Jan 6th Hearings

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Hardly. The speed and impact of a real, well planned, trained for, and timely executed "insurrection" would make people literally sh*t their pants.
All these prior military spec ops types (not to be confused with wannabe's) borne of the War on Terror era are not sympathetic to anything liberal. I actually know quite a few. Sure you'll find a few leftists in their ranks but only a very small minority.


But all I see is the left trying their collective damndest to trigger another one.

Are they finished yet or close to it?

I can understand others being into it, but it's just not my bag, especially since he's an ex-president. I didn't pay much attention to the Clinton deal with Monica Lewinski either, other than the final outcome. Maybe it stims from having been forced to watch the Watergate hearings in school.

Hardly. The speed and impact of a real, well planned, trained for, and timely executed "insurrection" would make people literally sh*t their pants.
All these prior military spec ops types (not to be confused with wannabe's) borne of the War on Terror era are not sympathetic to anything liberal. I actually know quite a few. Sure you'll find a few leftists in their ranks but only a very small minority.

But all I see is the left trying their collective damndest to trigger another one.

Apparently the latest upcoming bombshell scandal is he was watching news coverage of the riot, instead of being in the situation room with the joint chiefs doing something about it.

Not sure how this is a bombshell revelation since it's 100% completely on brand for his presidential leadership/work ethic style ?? Zero surprises here.

I'm just reporting what the media feed tossed my way.

I'm curious about what actions he was supposed to take instead.

Former President Trump’s actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection constituted a “dereliction of duty” that endangered American democracy, a group of seven retired four-star generals and admirals said in a New York Times op-ed Thursday.

“When a mob attacked the Capitol, the commander in chief failed to act to restore order and even encouraged the rioters,” the former military leaders, who served Democratic and Republican presidents, wrote.
In the op-ed, retired four-star Gens. Peter Chiarelli, John Jumper and Johnnie Wilson and retired Adms. James Loy, John Nathman, William Owens and Steve Abbot called out Trump for his inaction on Jan. 6 and consideration of using the military in schemes leading up to that day.

Ahead of Jan. 6, the op-ed authors wrote, Trump’s allies “urged him to hold on to power by unlawfully ordering the military to seize voting machines and supervise a do-over of the election,” flouting the balance of civilian control of the military.

When Trump did not call the National Guard to respond with the Capitol under siege, he ignored an “urgent need” for his intervention, the retired generals and admirals argued.

“The president and commander in chief, Donald Trump, abdicated his duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” they wrote. And in doing so, he “tested the integrity” of civilian control of the military “as never before, endangering American lives and our democracy.”

The group called on military leaders to enhance training on the chain of command and civilian-military leadership balance. They also implored civilian leaders, “including, most important, the commander in chief,” to be committed to those principles.

“The lesson of that day is clear. Our democracy is not a given. To preserve it, Americans must demand nothing less from their leaders than an unassailable commitment to country over party — and to their oaths above all.”

Days after meeting with the Jan. 6 House committee, a former Trump administration aide published a bizarre, sexist and homophobic tirade on Telegram where he attacks the ongoing investigation and the committee’s star witnesses, calling the operation “anti-white.”

In the rambling 27-minute recording, Garrett Ziegler, who served as an aide to ex-trade adviser Peter Navarro, accuses the politicians leading the Jan. 6 investigation of being “Bolsheviks” who “hate the American founders and most white people.” (The committee, it’s worth noting, is headed up by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is Black.) “This is a Bolshevistic anti-white campaign. If you can’t see that, your eyes are freaking closed,” Ziegler says. “I am the least racist person that many of you have ever met, by the way. I have no bigotry. I just try to see the world for where it is.”

Ziegler also takes aim at Cassidy Hutchinson and Alyssa Farah — two female former White House aides who’ve openly spoken out against the Trump administration and its actions, drawing ire from right-wing pundits and Trump loyalists. Farah, a former communications director, is attempting a pivot to journalism, while Hutchinson’s bombshell public testimony to the Jan. 6 committee revealed the numerous failures and acts of hubris exhibited by Trump and his team leading up to and during the Capitol insurrection. Claiming he has “no sort of army to hit back” at claims revealed during the committee hearings, Ziegler launches into a misogynistic sidebar against his former colleagues. “The other young people in the White House are total hoes and thots like Cassidy Hutchinson and this Alyssa Farah hoebag, who are just terrible. I mean, they have no clue what they’re saying”

During the Telegram recording, Ziegler also denies claims that he is a “fame fag” for speaking out against the committee and his witness questioning.

According to The New York Times, the former White House aide famously brokered the now-infamous Dec. 18, 2020 Oval Office meeting between Trump and several controversial conservative figures

I'm curious about what actions he was supposed to take instead.

The primetime session -- the eighth hearing so far this summer -- focused on the "187 minutes" between Trump telling his supporters to march to the Capitol, and when he finally told them to "go home."

The hearing was co-led by Rep. Elaine Luria, a Virginia Democrat, and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican. Two former Trump White House aides who resigned in the immediate aftermath of the attack -- Matthew Pottinger and Sarah Matthews -- testified in-person Thursday.

Here are takeaways from Thursday's epic prime-time hearing.

Trump chose not to act
The committee used Thursday's hearing to show how Trump not only failed to act, but chose not to as he watched the violent assault on the US Capitol unfold.

Several witnesses with first-hand knowledge of what was happening inside the White House on January 6 told the committee that Trump did not place a single call to any of his law enforcement or national security officials as the Capitol attack was unfolding, according to previously unseen video testimony played during Thursday's hearing.

The panel said it "confirmed in numerous interviews with senior law enforcement and military leaders, Vice President Mike Pence's staff, and DC government officials: None of them -- not one -- heard from President Trump that day," Luria said.

The committee used that testimony to make the case that Trump's refusal to intervene amounted to a dereliction of duty.

Former officials who were with Trump as he watched the riot unfold on television, including then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump's body man Nick Luna, told the committee they had no knowledge of the former President making a single call to the heads of various agencies who could have responded to the violence, including the secretary of defense or attorney general.

Keith Kellogg, Pence's national security adviser who was also with Trump that day, testified that he never heard the former President ask for the National Guard or a law enforcement response.

Kellogg also reaffirmed that he would have been aware if Trump had made such an ask.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told the House select committee that he was astonished by the fact that he never heard from Trump as the Capitol attack was unfolding -- suggesting his failure to act amounted to an abdication of his duties as Commander in Chief, according to previously unseen video from his close-door deposition.

"You know, you're the Commander in Chief. You've got an assault going on on the Capitol of the United States of America and there's nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?" he said in the clip.

Disturbing audio and video shows danger felt by Pence security detail
A committee witness testified that Pence's detail was so concerned with what was transpiring that they "were starting to fear for their own lives," and that there were calls "to say goodbye to family members."

The witness was a National Security Council official who worked in the White House on January 6, whose audio testimony was masked to shield the official's identity.

"Is the VP compromised? Like, I don't know. We didn't have visibility, but if they're screaming and saying things, like, say goodbye to family....this is going to a whole other level soon," the national security official said.

The House select committee also revealed, for the first time, Secret Service radio traffic as agents assessed the Senate stairwell where Pence would be evacuated, while rioters were confronting police in a hallway downstairs at the same time. The video played Thursday spliced together the surveillance tapes with the security footage and sound of Pence's detail, bringing into focus how near a miss Pence and his detail experienced.

Committee contrasts Pence's presidential actions with Trump's inaction
The committee emphasized how Trump did not try to call law enforcement or military officials on January 6, while Pence -- whose life was endangered by rioters -- "worked the phones" speaking to Milley and then-acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller.

The committee played video of Milley's deposition where he said he had "two or three calls" with Pence.

"He was very animated, and he issued very explicit, very direct, unambiguous orders. There was no question about that," Milley said. "He was very animated, very direct, very firm to Secretary Miller: Get the military down here, get the Guard down here, put down this situation."

Committee goes after congressional Republicans (again)
The committee played audio clips, which have been disclosed previously, where McCarthy spoke of his conversations with Trump after January 6 and said that he was considering advising him to resign.

The committee also played a video clip from the deposition of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner in which Kushner said that McCarthy "was scared" amid the unfolding violence at the Capitol when the two spoke by phone on January 6.

In addition, the panel spotlighted Sen. Josh Hawley, the Missouri Republican who led the Senate's objection to the election results on January 6. The panel showed a well-known photo of Hawley raising his fist toward the rioters outside the Capitol the morning of January 6.

Immediately afterward, the panel played video showing Hawley running out of the Senate chamber -- and played it a second time in slow motion for emphasis. Later that night, Hawley forced debate on the Pennsylvania election results and voted against certifying them.

The panel's two Republicans, Kinzinger and Cheney, have been vocal critics of McCarthy as they've been ostracized from the House GOP conference. Both could be out of Congress next year: Kinzinger is retiring and Cheney is facing a Trump-backed primary challenger in Wyoming.

Kinzinger co-led Thursday's hearing.

Committee adds corroboration of Hutchinson testimony
Luria said the committee had information from two additional sources to partially corroborate Hutchinson's testimony that Trump lunged at his Secret Service detail. One of the witnesses, Luria said, "is a former White House employee with national security responsibilities."

While the individual was not named, Luria said that the official testified that Tony Ornato, then-Trump White House deputy chief of staff and a current member of the Secret Service, told him the same story that Hutchinson testified Ornato had told her -- that Trump was "irate" when Robert Engel, the Secret Service agent in charge on January 6, 2021, would not take him to the Capitol.

The second witness was retired Washington, DC police Sgt. Mark Robinson, who was in Trump's motorcade that day. Robinson testified that the Secret Service agent responsible for the motorcade had said that Trump had a "heated" discussion with his detail about going to the Capitol.

Robinson added that he had been in "over 100" motorcades with Trump and had never heard of that type of exchange before January 6.

Never-before-seen videos, photos, audio bring 187 minutes to life
We saw previously undisclosed outtakes of video statements that Trump released on January 6 and 7, which showed Trump struggling to condemn the rioters. There was also the chilling audio of Pence's security detail, strategizing his evacuation from the Senate, which brought the vice president dangerously close to the rioters, some of whom wanted to kill him.

There was in-the-room footage and photos of congressional leaders on the phone with Miller. The bipartisan group, including then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sought Miller's assurances that the National Guard would restore order so they could resume the Electoral College proceedings.

And lawmakers highlighted Capitol security footage that had never seen the light of day, until Thursday. This included footage of GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri running through the Capitol to get away from the rioters, which the committee contrasted with Hawley's very public support for overturning the election, and his infamous raised fist he gave to the crowd of rioters outside.

Taken together, these clips created a compelling multimedia experience, which the committee hopes will capture the public's attention and drive home their message. After all, the panel hired a prominent former TV executive to produce the hearings, and has worked aggressively with subpoenas and court battles to obtain mountains of new material. It's all now coming together.

Secret Service in the spotlight
As mentioned, the hearing featured testimony from an unnamed White House security official and a DC police sergeant who provided more context on the Secret Service's activities. And Luria said some Secret Service witnesses have recently lawyered up, and that the committee expects "further testimony under oath and other new information in the coming weeks."

Any additional cooperation from Secret Service officials could help the committee figure out what happened with the potentially missing text messages, which has emerged over the last few days as a key flashpoint in the investigation, with lawmakers increasingly upset at the agency.

Public hearings to resume in September
The committee will take a summer break in August and resume public hearings in September.

"Our committee will spend August pursuing emerging information on multiple fronts, before convening further hearings this September," Cheney said.

Lawmakers have said their investigation is ongoing. Earlier in the hearing, Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee chairman, said "we continue to receive new information every day”.

The panel has conducted eight public hearings so far, and has seen impressive TV ratings while presenting substantial amounts of damaging new information about Trump and January 6. The next wave of hearings in September will come during the final stretch of the midterm campaign.

Committee members have said they intend to issue an interim report around that time as wel