January 6th Fallout

 

In what has become a continuing litany of Far Right lies regarding the January 6th insurrection in our nation's capital, one of the most outrageous statements yet was made on June 9th by Sean Hannity on his television show. He said, and I quote,  “Donald Trump authorized up to 20,000 National Guard troops to protect the capital but was rejected by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.”

There are several characteristics of this statement that highlight the general motives of the Republican Party and of Trump, Hannity, and their ilk specifically. The most obvious is that they assume that many of their Red Hat wearing sycophants know nothing about the way government works. This means that most of their bloviations of bovine excreta are unexamined by the unwashed masses and simply accepted as factual. The above is a classic example of the genre.

The facts (remember facts?):

In point of law, DC National Guard is responsible to only one individual in the entire nation and that individual is the President of the United States. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer could have screamed their heads off and it would have made no difference, if Trump had actually attempted to activate the DC National Guard, which he did not. In fact, the only mention of anybody suggesting activating the National Guard was attributed to Vice President Mike Pence who, if you recall, Donald Trump later suggested should possibly "be hanged" because he refused to subvert the Electoral College process. Jane Campbell, president of the U S Capitol Historical Society made it even more clear: “No congressional official or body has the authority to activate the National Guard to the U S capitol, only the President. And if the President does so no congressional official has the authority to decline its service.”

This of course is simply a continuation of the litany of outright lies and half-truths that those desperate Republicans still clinging to Trump’s petticoats are throwing at the wall hoping that some may stick. Along the way however, we have seen remarkable backbone from Liz Cheney and even Betsy DeVos who was certainly the least prepared person for a cabinet post in recent history, but who actually acknowledged that the cabinet had considered invoking the 25th amendment to remove the President in light of the events of January 6^th!

In addition to continuing stream of Hannity bullshit, we were treated on June 10th to this, by Tucker Carlson: “Not a single person in the crowd on January 6th was found to be carrying a firearm. Not one.”  As is generally the norm with Tucker Carlson, when confronted with the fact that video evidence and news coverage shows rioters with firearms and dozens more with knives and bats and other real weapons, some made up on the spot, he simply refused to respond to the request for clarification.

Validating his statement would have been difficult simply because it's a lie and here’s one quick example. One Lonnie Coffman, who came all the way from Alabama, showed up at the capitol with multiple weapons in his vehicle and in his personal possession. His truck was loaded with weapons including a handgun, rifle, and shotgun, all loaded. There were also hundreds of rounds of ammunition, several illegal high-capacity magazines, a crossbow with bolts, machetes, a stun gun and 11 Molotov cocktails. None of the firearms were registered.

It has also come to light in congressional hearings that, prior to the insurrection, a Justice Department underling, sensing an opportunity to curry favor with the Cheeto in charge, was engaging in unauthorized face to face scheming with Trump.

 Evidence has been brought forward from earlier Judicial Committee testimony that a lawyer in the Justice Department went over the head of the attorney general and went directly to Trump with a plan to simply declare the election “in question” and request states to set an alternate slate of electors. Three days before Vice President Pence was to certify the election in front of the Congress, a minor official in the Justice Department, one Jeffrey Clark, suggested to Trump in a meeting (un-sanctioned by his supervisors) that the Justice Department should identify “significant concerns” about the vote and, as mentioned above, suggest that states provide an “alternate” slate of electors.

Clark initially was held in contempt of Congress after he declined to answer questions claiming his interactions with Trump were privileged and then he later did appear and invoked the 5th amendment and therefore his testimony from that appearance hasn't been released to the public. It is worth noting that while he is a Harvard Law graduate, Clark's background is strictly in environmental law and regulation, not constitutional law. This led to speculation as yet verified, that the gist of memo and impetus for the message he gave Trump was provided to him by Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), one of the earliest proponents of Trump’s voter fraud claims.

 

When Clark’s boss, acting A.G. Jeffrey Rosen, heard of this he told the President that the Justice Department couldn’t “just flip a switch and change the election,” to which (Rosen later testified) Trump responded, “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressman.” it is significant that Rosen was “acting” A.G.  because Trump appointee, William Barr, had already told the president that the election was valid and left office because he couldn't stomach what was about to happen. Remember, this was Bill Barr, a partisan if ever there was one!

Clark also proposed that Trump fire Rosen and appoint him (Clark) as AG so he could pursue several wild-eyed allegations. Trump then suggested this move in an Oval Office meeting with, Clark, Acting AG Rosen, and a cadre of assistant Attorneys General. Almost immediately, Trump was assured by all these senior Justice Department persons, appointed by Trump, and confirmed by the Senate, that appointing Clark to AG would immediately result in mass resignations and undermine confidence in Trump, himself, who had appointed them.

 It was also pointed out, with Clark in the room, that Clark, whose career was entirely in environmental policy, had zero experience in criminal law. Another assistant AG suggested that Clark should “call Trump the next time there was an oil spill.” Trump figuratively patted Clark on the back and told him he wouldn’t be appointed at this time. This is noteworthy, in that it shows how susceptible Trump was (and is and always has been) to hare brained offers from underlings if he sees any chance he may gain from them.

This, then, pretty well sums up the actual extent of such election fraud (none) which was found in the most examined election in the history of the country.

With regard to the opening discussion of the Hannity and Carlson lies, how much of the June 6^th insurrection will be made to stick on Trump, himself, remains to be seen, but hope springs eternal!