General Milley the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff contrasted how forcefully Mike Pence instructed him to take decisive action on January 6th, while President Trump was silent. Instead, Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows called him to ensure that they would control the narrative to ensure the public “knew” that Trump was in charge and taking control of the situation, not Mike Pence, which of course was not just spin, but an outright lie.
Some of Trump’s administration did the right thing after the election of Joseph Biden. For example, Barr investigated the election to see if there was any fraud as his boss asked him to do. That was legitimate. Given what Trump and some of his advisors were saying about that election, the public had a right to know what “their” department of Justice thought about all of this. Then when he found no such evidence, Barr told the president in no uncertain terms that there was no significant evidence of voter fraud, even though he knew the President did not want to hear this. Then, when he could no more to serve his country and the constitution and resigned. Others like his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows enabled Trump’s absurd beliefs to flourish. Many Republican politician also supported the president in his baseless claims.
This is what Elizabeth Cheney had to say about those fellow Republicans in her statements to the Select Committee:
“There is a reason why people serving in our government take an oath to the constitution. As our founding fathers recognized, democracy is fragile. People in positions of public trust are duty bound to defend it and step forward when action is required. In our country we don’t swear allegiance to an individual or a political party. We take our oath to defend the United States’ constitution. That oath must mean something. Tonight I say this to my Republican colleagues–you are defending the indefensible. There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.
Finally, I ask all of our fellow Americans as you watch our hearings over the coming weeks, please remember what’s at stake. Remember the men and women who have died so that we can live under the rule of law, not the rule of men.
I ask you to think of the scene in our Capitol rotunda on the night of January 6th. There, in a sacred space in our constitutional republic, the place where our presidents lie in state, watched over by statues of Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and Grant, Eisenhower Ford and Reagan. Against every wall that night encircling the room there were SWAT teams. Men and women in tactical gear with long guns deployed inside our Capitol building. There in the rotunda these brave men and women rested beneath paintings depicting the earliest scenes of our republic, including one painted in 1824 depicting George Washington resigning his commission, voluntarily relinquishing power, handing control of the continental army back to Congress. With this noble act, Washington set the indispensable example of the peaceful transfer of power, what president Reagan called “nothing less than a miracle”. The sacred obligation to defend this peaceful transfer of power has been honored by every American president except one.
As Americans we all have a duty to ensure what happened on January 6th never happens again. To set aside partisan battles, to stand together to perpetuate and preserve our great republic.”
After Ms Cheney’s words a video was shown at the House Select Committee hearings that makes it clear–very clear–that the events of January 6th were not just tourists’ visits as some Republican politicians had shockingly alleged. It was shocking to me, because I saw much of what happened on television. The video was largely previously unreleased.
This video showed carnage aided and abetted by the president of the United States.