Withdrawing its subpoena for 76-year-old former President Donald Trump, the Jan. 6 House Select Committee gave up on its once high hopes of grilling the former president under oath. Trump and his closest cronies thought the Committee was the most biased, one-sided, partisan government committees of all time, exceeding the extreme prejudice of Sen. Joe McCarthy’s (R-Wis.) un-American Committee hearings, accusing just about everyone of communist spying. “As you know, the Select Committee has concluded its hearings, releases its final report and will very soon reach its end,” said Rep. Bernie Thomson (D-Miss.). “In light of the imminent end of our investigation, the Select Committee can no longer pursue the specific information covered by the subpoena,” Thomson said, giving up on Trump’s subpoena. Regardless of the end of the Committee, House Democrats don’t stop hating on Trump.
Thomson’s Co-Chair, soon retiring Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), insists Trump was guilty of conspiracy with right wing militia groups to attack the Capitol Jan. 5, 2021 and overturn the 2020 election. Cheney’s attitude of Trump was unanimous on the Committee, cherry picking a 1,000 witnesses and testimony, all seeking to eventually charge Trump with multiple felonies. “We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” Cheney said. “And every American is entitled to those answers,” Cheney said, trying and convicting Trump of conspiracy to plan and execute the Jan. 6 riots. With such partisanship, how could any fair-minded U.S. citizen trust the Committee’s findings, knowing that the Committee was illegitimate, a continuation of the failed House impeachment trials? House Democrats’ goal was to prevent Trump from running in 2024.
Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election prompted some of his key supporters like 78-year-old former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and 62-year-old former Chapman Univ. Law professor John Eastman, to concoct a variety of schemes to refute the election results or to come up with alternative electors. No matter what their schemes, no court accepted Trump’s arguments. Trump could not accept the fact that he lost the Nov. 8, 2020 election to Biden. Democrats insist that Trump whining publicly about voter fraud prompted right wing groups around the country to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6. House Select Committee never considered that certain rabble-rousers that attacked the Capitol had other things in mind. For months before the Nov. 8 presidential election, left wing groups and rioters torched American cities for months over the death of George Floyd.
Some of the criminals that attacked the Capitol thought they could stop certification of the Electoral College vote Jan. 6, 2021, an absurd idea knowing the business of the U.S. government goes on regardless of the disruption. But whatever groups like the Oathkeepers or Proud Boys thought, no one from the Jan. 6 Committee considered alternative motives for the attack. House Democrats followed up with the failed impeachment hearing trying to convict Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” At that Senate hearing lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) begged the Senate to convict Trump based on his Jan. 6, 2021 speech on the Ellipse. FBI officials confirmed that the Jan. 6 “insurrection” was planned for months, despite Raskin’s insistence. So Democrats did whatever they could to find Trump guilty of planning the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans on the Committee didn’t care about the facts related to Trump’s alleged role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, they only cared about building a PR case against Trump and turning it over to the Justice Department for eventual prosecution. All the partisan and biased witnesses and testimony, all the Committee’s so-called evidence, makes it impossible for 70-year-old Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland or 52-year-old Special Counsel Jack Smith to charge Trump with anything. When they heard Raskin calling Trump a “misanthropic life,” what are Garland and Smith supposed to think other than a partisan hit job? Trump actually benefits from all the political bias against him, making any legal case impossible. Wasting all that Congressional time and energy going after Trump proves the Committee’s motive was to prevent Trump from running in 2024.
Trump’s misguided belief that the 2020 election was rigged is not a crime, nor is his whining about it on Twitter or is any post-election political rally a criminal offense. If certain groups or individuals decided to riot and break the law Jan. 6, 2021 at the Capitol, Trump can’t be deemed guilty and held accountable for the lawbreakers. Oathkeeper founder 56-year-old Stewart Rhodes was correctly convicted Nov. 29 of “seditious conspiracy” for breaking the law Jan. 6. Leaping to the conclusion that Trump should also be convicted of the same or similar crimes is preposterous. Rhodes presented with his attorney the best evidence in a criminal court. Trump and his attorney’s weren’t allowed by the Jan. 6 House Select Committee to present any exculpatory evidence. Whatever the Committee’s final report, it was Democrats best shot of killing Trump’s future political career.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
