This is the essence of the commission’s mission, to show that the former President, with his actions and words, incited the 2021 uprising, which was a violent attempt to stop Joe Biden’s electoral victory from being recognized by the Electoral College. Body. Seventeen months after the event, the committee members will have to fight to penetrate the public consciousness. Many Americans seem to have moved on to more immediate issues, such as rising inflation and an economy that feels unbalanced. Conservative media treat the commission with contempt, no matter how urgent the case against Trump is. But the scope and seriousness of the allegations made on Thursday should not be overlooked: that Trump and his inner circle orchestrated a seven-part plan, an election-conspiracy that culminated in his supporters breaking down barriers. police and prosecute lawmakers from the Capitol. RELATED: CNN’s Dana Bash, Jake Tapper and Jeremy Herb explain what Liz Cheney meant by the “seven-part plan” The audition took months of work and thousands of interviews and put them together in a compelling narrative. These are some of the key points we will hear more about in additional hearings this month (next Monday at 10 a.m. ET):
Trump’s cabinet has almost turned against him. Trump’s cabinet members did not buy into his campaign fantasies and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to prevent him from his last days in power.
The election lie was BS. Former Attorney General Bill Barr told Trump that the idea of winning the election was “bullshit.”
Mike Pence, not Trump, took action. Vice President Pence called on the Pentagon to help quell the uprising. The White House was more concerned about the perception that Pence was in charge, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Millie.
The campaign knew it had lost. Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller testified that the campaign team understood the indications that Biden was going to win.
The GOP leaders were running from the rioters. Republicans today often deny the seriousness of the uprising, but the commission released a video of officials leaving the office of Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy after the Capitol was violated.
The Trump family knew the truth. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, a former top White House aide, said she respected Bar and accepted his opinion on the election. (Trump said Friday in a post on the social networking platform that his daughter had “checked” towards the end of her time in the White House.)
But they did not pay attention. Trump’s son-in-law and former top adviser, Jared Kouchner, has dismissed a White House lawyer’s threat of mass resignation as “lamentation.”
The uprising was dangerous for the police. A Capitol police officer testified publicly along with video of her being anesthetized by a moving horde.
The uprising was planned. A documentary filmmaker talking about the Proud Boys’ plot before the uprising signaled the intention behind the violence. Proud Boys leaders have since been accused of insurgency.
As exciting as the first prime-time hearing was – and parts of it were exciting – it leaves big holes for the committee to fill in for the rest of the public hearings. Here are the questions that still need to be answered:
Where is the full testimony?
Watching Kouchner mock the idea of White House lawyers resigning for a few seconds is one thing. The public should also see the full submission. The same goes for Ivanka Trump, Barr and other recognizable members of the Trump administration. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Gabby Orr wrote that those still on Trump’s trajectory or trying to maintain a relationship with him would say that their testimony was out of context in the short clips released by the commission. More should be released. The chairman of the House select committee, Benny Thompson, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the committee intended to publish transfers, but gave no further details.
Is there a direct link between Trump and the plot?
MP Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice-chairwoman, promised that the hearings in the coming days would show that Trump was directly responsible for the uprising – which is a major charge, as Trump claimed he had nothing to do with it. “President Trump called the mob, gathered the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” the Wyoming Republican said in her inaugural statement. Trump did not intend to relinquish power, no matter what he says in the Constitution.
Is there enough evidence for new prosecutions?
These hearings will create a database for the insurgency, which is important, but will not in itself create responsibility for Trump or his inner circle. The former president has already survived twice since being ousted, which means he may be running for president again. Everything shows that he intends it. It is not clear, as we wrote earlier, when or if the Ministry of Justice will go beyond prosecution of rally participants to focus on efforts to undermine the election. CNN’s Evan Perez and Edward-Isaac Dovere wrote before the hearing that Attorney General Merrick Garland was planning to attend, but many Democrats believe Garland may have lost time expelling people from Trump’s circle. This will remain the biggest question of these hearings – what will result from them? The Ministry of Justice should try to avoid appearing in the by-elections by submitting cases shortly before November.
Why do leaders say things behind closed doors that they will not say in public?
Bar is the worst offender in this regard. He has made his feelings known in books and interviews and has spoken honestly to the House committee. Why is it so difficult to do the same in public and also when Trump was the President who was actively trying to overthrow the next one? The clips from Milley are similar. His feelings of frustration with Trump and his contingency plan for a crisis if Trump was a fraud have been reported. They could have had more weight with the portion of the public who believe in Trump, if Milley had said it out loud and in public.
Will anyone see any of what Fox is watching?
Fox viewers may not know what happened at the first prime-time audition, which network presenter Tucker Carlson mocked instead of broadcasting. It’s a pity because the anxious January 2021 text messages from Fox hosts like Sean Hannity begging the White House to do something about the uprising surfaced during the hearing.
How can political reality change?
That the two sides of American politics live in different realities is not new. It remains to be seen how or if the public hearings of the Parliamentary committee can change the opinion of people who will not believe the facts presented to them. The hearings may bring back moderate Republicans, but the reality is that, despite Trump’s condemnation on Thursday, Republicans who have since rallied around him can take control of the Capitol after November. In a strange sense, while the economy is causing public frustration with Democrats, the American people may soon be giving some significant power to the party whose recent president has sought to overthrow democracy.
