“This is all heresy.”
— The @HouseGOP Twitter account, which presumably meant to tweet “hearsay” during last night’s January 6 Committee hearing.
Merrick Garland Has a Lot to Think About
Wall Street Journal: “‘The case against Donald Trump, in these hearings, is not made by witnesses who are his political enemies,’ said Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair, at the close of the hearing, the eighth and last of the current series. ‘It is instead a series of confessions by Donald Trump’s own appointees, his own friends, his own campaign officials, people who worked for him for years, and his own family.’
New York Times: “Through a range of witness testimonies, the committee demonstrated that Mr. Trump never reached out to the heads of any law enforcement or national security department or agency in the government to seek help in responding to quell the violence. Fox News footage, which Mr. Trump was watching from his dining room, showed how the Capitol Police were under siege, massively outmanned and struggling to repel the crowd. But the president remained unmoved.”
Playbook: “A year and a half later, and we are still learning new things about Jan. 6 — and almost all of the revelations strengthen the case that the Jan. 6 committee has been building about Donald Trump’s (perhaps criminal) culpability that day. Merrick Garland has a lot to think about after last night.”
Midterm Ballot Tightens as Abortion Motivates Voters
A new Emerson College poll finds Democrats have closed a nine-point Republican lead in the generic ballot down to a single point, trailing 45% to 44%.
Said pollster Spencer Kimball: “Those who say abortion is the top issue facing the nation are more motivated to vote this November than any other issue.”
Attendees Laughed as Video Showed Josh Hawley Fleeing
A video shows attendees of the January 6 Committee hearing erupting into laughter when they were shown footage of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) fleeing the Capitol during the insurrection.
Hawley had riled up the rioters earlier with a raised fist.
HuffPost: Clip of Josh Hawley running from rioters gets the treatment on Twitter.
Fox News Skipped January 6 Hearing
“America’s top television networks on Thursday turned prime time over to a gripping account of former President Donald Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — with one prominent exception,” the AP reports.
“The top-rated news network, Fox News Channel, stuck with its own lineup of commentators.”
CNN: Fox gets the spotlight during prime time January 6 hearing, but not on Fox.
A Radical Plan for Trump’s Second Term
“Former President Trump’s top allies are preparing to radically reshape the federal government if he is re-elected, purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his ‘America First’ ideology,“ Axios reports.
“The impact could go well beyond typical conservative targets such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Internal Revenue Service. Trump allies are working on plans that would potentially strip layers at the Justice Department — including the FBI, and reaching into national security, intelligence, the State Department and the Pentagon.”
“The heart of the plan is derived from an executive order known as ‘Schedule F,’ developed and refined in secret over most of the second half of Trump’s term and launched 13 days before the 2020 election.”
GOP Leaders Won’t Get in the Way of Trump
“Congressional Republican leaders have no apparent plans to keep Donald Trump from a third presidential run. Some are even encouraging it,” Politico reports.
“Many are prepared to adopt the same playbook they did in 2016: Allow a crowded presidential primary field to sort itself out with minimal interference.”
Reaction to the January 6 Hearing – Part II
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Lee Zeldin Attacked at Campaign Event
While making a campaign speech Thursday night, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) “was attacked by a disgruntled man in the crowd,” WHEC reports.
“After a brief tussle, members of the audience took matters into their own hands—by disarming and apprehending the attacker with zip-ties pulled from campaign posters.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“As a spokesperson, I knew I would be asked to defend that… it was indefensible.”
— Former White House aide Sarah Matthews, testifying about her decision to resign from the Trump White House on January 6.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“I think it’s a Godfather reference.”
— Donald Trump Jr., quoted by the New York Times, when asked about his text using the phrase “go to the mattresses” as he told Mark Meadows to get his father to condemn the violence on January 6.
Reaction to the January 6 Hearing – Part I
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The January 6 Committee Hearing
The January 6 Committee hearing begins tonight at 8 p.m. and is expected to run at least two hours.
Politico: “The panel plans to paint a picture of a president who sat idly in the Oval Office, watching on TV as pro-Trump rioters battered their way through police lines and into the Capitol. While Trump’s public silence during much of the violence is already well-known, the panel argues that the new evidence it plans to reveal about what happened inside the West Wing will show he purposely didn’t intervene in the chaos until it was clear the mob had failed to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election.”
The hearing will be streamed live and can be seen on the major broadcast and cable news channels.
Leave your reactions in the comments.
Tammy Baldwin Confronted Marco Rubio on Gay Marriage
As he was walking on an elevator, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that a vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage was a “stupid waste of time,” CNN reports.
“But when he said that, there was another senator on the elevator who heard him: Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Wisconsin Democrat who is also the first known gay politician elected to the U.S. Senate.”
As Baldwin recounted: “You probably would have loved to be on the elevator to see the exchange after.”
Testimony Will Confirm Trump’s SUV Outburst
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) told The Bulwark that the January 6 Committee will present testimony corroborating former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony about a confrontation she had heard about between former President Donald Trump and Secret Service agents.
Said Kinzinger: “So tonight, we’re going to play some testimony from people that in essence confirms the limo incident… We know that there was some heated stuff going on in the limo.”
He added: “Nobody has come in to refute her. And just as you have said, nobody has come in from the Secret Service on the record under oath, and refuted what she has said. There’s been anonymous sources. That’s it.”
Ron Johnson Says He’ll Vote for Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), perhaps the most vulnerable Republcian senator facing reelection this year, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he would vote for a bill protecting same-sex marriage.
Said Johnson: “Even though I feel the Respect for Marriage Act is unnecessary, should it come before the Senate, I see no reason to oppose it.”
January 6 Hearings Likely to Continue This Fall
Politico: “The hearings that began early last month were supposed to be a limited series, but it looks increasingly likely that the show will be picked up for a second season, returning in the fall.”
“The panel’s members say that the hearings have generated new investigative leads and spurred new witnesses to come forward, so they could be back on the airwaves with new plotlines and new characters faster than The Kardashians. Of course, they need to do it quickly, since new management is expected to take over the studio early next year and overhaul the programming lineup.”
Justices Won’t Let Biden Limit Immigration Arrests
“The Supreme Court on Thursday refused the Biden administration’s request to reinstate a policy limiting immigration arrests, after a Texas district judge said the guidance to immigration officers violated federal laws,” the Washington Post reports.
“The court instead said it will hear the merits of the case in December. Four justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson — said they would have granted the administration’s request to put a lower court ruling on hold. It was Jackson’s first vote since joining the court.”
