Former US President Donald Trump was accused by a parliamentary inquiry committee of orchestrating the January 6, 2021 invasion of the Capitol as a “coup attempt”. The allegation emerged in the first televised session of the 11-month investigation, an unprecedented event in US politics.
According to investigators, Trump made allegations of fraud in the 2020 election knowing they were fraudulent, and incited protesters to resort to violence to stage a coup.
Democratic politicians (from President Joe Biden) and two Republican politicians (from Trump) on the investigative committee insisted that making the investigation work available to the American public was important both for the historical record and for the historical record. legislative actions that can protect democracy from future attacks.
But the rest of the GOP, on the other hand, sees the investigation as a partisan, biased and illegitimate demonstration aimed at diverting public attention from rising inflation and this year’s election that could knock Democrats out of the control of the House and Senate. .
For Trump, the committee is promoting a “political bullshit.”
With prime-time coverage on all three major free-to-air networks, as well as on all closed news channels (except Fox News), Americans can have a great opportunity to draw their own conclusions about accusations and rebuttals.
Accusations Against Trump
If there was any doubt that committee chair Bennie Thompson (Democratic Party) held Trump personally responsible for the attack on the US Capitol, it was immediately answered at the inauguration. Thompson, the then-president, said he was “trying to block the peaceful transfer of power.”
“Donald Trump was at the center of this conspiracy,” he added.
Image: Getty Images
These are strong words, but now the committee must present evidence to substantiate this serious accusation.
This is perhaps the biggest question surrounding the investigation: Is there solid evidence that Trump participated in the invasion of Capitol Hill, an act of violence that killed four people and injured more than 100 police officers? If so, the committee will likely recommend that the former president be investigated for crimes.
If that happens, it will be up to agencies like the US Department of Justice to decide whether to continue the investigation. More or less similar to what happens at the Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry (CPI) in Brazil.
Accusations by Republicans without evidence of election fraud
Before the congressional committee can prove that Trump deliberately broke the delegation of power to Biden, the group must first prove that the then-president deliberately spread misinformation (not because he thought he was right).
To this end, the committee’s vice chairman, Liz Cheney (Group Party), did not attempt to refute all the specific claims made by Trump and his supporters without evidence against the fairness of the election result.
Instead, the congressman reported and played video testimonies from Trump’s own aides confirming that the election results were indeed valid (contrary to what he claimed at the time).
Image: Getty Images
“Those who raided our Capitol and fought against law enforcement for hours were motivated by what President Trump told them: the election was stolen and he was the rightful president. (…) President Trump summoned the crowd, gathered the crowd, and ignited the flame of this attack,” said Cheney. .
In a critical video for investigators, the Trump administration’s then Attorney General William Barr described how he used a condescending slur to tell the president that widespread election fraud was unfounded.
“We cannot live in a world where the current government is in power based on the view that it is electoral fraud, which is not supported by specific evidence,” the former attorney general said. Said.
Cheney was actually blaming and trying to convict Trump at the words of his own team. It’s worth remembering that the former president continues to make claims with no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election, when he lost to Biden.
Plus, more than 30 million Americans (almost 70% Republicans) believe the same thing. Historically, between 30% and 40% of US voters affiliated with the losing party in a given presidential election tend to dispute the fairness of the election.
Another moment of impact came when Cheney said he wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence for refusing to hinder the electoral process by protesters, while Trump’s aide read a report claiming he “deserved it”.
Security cameras of journalists and protesters recorded the actions step by step: looting in the mayor’s room, while his aides were hiding; the march of protesters who chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as then-vice-president and his family were taken to a secure hiding place in the building; the desperation of parliamentarians who threw themselves to the ground during one of the plenary sessions and were surrounded by protesters; heroic acts of security agents who single-handedly managed to contain and disperse dozens of invaders.
More than 700 people were arrested and charged with offenses such as trespassing and damaging public property and bodily harm to police officers. Nearly 70 have been prosecuted so far, and 31 of them – including Jacob Chansley, world-renowned for the horn ornaments he wore while parading in convention halls – are in prisons across the country.
the power of video
The committee hearing, which aired on prime-time TV, was billed as something different from a regular Congressional event. Instead of congress members taking the microphone, this time the event was held on video clips and material evidence to tell a strong story.
It didn’t start out that way. Although Thompson kept his remarks short, Cheney, a Republican at war with his own party, spoke monotonously for about half an hour.
Although the accusations were serious and serious, the words piled up in long paragraphs, numbered lists, and explanatory statements.
And until the committee showed a comprehensive video of the attack—mostly footage from security cameras and police, interspersed with excerpts from Trump’s speeches and tweets—the drama of the events of January 6, 2021 became instinctive. , and no more brains.
When the video ended, the courtroom fell silent. Many members of Congress watched guests closely, as did emotional family members of police officers who died during and after the attacks.
Views from Trump’s daughter and son-in-law
The commission has so far added more than 1,000 statements as part of its investigation. But three of those interviews—Trump’s two sons, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. and with son-in-law Jared Kushner – eagerly awaited. And on Thursday night (9/9) the public saw for the first time what the two of them had to say, albeit briefly.
In an excerpt from the testimony shown, Ivanka Trump said she had no reason to doubt then-Attorney General William Barr when she said her father had lost the election. For Kushner, threats by lawyers on Trump’s legal team to resign in protest of what they saw as “illegal and unfounded” were “outlandish”.
Image: Getty Images
Trump’s eldest son did not attend the hearing.
Other videos may appear at future hearings, but if viewers are expecting a family conflict between the Trump family, it hasn’t happened so far.
first person emotion
The committee had only two witnesses at the first hearing: documentary filmmaker Nick Quested and Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards.
Image: Getty Images
The first was Caroline Edwards, who gave strength to the process with her emotional personal account, while giving an insight into the preparations made by the far-right group Proud Boys before the Capitol attack.
He described how he saw the mob organize before they attacked the cops on Capitol Hill and the leaders of the Proud Boys started their attack.
He said he lost consciousness when he fell to the ground and hit his head on a concrete step. After recovering, he continued to defend the Capitol before chemical spray was sprayed on him and his later-deceased colleague, Brian Sicknick.
“What I saw was a battle scene I’d seen in movies,” Edwards said. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. The cops on the ground were bleeding and vomiting… It was a massacre. It was chaos.”
source: Noticias
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