1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Here's what to expect when Jan. 6 hearings resume

The House Select Committee held a surprise hearing this week to reveal testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, and the panel will hold at least two more next month that will cover key issues tying Donald Trump to the insurrection.

The panel had planned to wrap up its public hearing schedule by the end of June, but newly received evidence forced them to reschedule those for this month, after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, and Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" what viewers can expect.

"They've issued a formal subpoena to Pat Cipollone, as we were discussing earlier," Lowell said. "That's kind of the next agenda item, the next immediate agenda item for the committee. He has to come in for a deposition July 6, that's what it says on the subpoena. That's kind of in the immediate viewfinder. Then coming down the road, we have at least two more hearings. [Rep.] Jamie Raskin is supposed to lead a hearing on the Proud Boys and the militia groups that stormed the Capitol, in what [Department of Justice] and the committee believes was a coordinated assault."

"I understand he's been preparing pretty closely with the senior investigative counsels on the committee to lay out his hearing and his plan for that," Lowell added, "and then, of course, you have the 187 minutes of the Capitol attack, where Trump sat in the White House and knew the Capitol was attacked and did nothing. At least two more hearings to come when the house returns on July 12. We understand that Jamie Raskin's hearing will be on that day that Congress comes back, July 12 -- so more to come still."

Watch the video:

[Rick Plant]

What we learned on Day 6 of the Jan. 6 committee hearings

The Jan. 6 panel met Tuesday for a quickly scheduled hearing, its sixth this month, to present new and "urgent” evidence about what former President Trump knew before, during and after the Capitol insurrection. The hearing included the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barrón-López join Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Adam Kinzinger: 'A lot' of new witnesses came forward after Hutchinson testimony

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) revealed on Sunday that new witnesses have come forward after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the Jan. 6 Committee.

CNN's Dana Bash asked Kinzinger about the reaction to Hutchinson's explosive testimony regarding former President Donald Trump's actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

Kinzinger confirmed that new witnesses wanted to speak to the committee.

"I don't want to get into who or any of those details," he said. "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.'"

Kinzinger said that Hutchinson would "go down in history" for her testimony.

"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."

He added: "There is, there will be way more information and stay tuned."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Adam Kinzinger rips apart Kristi Noem's defense of Trump's actions on Jan 6th



During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) bashed his former House colleague Kristi Noem for her defense of Donald Trump's complicity in the Jan 6th insurrection saying the Noem he knew appears to be a victim of the "invasion of the body snatchers."

Following Noem's appearance, moments before, where the anti-abortion South Dakota governor ducked questions about a pregnant 10-year-old girl's difficulties getting an abortion, the Jan 6th House committee member was asked about her deflecting blame away from the former president over the Capitol riot he incited after losing the 2020 presidential election as well as her attack on witness Cassidy Hutchinson.

"I want to get your reaction from what you heard from the South Dakota Governor, Kristi Noem, particularly on January 6th talking, about the fact that she didn't think specifically that the former president had any blame," Bash prompted. "She said everybody has blame. She also put into question the credibility of Cassidy Hutchinson."

"Yeah, I mean, this -- I'm blown away," Kinzinger replied. "This is not -- I served with Kristi Noem in the House. It's like invasion of the body snatchers, this is not the Kristi Noem I served with."

"The Kristi Noem I served with, you know, was conservative, dedicated to truth," he elaborated. "And I at the time would have thought would put her country above her political career at any moment. It is clear she is running for president or vice president. She's scared to death of the base."

"For her to call into question, you know, a 26-year-old patriot who stood in front of the committee alone and told the truth, and then to avoid saying that Donald Trump bore even an ounce of responsibility for January 6th,I get amazed still every day by what some of my colleagues do," he continued.

"This is one of the biggest ones, she used to something very different," he added.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 panel could end up making many criminal referrals of Donald Trump to the Justice Department: Liz Cheney



(Reuters) -The congressional panel investigating last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters could make multiple referrals to the Justice Department seeking criminal charges against the former president, its vice chair Liz Cheney said.

Cheney, in an interview aired on Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program, also said the department does not need to wait for the House of Representatives select committee to make a formal recommendation of charges to take action against Trump.

Asked whether the committee's hearings have demonstrated that Trump needs to be prosecuted, Cheney said, "Ultimately, the Justice Department will decide that."

Cheney, one of two Republicans on the Democratic-led panel, said that "we'll make a decision as a committee" about whether to make a formal criminal referral to the Justice Department recommending charges against Trump.

"The Justice Department doesn't have to wait for the committee to make a criminal referral. There could be more than one criminal referral," Cheney said.

Criminal charges have never been brought against a sitting or former U.S. president. Asked what it would mean for the country if President Joe Biden's Justice Department brings charges against his predecessor, Cheney said, "I have greater concern about what it would mean if people weren't held accountable for what's happened here."

Cheney has criticized Trump's conduct before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters in their failed bid to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's 2020 election victory, including an incendiary speech immediately preceding the riot.

"I think it's a much graver constitutional threat if a president can engage in these kinds of activities and, you know, the majority of the president's party looks away - or we as a country decide, you know, we're not actually going to take our constitutional obligations seriously," Cheney said.

"And if you just think about it from the perspective of what kind of man knows that a mob is armed and sends the mob to attack the Capitol and further incites that mob when his own vice president is under threat, when the Congress is under threat," Cheney added.

Cheney, whose father Dick Cheney served as vice president from 2001 to 2009, also said she has not yet decided on a possible run for the presidency in 2024 even as she faces a Republican primary challenge in her re-election bid this year for her House seat representing Wyoming.

"A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again," Cheney said.

A representative for Trump did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment.

Trump has denied responsibility for the Capitol attack but has said he would pardon those involved if he again becomes president.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump's then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, delivered bombshell testimony to the panel last week about Trump's conduct on the day of the riot.

Hutchinson testified that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential limousine when his security detail declined to take him to the Capitol to join his supporters. She also said Trump dismissed concerns that some supporters gathered for his speech before the riot carried AR-15-style rifles, instead asking security to stop screening attendees with metal-detecting magnetometers so the crowd would look larger.

Additional witnesses have come forward since Hutchinson's testimony, Representative Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the committee, said on Sunday.

"Every day, we get new people that come forward," Kinzinger told CNN's "State of the Union" program, adding: "There will be way more information, and stay tuned."

© Reuters

[Rick Plant]

Watch: Full Jan. 6 Committee Hearing - Day 6

Watch MSNBC coverage of the sixth public January 6th House committee hearing investigating the Capitol riot.

[Rick Plant]

5 things we've learned so far from the Jan. 6 committee hearings

The Jan. 6 committee has now held half a dozen hearings and are promising at least two more some time this month.

So we figured it's a good time to reflect on what we've learned so far. Here are five takeaways:

1. For Trump, the crowd was armed, dangerous – and welcome.

The former president knew the crowd had weapons, knew of the intelligence that violence could come on Jan. 6, but according to a White House aide, he didn't care.

Why?

"They're not here to hurt me," he said, per Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. "Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here."

Hutchinson said Trump was "furious" that people who were armed on Jan. 6 were deterred by metal detectors, or magnetometers, and thereby making his crowd appear smaller.

2. A president with a flash temper and desperate to hold onto power.

Throwing plates at the wall because he was upset that his attorney general said there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Grabbing the steering wheel of a presidential vehicle, because he so badly wanted to go to the Capitol with the rioters.

Hutchinson painted a picture of a president unhinged. This isn't the first time people around Trump have described a man with a temper who demanded fealty.

Multiple witnesses during these hearings have described a president who couldn't accept the truth, would find people to tell him what he wanted to hear, had descended down a deep rabbit hole of conspiracy and was willing to do whatever it took in a desperate effort to cling to power that was slipping through his fingers.

3. No one was too big or too small for Trump's pressure campaign.

From as high up as his former vice president Mike Pence all the way down to GOP state elections officials and election workers, no one was spared from Trump's persistent goading.

"You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it," Meadows told White House lawyer Pat Cipollone, per Hutchinson, about the crowd chanting, "Hang, Mike Pence!"

(Cipollone may himself be compelled to testify soon. The committee has subpoenaed him.)

Publicly, including in ad-libbed portions of his speech on Jan. 6, Trump has said multiple times that Pence didn't have the "courage" to do what he wanted. At a recent rally, Trump derided Pence as a "conveyor belt."

Trump wrongly accused Georgia election worker Shaye Moss of altering votes because of a video he irresponsibly talked about.

She testified that her personal life had been ruined since.

"I've gained about 60 pounds. I just don't do nothing anymore," Moss said. "I don't want to go anywhere. I second guess everything that I do. It's affected my life in a — in a major way. In every way. All because of lies. For me doing my job, same thing I've been doing forever."

4. The potential for criminal prosecution may be growing.

A scheme for fake electors. Knowledge of the potential for violence. The lack of caring about that violence.

A White House lawyer concerned about potential obstruction of Congress and defrauding the country charges.

Members of Congress and others inside Trump's inner circle asking for pardons.

And now oblique threats against committee witnesses.

"I think most Americans know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns," Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. said.

The committee is leaving lots of bread crumbs for prosecutors to peck at.

5. The credibility of the witnesses is hard to dismiss.

As much as Trump World is trying to undermine some of the testimony, particularly that of Hutchinson, ask yourself whether Hutchinson had more to gain or lose through her testimony and whether any of those, including the president, who are casting doubt on her testimony will do so under oath before the committee and the FBI.

We've seen on lots of occasions when Trump has sat for depositions under oath, he has had a very different tune than in public. Almost everyone who has testified has been a Republican, who worked for Trump, was trying to get him reelected or voted for him.

The conspiracy has to run pretty deep for them all to be lying or have an ax to grind.

https://www.npr.org/2022/07/05/1109461884/5-things-weve-learned-so-far-from-the-jan-6-committee-hearings