After four years of continuous screaming, history may remember the presidency of Donald Trump for seven and a half hours of uncharacteristic silence.
Tuesday morning, Bob Woodward and Robert Costa from The Washington Post reported In light of the unexplained long gap in the official White House telephone record on January 6, 2021, the day far-right rioters attacked the Capitol in an attempt to nullify the 2020 election, this gap, revealed in 11 pages of records submitted to a selection committee The House of Representatives investigation into the attack, notes that Trump did not make or receive a single phone call for the duration of the Capitol attack.
Investigations into this topic have done little to capture the attention of the general public, let alone challenge the flow of misinformation that distorts the way Americans view the attack.
Not only is this claim unreasonable considering The flow of phone calls and other text messages to the White House The House committee knows this happened that day, which is a strong indication that Trump and his cronies actively participated in an effort to cover up the president’s actions — and failed to act. The House committee is now investigating whether Trump communicated with allies through single-use phones or other covert means that left no compelling paper trail. (The Washington Post reports that “Trump’s spokeswoman said Trump had nothing to do with the records and assumed none of his phone calls were recorded and archived.”)
But rather than amplify these other troubling findings for the American people, the January 6 House committee remained virtually invisible and largely ineffective in American political and cultural life. what happened?
The bipartisan House Select Committee began with a promise Primetime televised hearings It would put senior Trump administration officials under oath to explain exactly what happened in the White House as radical Americans were raiding their government and help fight the “Trump Big Lie” that Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory was rigged by Democrats and other occultists. forces.
The January 6 commission was right to target it with prime-time hearings. From the advent of Attorney General Robert F. The famous Kennedy in 1963 Senate Hearings on Organized Crime for john dean Watergate certificate incendiary As for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, the striking image of sworn testimony and questions to Congress remains a major force in America’s political imagination.
Even a mistake can leave its mark on cultural memory. The Republicans’ hearing on the 2012 terrorist attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, failed to charge any wrongdoing to then-President Barack Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but “Benghazi” Enjoying a second life as political shorthand To hear heavy in plays made for television that put political opponents on the defensive, where the political fallout can be enormous even if policy mistakes are minimal. The hearing in Benghazi was also lifted Clinton Email Server News to the broader public consciousness — an issue that Clinton has struggled with throughout the campaign and contributed to her loss in 2016.
But when it comes to the biggest political breach of the past decade, investigations into the subject have done little to gain the attention of the general public, let alone challenge Flood of misinformation How do you deceive the Americans? Attack view. A combination of cowardice, poor letters, and a lack of remarkable witnesses diminished the potential impact of the commission’s work. A little time to correct course. The January 6th Committee is facing severe time pressures, not least because many Republicans are under Determined to dissolve the committee If the Republican Party takes back the House in November, that is likely to happen.
“The committee is making the same mistake that Mueller did,” warned former White House press secretary Clinton Joe Lockhart, referring to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. strict media silence During his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, “the public deserves to be updated on a regular basis.”
Mueller seemed to believe that staying out of the public eye would give credibility to his investigation among Democrats and Republicans alike. Instead, the decision to disappear Mueller has given Trump and his political cohorts the space they needed Flooding the media with unchallenged recycle. The January 6 commission is liable to make the same short-sighted misstep.
Republican witnesses, of course, made matters more difficult for the commission by their lack of cooperation. However, the commission was reluctant to use its statutory authority to obtain testimony from the powerful Trump.
Only a handful of Republicans were called out directly. The panel in October recommended that Steve Bannon be tried in contempt. The White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, obtained a criminal referral for him in December, although he has yet to be charged. On Monday, the committee referred White House aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress.
Part of the commission’s fear of handing over more criminal referrals likely comes from a desire not to appear overly political in the public eye. The indictment of too many high-ranking Trump administration officials could lead Americans to believe the GOP’s persistent accusations of “witch hunts.” But leniency with the crooks will not stop the Republican Party, which has been relentlessly attacking the committee from before it was even completed.
Aaron Huertas, a former House staffer and communications adviser, advised, “The public hearings will be interesting, but the most important thing is to exercise the power to hold accountable the Republicans who instigated the rebellion and who legally obstruct the investigation.” “It is the right thing to do, and it truly generates news and interest. It represents important business, not just discussions.”
But even those whom the House of Representatives deemed their contempt have nothing to fear in the short term. He was first referred to trial nearly half a year ago, and it wasn’t until Bannon’s federal criminal trial began Until July 18. If the committee hopes that this blatant federal criminal measure will loosen Republicans’ tongues about what Trump knew and did on Jan. 6 before he was disbanded, hope was probably in vain.
The commission’s concealment is so baffling because the recent news surrounding the activities of prominent Republicans on January 6 was so bizarre and striking.
The commission’s concealment is so baffling because the recent news surrounding the activities of prominent Republicans on January 6 was so bizarre and striking. The committee is considering the question of Virginia “Jenny” Thomas, a street vendor known to Conservative conspiracy theories and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to appear in front of the committee.
Thomas became the focus of national attention after her text messages to Meadows urging him to help Overturning the legal results of the 2020 elections. Americans should be horrified that such anti-democratic sentiment came from one of the most influential members of the Republican Party internally. But unless the commission requests a full prime-time hearing for Thomas, most Americans may not hear the full story.
It would be a tragedy with grave consequences for our democracy if Congress allowed the violence of January 6 to fade from memory without seeking genuine public accountability for those who incited and supported its anti-democratic goals. Time is running out for the select committee to give a full and fair report to the nation on what happened that day. Without major public hearings to spur public opinion and legal accountability for all those who materially supported this attack, America will never be fully responsible for the scope of Republican complicity, even if the gap in Trump’s calls that day were filled.
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