January 6 committee seeks accountability for 2020. Trump supporters seek 2024 control
Monday’s dramatic revelations – which came at a House Committee special hearing on January 6 known as the Meadows recommendation to be held with contempt of Congress – should end the contempt of the House of Representatives. America by supporters of former President Donald Trump, who saw the uprising as no big deal. .
It was. And even Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Trump Jr. know that too.
Our understanding of January 6 has changed. That Trump has ignored even these allies and allowed riots to erupt would be terrifying.
That the people who supported him at Fox decided to forget about the riot that happened was even worse.
What happens next? More revelations will come from this committee. It is looking at a seemingly concerted effort to vote for electors, including members of Congress. That charted potential coordination between the rally organizers and the White House.
These are facts the public needs to know. But there’s also the unpleasant fact that anything the production committee can do will not lead to any real accountability beyond public shame.
For Trump, who is shameless and has twice survived impeachment, that’s probably not a hefty price tag. But there may be some options to do more than edit records.
Can Trump be impeached?
Representative Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who serves as vice chair of the committee January 6, said Monday the panel needed to speak with Meadows in part to answer a key question about Trump. .
“Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede the formal process of Congress for counting the electoral votes?” she asked.
That gave CNN legal analyst Elie Honig “the prosecutor’s ears perked up.”
Cheney’s language is very similar to the law of the land, including the terms: “corrupt … hinder, or hinder … the proper administration of the law.”
“One of the big things the Jan. 6 committee can do is refer criminals to the DOJ, say, ‘Hey DOJ, we believe there might have been a crime here,'” Honig said. But he added that the final decision was up to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors have used federal restraining legislation – alleging “obstruction of an official proceeding” – to charge hundreds of Capitol rioters. Cheney’s use of that language was a plea to the DOJ that it was possible that some government officials, perhaps including Trump, could also be guilty.
Is there any sign that Trump will be impeached?
The Justice Department’s charge of the Capitol rioters would be a far different matter than it would have been for the Justice Department to charge the then-president president or his closest aide.
Recall that one reason Trump was not charged as a result of the Russia investigation is that the Justice Department believes that presidents cannot be indicted for most crimes.
Trump is clearly no longer president. The United States also has a long tradition of not taking political prisoners for a democracy that demands political freedom. Though in Trump’s case, that freedom allows him to try to overturn democracy.
His next possible run for the White House, in 2024, makes accountability for the uprising much more important.
Trump has survived a political prosecution, twice, in impeachment proceedings. Should he now face criminal proceedings?
I went back to Honig to track this down.
“There is nothing in the public domain to suggest that the DOJ is criminally investigating Trump or other powerful people around him in connection with January 6,” Honig said.
He added that if there’s an investigation going on, you usually see some evidence of it – media reports, subpoenas, grand jury convening. None of that is known to be happening right now.
Not a peek. Which means it may not happen. At least not yet.
That is not to say that what the House Committee is doing is not worthwhile. Trump survived being impeached for the Russia investigation, but the process certainly took his toll.
His legacy will forever be tied to the uprising, and that could make his inclusion on the 2024 ballot toxic for Republicans.
Receiving the next election at the local level
While Democrats and some Republicans seek accountability for the uprising, Trump loyalists are thinking ahead, trying to gain more control of the votes in the upcoming election.
Sara Murray and Jeremy Herb wrote: In Michigan, for example, several Republican candidates newly appointed to county censorship boards who have said they will not certify the 2020 election are replacing GOP members who have certified election results. A Macomb County appointee urged Trump after the election to invoke the Resurrection Act and suspend the Electoral College meeting to set up a military tribunal to investigate allegations of election fraud.
In Pennsylvania, there has been a concerted campaign to put Trump-friendly Republicans, including one who attended the January 6 rally, into election-related positions at the district level. hyperlocal area. They run candidates and win races with only a few hundred votes.
Trump has personally endorsed candidates for secretary of state in different states – that is, who will play a key role in running elections.
Trump ally Steve Bannon didn’t speak to the committee Jan. 6, but he’s openly planning to create a constitutional crisis – another crisis, that is, because Trump tried to over reverse an election.
“We’re taking over the Republican Party through a precinct committee strategy. We’re taking over all of the elections,” Bannon said on an episode of the “War Room” podcast last month, according to Murray and Herb.
“We’ll get to the end of November 3 and we’ll certify the voters,” he continued. “And you’re going to have a constitutional crisis. But you know what? We’re a big, tough country, and we can solve that, we’ll be able to solve that. We’ll get through that.”