The January 6 select committee held its second primetime hearing Thursday night, and Rep. Liz Cheney announced that there would be more hearings in September, as new information is coming in and “the dam has begun to break,” which is the new term for “the walls are closing in.” As we’ve said before, the idea of a January 6 select committee might have had some merit if its purpose were to fact-find about the Capitol riots and what went wrong, but instead, it’s turned into a criminal trial of former President Donald Trump, who’s guilty of not just inciting the riots but not doing more to stop the violence.
Law professor Jonathan Turley, who agrees that the events of January 6 were “horrific,” notes that Cheney’s claim that friends and associates of Trump have “confessed” only contributes to the idea that this is nothing but a show trial.
As if to fulfill the criticism of a show trial, Cheney ended the hearing this week by calling for more officials to come forward and noting that Trump family members and former officials have already come forward with their own public “confessions.” https://t.co/eoQR3cTwwv
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 22, 2022
…These hearings could be so much more but that requires politicians to do something that they are almost genetically resistant to: yielding time to opponents. It is the difference between creating a case for the next election as opposed to creating a record for history.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) July 22, 2022
Turley writes:
However, it was the true confessions moment that stood out in the closing summation. Cheney said that more people will be called to come forward. She then added:
“The case against Donald Trump in these hearings is not made by witnesses who were his political enemies. It is instead a series of confessions by Donald Trump’s own appointees, his own friends, his own campaign officials, people who worked for him for years, and his own family. They have come forward. And they have told the American people the truth.”
…
Declaring that Trump family members and former officials have now “confessed” only played into the criticism of these hearings. By yielding to the temptation to exclude any opposing voices or views, the Committee seems intent on fulfilling the stereotype of the hearings as a show trial. It could be so much more but that requires politicians to do something that they are almost genetically resistant to: yielding time to opponents. It is the difference between creating a case for the next election as opposed to creating a record for history.
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The committee has the “confessions” of Trump’s family members, but as Turley has asked before, do they have a criminal case against Trump? Because that seems to be what they’re building.
This Soviet show trial is so much worse than 1/6.
— Leopold Dilg (@LeopoldDilge) July 22, 2022
Could be a new TV reality show. "Public Confessions"
— I Hate The Media© 🇺🇸 (@ihatethemedia) July 22, 2022
Shades of "Gulag Archipelago" confessions.
— CarellaJoe (@CarellaJoe) July 22, 2022
That this play is on national tv in the evening, with all our corporate media pretending it is magnanimous, just, and serious, is total absurdity.
— Plutarchio (@plutarchio) July 22, 2022
With no job to return to, this is Liz Cheneys only gig. She'll push it out as long as she can no doubt.
— Simon Prosser (@simongprosser5) July 22, 2022
The only thing the January 6 committee has proven to the public is how far and they will do whatever it takes to hunt their opponents.
They have the resources and control the institutions to spin any event to fit their narrative “the democracy is in danger” 😒 pic.twitter.com/WoL6dTcIIe— Rene Garcia (@APeloz79) July 22, 2022
As she hugs the favorable witnesses, truly amazing
— ERIC ANDREW SIMON (@LOUSDAD2000) July 22, 2022
Yeah, how about that photo of Cheney hugging Cassidy Hutchinson; as Greta Van Susteren said:
If questioner (Cheney) wants to appear fair to jury (American people), it probably is not a good idea to get caught on camera hugging the witness…see below from @Politico;already people have very strong feelings – both ways – about this hearing and pics like this don’t help; pic.twitter.com/lbdkMtzT4y
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) June 29, 2022
She can’t hug any witnesses testifying for Trump because they haven’t invited any.
Related:
Jonathan Turley: Adam Schiff promises that what ‘you will see on Thursday will be significant’ https://t.co/tpjrPywTul
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 20, 2022
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