I recently finished reading the January 6 Select Committee report. First things first:
For anyone trying to figure out when you have the time to read it, know that it is not remotely as long as they keep saying. The figure that gets repeated is that it’s around 850 pages. It’s not close to that. The edition I have (the Harper-Collins one with Ari Melber’s introduction) is 691 pages – that’s a lot, but it’s a lot less than 850. And more to the point, that number also includes 260 pages of endnotes. So, the text is only around 430 pages. (Melber’s introduction is separate from that page count, and about 30 pages.) Furthermore, there are a lot of photos interspersed throughout, so it’s even less. And perhaps most importantly, that includes the 130-page summary, all of which is repeated in the main text, just with more details. In other words, the report is only 300 pages – including a great many photos. So, maybe it’s around 250 pages of text. That’s all. Moreover, it’s as well-written as its reputation and so, reads fast. And it reads all the quicker since I suspect most people diving in are generally familiar with what the overall view of what it’s saying. I read both the summary and the main report, so it was in the 400-page range. But you can skip the summary, since all of that is in the report. But then, honestly, if you really didn’t want to read the whole thing – you could just read the 130-page summary which is extremely comprehensive. Though I said the main report has more details, there are plenty of details in a 130-page summary. I just liked reading both, because it gave me more familiarity once I got to the final report. It seemed to read smoother. But the summary is not necessary. There’s only one thing that I recall which is in the summary, but not the report. (I’ll get to that in a moment.) So, you won’t miss anything by skipping it. I don’t mean metaphorically, I mean other than this one chart, there is literally nothing in the summary that is not in the final report. And since the chart is easy to spot – it goes on for six pages! – so, you can just flip to it. And to make things even easier, I'll mention that in my copy it starts around page 22. Having now finished it all, I must tell you that I’ve come to the conclusion that I think this Trump guy is really guilty. Quips aside, there is so much more damning evidence in this than got presented at the hearings – there’s more testimony and a great many blunt text messages. It’s incredibly clear why the Committee was so driven in their actions because you get the sense that all the committee members wanted to yell into the cameras, “We know SO MUCH more than we’re telling you, and it’s horrible.” That one chart that’s only in the summary is fascinating and really smart of them to include. It’s a great chart of boxes that goes on for three pages – on the left side of the pages, running vertically, each box is dated and shows what someone testified they told Trump the facts and reality were about no election fraud, no problems, everything has been investigated and is legitimate. On the right side opposite each box are a companion boxes with the lies Trump then told the public days later that totally ignore the truth he’d just been told. It goes on and on for three pages, and is brutal. (Though the chart is not in the main report, all the information in the chart is.) The text messages they include about what high White House officials knew about plans for “war” and for killing Congressmen that were posted on militia and white supremacist sites for Jan. 6 is sickening and damning. And the Trump officials involved goes as high up as texts with Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. (I have to believe the DOJ Special Counsel is honing on him to get him to flip, if Meadows hasn’t already flipped. It’s clear he knows so much.) The nuggets throughout are amazing. For just one example, there’s the passage that dealt with what Cassidy Hutchinson testified to about Trump being out of control in the SUV wanting to go to the Capitol. Up to now, the public likely sees this as her word (under oath) against Tony Ornato’s (not under oath). But there’s new, subsequent insight in the report -- “The Committee has now obtained evidence from several sources about a ‘furious interaction’ in the SUV. The vast majority of witnesses who have testified before the Select Committee about this topic, including multiple members of the Secret Service, a member of the Metropolitan police and national security and military officials in the White House described President Trump’s behavior as ‘irate,’ ‘furious, ‘ ‘insistent, ‘ ‘profane‘ and ‘heated‘.” It's just one small matter and a minor passage in the summary. But the report is full of material like that, where you sit up and go, Wow, I didn’t know that! Quite a few people stand out as particularly awful. Trump, of course, leads the pack Being relentlessly told the truth and not only ignoring it, but consciously going out and lying about what he’s been told is contrary. But also Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman hold a special place of deceit. Giuliani for being relentless in trying to push lies he knows he has nothing to back them up with, and Eastman for continually pushing the legal theories and plans for Trump act on, even though he says he knows they have no validity. One can get the report for free online as a PDF file. I preferred to have it in book form, and ended up getting the edition with Ari Melber's preface -- not so much for that (since, good as it was, he covered it all on a special episode of his show -- but because at the time it was the least expensive version for sale. You can get it here. However, there's now a less-expensive edition for four dollars less at $11. (Oddly, it's less than the Kindle version.) It's from The New Yorker, and includes a prologue by a David Remnick, the Pulitzer Prize-winning editor of the magazine, and an epilogue by committee member Jamie Raskin. That's available here.
2 Comments
Dn Friedman
2/8/2023 09:14:13 am
Thanks. I had bought the report but you've motivated me to read it. And thinks for the tip about not reading the summary if I'm going to read the report itself.
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ROBERT J ELISBERG
2/8/2023 03:42:01 pm
Yeah, I've mentioned this to a few people, and they've all put it off thinking it was 850 pages -- and then been stunned to hear it's only about 300 pages. And all say that, hmm, maybe they should read it.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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