The chairman of the special committee on the assault on the Capitol says it is “not his job” to recommend charges, although the disowned Republican Cheney says they have not decided yet
The explosive second public session of the special commission of the US Congress that investigates everything that happened around the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 showed how then-President Donald Trump, long before his defeat in the November elections against Joe Biden was already plotting a ‘b’ plan to cling to power, based on a campaign of spreading lies about alleged electoral fraud. The testimony of his inner circle, including members of his electoral campaign and his family, and even the Attorney General himself at the time, Bill Barr, showed with unanimous evidence that the New York tycoon had been informed of his electoral defeat, and even so , chose to declare a supposed victory and embark on a campaign to prevent the transfer of power.
In the course of the two hearings of this political process held to date and exceptionally well presented, the Commission has shown Americans with great narrative efficiency the results of its investigation into the attempted coup by Trump and his allies, which culminated in the storming the Capitol. The vice president of the Commission, Liz Cheney, has often used the term “illegal” to describe the actions of the former president that constitute crimes of the State and against the Constitution.
Even so, the Commission showed some difference of opinion in the face of increasing press pressure on the possible decision to recommend criminal charges against Trump to the Department of Justice, which is precisely what is expected to result from this investigation. The response of its president, Bennie Thompson, to journalists on Monday, to whom he declared that recommending charges “is not the Commission’s job”, but to investigate the facts and make recommendations, only added more confusion to a large part of the public. skeptical that Trump will ever be criminally prosecuted.
It seems to contradict, moreover, the great expectation that arose after the enormous evidence made public by the Commission itself. However, the comment was rejected by other members of the panel, including Cheney – now repudiated by the Republicans for the severe criticism that she has poured against her leader -, who tweeted that the Commission has not yet decided on whether recommendations will be made. . Amid growing public pressure for Trump to be charged with inciting a coup attempt and other crimes, the current attorney general, Merrick Garland, has claimed to be following the Commission’s hearings, whose reports he hopes to have when the investigation is over.
Garland on Monday signaled his desire for the Justice Department to investigate any credible allegations of criminal activity by Trump. Even so, the attorney general, who has been in communication with the Commission, will have to wait like everyone else to learn all the results of the investigation jealously guarded by the panel.
“Trial Parody”
For his part, Trump responded Tuesday with a 12-page diatribe in which he accused Democrats of trying to distract the country’s attention from internal problems such as inflation and the price of gasoline. In this sense, he called the work of Congress in this case a “mockery of justice” and accused the special commission of “destroying” his constitutional rights in a “parody trial.” Incidentally, yes, he advanced the announcement of his next presidential candidacy.
Despite the fact that most of the evidence against him comes from the statements of his own Republican allies and members of his family, Trump lashed out at the Democrats and repeated once again the falsehood that the 2020 election was rigged in favor of Biden. To try to explain why it was his own environment that had questioned his actions during those tense days, the former president alleged that they were “subjected to hours of inquisition” while their lives were “turned upside down.” “They were silenced, threatened and, at times, ruined,” he insisted on his complaint.
For his part, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in his last stage, criticized Liz Cheney for mentioning that on election night he was drunk when he promoted the idea of declaring Trump’s victory, a fact corroborated by the testimony of several Republicans who they analyzed the results for the former president that night. The truth is that whoever was the mayor of New York and a prominent representative of the party promoted all of Trump’s conspiracies long before that election night.
Ivanka Trump, also present at those meetings, revealed that there was tension on election night after Fox News, Trump’s allied television network, declared, before the process closed, that Biden had won the crucial state of Arizona.
Controversial donations
Jared Kushner, also a presidential adviser, declared that he diplomatically suggested to his father-in-law not to align himself with Giuliani’s far-fetched conspiracies. Kushner, who, in the days before the attack, was taking an online course to learn how to write his memoir, was on a flight back from Saudi Arabia the day of the Capitol storming. During his trip he obtained a succulent donation from the Saudis to a ‘ghost’ investment fund, despite not reflecting solvency and only having Kushner as the only investor.
Congress revealed Monday how the Trump family fraudulently continued to make money after losing the election based on massive fundraising from small donors across the country. In total, the Trump campaign raised $250 million for a supposed electoral defense fund, which never existed, and which was transferred to relatives of the tycoon through his organizations.
A fraud similar to that of the presidential adviser and political strategist Steve Bannon through funds destined for the construction of the border wall, for which he was arrested and charged, although he was never tried after receiving Trump’s presidential pardon.
The issue of fraud against thousands of small donors has raised eyebrows among the American public. It will continue to do so as facts come to light such as the one that Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., received a payment of 60,000 dollars for just three minutes of introduction to the president in the concentration of the Plaza de la Ellipse that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
The Commission’s third public hearing planned for Wednesday was finally postponed, apparently due to technical problems. The next meeting will be held next Thursday. A pause that will give the American public time to digest the results of this extraordinary historical investigation.
