Thursday’s January 6 Committee hearing painted a portrait of “an out-of-control, criminal, seditious, mad president.”
By John Nichols/ The Nation / July 22, 2022
The dictionary definition of treason is straightforward. It is “the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance.”
History provides a catalogue of illustrations of treasonous acts. But rarely have we gotten so precise a play-by-play of “overt acts to overthrow the government” as has been provided by the hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol. The evidence mounted Thursday evening, as the committee examined the more than three hours on January 6, 2021, during which Donald Trump actively aided and abetted the violent coup he had plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that confirmed the defeat of his bid for a second term.
Thursday’s prime-time hearing revealed a sitting president who refused to abide by his oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and instead facilitated the violence of armed insurrectionists whom he had called into action with a December 19, 2020, message to supporters—“Come to D.C. January 6th; Will be Wild!”—and with a “Stop the Steal” rally cry of “Fight like hell!” As the central figure in the conspiracy to initiate that fight, Trump knew exactly the significance of his actions when, in the words of January 6th Committee chair Bennie Thompson, he “could not be moved” to use the immense powers at his command to stop the deadly violence.
“For hours, Donald Trump chose not to answer the pleas from Congress, from his own party, and from all across the nation to do what his oath required,” explained January 6th Committee vice chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). “He refused to defend our nation and our Constitution. He refused to do what every American president must.”
What explains Trump’s failure to do his duty on January 6, 2021? Was he paralyzed by fear? Was he overwhelmed by the chaos? Was he uncertain of how to most effectively counter an insurrectionist mob’s deadly assault on the Capitol? Was he getting mixed signals from aides such as Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone? Or from family members such as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner? Was there a technological barrier to Trump’s issuing a call on the insurrectionists to stand down?
No. No. No. No. No.
Witnesses, testifying before the committee on Thursday and in videotaped statements, addressed every one of those questions and pointed to the conclusion reached by Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who reviewed the timeline that transpired between the close of the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse and the eventual release by the White House of a video in which the president embraced the mob’s message—“We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it…”—before finally saying, “I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace.”
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Stephen K. Bannon found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with Jan. 6 attack subpoena
The government argued that the former Trump adviser was “thumbing his nose” at Congress and the law by refusing to comply with an order from the House Jan. 6 committee to turn over records and testify about his actions leading up to the attack on the Capitol. Bannon’s attorneys said their client did not “ignore” the committee’s formal request but was in negotiations with the panel.
Many reasonable people, that believe in the republican platform, do not stand with trump, and were alarmed and disgusted by his actions lead up to and on Jan 6th. Unfortunately the loudest craziest voices drown out the rest.
I suspect any sitting president or justice department is afraid of the precedent of convicting a former president, that it may increasingly become a partisan tool, like power changing hands in authoritarian regimes – jail the opposition.
But in this extreme case, I think it’s warranted, and republican patriots would be smart to get behind Liz Cheney, and not be bashful about it. Politicians that now know Trump is insane but continue to align with him for the sake of votes, are disgusting. The Wyoming house race will be an interesting litmus test for the future of our country.