The New Yorker, in partnership with Celadon Books, publishes the full report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. The publication includes a foreword by journal editor David Remnick, found below, and an afterword by committee member Jamie Raskin. Order the full report.
In the weeks since the House Select Committee to Investigate the Capitol Rebellion was finalizing its report, Donald Trump, at the center of the investigation, betrayed no anxiety or self-consciousness. In the exile of his country club in Palm Beach, Trump ignored the failures of his preferred candidates in the midterm elections and announced that he would run for president again. He happily and unapologetically dined with the spinning Kanye West and the young neo-fascist Nick Fuentes. He scoffed at the government’s demand that he hand over all the classified documents he had collected as personal property. Finally, he announced that he had a “big announcement” to reveal the final concerns of life. It used to be Trump University, Trump Steaks, Trump Ice. This time, he went for “limited edition” digital trading cards at ninety-nine dollars each, illustrating portraits of himself as an astronaut, a sheriff, and a superhero. The presentation began with the usual hokum: “Hello everyone, this is Donald Trump, hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington.”
During his career as a New York real estate mogul and resident tabloid, then as the forty-fifth president of the United States, Trump has been the most transparent of all public figures. He does little to hide his most defining characteristics: his racism, misogyny, dishonesty, narcissism, incompetence, cruelty, instability, and corruption. And yet what has kept Trump afloat for so long, what has helped him evade destruction and impeachment, is perhaps his most striking quality: he is shameless. It’s in his nature to never apologize, never explain. Trump is hardly the first dishonest president, the first nosy president, the first liar. But he is the most shy. It is impossible to imagine his remorse. He is shameless.
On December 19, 2022, the committee filed a devastating set of charges against Trump: obstruction of justice; conspiracy to defraud the public; conspiracy to make false statements; and, most seriously, inciting, aiding, abetting or abetting rebellion. For the first time in United States history, Congress referred a former president to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. Criminal cases have no official authority, although they may play a role in pushing Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, to press charges. The report certainly adds an immeasurable amount of evidence describing Trump’s actions and intentions. One telling example: The committee learned that Hope Hicks, the epitome of a loyal adviser, told Trump more than once in the days leading up to the rally to urge protesters to keep things calm. “I suggested it several times on Monday and Tuesday and he refused,” she wrote in a text to another adviser. When Hicks questioned Trump’s behavior regarding the uprising and the consequences for his legacy, he made his priorities clear: “Nobody cares about my legacy if I lose. So, it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning.”
Trump has similarly dismissed the committee’s work, telling “The Dan Bongino Show” radio host Dan Bongino that he was the victim of a “kangaroo court.” On his social media platform, Truth Social, he appealed for the loyalty of his supporters: “Republicans and patriots across the country must stand strong and united against the thugs and scoundrels of the unelected committee…. These people don’t understand that when they come after me, freedom loving people will rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
Experience shows that Trump will continue to do so, dismissing, denying, lashing out at his accusers, even if it means ending his days howling in a bare, echoing room. Never mind that the report shows that even members of his inner circle, from the attorney general to his daughter, know the depth of his vainglorious delusions. He has no regrets. He doesn’t change. But the importance of the committee’s report has far less to do with the spectacle of Trump’s unraveling. Its importance lies in the historical documentation it creates, the depth of its evidence, the story it tells of a deliberate and coordinated attack on American democracy that could easily have resulted in the kidnapping or assassination of high-ranking elected officials, the emboldening of extremist groups. and the militias and above all the stolen elections, the coup d’état.
The commission was not alone in its investigation. Many journalists contributed to the continuous collection of facts. But under the power of a subpoena, the commission was able to uncover countless new, illuminating details. One example: In mid-December 2020, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by the state of Texas that would have challenged the counting of millions of ballots. Trump, of course, supported the lawsuit. He was furious when it, like dozens of similar suits, was dismissed. Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked directly for White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, said Trump was “furious” at the decision: “He had said something like, ‘I don’t want people to know we lost.’ Mark. It’s embarrassing. Find out. We have to figure it out. I don’t want people to know we lost.”
Broadly speaking, the report is the story of how Trump, humiliated by his loss to Joe Biden, conspired to obstruct Congress, defraud the country he had promised to serve, and foment an insurgency to stay in power.
The origins of the committee and its work are clear: On January 6, 2021, thousands of people marched on the Capitol in support of Trump and his conspiratorial and completely fabricated charge that the presidential election last November was stolen from him. Demonstrators broke through police barricades, broke through windows and doors, and ran through the halls of Congress, threatening to retaliate against the vice president, speaker of parliament and other officials. Seven people died as a result of the riot. About one hundred and fourteen law enforcement officers were injured.
Half a year later, the House of Representatives voted to create a panel tasked with investigating all aspects of the uprising, including the former president’s role. An earlier attempt by the Senate to convene a commission of inquiry had been met with staunch resistance by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who called it an “early” project; despite the support of six Republican senators, it failed to receive the required sixty votes. The formation of the committee was left to the leadership of the House Democrats. The June 30, 2021, vote was largely along party lines, but the US House Elections Committee was formally established to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi then asked Republicans to name the G.O.P. members to join the panel. In response, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy offered some prominent election deniers, including Jim Jordan of Ohio, who had participated in “Stop the Steal” protests and was sure to act as an ardent obstructionist. Pelosi, who had nominated Liz Cheney of Wyoming to join the panel, rejected two of McCarthy’s five recommendations, saying, “The unprecedented nature of January 6 calls for this unprecedented decision.” After conferring with Trump, McCarthy refused to offer alternatives and abruptly withdrew all of his proposals, gambling that it would derail or discredit the initiative. Pelosi, in turn, asked to join the committee another Republican who voted with Cheney to impeach the president on January 13 – Adam Kinzinger of Illinois. Both Cheney and Kinzinger agreed.
Cheney, a staunch conservative and the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, had made her assessment of Trump well known. “The president of the United States called this crowd, rallied it and ignited the flame of this attack,” he said shortly after the uprising. “Everything that followed was his doing.” He knew that by opposing Trump and joining Kinzinger and the Democrats on the committee, he was almost certain to lose his seat in Congress. He later said he didn’t care, declaring his work on the panel, of which he was vice-chairman, “the most important” of his career. G.O.P. management was not impressed with this statement of principles. In February 2022, the Republican National Committee censured both Cheney and Kinzinger.
In deciding how to proceed with the investigation, committee chairman Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, along with Liz Cheney and seven other members, looked at a number of similarly high-profile past research groups, including the so-called was called to the Kefauver Committee to investigate organized crime in 1950-1951; the Presidential Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, known as the Warren Commission, in 1963-1964; the Senate Watergate hearings in 1973; Iran and Contra interrogations in 1987; and especially the 9/11 Commission from 2002-2004. The commission hired personnel investigators who worked in the Ministry of Justice and law enforcement, who conducted more than a thousand interviews. Teams were color-coded and tasked with diving into different aspects of January 6. The division of labor included a “blue team” that examined law enforcement’s preparation and response to events; the “green team” that investigated the financial support for the plot; the “purple team” that conducted an analysis of the extremist groups involved in the storming of the Capitol; the “red team” who investigated the rally on the Ellipse and the Stop the Steal movement; and the “golden team,” which looked specifically at Trump’s role in the uprising.
Committee members also called for an investigation into whether Trump plans to use emergency powers to overturn the vote, call in the National Guard and invoke the Sedition Act. Was Trump’s inaction during the Capitol Hill riot simply a matter of poor leadership, or was it a deliberate strategy to foment chaos to stay in the White House? “This breach of duty is of grave concern to us,” Thompson said. In this way, the investigation of the particular episode expanded to include an even more important issue: had the president attempted to undermine and circumvent America’s system of electoral democracy?
6 Mob is sentenced to 90 months. The sentence handed down to Albuquerque Cosper Head, the defendant, was one of the harshest sentences handed down by the Justice Department in the Capitol attack investigation.
Who received the longest sentence for the Capitol riot?
WASHINGTON — Guy Reffitt, the Texan who prosecutors say sparked the Jan. On the same subject : Biden signs the $280 billion high-tech CHIPS act. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced Monday to 7 1/4 years in prison, the longest sentence of any rioter so far but less than the Justice Department had sought.
What is the longest sentence from January 6? Thomas Webster was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the longest prison sentence for a defendant on Jan. 6. The previous longest sentences had been just over 7 years. Webster, a retired police officer and Marine, said he was influenced by Donald Trump’s rhetoric.
Who got the longest sentence in the Capitol riot?
WASHINGTON — Guy Reffitt, a Texan who prosecutors say “ignited the Jan. 6 riot match at the U.S. Capitol,” was sentenced Monday to 7 1/4 years in prison, the longest sentence of any rioter. for now, but less than the Justice Department had requested.
Why do judges sentence 1,000 years?
Sentencing laws vary around the world, but in the United States, the reason people get extraordinarily long prison terms is because the same person admits to multiple crimes. Read also : Trump and I can agree: the US is a ‘third world country’. “Every number represents a victim,” says Rob McCallum, public information officer for the Colorado Department of Courts.
Who is on Jan 6 Committee?
| Select a committee | |
|---|---|
| At work | Bennie Thompson (D) From July 1, 2021 |
| Vice Chairman | Liz Cheney (R) From September 2, 2021 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 9 |
How can I watch the congressional hearings tonight? Watch live broadcasts using “live. To see also : Nuechterlein: As the world changes, so does the United States.house.gov”.
Where can I view congressional hearings?
Unlike most other congressional documents, they cannot be listened to in the Senate or House document rooms. You may be able to find the hearing on the Government Publishing Office’s govinfo website, the committee’s website, or a federal depository library.
How many jan 6 rioters are still in jail?
So far, of the 800 cases filed since the January 6 attack, approximately 165 have been fully resolved, with a total of 65 defendants sentenced to either jail or prison. Another 50 have been sentenced to house arrest.
Who is Mark Ponder? The man who attacked law enforcement officers in the US Capitol was sentenced to five years in prison. Footage taken from an MPD officer’s body-worn camera shows Mark Ponder armed with a long pole with red, white and blue stripes.
Who received the longest sentence for the Capitol riot?
WASHINGTON — Guy Reffitt, a Texan who prosecutors say “ignited the Jan. 6 riot match at the U.S. Capitol,” was sentenced Monday to 7 1/4 years in prison, the longest sentence of any rioter. for now, but less than the Justice Department had requested.
How long do you go to jail for Capitol rioters?
6- determining the related penalty. A federal judge on Monday sentenced the Capitol rioter convicted in his first trial to 87 months, or just over seven years, in prison, the longest sentence so far for anyone charged in the Justice Department’s January criminal investigation.
