“Game changer.” – Nicole Wallace, MSNBC
“This was obscene.” – Jake Tapper, CNN
“Stunning… I think it does move the ball.” – Bret Baier, Fox News
“She IS the John Dean of the hearings.” – Norm Eisen
“No wonder these guys wanted pardons!” – David Axelrod
PRESS RELEASE Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
Date: June 28, 2022
Washington, DC – Here’s what journalists, legal experts, pundits, and others are saying about the January 6th Select Committee’s damning sixth hearing.
Jake Tapper, CNN: This was obscene… It was devastating testimony, a portrait of a president who was completely and utterly out of control and without question, knew of the danger of his supporters that were going to the mall.
Bret Baier, Fox News Chief Political Anchor, Fox News (Video): This testimony is, first of all, stunning because we haven’t heard this. Two, it’s compelling because of her proximity to power…I think it does move the ball in this hearing.
Neal Katyal, SCOTUS lawyer and Former US Acting Solicitor General, @neal_katyal: This isn’t willful blindness, this is active involvement.
Norm Eisen, former Ambassador and Senior Fellow at Brookings, @NormEisen: She IS the John Dean of the hearings
David Axelrod, @davidaxelrod: The references to the foreknowledge of likely violence and Meadows contacts with the Stone-Rudy-Flynn “command center” tightens the connection between the WH and the indicted seditious conspirators. No wonder these guys wanted pardons!
Harry Litman, former US Attorney and LATimes Legal Affairs Columnist, @harrylitman:
Don’t want this to get lost in the avalanche of huge revelations. This is the first possible link b/t insurrectionists and highest reaches of WH, inc Trump:
Harry Litman, @harrylitman: Holy crap — at Trump’s command, Meadows calls Stone and Flynn the night of 1/5. and Meadows was planning to go to the war room w/ Giuliani et al in Willard that evening. this is the first concrete link going from Trump/Meadows to the insurrectionists. a bridge conspiracy.
Elie Honig, former federal and state prosecutor and CNN Senior Legal Analyst, @eliehonig: Pat Cipollone was pretty spot-on in laying out the crimes being committed in real time.
Asha Rangappa, Former FBI Special Agent, @AshaRangappa_: Just so you know Hutchinson is implicating Trump and Meadows in a seditious conspiracy
Steve Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at University of Texas Law School, @steve_vladeck: Don’t be distracted by claims of “hearsay.” That goes to whether evidence can be admitted in *court,* not Congress. The key is that Hutchinson testified *under oath.* If she was lying, she faces felony charges. The same can’t be said for those trying to discredit her testimony.
Elie Honig, former federal and state prosecutor and CNN Senior Legal Analyst, @eliehonig: Very little of Hutchinson’s testimony would be inadmissible hearsay.
Charlie Sykes, Editor-at-large, The Bulwark, @SykesCharlie: I’m shocked. And I haven’t been shocked by anything from this White House for a very long time. But this… HOLY F**K.
Bret Baier, Fox News Chief Political Anchor, @oliverdarcy: I’ve covered politics a long time. I don’t think there has been testimony like this…jaw-dropping in a way on the inside workings of a white house in crisis after…at this moment, January 6th, that we have seen since Watergate, really.
Carl Bernstein, CNN: She gave the picture of a mad king… He is a criminal and a seditious conspirator.
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post Opinion Writer, @JRubinBlogger: Mark Meadows wanted a pardon. Period.
Katie Benner, Justice Department Reporter, New York Times:: A serious blow for Meadows: Hutchinson testifies that he sought a pardon for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. No other witness has been so damning for the former chief of staff.
Joyce Alene, former US Attorney and law professor, @JoyceWhiteVance: Jim Jordan should testify about his call with Mark Meadows while the mob was attacking the Capitol
Peter Baker, Chief White House Correspondent, New York Times: To see a retired four-star general who swore an oath to defend the country and the Constitution plead the Fifth when asked if he believed in the peaceful transfer of power in America is another stunning moment today.
Katie Benner, Justice Department Reporter, New York Times: Many Republicans have testified or publicly said they would vote for Trump again, including former attorney general Bill Barr, and former Arizona Republican House speaker Rusty Bowers. I wonder whether they stand by that assessment after today’s testimony, including the account of Trump physically fighting with the Secret Service to join a violent mob attacking Congress.
John Harwood, CNN White House Correspondent, @JohnJHarwood: Donald Trump couldn’t have done any of this without the Republican Party. the Republican Party nominated him, elected him, enabled his behavior for four years. in two impeachments, the Republican Party absolved him of historically-extreme wrongdoing obvious to anyone w/eyes open
Will Steakin, ABC News Investigative Reporter, @wsteaks: REMINDER — Trump’s PAC gave Meadows’s nonprofit $1 million in donations shortly after Jan. 6 panel’s creation
Steve Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at University of Texas Law School, @steve_vladeck: As if Hutchinson’s testimony wasn’t damning enough, the hearing closes with @RepLizCheney offering evidence (and alluding to additional evidence) of attempted witness intimidation.
Norm Eisen, former Ambassador and Senior Fellow at Brookings, @NormEisen: Make no mistake, those texts we just saw will certainly lead to criminal investigation & perhaps prosecution under 18 USC 1512, which punishes witness intimidation with fines, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both.
Maggie Haberman, Senior Political Reporter, New York Times: She’s describing a “concerning practice” by which people are reminded of the risks of being on Trump’s wrong side. We’ve heard versions of that kind of thing come up since the Mueller investigation.
Katie Benner, Justice Department Reporter, New York Times: Keep in mind that members of Trump’s own cabinet considered invoking the 25th Amendment to strip him of his powers not once, but at least twice. Early on in his tenure, Justice Department officials considered doing the same.
Josh Schwerin, Saratoga Strategies Founder, @JoshSchwerin: So far the @FoxNews coverage is very bad for Trump
Brian Stelter, CNN Chief Media Correspondent, @brianstelter: This post-hearing moment of awkward silence on Fox kinda says a lot.
Defend Democracy Project, @DemocracyNowUS: Trump knowingly incited a mob with weapons to go to the Capitol to overturn an election he knew he lost.
Katie S. Phang, MSNBC Host @KatiePhang:
Trump KNEW he lost in November 2020.
Trump KNEW there was no election fraud.
Trump KNEW there would be violence on 1/6.
Trump KNEW the rioters were armed & dangerous.
Trump KNEW these armed rioters would march on the Capitol.
#TrumpKNEW
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The Select Committee will continue to lay out real evidence gathered by non-partisan career prosecutors proving that Trump and his MAGA allies planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy to overturn an election they lost.
This criminal conspiracy extends well beyond the violence perpetrated on January 6, 2021, that injured 140 police officers, including making it harder for people to vote, attempting to appoint bogus electors to overturn the will of voters, and intimidating state officials to change the results in contested states.
Getting to the truth during these hearings and then demanding accountability at the courts and the ballot box is how we stop the current MAGA campaign to sabotage future elections by changing state laws, threatening state officials, and packing election administration offices so that they can have the final say over election results – even when they lose.
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