Within Hearing Distance: Day 8
Oddly, the biggest news of the Select Committee Hearings may have been announced before Thursday’s gathering took place. That’s when the report came down that they would be having more hearings (plural) in September. This isn’t the end – just the cliffhanger before Season 2 begins in two months. Clearly, that’s from all the new information that they’ve been getting, much of it coming after Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony apparently opened the floodgates. Also, I suspect that they hope (and perhaps even expect) to have more information coming as a result of the deleted Secret Service texts.
It should also be noted that the Select Committee has said that it would be issuing a preliminary report in September, and that a longer, final report later.
Putting these two occurrences together, it’s hard to imagine that more hearings and a preliminary report in September won’t be in some ways impactful before the November mid-term. Is that intentional or kismet? Probably a little bit of both (particularly, in the question of timing, with the preliminary report), but y’know, this is about an Insurrection to overthrow the government and democracy. If the timing doesn’t work out well for the people enabling a coup, that’s a shame.
I thought the use of video of Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy decrying the Insurrection in the immediate aftermath was excellent and important. Later on, of course, we know they circled the wagons and played politics, McCarthy most especially. But in the moment of the horror, they spoke what they felt. Even to the degree of talking about removing Trump from office. And it was there on video and audio.
I also thought the Select Committee was exceedingly smart in its choice of the two Select Committee members to lead this particular hearing about Trump’s inaction during the Insurrection. Adam Kinzinger and Elaine Luria both served in the military and could speak with great understanding of “dereliction of duty.” The moment I heard this announced, I have no doubt that it was very intentional. And that point was driven home when Rep. Luria made certain to note she served in the Navy for 20 years. And when Rep. Kinzinger said that he too served in the military – and currently serves in the Air National Guard.
And with that in mind, the most important comment of the night was perhaps when Mr. Kinzinger said that Trump didn’t "fail to act, he chose not to act.” Kinzinger followed that by specifically referencing “dereliction of duty.” And “dishonor.” It was a theme that got repeated throughout the night, that Trump chose to act, making Trump’s inaction part of a knowing plan, not mere incompetence or callousness. This was later driven home when, during the peak of the mob violence forcing evacuation of the Capitol, we saw that Trump was not calling to resolve the Insurrection, but rather calling senators to try to advance the plot. And the only reason someone like Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) wasn’t able to help Trump at the moment was because he was being told he had to leave at risk of his life.
The Select Committee used a particularly smart, indeed clever touch in their management of the evening. All testimony has said that Trump spent the whole afternoon of inaction just watching television, and more to the point, specifically watching Fox “News.” So, the Select Committee showed precisely what Fox “News” had on the air at exact moments when Trump was watching the channel. Making clear he was aware, in fact had to be aware of the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol and overall violence.
And their decision to point out that members of Congress who were among those enabling the Big Lie were subsequently caught on video fleeing. Josh Hawley most stands out – giving his “power fist bump” to rile up the crowd, and then later seen not just walking out as senators were evacuated but literally running away to safety.
It was also good to finally see far more footage of the White House lawyer Pat Cipollone’s testimony, which has only been hinted at and teased the week before. For all his substantial words, probably the most meaningful was when he named all the people present at the White House on January 6 who wanted the mob dispersed – but left out one name. Unwilling to reveal communications with Trump. But adding, “I think you know.” Everyone at the White House wanted the mob dispersed, everyone. But one.
But perhaps the most wrenching footage and radio traffic was of danger faced by the Secret Service protecting Vice President Pence. And above all, audio of the security official describing how personal some of the calls from agents were, saying goodbye to family members. It was so emotional to the official that he didn’t want to talk about it.
On the other end of the spectrum, the oddest revelation of the night was hearing that the official White House photographer was told not to take pictures there on January 6. As odd as that story is, it is also deeply telling. Since the only serious reason you wouldn't want someone -- whose sole job is to take relentless photographs for history and the official record -- to not take any pictures is because you have something you want hidden. Which is a pretty clear focus on consciousness of guilt.
Or perhaps it was the raw footage of Trump preparing for his January 7 speech, unable to say the words that the election was over. Though clearly, because the words were written for him, he knew that's how everybody who mattered felt and felt so strongly that they wanted it said.
As for the two witnesses, it was especially important to have Matthew Pottinger right there, the then-Deputy National Security Advisor explaining why Trump’s tweet at 2:24 PM calling Vice President Pence a coward pushed him to almost immediately decide to resign. “Pouring fuel on the fire” was the appropriate phrase repeatedly used about that tweet, which witness after witness was horrified by.
By the way, I had one other takeaway from this. Why Mike Pence thinks he has a snowball’s chance of getting the Republican Party nomination for president is delusional and one of life’s mysteries. The base of the GOP still considers him a traitor, the man who kept Trump from still being president, who many of them wanted to actually kill. That’s not going to be forgotten anytime soon. And you can drop the word “soon.”
Pottinger was also particularly eloquent when he spoke when one goes through the court appeals process, to then not accept court rulings is an attack on our rule of law and democracy.
Sarah Matthews, the former White House Deputy Press Secretary, wasn’t as impactful as Pottinger, but added a great deal in describing her efforts to try and write the proper and appropriate words Trump needed to say, all of which were rebuffed. And when it was clear she would have to be put in the position of defending Trump’s action, she knew she couldn’t and so she too resigned.
If I had any complaints about the hearing it was what I consider two omissions. The first was not repeating relentlessly that Trump's inaction for 187 minutes. They discussed his inaction, but not the the specific, galling length. "All afternoon" is not as meaningful as "for over three hours" and "for 187 minutes" Trump did nothing, over and over. And the other is that I'd have loved if they used a timeline to keep those three hours in perspective. Having "markers" all along the way would have let people focus more clearly on where things stood all along the way. But those things aside, it was handled very well.
Adam Kinzinger’s angry closing speech was particularly strong. Hammering the point about dereliction of duty and the Insurrection being a stain on our county. Making clear that this wasn’t merely about January 6, but that the “forces Donald Trump ignited that day have not gone away. The militant, intolerant ideologies. The militias," he said. "The weird fantasies & disinformation. They’re all still out there, ready to go.” Laws are just words on paper, he said, they mean nothing unless public officials support them. “Oaths matter, character matters, truth matters.” Closing with making clear that that unless we support these, the shining city on the hill (his nod to Ronald Reagan’s conservatives) will not endure.
What I liked most in Elaine Luria’s closing statement was that she again returned to the point of the night – that this isn’t about inaction. It’s more than that: Donald Trump summoned the mob. Attacked the Vice President. Commiserated with the mob. And in her best comment of the night, drawing a subtle, but clear line to showing this was all a part of a plan we all hear mad in the open public, saying about his words praising the mob, “It was his newest version of ‘Stand back, and stand by.’”
And once again, Liz Cheney had a superb summation of the night, with controlled outrage. And for me, the best thing she said – which was said throughout the hearings, but not nearly as eloquently as last night, and should be front and center – was to make clear that the witnesses we have heard at each hearing have not been Trump’s opposition enemies. They have been his staff, family, friends, lawyers and advisors. All acknowledging their involvement being there when it all happened.
And we will leave it to The Happenings to reiterate her final words.
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