On Insurrectionists: Trump "Doesn't Think They're Doing Anything Wrong"

ICYMI, Scott Lemieux summarized today's explosive testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson, Chief of Weasels Staff Mark Meadows' assistant, so we didn't have to:

• Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Trump demanded that his supporters be able to move around freely even though he knew they were armed, objecting to the presence of magnetometers to detect weapons. She testified that she was “in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of, ‘You know, I don’t f-ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f-ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the f-ing mags away.’”
• As rioters stormed the Capitol, chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” Mr. Trump endorsed the violence. Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows said of Mr. Trump, “He doesn’t want to do anything,” and “He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”
• Ms. Hutchinson testified that Mr. Meadows was worried as early as Jan. 2 that Mr. Trump’s rally could get out of control, telling her “Things might get, real, real bad on Jan. 6.” Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, had told her it would be a great day, when the president would go to the Capitol and be with members of Congress.
• Anthony M. Ornato, the former White House chief of operations, warned Mr. Meadows on Jan. 6 that the crowd seemed ready for violence, and had knives, guns, bear spray, body armor, spears and flagpoles. She said Mr. Meadows did not look up from his phone, but asked Mr. Ornato whether he had informed Mr. Trump, which Mr. Ornato said he had. “He almost had a lack of reaction,” Ms. Hutchinson testified of Mr. Meadows’ reaction to the mob attacking the Capitol.
• Ms. Hutchinson testified that there had been discussions about Mr. Trump giving a speech at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and even going into the House chamber as Congress met to make its official count of electoral votes. But Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, had serious legal concerns about Trump marching to the Capitol on Jan. 6, Ms. Hutchinson testified, saying that he had told her: “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable.”
• Ms. Hutchinson said she was outraged that Mr. Trump continued to tweet against Mr. Pence as the violence raged at the Capitol, denigrating him even as the crowd was braying for his execution. “As an American, I was disgusted. It was unpatriotic. It was un-American. We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie,” she said.
• Inside the White House, Mr. Trump became enraged when he learned that William P. Barr, the former attorney general, had publicly shot down his false allegations of a stolen election. He beat the table and threw dishes, splattering ketchup on the wall, Ms. Hutchinson said, adding that it was not the first time she had seen the president smash crockery in a rage.
• Ms. Hutchinson said both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Giuliani expressed interest in receiving presidential pardons after the violence of Jan. 6.

It all paints a vivid picture of a completely unhinged, corrupt, violent, treasonous Malignant Loser with vignettes heretofore not known, and of the Malignant Loser and his enablers -- chiefly Mark Meadows -- actively engaged in the coup attempt up to and including wanting to participate in the violent attack on the Capitol.

One other detail revealed by Ms. Hutchinson, as revealed to her by Ornato, was the Malignant Loser's physical attack on his Secret Service head of detail, Bobby Engel:

According to Hutchinson, when Trump got in The Beast—the bullet-proof limousine that carries the president—following his infamous address whipping up his supporters, he demanded the officers take him to the seat of Congress. “I’m the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now,” Trump reportedly told his security detail.

When his lead security detail, Bobby Engel, told him they couldn’t because it was not secure, the “president had a very strong, very angry response,” Hutchinson testified that former Deputy Chief of Staff Tony Ornato told her. After Engel still refused, Trump tried to grab the steering wheel, Hutchinson said. After a Secret Service agent told him, “Sir you need to take your hand off the steering wheel,” he allegedly lunged at him and grabbed the agent’s throat.

The hearing ended with another stunner, with Vice Chair Cheney indicating some witnesses had been subject to tampering:

The GOP vice-chair of the January 6 committee ended a damning hearing on Tuesday by presenting evidence that figures close to former President Donald Trump may have engaged in tampering with some witnesses who have testified in the probe.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming offered the two examples of apparent witness tampering at the end of a surprise hearing held by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Cheney shared two messages that she said witnesses had received ahead of their depositions. The witnesses, who Cheney didn't name, subsequently shared the messages with the committee.

It's completely believable that "figures close to" the Malignant Loser would engage in this type of criminal tampering.  After all, he's always run a Mafia- like criminal enterprise, whether in the private sector or in the White House.

The committee continues to show up with the receipts, and then some.

(Photo:  Cassidy Hutchinson today/ Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

Meadows Aide To Testify Before Jan. 6 Committee

 

We'll find out this afternoon what Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has to reveal about the January 6 seditious insurrection from within the walls of the Malignant Loser's White House. Starting at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, the House Select Committee will convene in a hastily scheduled meeting to hear new testimony and perhaps more witnesses and important clips from the film done by British documentarian Alex Holder.

Hutchinson could provide direct insight into what the Malignant Loser was planning leading up to and on the day of the insurrection, including the scheme to replace legitimate slates of electors with false Trump ones:

"Hutchinson, a special assistant and aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has already provided a trove of information to the committee and its investigators and sat for multiple interviews behind closed doors.

In brief excerpts of testimony revealed in court filings, Hutchinson told the committee she was in the room for White House meetings where challenges to the election were debated and discussed, including with Republican lawmakers. [snip]

Hutchinson previously told the committee that Meadows had been advised of intelligence reports showing the potential for violence on Jan. 6 and that several Republican lawmakers who had been involved in efforts to reject the electoral tally or submit “fake electors” had sought pardons to avoid potential criminal prosecution."  (our emphasis)

It would be especially rewarding if the Committee were able to produce another "surprise" witness to corroborate Hutchinson's testimony, or to have the Holder film reveal more about the planning of the conspiracy from a insider's perspective. We'll have to wait and see.

 

New January 6 Commitee Hearing Tomorrow

New bombshells incoming?

The committee investigating the Capitol Hill insurrection on January 6, 2021, has added a previously unexpected public hearing for Tuesday afternoon, the committee announced Monday.

The panel has not revealed the hearing's topic.

 

The announcement came as a surprise to many as the committee had said it was not going to resume its hearings until mid-July. Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee's chairman, told reporters last week that the panel needed more time to go through the new documentary footage it received from documentarian Alex Holder, who possesses never-before-seen footage of Trump and his family, new information from the National Archives, and new tips coming in through the panel's tip line since the hearings started in order to move forward with its hearings.

 

The committee did not reveal the witness list or topic but said it would "present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony."

 

Tuesday's hearing starts at 1 p.m. ET. It will be the panel's sixth hearing this month.

As always, must- see tv.

Today's January 6 Insurrection Hearing And Beyond

Today's January 6 insurrection hearing (1 p.m. 3 p.m. EDT) will focus on the Malignant Loser's efforts to corrupt the Justice Department in his conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.  Former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and the head of the Office of Legal Counsel Steven Engel are expected to testify as to the efforts of the Malignant Loser, John Eastman, and Jeffrey Clark to declare that there was fraud in the election in order to provide cover for Republican Senators and Congressmen to sabotage the electoral vote count.

A potentially critical development for a future hearing is the sudden willingness of Rep. Mo Brooks (Sedition-AL), who was double-crossed by the Malignant Loser in Brooks' recent run for the Republican Senate nomination in Alabama, to testify as to what interactions he had with the Malignant Loser on or around January 6, 2021.

Brooks, an up- to- now loyal Trumpist who spoke at the rally that preceded the insurrection at the Capitol, seems to have had a political deathbed conversion:

Brooks, who was once a champion of Trump's post-2020 election fraud lies, slammed the former president for having "no loyalty" and not being a "man of his word." The lawmaker told Beavers that Trump won't do anything unless it "enhances his wallet or his ego."

Though once a loyal Trump supporter, Brooks has since accused the president of repeatedly asking him to illegally "rescind" the 2020 election as the two men's relationship has publicly fallen apart.  

The Malignant Loser not loyal and only looking out for his own interests?!  What a revelation!

According to January 6 committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), an updated subpoena for Brooks is "in the process of either redoing it or it’s out the door."

This Week's January 6 Insurrection Hearings

 

Barring last- minute changes, the January 6 select committee investigating the insurrection at the Capitol will be conducting two hearings this week.

First, on Tuesday, the committee will be hearing testimony from Georgia Republican election officials Brad Raffensperger and Gabe Sterling on how the Malignant Loser "corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials to change election results.*"  The Malignant Loser's "perfect call" (aren't they all?) was recorded by Raffensperger and was reported on back on January 3/4, 2021:

 

Then, on Thursday, the committee will hear testimony on how the Malignant Loser "corruptly planned to replace the Attorney General of the United States, so the US Justice Department would spread his false stolen election claims.*"  

Note how the word "corruptly" appears prominently.  Hello, Justice Department?

The hearings will air at 1 p.m. EDT on each day on most broadcast and cable news networks.

________________________

* Quotes from Rep. Liz Cheney's opening statement on June 9.

Next January 6 Insurrection Hearing Postponed Until Thursday (UPDATED)

You're free to speculate:

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol announced Tuesday that it was postponing its public hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The hearing had been scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. The next hearing will take place on Thursday instead.

The committee did not say why it was postponing Wednesday's hearing.

The witnesses who were expected to testify at the hearing included former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue and Steve Engel, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.

More evidence coming in?  Witness(es) reneging on appearing?

Perhaps we'll learn more as the day goes on, not that a 24- hour postponement in itself makes a huge difference.  The truth will out.

UPDATE:  The committee is saying it wanted more time to prepare the necessary materials for presentation.

Gassed Giuliani And Giant Dumps

 

Stephen Colbert is at his best recapping yesterday's January 6 insurrection hearing, with special attention given to loaded "lawyer" Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani and the Malignant Loser himself.

Media Framing Of The Insurrection Hearings

 

Press Watch's invaluable Dan Froomkin on what he expects from the corporate media's coverage of the January 6 insurrection hearings ...

They have failed miserably to communicate what’s at stake in the midterm elections, and how the choice voters face in November is not simply between two parties, or a referendum on President Biden, or the economy, but is about either succumbing to or resisting a slide into autocracy and patriarchal theocracy.

And now, with the January 6 select congressional committee embarking on an effort to do job the media so miserably failed to do, I fear that our top  newsroom leaders and political reporters will respond defensively and contemptuously, using partisan framing, both-sidesism, bad sports analogies, and theater-criticism analysis to marginalize and mock a sincere and desperately needed exercise in truth-telling.

I fear that the arbiters of our elite, corporate media will embrace Republican talking points about the committee’s motives and conduct. I fear they will engage in so-whatism about new revelations, casting them as old news that changes nothing. I fear they will downplay this, the single most important American story in decades, and the biggest political crime in the country’s history, in favor of other ongoing crises that, while hugely significant, in the greater scheme of things matter so much less. I fear they will get distracted by bad-faith actors flooding the zone with disinformation and diversions.

... and what they should be doing:

What journalists should do is embrace and amplify the committee’s attempt at truth-telling, contextualize them, and help make sure members of the public understand what happened and what they need to do about it.

Republicans have tried to turn Jan. 6 into a political issue – and, of course, the debate is undeniably along partisan lines. But the goal here — the goal journalists should share — is not partisan: It’s the truth.

To support Froomkin's thesis, here's how the eunuchs at PBS -- PBS, for shit's sake -- are framing the hearings as a truth- relative, he-said/ she-said set of dueling soundbites in a promo:

 

Must be scrupulously fair to the fascists!

If this is how "the arbiters of our elite corporate media" are going to frame the most significant, and ongoing assault on our nation, well then democracy has already died in darkness.

Pic Of The Day -- Thin Blue Line Testifies

 

(click on image to enlarge)

(Photo: from left, Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the U.S. Capitol Police, Officer Michael Fanone of the D.C. Metropolitan Police, Officer Daniel Hodges of the D.C. Metropolitan Police and Private First Class Harry Dunn of the U.S. Capitol Police are sworn in to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol on Tuesday/ Jim LoScalzo, Getty)