January 6 hearings

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Mori Chu »

Some of my quick takeaways from last night's gripping hearing:

* Wow, it's hard to watch that footage of 1/6 again. Such a frightening and violent affair. It could have gone so much worse, like if they had managed to get their hands on a hated member of Congress such as Pelosi or AOC.

* They revealed that several Republican congressmen asked Trump for pardons after 1/6. Wow. Who, and why? If 1/6 was a beautiful peaceful protest, why would anybody need a pardon? They even showed footage of Jared Kushner saying that he was busy after 1/6 handling all the calls and requests for pardons.

* Liz Cheney did an excellent job. I think she will be remembered for her courage and poise during these hearings.

* I thought it was quite effective of them to let a lot of Trump's own advisors do the talking. Seeing AG Barr call the claims of election fraud "bullshit", seeing Milley and other generals talk about how Trump tried to use the military to exert control on 1/6, seeing Ivanka and Jared say they knew Trump had really lost, and countless other advisors say that Trump had been advised repeatedly that he had lost and that there was "no 'there' there" to allegations of fraud. This is important because it removes deniability for Trump. He wasn't acting out of genuine concern that he really won the election. He knew he lost, and he incited the coup anyway. More likely to be able to show criminal liability.

* It was hard to watch the testimony from the police officer who was attacked and knocked out by the rioters that day. The Capitol Police were so brave in their actions to defend the government and its members.

* Interesting emphasis on the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Seems like these two groups were armed and organized and ready for a violent fight that day. They even went to the capitol building at 10:30am that day, before Trump even gave his speech telling people to do so. And they showed that documentary footage of the two groups' leaders meeting in a garage the day before; they likely coordinated their plans. No wonder the leaders of these orgs keep getting arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy.

* Man, if they are going to have 6-7 or more of these, it's going to be a lot to process. I think some of the most damning stuff is where Trump calls the various state government officials (like the AG in Georgia, Ratzenberger) and asks them to "find" votes. Also damning how he asks the AG and DOJ to make announcements saying they've found fraud, and he'll take it from there. He clearly wanted backup and a pretext to refuse to cede his power.

It is really, really scary how close we came to the whole fucking country falling into dictatorship that day. We literally almost lost our democracy. I'm still in shock about it. We have to fucking stop this guy.

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Indy
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Indy »

'dust up at the capital' jfc

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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Nodack »

The really F’ed up part is all the Republican leaders who knew Trump was behind it, said he was behind it and then changed their story to get behind Trump out of fear of political reprisals. These people are the worst Americans. The cops are there fighting for their lives trying to defend the Capital and Democracy while McCarthy was cowering out of fear from Trumps mob. McCarthy calls Trump and has words with him over it, then the next day gets on the podium placing the blame squarely on Trump. A week later he completely back tracks and is best friends with Trump again. This man clearly has not a single shred of honor in his entire body.

Pence almost single handedly thwarted Trumps scheme. Trump after trying every other trick in the book resorted to his fake electors hail mary scam. The whole scheme depended on Pence going along with it and Pence refused. Pence totally kissed Trumps ass for four years and was 100% loyal to him and in the end Trump throws him like he does everyone else under the bus. Trump says Pence should have been hanged for not going along with the plan. If anyone deserves to be hung it’s Trump.

Ivanka Trump under testimony said she respected Barr and when he said there was no fraud she believed him. Now Trump is even throwing his own daughter under the bus saying she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

Trump should be in prison for the rest of his life.

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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Nodack »

Image

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

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Blue lives matter! Back the blue! ... Unless they are in the way of our violent insurrection / coup, in which case, we shall drink their traitor blood!!!...

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Flagrant Fowl
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Flagrant Fowl »

Indy wrote:
Fri Jun 10, 2022 9:04 am
'dust up at the capital' jfc
Sadly it just goes to show that people have already made up their minds about this stuff long, long ago. It's important that this committee hearing is being broadcast, but I don't believe it's changing anyone's opinion about Trump or the election.
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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

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These hearings are crucial and every American should be watching them," The Atlantic contributing writer Tom Nichols wrote Thursday. "But the alternate reality that about forty percent of us live in will never be breached by actual facts." The Dispatch senior editor David French estimated that "tens of millions" of people still don't understand "the reality of January 6 in large part because the news outlets and personalities they trust are deliberately lying and/or withholding the plain truth about Trump and that dreadful day."

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Mori Chu »

I don't share this fatalism. It won't reach most Republicans, but it will reach some, and also some independents. And it may lead to the DOJ pursuing criminal charges against Trump or others. That isn't nothing. History will remember these hearings and their aftermath regardless of what some poll says.

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Flagrant Fowl
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Flagrant Fowl »

Voting polls are the only thing that matter in a democracy. Maybe there's a chance Republican voters move more toward the center within their party, but that seems pretty far off at this point. A significant number of them switching their vote to a Democrat is a pipe dream.
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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

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I think Dems are going to lose big in this next election. Gas prices, inflation, possible recession, supply shortages, Ukraine and Biden being so old and getting nothing accomplished has some Dems even talking about voting Republican. The new Republicans coming to office are not the old Republicans (rino’s). They are the new Magapublicans and they crave Trumps approval, which means bat shit crazy and not afraid to bend the rules.

Aid to Ukraine will cease. Abortion will be illegal across the board. Being gay will be even more dangerous. All elections any Republican loses will be overturned because of fraud. Any investigations into Trump will cease and turn into investigations into the Bidens. We will abandon NATO. Trump will be reelected and go on his scorched earth crusade to destroy his enemies. We will abandon green tech. China will invade Taiwan and we will look the other way.

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

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Looks like one of the key witnesses from today's upcoming hearing will now no longer attend:



Claims to have a conflict, but, would you show up in person to a hearing watched by millions if it meant angering the goons with AR-15s who comprise an unhealthy part of your party base?

Edit: They're saying his wife went into labor. That seems like a pretty legitimate excuse to be absent, if true.

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Mori Chu »

And it sounds like they'll still have recorded video of testimony he gave them that they will air instead, so today's hearing won't be for naught:


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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Nodack »

I am confused. I heard the second hearing was today at 10 ET, which is 7 AM AZ I think. I forgot to record it. I went to the news to read what I missed and every article talks about the upcoming hearing as if it hadn’t happened yet.

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Superbone
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Superbone »

Nodack wrote:
Sun Jun 12, 2022 6:18 pm
I think Dems are going to lose big in this next election. Gas prices, inflation, possible recession, supply shortages, Ukraine and Biden being so old and getting nothing accomplished has some Dems even talking about voting Republican. The new Republicans coming to office are not the old Republicans (rino’s). They are the new Magapublicans and they crave Trumps approval, which means bat shit crazy and not afraid to bend the rules.

Aid to Ukraine will cease. Abortion will be illegal across the board. Being gay will be even more dangerous. All elections any Republican loses will be overturned because of fraud. Any investigations into Trump will cease and turn into investigations into the Bidens. We will abandon NATO. Trump will be reelected and go on his scorched earth crusade to destroy his enemies. We will abandon green tech. China will invade Taiwan and we will look the other way.
The Handmaid's Tale here we come.
"Be Legendary."

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Mori Chu »

Aaron Rupar always does nice live-tweet threads of big hearings and speeches like this. Here's his thread of today's hearing with some good clips.


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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Nodack »

Trump Bilked His Supporters Out of $250 MILLION With ‘Election Defense Fund’ That Did Not Exist, Jan. 6 Committee Says
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-bilke ... ttee-says/

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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

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Watched most of the second one on youtube. They have done a great job presenting their case. Actually 90% of the testimony is from inner circle Trump people not Dems. William Barr s especially convincing. He said it was BS and he told Trump that. He quits and Trump hires another guy who tells Trump the same thing. No fraud. All his people tell him he lost and there was no fraud. What does he do? He fires the whole team and hires Rudy to spin the election. Rudy has always been the guy who did Trumps dirty work. He was the guy in Ukraine extorting them. He was the guy who convinced Trump to declare victory when everyone else on his team said the opposite. He’s the guy who went with any made up story and presented it as fact. Disbarred Rudy is a disgrace.

The FOX News guy was kind of funny. He kind of let’s you know where FOX News stands. They asked him about them calling AZ before any other media outlets did and how that caused a backlash. It didn’t sound to me like that guy cared one iota who won the election. He was super proud that FOX called AZ before anyone else because their algorithm was so sophisticated. FOX refused to show the first hearing and got a lot of flack for sticking their heads in the sand and hiding the hearings from their viewers. I personally think FOX aired the second hearing because they didn’t want to miss out on the ratings their competition was getting.

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Mori Chu »

This seems very suspicious. Jan 6 committee releases footage where Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R) seems to have given various groups of people "tours" of the Capitol building that included letting them take photos of various security checkpoints, exits, the basement area, and more. Such things are not of common interest to tourists but might be useful to, say, violent insurrectionists trying to overrun the building to stage a coup, hypothetically, or something.

In the Twitter comments they're pointing out that very few tours were being given at this time due to the pandemic, which makes it doubly suspicious.



Loudermilk has refused to cooperate with the 1/6 committee, but he did say this on TV:


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Nodack
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Re: January 6 hearings

Post by Nodack »

Capitol Police says Rep. Loudermilk's tour day before Trump riot wasn't suspicious
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/06/14/cap ... cious.html



Capitol Police say 'there is no evidence' of reconnaissance tour by GOP Rep. Loudermilk before January 6
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/06/14/poli ... index.html

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Mori Chu
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Re: January 6 hearings

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