Three Takeaways from Monday’s Jan. 6 Hearing
The January 6th Select Committee is holding hearings, and we are witnessing the unravelling of the largest conspiracy to undermine a free and fair election in our nation’s history. Are you watching? If so, be sure to discuss it with folks far and wide, share clips and information in your social media feeds, and keep interest up for the next 10 days as the hearings continue. If not, there are still four more live sessions to come. Of course, there are also plenty of ways to view online afterwards or get summaries and analysis from news outlets.
Three Key Takeaways from Monday’s Hearing as relayed by Rep. Zoe Lofgren:
Rep. Zoe Lofgren speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol meets to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2022.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Trump knew the charges of a stolen election were baseless but pursued it anyway: “The Trump campaign's effort to overturn the election was a coup in search of a legal theory.” Instead of listening to all the campaign managers/advisors that the outcome of the election was clear for Biden, Trump chose a course of action based on an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani who told him to declare victory outright that night and to pursue action to overturn the election results.
Trump fundraised on baseless charges: Even after 64 of 65 lawsuits were thrown out and that the fundraising went into personal coffers and not to the Election Defense Fund – a fund that did not even exist! Trump’s plan relied on an effort to deceive millions with knowingly false claims. Rep. Lofgren said, “It’s clear that Trump used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fights … But the Trump Campaign didn't use the money for that. The big lie was also a big grift and a rip-off.”
All witnesses who testified today were Republicans: The majority of witnesses had ties to the Trump Administration or campaign. Their testimony dispels the false charge of “partisan witch hunt!”