The Jan.6 Committee’s hearing last night was full of newsworthy information: The committee made clear that it views Trump’s effort to steal power as a months-long, wide-ranging conspiracy. And they said they’ve collected evidence indicating Trump and his inner circle knew they’d lost the election, and nonetheless went forward with the election theft attempt anyway.
I’ve also read that Rep. Andy Biggs (Q-AZ) sought a pardon as well.
What We Want To Know From The Jan. 6 Committee.
“What did the president know and when did he know it?”
We know that Gaetz was trying to get a pardon through Stone.
Questions, questions, questions……we need answers not queries.
DAN FROOMKIN writes: Making more information accessible to the media would keep journalists’ focus on telling the public what happened, rather than engaging in speculation about public opinion and engaging in partisan framing, both-sidesism, bad sports analogies, and theater-criticism analysis.
Access to the larger body of evidence would also allow reporters to put future hearings in greater context.
Vice Chair Liz Cheney announced Thursday that Trump, upon hearing about the “hang Mike Pence” chants, had said that “maybe our supporters have the right idea” and that Pence “deserves” it. But knowing who relayed that to the committee and how they were privy to it would have added to the impact, not detracted from it. If journalists can offer the public longer excerpts from depositions in the future, it will only add credibility to the clips shown by the committee, not detract.
Several other assertions made by the committee Thursday night would have had a lot more impact if they had been presented with context.
“As you will see, Representative [Scott] Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after January 6th to seek a Presidential Pardon. Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought Presidential Pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election,” Cheney said. Well, who were they? What did they say?
And most intriguing of all, to me, was a clip of General Mike Milley – who remains chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – speaking about his conversation with Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows on January 6:
“He said: We have to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative, you know, that the President is still in charge and that things are steady or stable, or words to that effect. I immediately interpreted that as politics. Politics. Politics. Red flag for me, personally. No action. But I remember it distinctly.”
Why was Trump worried about a “narrative” suggesting Pence was “making all the decisions” – when Pence was basically running for his life at the time? When, quite possibly, Pence was narrowly avoiding a kidnap attempt? What did Pence or White House staff do that made Trump fear he was being seen as powerless? Surely committee staffers followed up on this. Why keep us all in suspense?
Start the document dump, and start it now! And let the constant coverage continue.
Recordings? Surely, there must be recordings. How much of the conspiracy between TFG’s inner circle and the militant confederates was committed to record? Did money get transferred? Inquiring minds want to know.
It’s my understanding that Pence was doing the rational thing, trying to get reinforcements in to clear the rioters out of the Capitol. That’s what Trump should have been insisting on as soon as it appeared the police already there were under pressure, or long before. It’s not that Trump seemed powerless. It’s that he appears to be complicit. That Trump merely failed to lead in the crisis is the most generous possible read of what happened, and, in what seems to be a consensus view, not the likeliest.
Yup, because from his vantage in front of a TV in the WH, all was going according to plan. Pence didn’t do what Trump desired and an overthrow of our Constitutional Republic was put into action.
IANAL and I don’t read legalize very well, but sometime ago some news person questioned what would happen if the Reps and Senators couldn’t meet on on the 6th day January succeeding every meeting of the electors.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/15
This same news person also questioned about the length of time each chamber had to settle any disagreements about electors.
What the Committee wants to know is this:
Do you follow what we are saying?
They are staking the existence of the Republic on this. If we simply produce Talking Points, we add to the garbage heap.
I do not believe that this will take place. They are too well-prepared.
If Biggs was trying to get a pardon, I’m sure Paul Gosar wanted one, since he was making plans with Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, and Ali Alexander. Plus, there are stories in Arizona that Paul Gosar allegedly met up with Ed Vallejo and Elmer Stewart Rhodes III.
In addition to all these facts that we all hope make it into the light, I also hope that the committee makes some recommendations for future legislation.
One of the changes I hope to see is legislation that clarifies who is a “cabinet member” for the duties as defined in the 25th amendment. I would like to see them specify that the cabinet member is the last person confirmed to that office by the senate. In other words… interim appointments don’t count. It the president fires you and promotes some chump (or chimp) the confirmed cabinet head still has a vote under the 25th.
The members of Congress requesting pardons was the only thing not reported previously, with the possible exception of Bill Barr calling Trump’s stolen election idea “bullshit.”
OTOH there are some anecdotal reports of Trump supporters who tuned in, and of course everything presented last night was news to them because normally they only consume right-wing media.
WHO ASKED FOR PARDONS?
Which GOP Reps thought they needed a pardon after January 6?
Here’s my list of likely suspects:
Andy Biggs
Lauren Boebert
Mo Brooks
Paul Gosar
M.T. Greene
Jim Jordan
Barry Loudermilk
Scott Perry
Based on the committee’s video, Steve Bannon seemed to have unusual insight into to potential for violence on January 6. Was he perhaps involved with communication between Trump and the Proud Boys and/or Oath Keepers?
Perry, who was steeped in conspiracy theories about the 2020 and pushed the White House to pursue them, was reportedly involved in a plan to replace the acting attorney general with Jeffrey Clark, who was set to publicly proclaim issues with the 2020 election.
I predict, here and now, that Jeffrey Clark will be the main guy who the DoJ successfully squeezes to get the goods on Chiselin’ Trump.
Supposedly the Proud Boys were under the false impression that if the electoral votes were not all certified on January 6 it would invalidate the presidential election.
Did Trump’s inner circle plot with right-wing militias?
Chiselin’ Trump’s inner circle, in unison: “Of course not! We had no time for ‘plotting.’ We were too busy planning and scheming.”
