Please feel free to comment before, during, and after today’s hearing.
NBC News is quoting Jamie Raskin that Pat Cipollone more or less corroborated what Cassidy Hutchinson said.
“Cipollone has corroborated almost everything that we’ve learned from the prior hearings,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in an exclusive interview just hours before the next hearing. “I certainly did not hear him contradict Cassidy Hutchinson. … He had the opportunity to say whatever he wanted to say, so I didn’t see any contradiction there.”
Okay, make of that what you will.
Update: So, the march to the Capitol was planned in advance but not announced in advance because it was supposed to seem spontaneous. And also it was not announced in advance, and no permits were acquired, because Trump’s lawyers believed it would be viewed as incitement to riot. Which it was. Of course, it wasn’t exactly a surprise, either, but it was not “official.”
Update: At one point today, Liz Cheney said, “President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child.” In my experience, people who have to work for someone who is seriously out of whack tend to fall into patterns of accommodating the out-of-whackness in ways that make absolutely no sense. But if the boss is, basically, a toddler in an adult body, people working with him — who can’t get out of working with him — will instinctively fall into patterns of treating this person like a toddler who, unfortunately, can’t be given time outs. So the behavior is both tolerated and worked-around when necessary.
And nobody is going to go public with this as long as they intend to or have to keep working with him. As we see with some of these people, like Mike Pence, even after the relationship is over it may be hard to come forward and explain “This is what I did when working with this person.”
And it’s also the case that people with more casual contact with the wackadoo will be in denail about how off the charts this person really is.
Update: And what about that December 18 Oval Office meeting? Bits of this had been made public before, of course. We knew that Giuliani et al. had pushed for having the military seize voting machines. I’m sure I heard somewhere else that Sidney Powell almost maybe sorta kinda was given some kind of special counsel status. We didn’t know that the meeting moved all over the White House, ended up in the residence until about midnight, and featured arguing, yelling, and invitations to duke it out.
Update: And Liz has put The Donald on notice about witness tampering. The big toddler doesn’t like to be told “no.” He won’t stop.
I’m holed up in a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains. But fortunately I have access to the internet. I won’t be missing any of the hearing. I’m hoping for a good dose of damming evidence against Trump!
"I’m holed up in a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains." That sounds lovely. Is it near a lake? Does it have a screened in porch?
WOW! The opening statements against Trump are extremely powerful. They’ve hit him with both barrels.
Pow! Can't wait to see next week.
The closing statements by all were superb.
I feel that donnie's best move at this point is suicide.
This blog only allows 1 like per customer per comment, but if they allowed more I’d give you 100 for your suggestion about Trump’s best option.
I gave you an upvote but I'd prefer a massive, debilitating stroke. He needs to suffer for a year or six.
My guess is that Trump will leave the USA rather than sit through a trial. The US has extradition from every country where Trump has a golf course.
But there is no extradition from Russia.
Just sayin'.
Donnie two-scoops will wriggle out of this one. I see now that the Jan 6 hearings are an instructional manual and not a path towards prosecution. These people fleeced billions out of the Cult and now you can see more of their swindle on the terrible hell-world political Tee Vee ads.
Good hearing They are doing a fine job of tearing Trump and lies apart. Next episode will deal with the fake electors plot. I hope the Justice Dept. is generous with their indictments to that pack of clowns.
The fat, orange rat feels the rule of law closing in on his corner.
We should all chip-in and get tRUMP an orange prison outfit – with the appropriate hand and foot cuffs, hooking through his belt!
We can send our gift to Merde de Lardo.
I watched the recording this evening.
More informative and less dramatic than the last hearing. IMO, Trump sees the testimony from people Trump thought he owned – telling the truth. And the truth, arranged as the J6 committee is presenting, lays out a detailed plan to reverse the election Trump lost with the threat of mob violence. (And actual violence had the crowd gotten hold of Pence, Pelosi or others.)
There's not a direct link between Trump and the Proud Boys. There is Stone, but he won't admit to anything he cooked up with Trump. I think they HAVE proved that Trump violated the law with what he tried to get Pence to do. I think Trump wanted Pence to die horribly for not throwing the election to Trump. But that's beyond a prosecutor proving. IMO, the J6 hearings are asserting more than they can criminally prove about Trump's partnership with armed insurrectionists and Trump's lust for revenge against Pence.
Interesting how Bannon has his private parts in a wringer. Bannon's lawyers are protesting that the judge has denied him a defense. It's going to trial – I'd bet Bannon will be convicted and he'll try to tie it up in appeal.
The criminal case against Rudy and Sidney and Eastman looks strong. My guess is charges against those three this year. None of those three are devoted enough to die in prison for Trump. If two of the three testify to what Trump knew., when he knew, and swears that A) Trump know the claims of fraud were false and B) the J6 Rally was Trump's idea how to hold onto power by force, Trump will be charged and tried. I know we're talking long odds against, based on history, but I do not see how DOJ can walk away if the testimony is there – and under the threat of hard time in federal prison, any of those lawyers will cut a deal. It's what lawyers do.
If Trump sees it the same way, he's got to run for president and win BEFORE he gets charged. So the next two years could be the most interesting and dramatic in terms of domestic politics since July 4, 1776. Because Trump would rather destroy the country in a civil war than go to prison. Many of Trump's fans want a "Battle of Bunker Hill" event to mobilize the kooks into a war against the Federal government. (And it's not about Trump – the fire was burning before Trump. But if making Trump a martyr brings on the war, that's what they want.)
I want to learn more about the January 5th & 6th Willard Hotel 'War Room' and participants. The rooms were paid for by the tRump campaign. Flynn, Stone, Byrne, Ghouliani, Bernie Kerik, Bannon, and Eastman were reported to be among the estimated 30+ participants in the 'War Room'. Meadows was supposed to join them the evening of the 5th but got talked out of it.
Agreed. But until some of the participants feels the immediate threat of prison, none are going to talk.
Trump is cagey about putting anything in writing, so how many people got directions from Trump himself? Can the DOJ put pressure on those persons?
I'd guess that Trump went exclusively through Stone on the plans for violence and takeover of the building by the Proud Boys. Others (and I may be wrong) were told by Trump to talk to Stone. Why? Because Stone went to jail lying for Trump – the testimony that "Stone said that Trump said" is hearsay. A distinction Trump understands.
Yeah, Bannon can keep this in court forever… he comes from the TX hydrocarbon-baron money pool. And, he is stocked with Trump grift money so I am sure he stuffed a lot under the matress.
He can keep it in court forever but not necessarily keep his butt out of jail forever. Once convicted, the usual policy is to start your sentence in jail and appeal from there. The max is one year in jail and the judge probably won't give Bannon half of that.
My guess is that if convicted (this year) Bannon will go to jail this year.
Back in the olden-days (90s), bannon's older bro signed a lot of payroll checks… so they can organize massive, massive projects (some say swindles). They literally hired Pinkertons to watch the assets at the end of their tenure round here.
I wish the rich women who put the rally together and knew what the purpose was could be prosecuted for their role. Alot of rich people prop up this crap and paid to get the mob there.
I agree entirely. It seems the rich have way too much money and time these days.
One of the reasons for congress to investigate is to determine if legislation is needed. Trump used the talking heads of the propaganda machine to use our public air waves to commit criminal activity. The FCC has a job to do making sure our airwaves operate in our interest. Regan took the teeth out of the agency, and they need dental work. Congress needs to beef up laws against using the public airwaves to disseminate hate and disinformation. This includes paid advertisement with dubious and misleading claims people find deceptive. What a wasteland it has become.
On a different matter, and opinion writer from a respected publication suggested Trump be charged with hub and spoke type of conspiricy. I just scanned the article and now think I understand why this is an important distinction. The conspiracy had multiple paths or spokes all leading from him with the same goal, to stay in power and defy the rule of law.
Opinion | Merrick Garland Should Investigate Trump’s 2020 Election Schemes as a ‘Hub and Spoke’ Conspiracy – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
I’m sure the toddler is having a hard time being publicly judged/admonished by both a black man and woman ( Thompson & Cheney). Thompson put it clearly…If you don’t have a peaceful transition of power the only other option is violence. And that’s what Trump opted for.