Tag: Capitol Insurrection

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Capitol Insurrection Congress Donald Trump January 6

January 6 Committee Now Has ‘Smoking Gun’ Evidence Against Donald Trump: Report

Now that the January 6 House Select Committee has been able to determine that failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump did indeed play a major part in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and remain in power via a coup, that has opened up new avenues of investigation and potential charges, according to a former federal prosecutor.

Glenn Kirschner was a guest on MSNBC Sunday, and host Cori Coffin noted as she introduced him:

“As we learn more about potential witness tampering during the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation, this week’s testimony of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson could explain why those in Trumpworld were so worried about what she might have to say.

“According to Hutchison, Trump knew that some of his supporters would be armed that day, sent them to the Capitol anyway, even hoping to join them. So, does this open up the former president to be criminally liable?”

Kirschner responded in the affirmative:

“Yeah, this is what I would call smoking gun evidence.”

He then added:

“And interestingly, at the last J6 public hearing, we got both smoking gun evidence, and we got loaded gun evidence. And what I mean by that is, as you just played in your lead-in, Cori, the president knew. He was briefed that his crowd was armed with assault rifles and pistols and knives and brass knuckles and bear spray, etc.”

But it was what Kirschner said next that should be of special concern to the ex-president and his cultish followers:

“And you would think a reasonable response from a president would be, oh my goodness, let’s make sure the metal detectors are operating properly. He said just the opposite, take them down, let the armed members of the group in, and they can march to the Capitol from there. To do what? To stop the certification of his political opponent’s election win. So in a very real sense, that smoking gun evidence that Donald Trump wanted to lead what we now know is an armed attack on the Capitol. The loaded gun evidence is, the witness tampering information, and you know, witness tampering just strikes at the very heart of the integrity of investigations, whether congressional or criminal.”

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

Donald Trump deserves to be indicted and tried for his crimes. Let’s just hope it happens soon.

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Adam Kinzinger: ‘A Lot’ Of New Witnesses Have Come Forward Since Cassidy Hutchinson Testified

According to January 6 House Select Committee member Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), new witnesses have come forward since ex-Trump administration aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified on Tuesday.

Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Kinzinger told host Dana Bash:

“I don’t want to get into who or any of those details. She’s been inspiring for a lot of people. This happens every day. Every day we get new people that come forward and say, ‘Hey, I didn’t think that maybe this piece of the story that I knew was important, but now that you guys — I do see this plays in here.'”

The Illinois Republican also said that Hutchinson would “go down in history” for her testimony before the committee:

“She doesn’t want to be out in the public spotlight but she has a commitment to truth that somebody like [South Dakota Gov.] Kristi Noem for instance and most people in our party would actually benefit to take just a 10% ounce of.”

Indeed, Noem embarrassed herself with the things she told Bash, hatefully declaring:

“It’s been difficult to really believe everything she has said. She says she’s telling the truth, but much of it was hearsay and much of it other people have refuted now.”

Asked if she thought failed, one-term former president Donald Trump bears any responsibility for what happened on Jan. 6, Noem replied:

“I think January 6th was a horrific day in our history. I never want to see that happen again. I think moving forward that we’ve got to have a time in our country where we are all start talking to each other again. Where we start having conversations. We get much better policy — I talk about this in my book, Dana — where I talk about the fact that we’ve become a country so offended by each other that we quit talking to each other. It’s hurting public debate that we have to have different perspectives around the table to have an open conversation, and we’ll end up with much better policy, better laws if we can take the emotion and anger and bitterness out of our conversation, and really talk about what is best for our country and where we can agree and move forward.”

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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 Donald Trump January 6 Mike Pence

Trump Was Hoping Pence And Members Of Congress Would Be ‘Killed Or Taken Hostage’ On Jan. 6: Report

Based on testimony from former Trump administration official Cassidy Hutchinson on Tuesday, it’s now clear that failed, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump wanted to see his vice president, Mike Pence, and members of Congress “killed or taken hostage” according to presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

During an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Beschloss noted:

“Everything that [Richard] Nixon did in the 1970s is put in the shade by what we have seen here. Nixon didn’t send armed terrorists up to the Capitol, and by everything that we are learning now what Donald Trump wanted to see on the 6th of January was violence. There’s every sign that he wanted to see members of Congress shot or killed or taken hostage, including his vice president, who, of course, is the president of the Senate.”

Beschloss added:

“Have we ever seen a president do 100th of that in the whole history of the United States? Historically, every other president is in one category. Donald Trump is in a category of his own.”

Consider a few more of the things Hutchinson revealed on Tuesday during her two hours of testimony, courtesy of New York magazine:

She said Trump was furious with his security officials, and she overheard him saying, “I don’t f- – -ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me.” Later, she said that Trump wanted them to march to the Capitol after his speech.

Previous witnesses had told the January 6 committee that Trump had been saying he wanted to march to the Capitol with his supporters in the weeks leading up to the rally, but Hutchinson revealed that Trump actually tried to go as soon as he finished his speech calling on the thousands assembled before him to march there. Trump boarded a vehicle with the Secret Service, thinking he was being taken to the Capitol.

As we’ve seen many times before, Donald Trump demands loyalty from others, but will toss anyone (even family) under the bus when it suits his purposes. That’s just plain evil.

Here’s Michael Beschloss on MSNBC: