The five hearings have been surprisingly dramatic.  I expected to be bored and I was not.  I feel like  withdrawal is taking place for me today--I am looking for my adrenaline fix of another hearing! 

The hearings have been  conducted in a sober, restrained fashion. However, they were choreographed like a TV documentary with live interviews interspersed with videotaped ones. There were no representatives trying to speak over others or to argue points.  The main reason for this is probably because Kevin McCarthy wanted Republicans to boycott the committee so the only two Republicans on it were Representatives Kinsinger and Cheney, both of whom voted to impeach Donald Trump.  Both of whom have been called RINOs, Republicans in Name Only.  So there is no cross-examination of witnesses.  But that is the choice McCarthy made. 

The focus of the hearings is to show that Donald Trump was told by his aides and others and knew that he had lost the election but went ahead with any means possible to gain a second term anyway. Some are calling it an attempted coup.   Almost every witness (and they all solemnly swore an oath not to commit perjury) was a Republican--from a conservative Judge Luttig to an aide to Vice-President Pence to Attorney Generals and acting Attorney Generals (Engel, Rosen, Donoghue) appointed by Trump himself.  Some witnesses referred to their days starting with prayer or getting a call from the White House when in the driveway after returning from church.  One quoted Ronald Reagan in his testimony.  One said he wanted Trump to win but could not break his oath to the Constitution to make that possible.  These were not so-called liberal Democrats!  There was dramatic footage of the January 6 insurrection with rioters looking for Vice President Mike Pence shouting "Hang Mike Pence." Two black election workers from Georgia emotionally recounted that Trump targeted them by name (Lady Ruby Freeman and her daughter) and caused danger for them.  

The committee does not have the ability or mandate to indict anyone.  They hope to create a report that will prevent such an insurrection from ever happening again and to clarify the electoral college process so that no one is tempted to think that one person, namely the vice-president, can do anything but record the certified electors.  The Department of Justice has asked to see the transcripts of all the interviews and it is their job to bring indictments.  

These hearings are such an important story but they were completely usurped in tonight's newscasts by the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe vs. Wade today.