Benny Thompson, the chairman of the Democratic Committee from Mississippi, stated in CNN’s “State of the Union Address” that the group had “important testimony” indicating that the White House was told to “do something” because of Trump’s Supporters were excited about his election and fantasized about breaking into the Capitol. Liz Cheney, vice chairman of the Republican Party of Wyoming, told ABC News “first-hand testimony” that Trump’s daughter Ivanka, then a consultant to the West Wing, had twice asked him to intervene in the crowd. The assaulted melee.
The source also told Ganger of CNN that the committee had texts and other documents showing what the president was doing and not doing at the time, including some documents by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The new details about the first-hand information within the West Wing warned Trump that his unremitting efforts to cover up the truth that he will live in a notorious day may not work. It may prevent other witnesses from opposing the committee.
But this week’s events will also emphasize that one year later, Trump’s immense power over the Republican Party and the complicity of many of his top leaders in his vote fraud lies mean that American democracy faces deeper than ever. Trouble and wider attacks.
An enlarged picture of dereliction of duty
Thompson and Cheney’s comments will also spark more and more impressions that the committee has conducted hundreds of interviews and has produced a detailed behind-the-scenes event for Trump’s West Wing on a notorious day in American history. picture. Some of this evidence has appeared in news reports about what happened during the uprising. But the final report of the committee will have the ability to create a clear record of the truth about the attack for history-and future voters.
There were other signs on Sunday that the committee was tracking the source of funding for the Ellipse rally in Washington, D.C. Trump responded to this with his inflammatory lie about election fraud on January 6. Thompson expressed concern about the “State of the Union Address” “about the possibility of financial fraud related to the incident.”
“We haven’t made these concerns public yet. But we do believe that the fact that people raise funds for an event is very worrying, and we can’t find the funds for that particular event,” he said.
The chairman also specifically refused to rule out the idea that the committee could take extraordinary measures to refer Trump criminally to the Justice Department. Although it is not clear whether the entire committee will participate in this initiative, considering the previous White House’s prosecution of the president, this will improve the prospects of a government’s attorney general. This problem may give a raging political hell in the mid-term election year.
“We don’t know… if we as a committee encounter anything that we think needs to be submitted to the Department of Justice, we will do it,” Thompson told Danabash. Cheney added on CBS that Trump was guilty of “extreme malfeasance” and that the committee is studying the need for “aggravated penalties” for such behavior, although she seemed to be referring to legislation that is unlikely to pass. Trace Trump’s actions.
‘Not suitable for the office’
However, Cheney did warn that Trump’s behavior was so bad that he should not be allowed to approach power again, because the former president believes that there may be a new tilt in the White House in 2024.
Cheney said on the “Face the Country” program on CBS News on Sunday: “This man has proven that he is at war with the rule of law. He has shown that he is willing to break through every guardrail of democracy.” “And he can no longer be near the Oval Office. Up.”
On the surface, in the process of proving Biden’s election, the commander-in-chief refused to intervene in order to prevent the attack on the bastion of American democracy, which obviously violated his oath to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution.
But even a severely condemned report from the committee seems unlikely to break the Republican Party’s denial of Trump’s illegal activities.
These data reflect the lies of Trump and the conservative media over the past year, and help explain why the House of Representatives Republicans particularly hope to win a majority in the midterm elections in order to be loyal to the rebellious former president. With the exception of Cheney and another Republican on the Special Committee, Rep. Adam Kinsinger of Illinois, most of the Republican conference was involved in or instigating whitewashing of history.
‘We want to verify all of this’
The committee is putting pressure on the critical 187 minutes between what it says is the start of congressional riots and Trump’s message to supporters to go home. Thompson hinted that there were signs that the former president had tried to record several previous messages, but his words obviously did not fully conform to the situation at the time, and the White House did not release it. This is one of the reasons why the committee wants the Supreme Court to allow it to review the documents, texts, emails, and memos that Trump refuses to assert administrative privileges but Trump does not want to hand over. After several reversals in court, the former president appealed to the conservative majority of the Supreme Court he helped establish a few days before Christmas.
“We have important testimony that leads us to believe that the White House was told to take action,” Thompson told Bash on Sunday. “We want to verify all of this so that the public will have the opportunity to witness it firsthand when we produce reports and hold hearings.”
The chairman added: “The only thing I can say is that anyone in charge of anything is observing what is going on and doing nothing, which is very unusual.”
“We know his daughter — we have first-hand testimony. His daughter Ivanka has been in at least twice and asked him to’please stop this violence,'” Cheney told ABC News this week. “.
Cheney’s willingness to pursue the truth on January 6 distinguished her from many House Republicans, which made her ostracized by the party. She lost her leadership position at the House Republican meeting and was challenged by a major challenger supported by Trump. But she still expressed hope on CBS on Sunday that a committee that was smashed by Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill could produce evidence and have the ability to change the minds of skeptics. Her party also faces challenges, most of which long ago chose to protect Trump and ignored the truth for political gain.
“Our party must make a choice. We can be loyal to Donald Trump or the Constitution, but we cannot have both,” she said.
This story was updated with other developments on Monday.
Jamie Gangel of CNN contributed to this report.
