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The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack live-streamed a riveting two hour session Thursday night, featuring never-seen video from the January 6 Capitol attack, clips of testimony from key political figures, and interviews with frontline witnesses.
“Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy,” said Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, in the introductory session. “And ultimately, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down the Capitol and subvert American democracy.”
It was an emotional as well as eye-opening presentation by the chairman, Representative Bennie Thompson, and co-chairperson, Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming.
The live public hearings will continue over the next several weeks, starting again Monday at 10 AM on CNN and other major broadcast channels.
Among the voices heard last night from pre-recorded testimony, were Bill Barr, the former Attorney General, Jared Kushner, the former president’s son-in-law, and Ivanka Trump, the former president’s daughter.
Bill Barr said in no uncertain terms that there was no election fraud that would have made any difference in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, and he told Trump that on three separate occasions that he could remember. In his words, the lie made up about Trump winning the election was “nonsense” and “b-s.”
Ivanka Trump said in her interview that she agreed with Barr that her father had lost the election.
Shocking video taken by a documentary filmmaker, Nick Quested, who accompanied the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers at the Capitol that dreadful day, revealed up close the plans, the movements, and the strategies, many premeditated, that resulted in the frontline demonstrators breaking the barriers held by Capitol police, resulting in the injuries to Capitol police that have been well publicized. It was clear from the video that the onslaught was coordinated and planned, and many of the participants admitted they believed they had been “given permission” to enter the Capitol grounds by the president himself.
The Justice Department has already indicted several members of the right-wing groups for seditious conspiracy. Clearly, January 6 was not a peaceful, tourist visit or even a spontaneous riot.
Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards gave emotional testimony of her experience that day, as she was knocked over as the crowd breached the barriers, and she fell, blacked out and hit her head, resulting in a concussion. In spite of her injuries, upon regaining consciousness, she continued to fight back and to assist other officers who had been pepper-sprayed.
“What I saw was a war scene,” Edwards, one of the more than 150 officers injured in the attack, testified. “I saw officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up.”
The committee wasn’t afraid to name names. They referred to several politicians, including Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and administration staff who they have evidence assisted in the plan that the committee clearly labeled a “coup.” And several, including Perry, had requested pardon guarantees for their roles in their plan to overturn the election.
A plan allegedly designed, with the help of others, by the man who wanted to maintain power and overturn the 2020 election – the president himself.
According to witnesses, Trump said words that indicated he was willing to allow the crowd to hang his Vice-President, Mike Pence, and said Pence deserved it.
The committee is determined to bring out the facts of that day, based on the testimonies of several witnesses, participants, former administration aides and staff, politicians and others.
No matter what your political persuasion is, if you missed the opening session, you should watch it on YouTube or other sources, and come to your own conclusions.
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