Last night’s bombshell news that the January 6th Select Committee sent subpoenas to five members of Congress, including Minority Leader McCarthy, shows the historic nature and importance of this investigation. The plot to overturn the will of the people has always gone beyond a single day or a single person. Next month’s hearings will meticulously lay out the details of the criminal conspiracy and bring to light those who were responsible for Trump’s attempted coup.
Main Points for the Weekend:
1. Members of Congress subpoenaed by the select committee owe the American public the truth. Representatives McCarthy, Perry, Jordan, Biggs and Brooks must do their patriotic duty and testify about their experiences leading up to and on January 6th.
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- Top point to make: If those subpoenaed refuse to testify, it is just another blatant attempt by Trump Republicans to stop Americans from hearing the truth about their and Trump’s role in trying to overturn the legitimate results of an election by any means necessary, including violence, and their efforts since January 6th to coverup that criminal conspiracy.
- If you read one thing: Politico, 5/13/22: Why the Jan. 6 Panel Bet Its Legal Hand Against the House GOP: “Should one or more of the five subpoenaed House Republicans legally challenge their subpoenas, it could create a legal confrontation at the same time the committee launches its carefully crafted schedule of public hearings. Congressional committees have subpoenaed lawmakers before almost entirely in the context of ethics investigations, but the Jan. 6 committee’s summonses are a significant effort to expand that power. The five lawmakers were among the top boosters of Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election. All of them had crucial contacts with Trump in the run-up to Jan. 6 — and some spoke to him even as a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.”
2. The investigation undertaken by the January 6 committee is holistic, fact-based, and nonpartisan. As we prepare for the hearings next month, recent reporting shows the commitment of the investigation to providing a holistic overview of the conspiracy to overturn the election.
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- Top Point to Make: The committee is using every tool at their disposal to diligently complete a holistic, nonpartisan, fact-based investigation.
- If you read one thing: Politico, 5/9/22: How the Jan. 6 Panel Broke Through Trump Allies’ Stonewalling: “In addition to providing evidence of what Trump’s key allies were doing in the weeks before Jan. 6, lesser-known aides have also helped the select committee reconstruct a minute-by-minute account of what occurred in the White House on the day of the riot, while a pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol. Even in instances where those staffers weren’t providing direct testimony about their own bosses, they were witnesses to important encounters and caught glimpses of Trump or overheard other communications that have proven valuable.”
- Top Point to Make: The committee is using every tool at their disposal to diligently complete a holistic, nonpartisan, fact-based investigation.
3. Eastman’s emails show what’s at stake in 2024. Trump lawyer John Eastman’s emails reveal the depth of the plot to overturn the will of the people. Eastman contacted Republican legislators in Pennsylvania and urged them to throw out absentee ballots and declare Trump the victor. These emails show how MAGA Republicans plan to attack elections going forward: by restricting voting, including absentee and mail voting, and pressuring state officials to conform to their will.
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- Top point to make: This isn’t about only one day. Trump Republicans are engaged in an ongoing conspiracy to make it easier to change the outcome of future elections if the results don’t go their way.
- If you read one thing: Washington Post, 5/11/22, Greg Sargent Column: Leaked Emails From Trump’s Lawyer Show Blueprint for a 2024 Coup: “These Eastman emails show that manipulating vote totals to create “cover” for state legislatures to appoint sham Trump electors was more central to the scheme than we knew. Whether this creates more exposure for Eastman and others remains to be seen. But this also has other important implications: It reveals with more clarity an avenue by which nefarious actors might seek to subvert a future election.”
4. Upcoming primaries feature Trump Republicans who wanted to overturn the 2020 election. This week’s primaries were ultimately a mixed bag for Trump’s MAGA slate, but next week’s in Pennsylvania, Oregon, Idaho, North Carolina and Kentucky will show how far his reach goes.
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- Top point to make: MAGA and Trump Republicans are making it harder for people to vote and promoting candidates who have signaled they will overturn the will of the people in future elections in an attempt to take away our right to choose who governs us.
- If you read one thing: Politico, 5/7/22: Idaho GOP Riven by Primary Civil War: “Idaho’s dominant Republican Party is at war with itself up and down the ballot ahead of its May 17 primaries. It’s not just Gov. Brad Little, whose reelection campaign became national news when Donald Trump endorsed a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. The state attorney general is staring down a challenge from a former rabble-rousing member of Congress. The senior of Idaho’s two GOP House members is facing a primary that has drawn millions in spending. And contentious open races for lieutenant governor and the secretary of state — Idaho’s chief election official — echo some of the national divisions within the party.”
Expert voices
Harry Litman, former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General, re: January 6 House Select Committee Subpoenas of 5 House Republicans: “There are many equally rabid supporters of the Big Lie in Congress, so why subpoena these 5. Because they are fact witnesses. They spoke with Trump on the 6th, or heard his confess responsibility, or worked up the false allegations, etc. Remember the backdrop here: American people have every right to know what happened on 1/6 with the President, but he is a jackass who will never cooperate, and his CoS is ducking n/w/s having written a book about it. These 5 are essential sources of essential info.” Twitter
Elie Honig, former Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Southern District of New York re: Donald Trump’s Treatment of Classified Documents:Erin Burnett: “So, Elie, when you take the top line here that Ryan is reporting, subpoenaed issued to the National Archives about Trump taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, right, about these documents, what does it say to you?”
Elie Honig: “Well, Erin, this tells me that the Justice Department believes there could be, and I want to stress that, could be, some level of criminality here. As a federal prosecutor, if you’re going to issue a grand jury subpoena you can’t do that based on nothing. You have to have what prosecutors calls predication, which basically just means some reasonable good faith fact or belief that there may have been a crime. It’s a low bar but it’s not nothing. And I think what prosecutors are going to be focused on here is that it is a federal crime to remove or destroy classified documents, we know the documents were classified but have to show that a person, A, knew they were classified, and also have to show a person knew that was wrong. So, that’s where I think DOJ is really going to be focusing here on the criminal side of things.” CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront
Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Endowment: “Colorado is offering election officials “active shooter” training and advising them to take different routes driving home to stay safe. These are our neighbors, of both parties, just regular people who are being targeted” Tweet
Celinda Lake, Democratic Pollster: “‘Americans always think of us going forward not reversals, not taking away rights, not losing things, not losing freedoms” and second,..‘There is an interesting overlap with the Jan. 6 hearings. The Trump Republicans are showing the lengths they will go to overrule the will of the people and fundamentally change our system in ways voters never thought possible. These are fundamental attacks on our country. And voters believe this is the start not the end.’” The New York Times
Barbara McQuade, former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and University of Michigan Law School Professor: “The fate of our democracy doesn’t hinge on the battle for the House or the fight for control of the Senate, but on state elections for a once sleepy office: secretaries of state.” The New York Times
