Not sure how these hearings proceed. You have people that have agreed to talk, and hand over stuff. I will assume most did that grudgingly. And then you have the people taking the 5th. Are they going to be paraded on TV, regurgitating in open session what they’ve already provided? I can see some of them being far less than enthusiastic about that.
“I’ve already given you what you asked for, why the hell do I have to repeat it for televised hearings, you’ll end up with no more than you have now?”
Then we have the people that refuse to cooperate, taking the 5th. Is the committee going to insist they plead it a second time, live on television? I’d tell them to eff off on that one.
The most important part of this is the committee tells the story of what happened with extreme clarity, which means they have to make sure the broad scope is not undone by focusing on small details. Capturing everything that happened, all the various attempts to overturn a legal election, is going to be a challenge with everything we know…and there is still plenty we don’t know that will hopefully come out in the hearings. It’s also critical that they start with the cooperative witnesses, lay a good foundation for what happened, and then bring in the recalcitrant people who can decide not to be honest or take the 5th, that process will make it abundantly clear who has a lot of guilt, and they may just break a couple Trump supporters under that pressure. After all, some people will, in the end, choose their own skin over Trump and his minions.
If the hearings happen in May, and if they can break through so that people actually understand what happened, it could be the beginning of the end for the Trumpsters. Add in the upcoming overturn of Roe, and a report released in late September with even more details, and this really has a chance at invigorating the Democratic base, and poking a hole in Republican support. It’s really important that Democrats hold onto the House, and expand their seats in the Senate, because nothing will get done if that doesn’t happen. An infuriated Democratic base that goes out and votes hard against Republicans, plus loss of support for the right wing crazies, just might pull that off.
Off Topic: A Severe Foehn Storm disintegrated in a couple of days 400 square kilometers of Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice shelf giving now a free way to land ice
I am thinking Tuesday-Thursday from 8 pm to 10 pm EST/EDT on MSNBC, CNN, PBS and any other station that wants to run with it. (Probably not FOX, LOL !!). NBC, CBS and ABC might want to run it in the place of their re-runs which start in April-May anyway.
This would not be unprecedented for the House which seems to like to take important votes in prime time for effect and/or the middle of the night for recalcitrant GOP bastards to gum up the works.
BTW, if anyone watched “Love and the Constitution” about Jamie Raskin last night on NBC, it is apparent that Raskin has as set of good story-tellers primed and ready to go. They also have tons of evidence. They could make this a 10-part mini-series similar to the Ken Burns / Shelby Foote “The Civil War” leading right up to the fall election.
You spelled filet wrong. These hearings should tenderize the entire Republican Party quite nicely. Still too much gristle for my taste, though. Lots of fat, too.
To a TV audience, taking the 5th or not showing up is assumed as guilt (especially the second one) when you’re asked to testify under oath. And, asking questions or presenting evidence that said witness refuses to respond to looks really bad too. I think they will mostly have people testify who will be helpful to the case, and leave the few malcontents to twist in the wind after all the testimony that lays out what they actually did…they can choose to try to defend themselves, lie, not answer, or not show up…none of that goes well if the case is well laid out.
We’ve got Schiff and Raskin, who both put on masterful impeachment trials that only failed because of politics, and then Cheney and Kitzinger who see themselves as trying to save their party, plus lots of other sharp people…I expect very good things from this process, though whether it’s successful really is up in the air just because of how many Americans have given up on principles for power.
I’m prepared to be surprised if the public televised hearings make any real impact on Hugh’s audience, or for that matter, Republican voters in general, other than further stoking of their rage and grievance against the Democrats and “liberals.”
ETA. I’m all for the hearings. The truth and facts need to be revealed, but this is not likely to be the magic stake that slays the vampire.
I heard some speculation about the J6 Committee granting Jeffery Clark immunity. I hope they do not. I suspect they have enough already to achieve their goal - inform the public of who, what, when and where. They’re not trying to convict in a criminal court. Leave that to the DOJ. For the criminal activity disclosed by the Committee cannot be ignored by the DOJ. I don’t think Garland will want to ignore it.
And Jeffery desperately needs to be put in jail.
You’re taking the same position we were forced into after Mueller. I don’t blame you.
There are a lot of moving parts with this and whether or not anything comes of it with respect to Justice remains to be seen. I’m not going to be fooled a second time, no matter how good and juicy the report is, that those responsible will pay for their actions.
I am more than willing to stay tuned. And I am more than willing to accept that past performance is not an indicator of future results. But I am also not willing to get my hopes up too high.
