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Takeaway #2

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A number of you have written in to say about the hearings, "No,  that  wasn't the big deal. This other thing was the big deal!" In almost every case I find myself agreeing with you. What it comes down to is there was just a huge amount of critical new detail in Hutchinson's testimony. And it was a challenge to evaluate the significance of it all in real time or organize it on a rank of significance. So TPM Reader  KB  notes that all the stuff about a war room at the Willard with Rudy and the top crazies starts appearing in a very, very different light if the plan was that Trump was going to go to the Capitol to in some sense lead the confrontation. It definitely seems like that wasn't just a possibility or something that was discussed but rather definitely Trump's plan and, one would imagine, what Rudy and his crew thought was going to happen. See Also:   Former aide Cassidy Hutchinson testifies on Jan. 6 warnings, pardon requests, and Trump trying to grab ...

Talk (On Background) Is Cheap

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Earlier this month, Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, made a big show of her willingness and desire to march right up to Capitol Hill and clear her good name before the Jan. 6th investigation committee. Yesterday, her lawyer  said  the committee just turns out to be too biased. So she won't be testifying after all. See Also:   Former aide Cassidy Hutchinson testifies on Jan. 6 warnings, pardon requests, and Trump trying to grab the wheel Two White House security officials who allegedly scuffled with the President in the presidential limousine are now denying through intermediaries what Cassidy Hutchinson said under oath in yesterday's hearing. But Ginni Thomas's switcheroo is a good reminder that talk — or rather claims through intermediaries — is cheap. People who claim they are just champing at the bit to testify usually end up refusing to testify. See Also:   CNN's Don Lemon defends questioning Karine Jean-Pierre about Biden's mental fitness: ...

How Hutchinson Converted Skeptics To Thinking Trump Might Be Prosecuted After All

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Former President Trump's speech at the Ellipse was many things — low-class, loaded with conspiracy theories, reckless. See Also:   Former aide Cassidy Hutchinson testifies on Jan. 6 warnings, pardon requests, and Trump trying to grab the wheel But to many legal elites, it fell short of incitement. See Also:   CNN's Don Lemon defends questioning Karine Jean-Pierre about Biden's mental fitness: 'It's our job' But after the Jan. 6 Committee hearings — and, specifically, after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony on Tuesday — that view may be starting to change. See Also:   MSNBC panel wonders if Ginni Thomas should be 'perp-walked' by Jan. 6 Committee Multiple legal commentators and former DOJ officials who had publicly stated, before Tuesday, that Trump's activities did not meet the exacting legal standard for incitement have now changed their views. See Also:   Joy Behar says 'The View' changed when Trump got elected: 'We used to have...

How Republicans Screwed Themselves With The Jan. 6 Committee: A Retrospective

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In his opening statement of the first public hearing, Jan. 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) reminded listeners of the different, and likely more toothless, version of the panel he and his fellow Democrats were clamoring for around this time last summer. See Also:   Joy Reid accuses Republicans of thriving on 'demographic panic,' says GOP wants no one to feel 'safe' "My colleagues and I all wanted an outside, independent commission to investigate January 6th, similar to what we had after 9/11," he said. "But after first agreeing to the idea, Donald Trump's allies in Congress put a stop to it. Apparently, they don't want January 6th investigated at all." See Also:   Sara Haines asked Sen. Chris Murphy if the Republican Party is going further right during Tuesday's episode of "The View." It's a callback to a time when short-sighted Republicans saved Democrats from a version of the fact-finding effort that Trump'...

Remind Me Why We Have Sheriffs?

I hope you get a chance to read Matt Shuham's  feature piece today about "constitutional sheriff" Dar Leaf . It really brings together the current rage for Trump era "voter fraud" conspiracy theories and our much longer-term interest in far-right anti-government radicalism. When I got to thinking about this a few weeks ago it suddenly occurred to me that almost always when there was one of these figures it was a sheriff. In this case I'm not talking about the so-called "constitutional sheriffs," though that's a big part of it. I'm talking about Joe Arpaio in Maricopa County, Arizona or Alex Villanueva in LA County, David Clarke in Milwaukee. Like I said, these guys are  always the sheriffs . See Also:   NBC Washington Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor and former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade join Andrea Mitchell to discuss key challenges facing the January 6 Committee ahead of their primetime hearings this week: getting a "distracted...

Turns Out John Eastman Was Invited To Give Ginni Thomas’ Group A ‘Status Update’ In Dec. 2020

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Remember John Eastman, Donald Trump's chief election theft legal advisor? See Also:   Pelosi defends not passing a bill, claims Supreme Court Justices aren't in any danger despite assassination attempt this week… And remember when, after he was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 Committee, Eastman  unsuccessfully attempted  to keep private a group of emails that he said concerned "civic minded citizens of a conservative viewpoint who meet semi-regularly to socialize and discuss issues of public concern"? The group, apparently, had a "high-profile leader."  See Also:   Whoopi Goldberg says 'both sides' guilty of rhetoric like Schumer's against Kavanaugh, must 'be more careful' That prompted a good deal of speculation — including at TPM — about just who that high-profile leader might be. We had some ideas. See Also:   Texas Rep Jasmine Crockett blamed Republicans for shooting: 'The blood of these children' is on their hands   Well, now...