“The insurrection on January 6th, 2021 was planned, coordinated, and instigated by the Republican Party. Remember this,” The Lincoln Project proclaimed alongside a new video ahead of a planned Thursday hearing of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. The hearing was to be the first in a new round of public proceedings planned by the panel to make their case to the American people. Check out the video below:
The insurrection on January 6th, 2021 was planned, coordinated, and instigated by the Republican Party. Remember this. #January6thHearings pic.twitter.com/cvNMgDp3GX
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 9, 2022
In the video, there’s a selection of items like news coverage and various clips from throughout Trump’s time in the public spotlight. The montage places the Capitol riot in a specific context: Trumpism. The Capitol riot didn’t suddenly pop up out of nowhere. For years, Trump stoked animosity and even violence — it was all the way back in 2017 that Trump infamously struggled in the eyes of many to unequivocally condemn the far-right extremists who descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, in a show of violence that ended with counter-protester Heather Heyer dead from a car ramming attack. And you don’t even have to reach back that far: now, after the riot, Trump again is struggling to offer an unequivocal condemnation. He’s indicated an interest in potentially pardoning riot participants if he becomes president again. Rioters are charged with seditious conspiracy, assaulting police, and other serious crimes… and he’s evidently fine with wiping at least some of their charges away.
And Republicans — many of them, at least — stick by Trump anyway. In the case of House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), he originally publicly acknowledged Trump’s responsibility for the riot… and nonetheless now backs him. As for Thursday’s hearing, the panel said ahead of time that they’d “present previously unseen material documenting January 6th, receive witness testimony, and provide the American people an initial summary of [their] findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power.” The committee also indicated that they would offer a preview of what’s to come at forthcoming hearings.
For the first hearing in this series, witnesses were set to include U.S. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards — who was evidently the first officer to be injured in last year’s pro-Trump rampage at the Capitol — and documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, who was apparently with his crew around the Capitol building as the violence got underway. In the future, likely witnesses include members of then-VP Pence’s staff and Cassidy Hutchinson, an ex-aide to Mark Meadows who’s spoken three times with the panel. The committee is also apparently in discussion with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about him testifying at one of the public hearings, and such testimony sounds likely to take place because a subpoena which he’s seemingly willing to comply with has apparently already been issued. Going forward, Trump and allies of his have established that they’re committed to sticking by their false claims of a stolen election. Getting Trump allies in positions of power could be devastating to the peaceful transfer of power following future disputed elections.
