After a source reported that Trump blocked US defense aid to pressure Ukraine’s newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce fake investigations into Joe Biden and his son, House Speaker Anheithe of the Parliamentary Information Committee, Adam Sif. – with the support of the investigation into the misconduct of the then president. These hearings, which were broadcast on national television, ended with the vote of the House for Trump’s referral. But when it came to convincing Republicans that he had abused his power, the response was a collective shrug and an acquittal in the Senate. A year later, Democrats bitten the apple of the petition again after Trump instigated a mob of his supporters to invade the Capitol. However, although a new set of referral executives came armed with hours of video and tons of coverage of the Capitol uprising (including some of your correspondent), they did not yet have the votes needed to convict Trump and hold a vote. forbade him to run for office again. Now, a year, five months and two days after the worst attack on the Capitol since Lt. Gen. Robert Ross ordered British troops to burn it in 1814, House Democrats – and two Republican allies – have a third, and perhaps last, chance. to bring to justice the man who, according to most reports, tried to end American democracy. Unlike their last two chances to hold Trump accountable, Democrats will have help from some incredible sources when the House of Representatives opens the first of six expected hearings on Jan. 6. According to the commission’s aides, the commission is set to use the prime-time televised hearing to reveal “a small but substantial part” of a videotaped testimony from key figures in Trump’s inner circle. “This will include senior Trump White House officials, senior Trump administration officials, Trump campaign officials and, in fact, members of the Trump family,” one official said. Any cable and television network on Thursday night (except Fox, which ignores the auditions because their broadcast would infuriate viewers dependent on being outraged with Democrats) will also include “substantial multimedia presentations” produced by a veteran television executive retained by the panel. The decision to professionalize the process of revealing their findings, sources tell me, was informed by two previous failures of the Democrats. And it largely followed the advice of two Republican committee members, Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger and Committee Vice President Liz Cheney of Wyoming. A source familiar with the committee’s internal consultations described the two GOP members’ contributions as “invaluable”. They will also receive help from former aides to Mike Pence, the man whom Trump threw at the mercy of a mob after he refused to help in his quest to overturn the election results. Another source familiar with the committee’s plans said Pence’s chief of staff, Mark Short, and his former adviser, Greg Jacobs, could well appear as protagonists at subsequent hearings – perhaps only on Monday, when the second such public meeting of the committee is scheduled to convene. But the most valuable contribution to the committee’s efforts is almost a year and it comes from none other than Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. After failing to prevent Congress from passing a resolution authorizing the work of the select committee, McCarthy tried to stack up the Democratic side with Trump’s supporters. That included two members – representatives Jim Banks and Jim Jordan – who had led the charge of ousting Trump’s White House for a second term, with voters’ wishes cursed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dismissed both Banks and Jordan, citing the possibility that both men could be called as witnesses in the investigation. But instead of selecting two other equally Trump Republicans to serve on the committee, McCarthy took his ball and went home with a pick. Now, no Republican who denies the legitimacy of Biden’s victory or denies the seriousness of the Capitol attack is on the committee, which means that these hearings – unlike previous Trump referrals – will have no one to sabotage them. of the inside. And maybe that means the third time will actually be the charm.
