After a week break, on July 12th the January 6th Select Committee will continue its presentation of evidence that Donald Trump and his MAGA allies planned, paid for, and promoted a violent criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of an election Trump knew he lost. After Trump’s scheme to overturn the outcome, he incited a mob he knew was armed and dangerous to attack the Capitol. Next week, we will learn more about his circle’s close ties to extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers.
Here’s what you need to know for the weekend:
Main Points for the Weekend:
1. Next week’s hearing will examine the connection between Trump and his allies and violent extremist groups. The committee has said it plans to show ties between former President Trump and militias that helped orchestrate the attack on the Capitol.
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- Top point to make: The committee has already proven that Trump knew some of his followers were armed at his rally, and he told them to go to the Capitol anyway. Next week, we expect to learn more about his closest allies’ involvement with violent, racist extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers.
- If you read one thing: Wall Street Journal, 7/4/22: Jan. 6 Hearings to Examine Role Extremist Groups, White House Played in Capitol Attack. “The hearing focused on extremists, which is expected to be led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) and Stephanie Murphy (D., Fla.), is likely to focus on associates of Mr. Trump who had ties to extremist groups. The committee has interviewed Roger Stone, a political operative and adviser to Mr. Trump who received a pardon in December 2020, and Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser who also received a presidential pardon. Both repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. Messrs. Stone and Flynn have ties to the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. In rallies after the November 2020 election, members of the groups served as bodyguards for each of them. Mr. Flynn couldn’t be reached for comment. Ms. Hutchinson in her testimony last week said that Mr. Trump instructed Mr. Meadows to call Messrs. Stone and Flynn on Jan. 5. She said she didn’t know what they spoke about. Mr. Stone denied speaking with Mr. Meadows that day.”
2. Top Trump lawyer is testifying behind closed doors as other Trump allies continue the cover-up by refusing to answer subpoenas. Pat Cipollone, Trump’s former White House Counsel, is being interviewed today after reaching an agreement with the January 6 Committee to testify privately. And Sen. Lindsay Graham has announced he will refuse to answer the subpoena he received in a Georgia case. Rudy Giuliani and Trump lawyers also received subpoenas in the Georgia case.
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- Top point to make: The American people deserve to know the truth about the criminal conspiracy to overturn the election. Grandstanding like Senator Graham’s will only serve to slow the process of justice.
- If you read one thing: Atlanta-Journal Constitution, 7/5/22: Fulton grand jury subpoenas Giuliani, Graham, Trump campaign lawyers. “The Fulton County special grand jury investigating potential criminal interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections has subpoenaed key members of former President Donald Trump’s legal team, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, according to copies obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In addition to Giuliani, those being summoned include John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis, all of whom advised the Trump campaign on strategies for overturning Democrat Joe Biden’s wins in Georgia and other swing states. The grand jury also subpoenaed U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump’s top allies, along with attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick Deason.”
3. MAGA Republicans are refusing to concede races they know they’ve lost. In states across the country, candidates who lost their primaries – often by significant margins – are claiming their elections were stolen.
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- Top point to make: This is the new normal. The new plan for MAGA Republicans who lose their lawful elections is to follow Trump’s lead and claim their elections were stolen, all to sow distrust in our electoral system and justify passing laws that take away our right to vote.
- If you read one thing: NPR, 7/2/22: These candidates lost badly, but now are claiming fraud. “It’s not just fringe candidates making these claims, either. An NPR investigation tracked four election conspiracy influencers across hundreds of local events in 45 states and the District of Columbia, including meetings with at least 78 elected officials across all levels of government. These sitting lawmakers can have power to shape legislation that alter voting laws and can make it harder for people to vote and easier to subvert results.”
Expert voices
Nathan Kalmoe, professor of political science and communications at Louisiana State University, re: SCOTUS and 2024 elections nightmare scenarios: “Too many ppl who should know better think the constitution will save us, not seeing that Reps will use it to put us into full-blown autocracy. Reps+constitution will kill any semblance of democracy, far beyond current violations.” Tweet
Noah Bookbinder, president of CREW, re: criminal case against Donald Trump: “This is absolutely right: there is now so much evidence of criminal conduct by Donald Trump that there is simply no excuse for the Justice Department not conducting a serious criminal investigation of him, regardless of all of the good reasons for caution.” Tweet
Jason Stanley, Yale expert on authoritarianism (video): U.S. Headed to a One-Party State Unless “Americans Wake Up” PBS’ Amanpour and Company
Jeffrey C. Isaac, James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington: “Donald Trump, many people now seem to think, is in trouble. But the purpose of the House January 6th Committee is not merely to hold Donald Trump accountable. It is to hold the entire project of Trumpism to account…The Republican party which aided, abetted, and participated in this crisis must be held responsible by voters for its ongoing efforts to undermine constitutional democracy. It must be fought from top to bottom in the upcoming November election and in the one to follow in 2024. And it must be defeated.” The Bulwark
Katherine Stewart, expert on Christian nationalism: “The shape of the Christian nationalist movement in the post-Roe future is coming into view, and it should terrify anyone concerned for the future of constitutional democracy.” The New York Times
Neil Eggleston, served as White House Counsel in the Obama administration: “[Pat] Cipollone has no valid legal basis to refuse to appear—and once in the witness chair, there are no valid claims of privilege that would permit him to refuse to answer questions relating to matters the committee is investigating.” Just Security
Dennis Aftergut, counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy, and Norm Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings Institution: “Some conspiracies don’t die. They have to get investigated away. It’s time to do just that, starting with the pre-hearing pressure on [Cassidy] Hutchinson—and the post-hearing smears against her good name.” Slate
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, NYU historian: “[I]t’s precisely when democracy is under attack that patriotism is most important. Today the extremist GOP claims a monopoly on patriotism, even justifying violent actions, such as the Jan. 6 coup attempt, as necessary to ‘save the nation.’…Creating passion around America explicitly as a multiracial democracy directly confronts the GOP’s attempts to disenfranchise non-Whites and engineer and enforce rule by White minority. Celebrating America as a multiracial democracy is forward-looking and pragmatic.” Lucid
Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: “Former President Donald Trump is eyeing a return in 2024. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — militias the Committee has highlighted for their roles as ring leaders for the violence that day — did not see their strength ebb after January 6. On the contrary, violence, first used as a political tool and now partially mainstreamed, has spread. The events on January 6 are not past. They are prelude.” Just Security
Neal Katyal, former US acting solicitor general, (MSNBC video): “‘There are two buckets of people in this investigation. One are the extremists who…attacked the Capitol…the other are the higher up people, Trump, people around him…the question is what is the glue between these two different groups?’ –
@neal_katyal w/ @NicolleDWallace” MSNBC’s Deadline WH Tweet
Matthew Seligman, election law scholar, re: independent state legislature theory: “‘One nightmare scenario is that a Republican state legislature, potentially with a Trumpist governor, passes a law saying the state legislature itself is the final canvassing board for the state,” Matthew Seligman, an election law scholar, told me. ‘Under the theory, state courts and state constitutions would place no constraints on such a radically anti-democratic partisan putsch,’ Seligman continued.” Greg Sargent’s WaPo column: Why the Trumpist threat in 2024 just got more dangerous
Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College, re: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham reaching out to Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada election officials: “This outreach had nothing to do with the Senate Judiciary Committee; Graham was plainly working for Trump’s campaign. Further undercutting this argument is that it is not the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees elections; it is the Senate Rules Committee.” Letters from an American
Harry Litman, former US attorney: “Giuliani portrayed as ringleader of overall effort in the papers filed by DA Willis to secure his testimony along w/ 6 members of Trump inner circle.And unlike federal system, targets can be forced to testify in GA.” Tweet
Norm Eisen, senior fellow at Brookings Institution, re: January 6 committee’s work (CNN video): “[White House counsel Pat] Cipollone agreeing to testify on video is a big win for the 1/6 committee. His answers will shed light on the most important issues: Trump’s violent intent on 1/6 and his corrupt scheming before that. I discussed @CNN @AC360 w/ @andersoncooper @JohnWDean.” Tweet
Barbara F. Walter, political science professor at the University of California at San Diego and the author of “How Civil Wars Start: And How to Stop Them”: “What we’re heading toward is an insurgency, which is a form of a civil war. That is the 21st-century version of a civil war, especially in countries with powerful governments and powerful militaries, which is what the United States is…We know the warning signs. And we know that if we strengthen our democracy, and if the Republican Party decides it’s no longer going to be an ethnic faction that’s trying to exclude everybody else, then our risk of civil war will disappear. We know that. And we have time to do it. But you have to know those warning signs in order to feel an impetus to change them.” Washington Post
Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket, re: Moore v. Harper (CNN video): “If SCOTUS guts the ability of state courts to hold state legislatures accountable to their own constitutions, frankly there is very little standing between democracy and tyranny.” Tweet
Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law professor emeritus, and Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor: “The conspiracy that nearly ended the American experiment should motivate every voter to go to the polls this midterm. Meanwhile, we can have faith in unrelenting prosecutors like Fani Willis to hold the 2020 conspirators to account so that this nation, conceived in liberty, can endure as a government of, by, and for the people.” Boston Globe
