The January 6th Hearings, #1

Well, did you, like almost 20 million Americans, tune in to the first session of the House Select Committee on the January 6^th Hearings? I did, and even though I have read widely on news about that day, I still learned much new information. The only committee members that spoke that evening were Chair Bennie Thompson and Vice Chair Lynne Cheney. Each presented findings by the committee in even tones, speaking matter-of-factly about the horrific events of that day. There was none of the usual committee grandstanding often seen in Congressional hearings. In the Introduction, they gave an outline of the scheduled hearings and topics they would cover.

This first evening, they presented only two speakers: A Capitol Police Officer who was injured that day and a British documentary filmmaker who was embedded with the Proud Boys before and during the events in January. Caroline Edwards, the Capitol Police officer, suffered a concussion, but she got up to fight again after regaining consciousness. She told the audience about fighting in hand-to-hand combat, without proper protection or training. Speaking about the scenes of chaos, described as more like a movie than real life, where she slipped in the blood spilled by her fellow officers; she also described aiding her associates, washing their eyes after some in the mob sprayed them with toxic substances, until a direct tear gas attack finally took her down. Ultimately, it was determined that she had suffered a traumatic brain injury that day. But while she is still alive; her friend Brian Sicknick died after being attacked with an unknown substance. The medical examiner revealed that his death was “because of natural causes” (he suffered two strokes in the aftermath of that day), but what caused his stress and precipitated the strokes? The examiner also noted that the officer had confronted the mob that day and was acting in the line of duty when injured. There were over 140 reported injuries to officers on the Capitol and Metropolitan police forces that day; some officers have left the forces but are still suffering from the results of those confrontations.

Some reports have said that the Capitol Police Force did not adequately prepare for a possible riot that day even though there were intelligence warnings about internet sites warning of violence on the 6^th of January. I assume the hearings will address that topic in future days. Politico reported the FBI sent a warning the day before the riot, but there is no evidence that it was read, understood, or addressed by anyone in the Capitol Police Intelligence division. The Capitol Police Chief, Stephen Sund resigned the day after the riot, after calls for him to step down were made. He later regretted that decision, stating also that he prepared his force for First Amendment protest activities, not criminal rioters.

Vice-Chair Cheney introduced remarks taken from the sworn testimony of former Attorney General William Barr where he reported he told the former president on multiple occasions that the 2020 election showed no evidence of widespread fraud or “stolen votes,” no evidence for his claims of needing to “stop the steal”. And despite this information, the former president continued to send appeals to supporters for more contributions to fight the results of what he called a fraudulent election. Even Ivanka, the former president’s daughter, said she agreed with the conclusions made by AG Barr. Other members of the election team for DJT, stated they told him he was likely to lose, yet he would not believe them. His legal team of somewhat suspect conspiracists and plotters kept filing lawsuits about process challenges in court after court; however, he ended up losing all 60 filed cases.

The committee moved forward to examine some of the protestors themselves. They came from all fifty states; some said they were in DC because the president asked them to come to “stop the steal,” “take back the country” or “stop the socialists and Antifa” from taking over the country.

The filmmaker, Nick Quested, reported that he filmed the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers meeting in an underground parking garage in DC on the evening before the riot. They spoke of weapons and forces stationed outside the city because of the strict gun laws in the city, but discussed their readiness to storm into the city once the president had declared martial law. They detailed plans to take over certain government buildings and take back their streets. (Both the leaders and some members of these two groups were eventually arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy for their activities prior to and on January 6^th.) This charge is the most serious charge for civilians in peacetime and has rarely been used by the government.)

In the films played on Thursday evening, that were not previously publicly released, marchers chanted “these are our streets” and “hang Mike Pence.” These films showed that this was not the touristy gathering described by many Republicans and Fox commentators. The Proud Boys gathered on the Ellipse that day and never congregated to hear the speakers at the White House stage, but instead, headed for the Capitol as early as 10:30 AM according to time stamps shown by the committee. The president did not start speaking until around noon and did not issue his challenge to march to the Capitol until almost 1:00 pm. By that time, the Proud Boys and their friends were already outside the perimeter of the Capitol. When they started to storm the barriers (a series of normal bike racks placed around the excluded zone (and usually honored by protestors) there was little the few officers on the line could do to stop the hundreds of people they faced. Proud Boys and Oath Keepers drew on military training and led single-file line formations as their people assaulted the police lines and eventually broke through them and broke down windows and doors of the Capitol building. The film, even though I had seen much of this before, remains a frightening sight to me, and, I might assume, to many other Americans. Some rioters, despite prohibitions, carried firearms, bats, or poles as weapons, while others carried bear spray or pepper spray, or other irritants to use on the police. This was an angry mob, incited to be violent by a cunning president whose goals were thwarted, and who reportedly said when he heard the refrain “hang Mike Pence”, some phrase such as ‘he should be hanged; he did not do what he was supposed to do.’ After the testimony on Thursday, the former president denied saying this, although staff reports confirmed it.

The hearings will continue with daytime sessions this week and next and evening sessions later. According to Deadline, a media publication, the hearing schedule and topics will be:

“Hearing 2, June 13 is aimed at showing “Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information” despite the fact that he knew that he had lost the election. Former Fox News staffer Chris Stirewalt will testify.

Hearing 3, June 15 will target Trump’s alleged plot to influence and possibly replace the U.S. Attorney General in order to further false election claims. Set to testify are Jeffrey Rosen, who was then acting attorney general, his deputy Richard Donoghue and Justice Department official Steve Engel. The Post says their testimony will take place in the morning.

Hearing 4 is intended to outline Trump’s efforts to pressure VP Mike Pence to stop the electoral count. There is some indication this hearing will take place Thursday, June 16. Greg Jacob, the former chief counsel to the vice president will reportedly testify.

Hearing 5, June 21 will trace the then-president’s alleged efforts to unduly influence state legislators and election officials. Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State of Georgia, and Gabriel Sterling, one of his top aides, have been subpoenaed to testify.

Hearings 6 & 7 are meant to detail how “Trump summoned a violent mob and directed them, illegally, to march on the U.S. Capitol” and how he failed to act to stop those same people as they invaded the Capitol building. No date is yet set for these proceedings.

Also invited to testify is lawyer and former judge J. Michael Luttig, who helped convince Pence that the VP could not by himself overturn state results. When he would appear is still unclear.”

 

According to Chaney, “The president… summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame for the attack.”

She further commented in a message to her Republican colleagues who defended the indefensible- “there will come a day when DJT is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” Several Republicans who were involved in planning for the insurrection or supported ‘stop the steal events’ later were said to request blanket pardons from the former president before he left office, in case they were ever changed. Some of these same legislators also refused to testify before the committee. The pardons were not granted.

Of course, the former president is endorsing her opponent in the Congressional race in Wyoming. Polls have given Cheney little chance as her Republican allies have jumped ship since she condemned the actions of the former president; I wonder if this will change after the hearings?

 

Before I close tonight, I want to give a shout-out to State Rep. Brooke Lierman, who is running for the office of Comptroller of Maryland. This week she received the endorsement of The Washington Post for that position. According to the Post, (paraphrasing here) Brooke is a no-nonsense legislator, with a nose to the grindstone work ethic and who talks about the office she seeks with knowledge of the challenges and speaks specifically about changes she would implement.

I am a supporter of Brookes and applaud this decision!

 

‘Til next week-Peace!