Little Sister Resister: The January 6 Hearings. Part 10: It's Official! He's a Criminal!

We witnessed history yesterday. The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol convened for their 10th and final time in front of the American people. After 18 months of investigation and nine hearings, bringing plenty of receipts, they finally announced that they are making criminal referrals to the Department of Justice for four – count 'em, four – felonies that The Salmon Seditionist committed, including the feloniousest of felonies, inciting an insurrection. Hallelujah! It's about damn time someone said it out loud!

Granted, the referrals are symbolic, as only the Department of Justice has the authority to make the decision whether to indict. But still, the action is unprecedented. No former or sitting president has ever had criminal referrals levied against them.

Chairman Bennie Thompson (D- MS) and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) laid out the overreaching rationale for the charges: accountability. As Rep. Ruskin noted, "Ours is not a system of justice where foot soldiers go to jail and the masterminds and ring leaders get a free pass." Vice-Chair Cheney reminded us that throughout the nation's history, every single president has committed to the peaceful transfer of power. All but one.

To the point about defending our democracy, Cheney told a poignant story about her great-great-grandfather who fought all four years of the Civil War and who was present to march in front of President Johnson and General Grant at the end of the war. An historian wrote about the troops that day. Cheney recounted, "He said they had 'a just appreciation of the value and advantage of free government and the necessity of defending and maintaining it, and they enlisted prepared to accept all the necessary labors, fatigues, exposures, dangers and even death for the unity of our nation and the perpetuity of our institutions.'"

Poignant stuff.

Monday's meeting was rather brief, mostly a recap of the evidence presented so far. There were a few new tidbits, however.

The committee presented powerful testimony from Hope Hicks, who we had not seen before as a witness. Ms. Hicks, as you remember, was one of SCROTUS's most trusted, closest, and valued aides. She said that she confronted him about the fact that there was no evidence of fraud and that there was danger of "damaging his legacy." His response? "Nobody will care about my legacy if I lose, so that won’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning."

There was also new evidence about witness tampering. Rep. Lofgren said that the funds from some of 45's probably-illegal fundraising were used for definitely-illegal things, like hiring lawyers to intimidate witnesses. She said that:

One lawyer told a witness, the witness could, in certain circumstances, tell the committee that she didn’t recall facts when she actually did recall them. That lawyer also did not disclose who was paying for the lawyer’s representation, despite questions from the client seeking that information. He told her, “We’re not telling people where funding is coming from right now.” We’ve learned that a client was offered potential employment, that would make her, “financially very comfortable,” as the date of her testimony approached, by entities that were apparently linked to Donald Trump and his associates. These offers were withdrawn or didn’t materialize, as reports of the content of her testimony circulated. The witness believed this was an effort to affect her testimony, and we are concerned that these efforts may have been a strategy to prevent the committee from finding the truth.

Yeah. That's not ok.

CNN has since reported that it was a former Whitewash House ethics lawyer that put this pressure on his client, star witness Cassidy Hutchinson. All the while not disclosing that ***** was paying for his services. Bad, bad stuff.

The Committee presented a video summary of the aspects of the POTATUS Coup Plans showing that

1. He knew the election was not stolen;

2. He pressured states;

3. He pressured the DOJ;

4. He pressured the V.P.;

5. He summoned the mob;

6. And he was derelict in his duties for 187 minutes as the invasion was happening.

Here is that short video:

I liked that each of the nine committee members spoke. The Chairs laid out the need for accountability, and each of six members took a piece of the coup plan and reiterated the evidence.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) reiterated the evidence about The Big Lie;

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) summarized how he pressured the States and conspired to send false electors to Congress;

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) reminded us how he pressured the DOJ and nearly installed a sycophant to be AG;

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) summarized the Pence Pressure Campaign;

Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) outlined how he assembled the mob and sent them to do violence;

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) recapped Agent Orange's 187 minutes when he was derelict in his duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States;

And last but very much best, Rep. Jamie Raskin outlined the criminal referrals to the DOJ. He sat a little straighter and spoke a little louder and firmer when he announced the referrals. It was exciting to hear the charges that the Committee recommends. They included:

Obstruction of an official proceeding,

Conspiracy to defraud the United States,

Conspiracy to make a false statement,

"Incite," "assist" or "aid and comfort" an insurrection.

The "conspiracy" part of the charges includes a criminal referral for attorney John Eastman, but would-be fake AG Jeffrey Clark and Rudy Giuliani should be right there too. I'm thinking other conspirators may also be referred, people like Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, Mark Meadows, and Mike Flynn. You know, those asses that plead the Fifth during their meetings with the Committee.

The committee also made referrals to the House Ethics Committee for censure of several members over ignoring subpoenas. Though they were not named during the meeting, those who flaunted subpoenas include House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Andy Biggs of Arizona.

As I said, though Congress can make criminal referrals, only the Department of Justice can decide whether to seek indictments. The DOJ has been doing their own investigation. A special counsel, Jack Smith, has been overseeing it for the past month. Though the DOJ is doing its own investigation and has the final authority, no doubt the Committee's body of evidence will be an important piece. Come on, Mr. Garland! Do. It.

Videos of the Meeting. Yesterday's meeting was only 70 minutes. Watch the whole thing below (not sure why it's dated 12/14/2022. It is yesterday's hearing, 12/19/2022).

If you have only a few minutes, here is WaPo's 4-minute version:

I'm really pleased and proud of how the Committee conducted this investigation and how they brought the evidence before us. Each of the 10 televised hearings was riveting. Jaw-dropping evidence, fine-tuned organization, well-spoken witnesses, and good production value, all presented by a calm and resolute bi-partisan committee, made it must-watch TV. It's a model for any future investigations, and one that will live in the history books.

The Final Act. The Committee's report is due to be published this week. It will contain a depth of evidence and will detail many of the criminal players' nefarious actions. I can't wait to get my hands on it! I hope the DOJ has a team ready with some fine-tooth combs and magnifying glasses, and an extra server for the spreadsheets! They need to build a very tight case and get it in front of a jury.

*****

In other news!

The Ways and Means Committee are poised to release the long-sought tax returns of the Conman. It may even be tomorrow! Let's see 'em!

A mysterious Truth Social post went out last week promising "a major announcement." Speculation abounded. Running mate? Endorsement for Speaker of the House? Invitation to dinner for more Nazis?

No. It was just another grift. The announcement was for the release of some "digital trading cards," NFT images for sale. Offered were several images of BLOATUS as calendar pin-up boys. 45,000 of them for sale at the cool price of $99 each. They sold out within 12 hours. NFT trading cards: The modern way of separating fools from their money.

News is that the NFTs have drastically lost value already. Big surprise.

And more news: the images appear to have been stolen. Yup. Business as usual.

You can google the images. But I like the internet's versions better (From Reddit and Sister Resister Anne)