Also, today there are primaries in Colorado, Illinois, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. See Steve Benen for analysis. Getting Illinois over with will be a particular relief for me, I must say. The television ads for the Republican candidates have been disturbing.
Politico is reporting that the mystery witness is Cassidy Hutchinson, a onetime top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. She knows a lot about what was going on in the White House before, during, and after January 6. This could be juicy.
Politico also says that “Hutchinson replaced her attorney earlier this month as the select committee’s hearings began; her former attorney was the Trump White House’s chief ethics lawyer, and her new attorney is a longtime ally of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”
As ever, this is an open thread for commenting before, during and after the hearing.
See Trump reporters react to January 6 hearings. Your brain will hurt.
Update: Well, that was fun. But I want to know if we can make Trump pay for all the White House dishes he smashed while throwing temper tantrums.
We learned that Trump supporters attending the January 6 rally at the Ellipse came heavily armed. “Trump supporters gathering at the Ellipse for the president’s speech had been seen by law enforcement and Secret Service agents carrying guns, including AR-15s and Glocks,” it says here.
But Trump was upset because he wanted more people crammed into the Ellipse — better optics! — and apparently people were hesitating to go through the metal detectors. Understandably.
Trump was described by Hutchinson as similarly unworried about his supporters carrying firearms; he was mostly angry that magnetometers used to screen rallygoers were blocking some of his armed supporters from getting inside the rally grounds. And that would hurt Trump’s larger aim: creating a photo op of a very large crowd gathered to hear him speak.
So, it says here, Hutchinson testified that Trump said something to the effect of, “‘I don’t fucking care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the fucking [magnometers] away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.”
So he was okay with armed people marching on the Capitol. They weren’t going to hurt him, after all.
Trump also apparently did intend to go to the Capitol and presumably show up in the room where the Electoral College votes were being tallied. He was advised this would break several laws, but he didn’t care. He ordered the presidential limo to be driven to the Capitol, and when he was refused he started to tussle with the driver and with a Secret Service agent.
I personally am sorry they didn’t let him go. Imagine how much trouble he would have gotten himself into.
Can Secret Service agents be forced to testify? Clinton’s was.
Mark Meadows (and Rudy Giuliani) asked for a presidential pardon. Mark Meadows is not looking good right now.
Liz Cheney produced evidence of attempts at witness tampering of the January 6 committee witnesses.
I think those were the highlights.
The other thread started out with OldVet posting "If someone could provide reason for optimism, I would appreciate it."
No replies so far.
The committee says (and acknowledged by the secret service) that two agents have already given sworn dispositions to the committee. That includes the one who was the lead agent that tRump attempted to assault in the 'Beast' on 1/6.
Heather Cox Richardson also sees links between the J6 committee hearings and the USSC, as you observed a few days ago. I thought you were barking up the wrong tree, but maybe my eyesight ain't so good.
Watched all the hearing today and I found it as explosive as C-4. Trump knew the mob was armed but did not see them as a threat to HIM! And knowing they were armed, he wanted to (and did) send them to the Capitol. They played FBI tapes from J6 before Trump spoke describing armed individuals. I think DOJ can establish that Trump WAS told in advance – and that Trump wanted to 'Mags" taken down so the armed people in the crowd could pack the Elipse – the FBI was disarming people the magnetic detectors showed with weapons.
Trump wanted to attend the riot – for real! As a prosecutor, these stand out: Trump knew the mob was armed. Trump sent the mob to the Capitol. Trump wanted to be in on the riot. Granted, knowing and proving are two different things, but it's out there.
Also, Cass testified to a conversation during the riot that Meadows had with someone who had ALSO seen Trump. What she heard was that they reported Trump saw nothing wrong with the riot and Trump thought Pence deserved to be hung. BUT, she didn't hear Trump herself. So you have to crack the circle of people who heard Trump say it. Pat Ciplionne was one who would probably testify truthfully.
Combine that with DOJ raids this week. Will we see charges? This year? Against Who?
Also, Trump is seeing his best chance of avoiding criminal charges in a run for president. (My opinion.) Will Trump try to force a pause on criminal investigation or charges by announcing his candidacy and pretending there's a law that you can't investigate a candidate? (There is none, but Trump will try to inspire the mob.)
Cassidy was a very credible witness who testified to wildly incredible circumstances leading up to, and after, the attack on our Capitol.
Beyond this young woman's testimony today, the Jan 6th Committee needs and wants more credible witness.
But not incredibly, the men in tRUMP's entourage left who could testify have little to no credibility.
And certainly, no courage at all to testify.
Not enough bad things can happen to those cowards.
And sadly, not enough will.
Despite the common belief, certain people ARE above the law.
But we clear-eyed reality-based people know that, and have for some time.
Today's episode was a good one. I particularly liked the part where Liz Cheney asked Flynn the question about whether violence is justifiable. He was stumped on how to answer because it was loaded with negative implications no matter how he answered it. Flynn's lawyer tried to break the question apart by seperating into whether it was a moral question or a legal question. She said it was both. Flynn was forced to take the fifth to avoid answering that question, but in doing so he implicated himself with guilt for his involvement in the J6 insurrection. It was a brilliant play on Liz Cheney's part.
If anybody needs a laugh!
Attorney Gives Rep. Jim Jordan A Scathing Personal Lesson In Hearsay (yahoo.com)
Did yesterday's hearing happen in a hurry because of threats? Not from some anynomos crackpot but from a report by an FBI informant. Cass dumped a pro-trump lawyer, a fact that might have been reported back along with a threat assessment. And only one remedy to silence her. I would guess she is in hiding now but what she said is out there.