The summer season finale of the Jan. 6 House Select committee looked at how President Donald Trump sat on his butt for three hours on January 6, 2021. His ineffectiveness should not be confused with his ineffectiveness. It was someone else's fault.
One of the committee's point persons for the evening said that President Trump did not fail to act when he left the Ellipse. He did not take action. Bennie Thompson said that the man of destructive energy could not be moved while he was recovering from COVID. The former president wanted the mob to be called off.
It wasn't that Trump wasn't aware of what was happening A constant stream of advisers spent those 187 minutes trading turns with each other to convince him to act, while members of Congress, lawyers, and television personality desperately tried to reach him.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said that those in the White House who pushed Trump to issue annunciation of the rioters and order them to go home were the ones who treated his statements as orders.
Cipollone said he couldn't think of anyone who didn't want people to leave the Capitol when the violence started.
What about the leader of the free world? The congressman chimed in.
Cipollone replied that she said the staff.
At certain times in the Capitol, the president was dithering and inflaming the situation. A particular sequence in a national security chat log was upsetting. The message, "VP being pulled" came across at 2 pm. The VP may be stuck at the Capitol if a decision isn't made in 2 to 3 minutes. The second floor and senate door has been broken into. Service at the Capitol does not sound good right now, and there was an explosion on the rotunda steps. One witness told the committee that officers at ground zero were calling to say goodbye to their family.
All of this information would have been given to Trump fairly soon. He wrote, "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to." The USA wants the truth. Trump knew that he was in danger and ordered it. He would ask the protesters to respect law enforcement. One member of the Oath Keepers said in a radio communication that he didn't say anything about congress.
Despite these descriptions of a president blessing a violent riot on the seat of government because the legislature wouldn't overturn an election he had lost, there was more humor in this hearing. The committee and Trump know what they're doing. The committee is not above being a little bit mean.
Was it necessary for the committee to replay the footage of a high-stepping Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley immediately after he raised a fist in the air to encourage the protesters? It is not possible to say yes. Is it funny? It was the first time I had heard something that made me laugh out loud. That loosened things up a bit, and similar laughs were heard when audio was played of Donald Trump Jr. and video was shown of Cipollone awkwardly whispering with his lawyer. The witness account that Kevin McCarthy was scared and begging for help was confirmed by Kinzinger. Throughout the hearings, there have been asides about how McCarthy is a duplicitous Coward.
After being browbeaten by everyone in his life, Trump relented and filmed a video telling the protesters to go home. It was time for the staff to stop arguing with him.
The committee was told by Herschmann that everyone was done with the video. People were pretty exhausted.
That comment didn't sit well with the committee. The Capitol wouldn't be cleared out for more than an hour. While Trump was at the White House, Mike Pence worked from the Capitol, coordinating the response. Congress had to certify the presidential election once that was done, but it was interrupted by rude people.
She asked rhetorically of Herschmann's comment, "at the White House?"
There were two live witnesses at Thursday's hearing. Matthew Pottinger was a former deputy national security adviser who resigned over Trump's failure to act. He gave a lot of speeches about American history and democracy. We want to know what Trump ate that day.
Sarah Matthews was more than willing to share her account. She said that a fellow member of the press team didn't feel that Trump should condemn the rioters because it would be "handing the media a win." Matthews pointed to the riot on TV and asked if it looked like we were winning.
According to the House GOP, Matthews was just another liar and pawn in Pelosi's witch-hunt. It was deleted after a while. Young women in their 20s, like Matthews and Hutchinson, had the courage to testify publicly knowing the threats coming their way from the "50-, 60-, and 70-year-old men who hide themselves behind executive privilege."
At that point, she turned to the matter.
She said that the American president was faced with a stark choice between right and wrong. Donald Trump violated his oath of office by ignoring the violence against law enforcement.
She said that every American should think about this. Can a president who was involved in the violence of January 6 be trusted with authority in the future?
When all is said and done, may there be legal consequences for Trump? Cheney wants to be a political person. It reminded me of what she said when she lost her job as the no. 3 House Republican leader.
In May 2021, she said that she would do everything she could to keep the former president out of the office.
She and the committee are moving in the right direction.
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