The House Select Committee KNOWS what happened that day…
They KNOW who pushed it….
The question is?
Can they present their evidence to convence the media and the public to react to it?
The select committee investigating the attack, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, says it has approached its work in a sober, apolitical manner and will present its findings as such. But it is clear that the hearings, coming five months before midterm elections in which Democrats are bracing for big losses, carry high political stakes.
The hope among Democrats is that the committee’s findings, collected from 1,000 witnesses and over 140,000 documents, will do most of the messaging work for them. Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the committee, has promised the hearings will “blow the roof off the House.”
They have retained an experienced television executive to ensure that happens and organized scores of watch parties across the country in hopes of generating interest. But they are facing an onslaught from Republicans who are bent on denying, downplaying and obfuscating the truth of what happened in their own messaging operation aimed at discrediting the inquiry.
And Democrats are up against the reality that the raw emotions in the aftermath of the attack have faded, even among voters who care about the facts, as attention has turned to an ongoing war in Ukraine, gun violence at home and a deep pessimism about the state of the economy.
Their task is to persuade voters that the Jan. 6 attack revealed bigger and more important issues at stake, including the Republican Party’s alignment with violent extremists and its decision to make adherence to the “big lie” that the 2020 election was stolen a test of membership….
jamesb says
House Oversight Probes Trump’s Foreign Gifts
“The House Oversight Committee opened a new investigation into foreign gifts received by former President Trump during his final year in office,” Axios reports.
jamesb says
How to Think About the January 6 Hearings
Amanda Carpenter offers “a sample platter” of the stories the January 6 Committee has to nail down in their public hearings:
Trump’s lies.
How the GOP and its many aligned advocacy organizations fundraised off Trump’s meritless legal challenges to cancel Democratic votes.
The efforts to squeeze state officials to “find the votes” in swing states Trump lost.
The schemes inside the Department of Justice to launch sham investigations into voter fraud.
The wild ideas entertained inside the White House to seize voting machines in order to “rerun” the election.
The pressure campaign on Republican members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence to deny Electoral College votes for Biden.
How Trump summoned a real-life mob, bearing tactical gear and weapons, that resorted to physical violence to stop Congress from certifying Biden as president.
“It’s a lot. Give it time to sink in. And do not let the political junkies rush the process with their relentless questions about whether or not the hearings will ‘work’ in changing public opinion.”
jamesb says
Raffensperger Could Testify Publicly
“Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) is in talks with the Jan. 6 committee to testify publicly,” Politico reports.
“Raffensperger’s appearance would likely accompany testimony from other state and local election officials who have discussed threats and pressure to support Trump’s bogus claims of fraud and would come as the panel is starting to present its findings in public hearings. But Raffensperger’s account is likely to be the most direct evidence of Trump’s personal engagement in his effort to flip the results of the election. That effort is also under scrutiny from local prosecutors.”
jamesb says
Trump Runs Ads Against January 6 Committee
“Former President Donald Trump’s political committee is spending $500,000 on a national digital and TV ad painting the Jan. 6 committee as a partisan witch hunt,” the Wall Street Journal reports….
…
McCarthy’s Prebuttal Proved Necessity of Hearings
Aaron Blake: “House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) took to a news conference Thursday to offer a prebuttal of the Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings, which were set to begin Thursday night. He cast the committee as illegitimate and overly political, suggesting the House’s time would be better used on issues such as inflation, gas prices and crime.”
“What he also did, though, was reinforce just how much the chief questions about Jan. 6, 2021 and what preceded it remain largely unanswered — or at least unsettled, thanks to people like McCarthy, who once expressed great interest in them.”
“In the space of 60 seconds, McCarthy was asked five times whether President Biden’s win in the 2020 election was legitimate. Each time, he declined to answer.”
jamesb says
Trump Will ‘Lose His Mind’ Tonight
Former GOP adviser Kurt Bardella told The Independent that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) decision to withdraw all his picks from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection was a “massive strategic error.”
Bardella predicted that Donald Trump would “lose his mind” when he watches the select committee’s hearings and realizes no one is there to interject with talking points representing his side of the argument.
jamesb says
The roll intro IS STRONG and accusatory….
While the forum is NOT criminal….
It HAS been rolled out as a SERIOUS CRIMINAL Indictment of the actions of Donald J Trump and others….
Some of them have repudiated their actions and most defiantly Trump’s…
Donald Trump should be indicted and kept from ever having access to the nation’s chair of power….
Liz Chaney and Bernie Thompson presented a STRONG case for Trump’s being charged and convicted of crimes , irregardless of him being a ex-president….
The committee has done GOOD job of mastering the media approach Mueller had NO idea off…..
jamesb says
The video IS STRONG and unforgettable……
Republicans supporting Trump should be ashamed of themselves….
One should be reminded that the crowd is exclusively WHITE….
If they where Black?
Well?
How about thew same Republican Lawmakers hustling for their lives that NOW bow down to Trump’s efforts?
jamesb says
Robert Reich
@RBReich
Every American needs to watch what’s being shown right now.
jamesb says
Liz Chaney has done a Great job ….
I don’t care if she’s a Republican….
…
Swiss Mrs.@Snowayout
Remember this today:
“IT IS EASIER TO CON A MAN THAN TO. CONVINCE HIM HE HAS BEEN CONNED.”
Mark Twain
Very few true Trumpers will be willing to change their minds.
jamesb says
There have been OVER 800 arrests so far and they are continuing….
jamesb says
Chris Cillizza
@ChrisCillizza
2 things can be true:
1) This hearing may not change many minds
2) Liz Cheney just offered compelling evidence that Donald Trump was at the absolute center of an extended conspiracy to overturn a free and fair election…
…
Trump’s daughter on her fathers Bull Shit…..
Talking Points Memo
@TPM
Ivanka Told Committee She ‘Accepted’ Barr’s Assessment Of No Widespread Fraud
jamesb says
Bloomberg
@business
Officer Caroline Edwards describes the attack as something out of a “war movie,” saying she was “slipping in people’s blood.”
“It was carnage. It was chaos. I can’t even describe what I saw” http://trib.al/DwHAKGr…
…
Jennifer Bendery
@jbendery
Edwards, meanwhile, was pepper sprayed in the face right after this by the mob and had to get decontaminated.
So she was attacked, knocked unconscious, got back in it, and was attacked again.
jamesb says
Jim Sciutto
@jimsciutto
Reminder: the night of January 6, eight GOP senators and 139 GOP representatives voted to overturn 2020 election results.
jamesb says
NoelCaslerComedy
@caslernoel
Anyone still flying a Trump flag owns this sh*t.
jamesb says
Chris Wallace is back from the ‘Dark Side’ at CNN…..
jamesb says
Chair Rep. Bernie Thompson tells Jake Tapper that the committeee WOULD share info with the Justice Dept. IF such info is so requested for a investigation….
jamesb says
Trump Calls Insurrection ‘Greatest Movement’ in History
Donald Trump called the 2021 Capitol assault “the greatest movement in the history of our country” in a meandering rant Thursday — hours ahead of a congressional hearing aimed at demonstrating his culpability for the deadly siege, Yahoo News reports.
Said Trump: “January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.”
jamesb says
Both of these guys are running for President right now….
The Wall Street Journal
@WSJ
“Trump gave no order to deploy the National Guard that day, and made no effort to work with the Department of Justice to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets,” Rep. Liz Cheney said of Jan. 6, 2021. ““But Mike Pence did each of those things.”
jamesb says
Matthew Gertz
@MattGertz
Fox News isn’t just letting Tucker Carlson do his regular show, they’re airing it without commercials. They want to push his propaganda so much that they are leaving money on the table to do it.
My Name Is Jack says
Republicans “supporting” Trump should be ashamed f themselves.
ALL Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.They are members of a trash party ,most of whose members hate the Constitution and are the moral equivalents of a cross between Al Qaeda and the Ku Klux Klan, the worst type of garbage.
jamesb says
What Constitution?
jamesb says
Video Shows New Scenes of Capitol Violence
ABC News has obtained a video that will be shown at tonight’s hearing of the January 6 committee.
The footage “shows some of the most infamous Capitol rioters in the hours before they appeared in the halls of Congress.”
The committee also plans to “feature clips of taped interviews with Trump administration officials and family members, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.”…
…
Brian Tyler Cohen
@briantylercohen
Jesus Christ these videos are fucking devastating.
My Name Is Jack says
“It was domestic enemies of the Constitution who stormed the Capitol.”
Rep. Bennie Thompson(D- Miss.)
Yes the Republican Party .You know those hypocritical bastards who refer to themselves as “patriots.”They HATE the Constitution.
jamesb says
And you could hear them in the video shouting ‘USA…USA’…
Could you image the OUTRAGE there would be if those ‘protestors’ where Black folks?????
jamesb says
Neilson……
20 Million views for the House Select opening Heating….
My Name Is Jack says
While Fox News tries to ignore the hearings,the Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal and New York Post have,editorially , found Trump guilty.
WSJ declared that Trump betrayed his supporters,” while NYP boasted Trumps incitement of what they referred to as a “mob” and “rioters.”
jamesb says
Indeed….
That post is on its way….
They join us who believe that ‘The Donald ‘ IS on his way out ….