Skip to main content
Defend Our Country Digest

Defend Our Country Digest — June 10, 2022

By June 10, 2022No Comments

Driving the Day: 

Must Read Stories

Top Takeaways From Last Night’s Explosive First January 6 Committee Hearing 

  • CBS: 6 New Things We Learned From The First Public Jan. 6 Hearing:  Here are six things the hearing publicly confirmed for the first time Thursday night: 
    1. Trump never called on any law enforcement entity to protect the Capitol. Instead, Pence did, Cheney says.
    2. Ivanka Trump said she accepted Barr’s assessment of the election
    3. Multiple Republican lawmakers sought pardons from the White House after Jan. 6
    4. Jared Kushner took White House counsel’s threats to resign as “whining”
    5. Proud Boys started marching to the Capitol before Trump’s speech started
    6. Members of Trump’s Cabinet discussed the 25th Amendment, Cheney says 
  • New York Times: Trump Is Depicted as a Would-Be Autocrat Seeking to Hang Onto Power at All Costs: In the entire 246-year history of the United States, there was surely never a more damning indictment presented against an American president than outlined on Thursday night in a cavernous congressional hearing room where the future of democracy felt on the line. Other presidents have been accused of wrongdoing, even high crimes and misdemeanors, but the case against Donald J. Trump mounted by the bipartisan House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol described not just a rogue president but a would-be autocrat willing to shred the Constitution to hang onto power at all costs. As the committee portrayed it during its prime-time televised hearing, Mr. Trump executed a seven-part conspiracy to overturn a free and fair democratic election. According to the panel, he lied to the American people, ignored all evidence refuting his false fraud claims, pressured state and federal officials to throw out election results favoring his challenger, encouraged a violent mob to storm the Capitol and even signaled support for the execution of his own vice president.
  • Axios: The Jan. 6 Committee’s Plan To Prove Trump’s Culpability: The Jan. 6 committee hearing on Thursday promised to prove former President Trump was responsible for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Driving the news: “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame,” Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said, before laying out a seven-point plan for how the panel will publicly show Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election and prevent the transition of power to President-elect Biden. The last hearing, likely to be the most explosive, will center on Trump’s specific actions as the violence was underway. Between the lines: It’s intentional that Cheney delivered the most damning evidence against the former president. The committee wants Americans to see not only a Republican, but the daughter of a former Republican vice president, detailing Trump’s involvement and directly connecting him to the Capitol attack.
  • Politico: Jan. 6 Panel Lets Trump Allies Narrate The Case Against Him: The Jan. 6 select committee won’t personally tell the story of Donald Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election. Instead, they’re letting Trump’s own aides, confidants and family members do it for them. The panel made clear at its first public hearing Thursday that it would rather let Trump’s own inner circle stitch together the details of the former president’s actions to remain in power — and his inaction as a mob of supporters overran the Capitol. Videos showed Ivanka Trump, former Attorney General William Barr and Trump campaign advisers testify that the former president had really lost the 2020 election, as committee members mostly remained in the background.
  • Washington Post: Jan. 6 Committee Blames Trump For ‘Carnage’ At U.S. Capitol: The House committee that has spent a year investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol aired video clips of former president Donald Trump’s daughter, son-in-law and closest aides Thursday night as it began making its case that the assault was the violent culmination of an attempted coup. At a rare evening congressional hearing, aired live by broadcast networks, the nine-member panel pinned blame for the violence squarely on Trump, who knew he had lost the 2020 presidential election but lied to the American people that his defeat was due to fraud and then actively worked to subvert democracy. After conducting 1,000 interviews and gathering 140,000 documents over the course of the year, the committee launched its presentation with a blunt reminder of the vicious violence unleashed by the mob that day. Setting the tone was a chilling compilation of never-before-seen video of a mob surging into the building, including new security footage of aides scattering in fear inside the office of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a Trump ally. That was followed by two witnesses who testified live to their harrowing experiences at the Capitol that day. Caroline Edwards, a U.S. Capitol Police officer seriously injured as pro-Trump rioters forced their way into the building, described the scene as “carnage.” Nick Quested, a British filmmaker who embedded with and documented the activities of an extremist group, the Proud Boys, said he watched “the crowd turn from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists.” “The violence was no accident,” Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) said as he opened the hearing. “It represented Trump’s last, most desperate chance to halt the transfer of power. And ultimately, Donald Trump — the president of the United States — spurred a mob of domestic enemies of the Constitution to march down the Capitol and subvert American democracy.”

Hearings To Explore Connections Between Proud Boys And Oathkeepers Militias And President Trump 

  • CNN: January 6 Committee Chairman Says Witnesses Have Described Conversations Between Extremists And Trump’s Orbit: The Democratic chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol said Thursday that the panel will present witnesses describing conversations between extremist groups and members of former President Donald Trump’s orbit. Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper whether there was “going to be witnesses that describe actual conversations between these extremist groups and anyone in Trump’s orbit?” Rep. Bennie Thompson responded: “Yes” “Obviously, you’ll have to go through the hearings, but we have a number of witnesses who have come forward that people have not talked to before, that will document a lot was going on in the Trump orbit while all of this was occurring,” the Mississippi Democrat said. Thompson did not elaborate on the nature of the conversations, though evidence gathered in the Justice Department’s Oath Keepers and Proud Boys cases shows that both groups stuck close to some right-wing VIPs, especially those they believed they were providing volunteer “security” for on January 5 and 6, 2021.
  • Grid: There Are More Proud Boys Chapters Nationwide Than Before Jan. 6:  Soon after members of the Proud Boys, a violent, far-right, all-male movement, charged the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the national group disbanded and the Justice Department indicted most of its leaders. But the movement hasn’t disappeared. There are more Proud Boys chapters across the country than there were on the eve of the Capitol insurrection. Members have been participants in close to 200 public events since, ranging from purported charitable activities to acts of violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit crisis-mapping center. A Grid analysis of ACLED data found that 17 percent of these events turned violent.

In The States 

Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate Ryan Kelley Arrested On January 6-Related Charges 

  • Bridge Michigan: FBI Arrests Ryan Kelley, Michigan Gop Governor Candidate, Over Capitol Riots: The FBI on Thursday arrested Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley and raided his home, a stunning development in one of the state’s most unpredictable primary races.  A criminal complaint filed in Washington D.C. federal court shows Kelley is facing multiple misdemeanor charges for his role in protests at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the building to try to stop certification of President Joe Biden’s win. The FBI executed both a search warrant and arrest warrant at Kelley’s home in Allendale Township in western Michigan and arrested Kelley, spokesperson Mara Schneider told Bridge Michigan. Kelley was arraigned later in the afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids. He said little at the hearing and was released on a personal recognizance bond. About 50 supporters greeted him outside, some of whom carried American flags and likened Kelley to a political prisoner. One supporter, dressed like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, argued Kelley was only guilty of “running against a corrupt political party.”
  • Detroit News: Ryan Kelley’s Arrest Could Boost GOP Hopeful In Primary Race For Governor, Experts Say: Republican Ryan Kelley’s Thursday arrest on misdemeanor charges tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol could help his campaign for governor in the upcoming GOP primary, according to Michigan political observers from both sides of the aisle. Kelley, a 40-year-old real estate broker from Allendale, was arrested at his home Thursday morning. Prosecutors filed four charges against him, including knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building and willfully injuring or committing depredation against property of the U.S. In reaction, high-profile Michigan Republicans, including state GOP Chairman Ron Weiser, criticized law enforcement’s handling of Kelley’s case, and dozens of his supporters gathered outside a federal court building in Grand Rapids for his initial court appearance. The crowd at the court building included Republican attorney general candidate Matt DePerno, who’s running to be Michigan’s top law enforcement official against Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel. And Kelley’s campaign labeled Kelley a “political prisoner” in a Facebook post.

What Experts Are Saying

Protect Democracy’s Jon Steinman and Just Security’s Ryan Goodman: “At stake is nothing less than the future of our national experiment in self-government. And with the kitchen table issues troubling so many of us – inflation, health care and more – all of those concerns are at stake as well if we don’t have a functioning democracy and the ability of voters to decide the outcome of elections. So the committee’s work is critical.” USA Today Op-Ed

Harry Litman, former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General: “My pick for the 5 biggest new reveals from the hearing: 5.Ivanka knows he lost; 4.Jared sees threats to resign as “whining”; 3.Congress Members sought pardons; 2. Trump:”Mob doing what they should be doing,” & 1. “maybe our supporters have the right idea. Mike Pence deserves it.” Twitter 

Neal Katyal, former US Acting Solicitor General: “I’m very glad to see the January 6 Committee hearing is laser focused on Donald Trump’s actions and statements, and not on the many side characters. The tying off the Proud Boys video and actions to what Trump was doing at those precise moments is particularly brilliant.” Tweet 

Steve Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts, UT Law School: “The headline is *that* multiple GOP congressmen sought pardons from President Trump. But the story is *why* they felt the need to do so. #Jan6thHearings” Tweet 

Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment and Founder of the Truman Security Project: “The Jan 6. Committee is focusing on the President & armed groups. But Rep. Scott Perry & other GOP Members of Congress sought Presidential pardons after Jan 6. The coup’s co-conspirators remain in power, & Trump is trying to return in 2024.  Jan 6 is not history – it is prelude.” Twitter 

Elizabeth Wydra, Constitutional Accountability Center President: “There are ways that we settle disputes in this constitutional democracy, and that’s at the ballot box. And what we saw on January 6, and what we saw in the coordinated ongoing campaign around it, was a refusal to abide by those results. But that’s not American.” Cheddar News 

Lilliana Mason, co-author with Nathan P. Kalmoe of the new book ““Radical American Partisanship”: “One of the things that happened during Trump’s presidency, and even the campaign in 2016, was that we saw norms shifting. Whereas previously politicians wouldn’t, in general, say explicitly racist or sexist things in public, Trump decided to just start doing that and therefore kind of broke the norms around how we talk about our fellow Americans. He also kind of changed the norms around questions of: What does it mean to be a responsible member of a democracy?…When leaders undermine norms, it can have a really large effect, because norms aren’t institutionalized. There’s no law about them. The only way norms are enforced is through social pressure…In fact, one of the things that came out of MAGA fans is this division over who gets to be an American: Certain people deserve your respect, while other Americans, particularly people who tend to come from marginalized groups, don’t deserve it. They don’t count as Americans.” CNN

What Pundits Are Saying

Amanda Carpenter, CNN contributor and Bulwark columnist: “A congressional committee just laid out a seven-part conspiracy by the former president to overthrow the election. !!!” Tweet 

Claire McCaskill, former Missouri senator and NBC/MSNBC analyst: “I think too many people have looked at the people that have been blamed so far and think that’s the story. And just because there were quote, unquote, ordinary folks that came to protests and got carried away in the moment and committed criminal acts, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a criminal conspiracy to make it all happen. And really what the committee has done is drill down on the days and weeks before – remember we’ve had a federal judge say that a conspiracy began in December to put this together, to try to overturn the American government to basically defy the constitution and a free and fair election by twisting the Constitution and making fraud and all of the things that may be laid out over the next week and a half that they have determined that the president and people around him were involved with.” MSNBC’s Pre-Hearing Special Coverage 

David Axelrod, CNN senior political commentator and director of UChicago IOP: “The most interesting factoid is that the Proud Boys headed to the Capitol long before Trump spoke on the Ellipse.  They didn’t come for a rally.  They came for an insurrection.” Tweet 

George Conway, former attorney and Washington Post contributing columnist:  “‘You couldn’t have a bigger distinction between devotion to duty and dereliction of duty’ – @gtconway3d on the moving testimony of Cap HIll Officer Caroline Edwards vs. the violence of the insurrectionists and Trump’s unwillingness to stop them” Tweet of CNN January 6 Hearing Special Coverage 

Michael Steele, former RNC Chairman, Former Lt. Gov. Maryland, political analyst for MSNBC: “I was just reading some analysis from some polling that a number of democracy groups have been doing…out in the country, right now, there is a growing number of conservative Republicans — not just conservatives, but conservative Republicans — who are looking for accountability. And there has been some tracking of polling that shows that over the past few months, that number has been increasing, which is why the accountability piece is going to be so important.” MSNBC’s Pre-Hearing Special Coverage 

Kurt Bardella, advisor to the DNC and the DCCC + former senior advisor for Republicans on the House Oversight Committee: “[W]hat we have to remember as we hear Republicans tonight crying about this being what they call a ‘witch hunt,’ we tried to put forward a 9/11 style commission that was bipartisan, bicameral and they walked away from it.” MSNBC’s Morning Joe 

Headlines

The MAGA Movement And The Ongoing Threat To Elections 

Bloomberg: Supreme Court Shows New Election Rift, Backing Mail-In Ballot Count in Pennsylvania

HuffPost: GOP Candidate Carl Paladino Calls Adolf Hitler ‘The Kind Of Leader We Need Today’

New York Times: These G.O.P. Lawmakers Went to D.C. on Jan. 6. Here’s Where They Are Now.

Politico: Dems meddle in Senate primary to advance hardline MAGA Republican

January 6 And The 2020 Election

CNN: Father and son went to US Capitol on January 6 ‘to bond because they had not had a close relationship in the past,’ lawyer says

CNN: January 6 Vice Chair Cheney said Trump had a ‘seven-part plan’ to overturn the election. Here’s what she meant

Daily Beast: ‘Mike Pence Deserves It’—Jan. 6 Panel Reveals Trump’s Dark Desire

Daily Beast: Feds Warn Navarro to Stop Making ‘Numerous False Statements’ About His Arrest

HuffPost: Kevin McCarthy Blames ‘Everybody In The Country’ For Jan. 6 Attack 

The Hill: Trump Rails Against Jan. 6 Panel Ahead Of First Prime-Time Hearing

The Hill: Jordan again rebuffs Jan 6 panel as subpoena deadline looms

Insider: White House aides tried to limit access to Trump knowing he was ‘too dangerous to be left alone’ after his election loss: Cheney

Insider: Jared Kushner testified he thought White House counsel’s threat to resign was just ‘whining’

Insider: Kevin Mccarthy And Other House Republicans Are Planning An Alternative Report On The Capitol Attack Targeting Nancy Pelosi, Capitol Police And The FBI As The January 6 Committee Hearings Start

New York Times: Fox News gives its viewers a revisionist history lesson of Jan. 6.

New York Times: Jared and Ivanka, Without the Power or the Masks

New York Times: In videotaped testimony, Barr dismissed Trump’s claims of fraud.

Politico: FBI: Navarro called arresting agents ‘Nazis’

Politico: Trump privately raised Jan. 6 Capitol appearance with Secret Service agent, select panel hears

Politico: Hutchinson, former Meadows aide, replaces lawyer on cusp of Jan. 6 hearings

USA Today: Betsy DeVos: Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 were ‘line in the sand’ that led to resignation

Vice: ‘I Was Slipping in People’s Blood’: Capitol Officer Describes Jan. 6 Horrors

Washington Examiner: CPAC to launch Jan. 6 facts website to combat ‘propaganda’

Washington Post (Analysis): The riot is not the point

Wall Street Journal: Trump Group Runs Ad Calling Jan. 6 Committee a ‘Disgrace’

Opinion 

MSNBC (Joyce Vance and Barbara McQuade): The Jan. 6 hearings spotlight Congress. But witnesses are the real stars.

New York Times (Jamelle Bouie): Jan. 6 Was a ‘War Scene,’ and Trump Was the Director

Salon (Noah Bookbinder and Norm Eisen): To indict Donald Trump, prosecutors will need to prove intent. Well, here it comes

USA Today (Jon Steinman and Ryan Goodman): Watch the Jan. 6 hearings like your democracy is at stake. (It is.)

Washington Post (Dana MIlbank): Trump will be gone, but the GOP’s ‘dishonor will remain’

Washington Post (Greg Sargent): Has the Jan. 6 committee finally found its John Dean?

Washington Post (Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman): Could Congress really act (gasp!) to protect democracy?

Washington Post (Jason Willick): The ‘next’ Jan. 6 is happening, and the Supreme Court is the target

Political Violence 

Washington Post: New 911 tapes show how man accused in Kavanaugh murder plot abandoned plan

In The States 

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Republicans rally around Ryan Kelley after FBI arrest: Here’s why

Politico: ‘Comes Across as a Cult Guy’: The Pennsylvania Candidate Freaking Out Both the Left and the Right

USA Today: Florida still has the most people facing January 6 insurrection charges. It’s not even close.

WUWM: Future of Wisconsin Election Commission remains unclear as new chair is about to be selected