Commission chair Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said on DailyExpertNews’s “State of the Union” that the panel has “significant testimony” showing the White House was told to “do something” when the crowd incited Trump supporters over his election. fantasies made their way to the Capitol. Vice Chairman Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, told ABC News of a “firsthand testimony” that Trump’s daughter Ivanka, then a West Wing adviser, had twice asked him to intervene in a melee in which police officers were beaten by his crowd.
The source also told DailyExpertNews’s Gangel that the committee has texts and other documents showing what the president was and was not doing at the time, including some from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. The new details about there being firsthand information from inside the West Wing serve as a warning to Trump that his relentless attempts to hide the truth about a day that will live in infamy may not work. . And it may deter other witnesses from resisting the commission.
But this week’s events will also underscore that a year later, Trump’s massive power over the GOP and the complicity of many of its top leaders in his lies about vote fraud means American democracy is in deeper trouble and under wider attack. than ever.
A broader picture of dereliction of duty
Thompson and Cheney’s comments will also create the growing impression that the commission, which has conducted hundreds of interviews, has built up a detailed behind-the-scenes picture of what happened in Trump’s West Wing on an infamous day in American history. Some of that evidence has already emerged in journalistic accounts of what happened during the uprising. But the commission’s final final report would have the capacity to create a definitive record for history — and for voters to come — about the truth about the attack.
There were additional signs on Sunday that the committee is pushing to track funding for the rally at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, which denounced Trump with his inflammatory lies about voter fraud on Jan. 6. Thompson expressed concern about the “State of the Union”. about the possibility of financial fraud related to the event.
“We have not made those concerns public at this time, but we find it very concerning on our part that people have raised money for one activity, and we cannot find the money being spent on that particular activity,” he said.
The chairman also specifically declined to rule out the idea that the commission could take the extraordinary step of criminally referring Trump to the Justice Department. While it’s not clear whether the full committee would support such a move, it would open up the prospect for the attorney general of a administration considering an indictment of the previous White House president, a conundrum that could pour more fuel. on a raging political fire in a midterm election year.
“We don’t know… If as a committee we come across anything that we think warrants a reference to the Justice Department, we will,” Thompson told Dana Bash. Cheney added on CBS that Trump had been found guilty of “most likely dereliction of duty” and that the commission was investigating whether there was a need for “increased penalties” for such conduct, although she appeared to be referring to legislation that probably would not. are applied. retrospective of Trump’s behavior.
‘Unsuitable for the office’
Cheney warned, however, that Trump’s behavior was so blatant that he would not be allowed to come near power again as the former president contemplates a possible new overturn at the White House in 2024.
“This is a man who has shown that he is at war with the rule of law. He has shown that he is willing to blow through any barrier of democracy,” Cheney said in CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “And he can never be near the Oval Office again.”
On the face of it, a refusal by the Commander in Chief to intervene to stop an attack on the citadel of American democracy during the process of certifying Biden’s election is a clear violation of his oath of office to preserve, protect, and protect the Constitution. and defend.
But even a very damning report from the commission doesn’t seem likely to break the dynamic of denial in the GOP about Trump’s transgressions.
Such data, reflecting a year of lies by Trump and conservative media, help explain why the House GOP has especially entrenched its hopes of winning a majority in the midterm elections out of allegiance to the insurgent ex-president. Aside from Cheney and the other Republican on the select committee, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, much of the Republican conference participates in or promotes the money laundering of history.
‘We want to verify everything’
The committee is taking into account what it believes to be the crucial 187 minutes between the start of the Capitol uprising and the message Trump is sending supporters to go home. Thompson hinted that there are signs that the ex-president tried to record several previous messages, but that his words apparently were not timely enough and were not released by the White House. That’s one reason the commission wants the Supreme Court to allow it to examine documents, texts, emails and memos that Biden has refused to exercise executive privilege but that Trump does not want to be handed over. After several previous courtroom setbacks, in the days leading up to Christmas, the ex-president appealed to the conservative majority in the Supreme Court that he helped build.
“We have important testimonies that lead us to believe that the White House was instructed to do something,” Thompson told Bash Sunday. “We want to verify everything so that the public has a chance to see it with their own eyes when we prepare our report and when we have the hearings.”
The chairman added: “All I can say is that it’s highly unusual for someone in charge of something to look at what’s going on and do nothing.”
“We know his daughter — we have first-hand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him ‘please stop this violence,'” Cheney told ABC News this week.
Cheney’s willingness to chase the January 6th truth that sets her apart from many of her fellow Republicans in the House has had her ostracized by her party. She lost leadership in the House Republican conference and is being challenged by a Trump-backed primary challenger. But she still expressed hope to CBS on Sunday that a commission destroyed by Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill could provide evidence with the power to change the minds of skeptics. She also had a challenge for her party, many of which long ago chose to protect Trump and ignore the truth for political gain.
“We have to choose sides. We can be loyal to Donald Trump or loyal to the Constitution, but we can’t be both,” she said.
This story was updated Monday with additional developments.
Jamie Gangel of DailyExpertNews contributed to this report.