On Tuesday, the Jan. 6 committee convenes its seventh public hearing with Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Stephanie Murphy of Florida leading proceedings that are expected to expose the seedy underbelly of extremism underpinning so much of the violence and destruction that former President Donald Trump incited at the U.S. Capitol last year.
For weeks the committee has neatly presented reams of evidence and witness testimony that they say demonstrates how Trump stubbornly sought to reverse his defeat by any means necessary, including pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence and peddling a widely debunked lie about voter fraud in order to rally his supporters to his side.
As his attempt to overturn the election grew increasingly desperate, Trump homed in on neofascist and extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys to carry forth and support his message.
Tuesday’s hearing is expected to parse out the involvement of these groups and others and examine key moments leading up to the insurrection, like a Dec. 18 meeting at the Oval Office with Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, his lawyer Sidney Powell, and others who proposed wildly unconstitutional schemes including the seizure of voting machines. The former president issued a tweet mere hours after that meeting that called for a “wild” rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. That, investigators will argue, was the moment Trump lit a fuse to activate extremists.
Investigators are also to divulge more recorded depositions from witnesses like Trump White House attorney Pat Cipollone. Live witness accounts are expected from Jason Van Tatenhove, a onetime spokesman for the Oath Keepers, and Ohio resident Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty to illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6. According to federal prosecutors and Ayres himself, he was incited to storm the Capitol because of Trump’s calls to action.
Connections between Trump, Flynn, self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” Roger Stone, and the extremist groups will be carved out by the committee as well. Presently, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, awaits trial for seditious conspiracy. Prosecutors say he oversaw and helped orchestrate a plot to stop the transfer of power on Jan. 6. Several members of the group have been charged alongside Rhodes. The same seditious conspiracy charges have been brought against Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys. His trial is also slated for later this year.
For more background, check out the related story links below. A livestream for today’s hearing is available here:
The committee’s eighth hearing is expected to unfold next week and it will be then that the committee will unpack Trump’s dereliction of duty during a nearly three-hour span where the Capitol was under siege and he sat idly by.
Tuesday, Jul 12, 2022 · 5:18:17 PM +00:00
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April Siese
During Liz Cheney’s opening statement, she pushed back at Trump’s allies defending him by claiming that the former president had been led astray by others. “[He] is a 76-year-old man,” Cheney said. “He is not an impressionable child.”
Tuesday, Jul 12, 2022 · 5:32:19 PM +00:00
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Brandi Buchman
Liz Cheney says at today’s hearing that there has been a shift in attitude among those that they have questioned and continue to question in Trump’s orbit.
The facts and evidence has been convincing and despite the public balking by some, those that are coming forward are being more earnest.
We are seeing testimony from a variety of Trump’s advisers and associates who have said Trump was informed repeatedly that they had lost legal battles left and right and there was no path to victory. The fraud he claimed existed, simply did not.
Cipollone was asked if he believes Trump is obligated to abide by the ruling of the courts.
“Of course, everybody is obligated to abide by the rules of the courts,” Cipollone said.
Tuesday, Jul 12, 2022 · 6:14:35 PM +00:00
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Brandi Buchman
Tuesday’s hearing has been a bounty of context as we hear details about the meeting at the Oval Office on Dec. 18 that ended in a shouting match and Rudy Giuliani needing to be escorted away from the White House by Mark Meadows.
The lines were drawn: Cipollone and White House counsel Eric Herschamnn did not want Powell and Giuliani to keep poisoning the well and feeding Trump conspiracy theories.
Giuliani was heard in video deposition before the committee describing the general sentiment he and Powell had towards their opponents: “You’re a bunch of pussies,” he said.
But far more important than the barbs, was Sidney Powell’s testimony to the committee that she was under the distinct impression by Trump after that meeting that she was to be appointed as special cousel.
The plan to have her become special counsel would allow her to push investigations into voter fraud that she would later, in a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems, admit was bunk.
Tuesday, Jul 12, 2022 · 6:18:09 PM +00:00
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Brandi Buchman
After the meeting with Powell, Giuliani and others, that was when Trump sent out the Dec. 19, 2020 tweet in which he invited his supporters to join him for a “big protest in D.C.” that would be “wild.”
That message inspired extremists to join him in Washington in huge numbers, the committee said.
And according to testimony to the committee by an unidentified employee of Twitter presented Tueday, some employees of the social media giant shared concerns that Trump was communicating to extremists directly on their platform.
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