9th January 6th Hearing Ends in Vote to Subpoena FPOTUS

Crow v. Hawk: Showdown in the Treetops

Oct 15, 2022

In this Issue:

The 9th January 6th Committee Hearing Recap
CROW v. HAWK
Poem for 2022.10.14
Out And About Photo for 2022.10.14

The Ninth United States House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack

The ninth, and potentially last, January 6th House Committee public hearing closed with a 9-0 vote in favor of subpoenaing former President Donald J. Trump. The subpoena seeks documents and testimony under oath relevant to overturning the 2020 Presidential election, in particular the events of January 6th. Prior to the televised vote, the hearing consisted of a summary of notable testimony and events leading up to and during the storming and occupation of the US Capitol. The Committee’s primary point in this hearing is that the former President is the central figure responsible for the events on January 6th, and “had a premeditated plan to declare that the election was fraudulent and stolen before election day” [Liz Cheney R-Wyoming].

There were over a million US Secret Service (USSS) electronic documents (such as emails) made available to the Committee. This primarily functioned in the hearing presentation to shed more light on the awareness of the USSS as to the intent of certain elements in the crowd to come armed and prepared to engage in acts of violence. There were apparently tens of thousands that declined to come through the metal detector sections of the rally. This is consistent with reports and observations around the Capitol made by USSS and others. Particular emphasis was paid toward Trump allies Roger Stone and Mike Flynn for their connections to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, whose members and leadership are currently charged with or have pleaded guilty to crimes including seditious conspiracy.

To date, there have been nearly 900 prosecutions relating to the storming of the Capitol building in order to stop the electoral vote count, and/or pressure Vice President Mike Pence to declare ‘alternate’ (meaning uncertified) slates of State electors waiting in the wings for the former President. Communications between the FBI and USSS leading up to January 6th did include some amount of concern regarding a frontal assault on the Capitol building that day. Currently known sworn testimony and messages seem to establish increasing USSS concern as the day went on over the former President’s attitude toward the metal detectors, which was also represented in his Ellipse speech wherein he implored security to let the metal detector wary thousands through. From one USSS exchange presented by the Committee:

“With so many weapons found so far; you wonder how many are unknown. Could be sporty after dark.” 12:36PM
“No doubt. The people at the Ellipse said they are moving to the Capitol after the POTUS speech.” 12:47PM

The Committee presented testimony and other evidence that the former President was intending to lead the crowd himself to the Capitol building, and now I know this is referred to in USSS speak as an ‘OTR,’ or Off-The-Record movement. The Secret Service higher ups said, ‘no’ to any OTRs and the FPOTUS was delivered back to the White House, which may have saved lives.

It was over a couple hours that the Capitol was breached, and during those hours we know the former President sat in the White House dining room watching it unfold on TV. Meanwhile, Congress was sheltering in non-disclosed locations. New video presented shows Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Mitch McConnell on their phones pleading with governors, and heads of executive agencies, for help in securing the US Capitol. Even during moments of understandable tension due to some of their Congressional colleagues having carried water in the lead-up to the attempt, there was also bi-partisan teamwork to complete Constitutional obligations. As the Committee pointed out, Trump’s various attempts were thwarted by the individual acts of many people, from DOJ officials declining to seize voting machines or release false statements, to Generals rejecting negligent orders to immediately evacuate the military from Afghanistan and Somalia by mid-January 2021, or to local and state officials who refused to ‘find’ votes or otherwise commit fraud at the request of the FPOTUS. Roll footage of Republican Congressmen saying former President Trump was at fault for January 6th on the floor of Congress, and yet, over the months they mostly went back to cowering before him.

Aside from the summary, the new USSS documents, and video of Congress people during the 6th, there was a focus on the former President privately admitting that he lost the election. Once in a meeting with General Mark Milley, Trump allegedly said, “Yeah, we lost, we need to let that issue go to the next guy.” There were also more casual exchanges such as those heard by White House staff, “can you believe I lost to this guy?” There was also testimony from DJT’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, that DJT planned as early as July to say he won the election regardless of result. This is consistent with statements from Steve Bannon and Roger Stone leading up to the election, who have since pleaded the Fifth Amendment when testifying to the Committee.

This ninth public hearing showcased emails of draft election night speeches that included fictitious election day ‘counting deadlines,’ and other misinformation memes meant to sow distrust into US elections, mostly by leveraging the Red Mirage/Blue Shift. Essentially, rely on audience ignorance of how elections work to deceive supporters, and declare victory regardless of result. As Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, and others outlined in recorded statements made prior to the election, Trump appears to have closely followed a script. More Cassidy Hutchinson testimony was also presented, and she described DJT’s state of mind as understanding that he lost, but that there still might be some way to overturn the election.

Testimony and documentation show consistent efforts to inform the former President that the claims he would raise were not factually based. There was even a special legal team formed from his staff whose job it was to tell him the ‘bad news,’ especially when it came to election related court matters, of which there were more than 60+ losses and resulted in sanctions and suspensions of law licenses for attorneys involved. The question of intent and knowledge, such as the deliberate deception of the population in order to overturn an election, and knowing the Eastman plan (aka Vice Presidents unilaterally overturning state election results) to be likely illegal, are significant for any potential criminal indictment.

Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn, and Roger Stone have all been on camera pleading their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination regarding questions such as “do you think violence was justified on January 6th” or “did you have a role in planning the events of January 6th?” Currently being prosecuted right now for crimes like seditious conspiracy are those Proud Boys and Oath Keeper members that structure the connection points back to the former President’s influence. Whether via known connections like Mike Flynn or Roger Stone, or other means. This is a major reason for the Committee to subpoena the man apparently at the center of it all. If DJT ever actually appears under oath to give testimony, I would imagine it would either go the way of Ginni Thomas's testimony, or like one of his recent civil cases where he reportedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment over 400 times.

FPOTUS Response

This morning (2022.10.14), the former President posted a download link to a letter addressed to the January 6th House Committee via his Truth Social account. I thought The Hill had a good summary of the letter's 14 pages that are worth checking out.

There are no citations in the letter for any of the claims presented, which frequently stand in contradiction to numerous court cases, audits, and testimony. By way of citation comparison, an almost point-by-point refutation can be found in the report “Lost, Not Stolen.” A Time article is also mentioned in the letter, which, similar to last issue raise questions of reading comprehension, as the Time article states:

For Trump and his allies were running their own campaign to spoil the election. The President spent months insisting that mail ballots were a Democratic plot and the election would be “rigged.” His henchmen at the state level sought to block their use, while his lawyers brought dozens of spurious suits to make it more difficult to vote–an intensification of the GOP’s legacy of suppressive tactics. Before the election, Trump plotted to block a legitimate vote count. And he spent the months following Nov. 3 trying to steal the election he’d lost–with lawsuits and conspiracy theories, pressure on state and local officials, and finally summoning his army of supporters to the Jan. 6 rally that ended in deadly violence at the Capitol.

Notably absent from this morning’s letter is any mention of the subpoena coming his way from the January 6th House Committee.

Solutions

Whether the January 6th House Committee is ever able to get the former President to testify under oath, or engage in any document discovery (in the near future or at all), remains to be seen. In any event, the primary mandate of the Committee is to write a report and make recommendations for policy. In that regard, Congress has already crafted legislation in the form of the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.

Specifically:

SEC. 109. § 15. (b)
Powers of the President of Senate [aka the VPOTUS].
(1) MINISTERIAL IN NATURE.—Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the role of the President of the Senate while presiding over the joint meeting shall be limited to performing solely ministerial duties.
(2) POWERS EXPLICITLY DENIED.—The President of the Senate shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper list of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.

These two paragraphs would deny a similar Trumpian Vice Presidential gambit to overturn an election. Other changes include

A 1/5 objection threshold at the joint session of Congress (no longer just one member from House and Senate).
Governors are the officials responsible for certifying a state’s slate of electors absent another official identified by state law.
Expedited judicial review of state elector certification issues.

This was a bipartisan effort, which is a good sign that there may still be broad support for the representative-democracy form of government in the United States of America.

CROW v. HAWK

Mid-August, the crows were making a racket on the street-side of the house. I went outside and found people standing around looking at the front tall tree saying there was a hawk (though some said eagle — I think it’s a hawk from the markings on the chest feathers and wings). I captured the photo below before it headed to a nearby forested park.

The first week of this October I went running to the same park that the hawk flew towards back in August. When I started into the park I heard a hawk’s scream. Not hearing any other birds I thought it may have been hunting the small animals that live on the edge of human development. When I returned home I noticed the crows acting up. I looked at the tallest evergreen and saw the battle pictured and recorded below. One crow diving at the hawk before the hawk relents and heads east — calling out as it leaves.