Tag: Capitol Insurrection

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Capitol Insurrection GOP January 6

Mark Meadows Caught Tampering With January 6 Witnesses: Report

Even though he’s no longer working for failed, one-term, twice-impeached ex-president Donald Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is still trying to protect his former boss (and himself), but his actions could result in him being charged with witness tampering.

As we learned Tuesday during a public hearing of the January 6 House Select Committee, the panel has discovered that witnesses who have cooperated with the committee received messages from those close to Trump, and one of those was from Meadows, according to Politico:

The Jan. 6 select committee publicly pointed to two communications this week as potential evidence of Trump-world’s efforts to influence witness testimony — without revealing their origin. Both were detailed to the panel by Cassidy Hutchinson, according to a person familiar with the last of her four depositions.

Both of the two slides that the panel revealed at the end of its live hearing with Hutchinson reflected conversations she described to the committee in her final closed-door deposition, this person said. Hutchinson told the committee at the time that, on the eve of her earlier March 7 deposition, an intermediary for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows contacted her to say that her former boss valued her loyalty.

“[A person] let me know you have your deposition tomorrow,” read a slide that the Jan. 6 committee broadcast at the end of Hutchinson’s hearing, which Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) characterized as pressure on a key witness. “He wants me to let you know that he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”

In that slide, Politico reports, the redacted name was that of Meadows, and that could be a big problem for him.

Ben Williamson, a spokesperson for Meadows, denied the former chief of staff had ever done anything wrong:

 “No one from Meadows’ camp, himself or otherwise, has ever attempted to intimidate or shape Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony to the committee. Any phone call or message she is describing is at best deeply misleading.”

Committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told the Washington Post he believes the facts show that witness tampering has indeed taken place:

“The vice chair released two different episodes of potential witness tampering, anonymously, for obvious reasons. We don’t want further intimidation of the same people. But we want this to be a warning to the people who are doing it that they can’t do it. It is a crime and this committee is taking it very seriously.”

Hopefully the Justice Department is doing the same.

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Congress January 6 Media in America

Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony Set A Daytime Ratings Record And Humiliated Fox News

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony on Tuesday was a massive ratings hit, according to the Los Angeles Times, setting a new daytime ratings record.

The Tuesday afternoon hearing, which the committee announced just a day ahead of time, featured 25-year-old Cassidy Hutchinson, who served as an aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Her dramatic testimony attracted 13,231,000 viewers across all major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC, according to numbers from Nielsen, a ratings firm.

In comparison, some of the most highly-rated shows on television were no match for the ratings Hutchinson received even though they are broadcast in primetime.

The ratings for Hutchinson’s testimony would likely have been even higher had the hearing not taken place in the middle of the day when most people are at work.

Fox, it should be noted, was humiliated with the ratings they drew for programming during the publicized Tuesday hearing, drawing a paltry 1.7 million viewers during the same two-hour time timeframe between 1 and 3 p.m.

Even more embarrassing for Fox is that while the they refused to televise the hearing, many of their hosts spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to shoot holes in what Hutchinson had said under oath.

Donald Trump was clearly watching, and has been positively apoplectic in his reaction, The Independent reports:

Deriding her as a “whack job” and claiming he hardly knew her despite her role as a senior aide to former chief of staff Mark Meadows, he also claimed she had asked to decamp to Florida with him for employment after the end of his presidency.

“I was going down to Florida with a group of people,” Mr Trump claimed, “great group of people, patriots, and her name was thrown out there and they said, ‘stay away from her.’ They said bad things about her.”

He did not specify who “they” were. Mr. Trump has denied Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony that when he found out he was not being taken to the Capitol to march on Congress with his supporters, he lunged at the wheel of his presidential car and then grabbed an agent in his detail.

 

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Capitol Insurrection Congress Donald Trump January 6

January 6 Committee Appears To Have Evidence Trump Helped Fund Witness Tampering

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been following the money and appears to have found evidence that failed, one-term former president Donald Trump helped fund witness tampering, according to a member of the committee.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) was interviewed by CNN host Anderson Cooper on Wednesday evening and was asked:

“The messages shown by Vice-Chair Cheney at the end of yesterday’s hearing seemed to open the door to potential witness tampering. Is the committee in possession of more messages along those lines? Has that evidence been shared with the Justice Department?”

Congresswoman Lofgren replied:

“Let’s just say, we’re concerned.

“As you know, in a prior hearing, we talked about the hundreds of millions of dollars that the former president raised. Some of that money is being used to pay for lawyers for witnesses and it’s not clear that that arrangement is one that is without coercion potential for some of those witnesses.”

She then added:

“So, let’s just say this. It’s a concern and anyone who is trying to dissuade or tamper a witness should be on notice that that’s a crime and we are perfectly prepared to provide any evidence we have to the proper authorities.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNVoiPRRgWc&feature=emb_logo

While we’ve thought for months the crime Trump would be charged with in relation to his actions to stage a coup on Jan. 6 might be seditious conspiracy, it now looks like he’s also facing being referred by the Select Committee to the Justice Department for witness tampering, too.

There are more hearings planned next month, and the list of crimes committed by Trump is likely to grow. Things are looking bad for Donald, and it’s way past time for him to be charged, tried, and locked up.

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Capitol Insurrection Fox News January 6 Social Media

Fox’s Jesse Watters Launches A Sexist Attack On Cassidy Hutchinson And Gets Shredded On Twitter

Fox News host Jesse Watters (who has been called by some “Bill O’Reilly’s former fluffer”) is absolutely apoplectic that former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson dared to repeat something she heard took place on January 6, 2021 when she testified before the House Select Committee on Tuesday.

Specifically, Hutchinson said she had been told that failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump grabbed a Secret Service agent and ordered him to drive to the Capitol while also grabbing the steering wheel of the vehicle.

Keep in mind Hutchinson never claimed she had witnessed the altercation. She made it clear it was something that had been told to her by another person.

And now there are reports that the Secret Service and the agent in question are upset with what Hutchinson said and they’re pushing back by floating stories to the media but not bothering to actually sit down before the committee, be sworn to tell the truth, and testify.

That was the jumping off point for Watters, who began his rant with this:

“If you put up this Secret Service agent who says ‘This girl’s lying, I never said that.’ He’s got 20 years in the Secret Service. Guy’s got a ton of integrity. She’s fresh out of college. Who do you believe? He has a ton to lose by lying. She has a lot to gain by lying.”

So there’s no way a member of the Secret Service would ever lie? Not even to protect his career and not be publicly humiliated? Please! That’s just plain stupid on its face.

But Watters was far from done, adding:

“Look at her. She’s the new ‘it’ girl. She’s gonna get a job offer at CNN, she’s gonna be a contributor, she’ll probably get a book deal. And she’ll waltz around at every party in Washington. Never have to pay for another drink.”

Does it get more misogynistic than that? New “it girl”? Be sure and note the line about never having to pay for another drink, too. As if that’s why Ms. Hutchinson agreed to testify: Just so she could get free drinks.

Twitter ripped Watters to shreds for his disgusting remarks:

https://twitter.com/ClaudeAvilez/status/1542262685806387200?s=20&t=4fJpKHHzJp4nYQIAYJGEkg
https://twitter.com/_RazzLi/status/1542262295253995526?s=20&t=4fJpKHHzJp4nYQIAYJGEkg

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Capitol Insurrection Congress January 6

Adam Kinzinger Has The Perfect Comeback When Lindsey Graham Suggests A January 6 Witness Lied

Ever since former Trump administration official Cassidy Hutchinson testified for nearly two hours before the January 6 House Select Committee, Republicans (including failed, one-term former president Donald Trump) have been desperately trying to undercut what she said, but the vast majority of them have been fact-free screeds that only serve to reinforce the belief that both Trump and the GOP know the hearings are incredibly damaging.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is the latest to take a shot at attacking Hutchinson, tweeting out this:

“Apparently Ms. Hutchinson testified numerous times for multiple hours about what she knew about the events leading up to January 6 and its aftermath.

“In her previous testimony did she mention the dramatic events described today?”

“If so, her previous testimony should be released.

“If not, why not?”

What Graham conveniently neglected to mention is that Hutchinson was previously represented by a Trump-allied attorney. She fired that counselor and now has one who is actually working on her behalf instead of trying to protect Donald and his minions from what she witnessed during her time as a member of the West Wing staff.

Jan. 6 committee member Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) wasted no time taking Lindsey down a notch, firing back with a tweet of his own that also serves as a warning to Graham and anyone else who might try to stand in the way of the committee’s work.

“You are willing to go down with the ship? Man up Lindsey.”

Lindsey doesn’t have all the facts that Kinzinger and others on the committee are privy to. And Kinzinger is also making it clear to the senator that if he continues to defend the indefensible actions of Trump and others who were part of the failed coup attempt, he’s also likely to be destroyed.

Graham has yet to respond to Kinzinger’s tweet, and if he has a single brain cell left in his otherwise empty head, he won’t.