Jan. 6 Hearings, First Round

One can see why Republicans in Congress don’t like investigative hearings about Republican misconduct when they are not in charge of Congress, as evident of them largely being silent as the opening rounds of the Jan. 6 insurrection is over. They don’t talk about it only to say that the American people want Congress “to tackle the issues” that Americans care about. They somehow forget that when President Joe Biden tried to do just that, Republican cooperation was almost non-existent. They were too busy licking their chops because of the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court on upcoming rulings likely to favor them, that all they had to do in the Senate was stall on anything the Democrat lead House passed. The one thing that Republicans didn’t want to talk about was the Jan. 6 hearings that finally got underway, knowing that was going to be some things done by the Trump administration that was going to be embarrassing, if not illegal. The embarrassing part, they can live with, but the potential illegality of what transpired by President Trump and those closest to him, got lost in other conversations not remotely close to Jan. 6. One other thing that Republicans don’t talk about when they speak to right wing media, is that more (millions) people watch some part of the Jan. 6 hearings that they thought, as the media has been reporting “24-7” on every revelation revealed by the committee. One has to remember that all of the witnesses who have testified before the committee, have been Republicans. Republicans who worked for Donald Trump, who at one time used to brag that he would hire only the best/brightest people to work in the White House. We know that some were not the brightest, only that they had to loyal to Mr. Trump and not to the nation. We have seen many witnesses testify about Mr. Trump’s behavior during the turbulent hours when the Capitol was under siege, while he watched television for hours without saying/doing anything official to quell the mob at the Capitol. Was it because he thought that it was possible that somehow the mob, he orchestrated to march to the Capitol would somehow take control and hold Congress hostage? Did he believe that with Mike Pence somehow out of the way to do his constitutionally sworn duty to certify the electoral college votes, that under martial law, that he would be the dictator in chief? With a nation in turmoil, imagine seeing the tanks in the streets under Trump’s command (if the military obeyed), as civil unrest would result across the nation. When many in the media talked about a potential “constitutional crisis” occurring, that is what they meant. Remember when President Trump marched from the White House to a church to remove some protesters, he had a top military official in the crowd with him. Many were alarmed at the sight of a military general who knew that he shouldn’t have been seen with the president at that moment, wondered if that was something the president was rehearsing to overturn a “rigged election”.

Republicans have said since day 1, that the Jan. 6 hearings was “bias and a sham”, that the testimony was not questioned by Republicans who could have been on the committee. They don’t talk glowingly of Republicans Liz Cheney (WY) and Adam Kinzinger (IL), who have brought nothing but dignity to the committee, unlike Republicans like Jim Jordan (OH), who will not go by the facts, but instead accuse Democrats of a witch hunt and berate the witnesses. House Leader Kevin McCarthy had an opportunity to put Republicans on the committee that could at least put on semblance of trying to be impartial, and not turn the hearings into a circus, but he didn’t. Even after further negotiations with Democrats, McCarthy pulled his support, leaving Democrats to go alone, as Cheney and Kinzinger stayed on. Both Republicans said that they are “defending” the Constitution, that they want the truth to come out, even though they are doing it at great political peril. Cheney may not be in congress after the midterms, as Wyoming Republicans are poised to toss her out because she is on the committee, and Kinzinger is not running for reelection. However, history should write favorably on the two Republicans because they stood on the side of honor, dignity, integrity and principle to do what is right and that was to let the nation know the truth of what happened on Jan. 6. Speaking about “profiles in courage” for Cheney and Kinzinger, Missouri senator Josh Hawley will not get an award for courage. Everyone has probably seen and had a good laugh watching the senator on committee footage “running for his life” at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Before the mob rushed the Capitol, Hawley gave a fist salute to them as a show of solidarity “I’m with you”. Then when the “stuffing hit the fan”, Hawley would have made a track star proud, running to safety. Still, “our hero” voted against certifying Biden as president. That video should be played at every Democratic campaign event when Republicans talk about courage.

There are supposed to be more hearings in the fall, as the committee is not finished. There is the disturbing development of texts exchanged by Secret Service agents on Jan. 6/7 that somehow, have been deleted. That is troubling because there was testimony that Trump as president, became violent and had to be restrained by several agents on Jan. 6. The committee wants to know what was on those texts and more importantly, why were they deleted. Some have said that it was “sloppy work”, not intended by the agency. Nevertheless, how can such an elite agency whose sole mission is to protect the president and others, somehow drop the ball on one of the most important moments in American history. Was it to protect the president? Whatever we are told by those at the top, will not pass the smell test. We know for a fact that Mr. Trump didn’t do anything for three hours on Jan. 6 except watch television, perhaps waiting for that moment, for that word that his plan had succeeded. That moment didn’t happen. Remember, the world is watching. So is God.