With the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol coming this week, this edition of "Meet The Press" focused on what we know and what can expect moving forward from the select committee.
As we know, the attempt to block the certification of electoral votes was not just what happened on the 6th but all the days from November 4th to that date. That includes the former president's phone to Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, where he asked the GA official to find 11,780 votes. That includes the 187 minutes on the 6th where the former president did nothing while there was an attack on the American people, as committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) described.
There's no pulling punches here, the 'Big Lie' as it's called, is actually the 'Big Crime.' Donald Trump committed crimes against the Constitution of the United States. Period. Hard Stop. We know enough to factual conclude that that is the case. If one doesn't see that objectively then he or she is choosing to ignore these crimes.
As Chairman Thompson explained about the riot itself was that it was both spontaneous and in some instances coordinated. And yes, members of Congress were in the know about what the former president's lawyers and operatives [read: Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon] were doing to subvert the will of the American people.
In fact, as far as the former president is concerned, these crimes were set in motion before election day with the former president's statements that if he didn't win, the election must have been rigged. It's time to stop taking democracy for granted, look at these actions objectively, and understand who was responsible.
Most chilling, Barton Gellman of The Atlantic and former State Dept. Russia expert Fiona Hill described how the former president's Big Crime is still continuing with the help of what Ms. Hill called a 'compliant legislature.' Mr. Gellman explained that there has been an uprooting of the obstacles that would have keep the intergrity of the vote in place. In Republican controlled state legislatures over 400 new voting laws have passed that either make it more difficult to vote or change who is in charge of the certifying the votes, and in most cases both.
Yes, we are at a tipping point here is the United States. We can only hope that the January 6th Select Committee can provide clarity that cuts through the noise on what fully happened and who was responsible, lest we'll all fall down.
Panel: Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch; Yamiche Alcindor, PBS; Garrett Haake, NBC News; Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News
Happy New Year, btw!
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