Admittedly a quick skim with the help of input from pundits on the TeeVee as well as online directing to specific passages, here are some fun things to contemplate in the House Select Committee’s January 6th report massive executive summary:
- There were multiple efforts by Trump and/or his consigliere to contact witnesses in clear efforts to intimidate, or at least influence witnesses. The Committee is “aware of multiple efforts by President Trump to contact Select Committee witnesses” including at least one attempt by Trump himself. This is more than a reportage of fact; it’s the Committee’s warning to the Justice Department that Trump and his followers will/are attempting to interfere with the DOJ investigation as well.
- Rudy Giuliani’s lawyers in the Dominion and Smartmatic billion-dollar suits just had their jobs get WAY more difficult, thanks to their client’s deposition: “For example, although Giuliani repeatedly had claimed in public that Dominion voting machines stole the election, he admitted during his Select Committee deposition that ‘I do not think the machines stole the election.'” [p. 15]. Obviously, potential perjury charges changes one’s tune.
- Ivanka Trump is listed by name as someone who was less-than-honest with the Committee, but Junior is only mentioned in narrative about events and poor Ewic isn’t mentioned at all. Ivanka was called out in a section of others who could face additional charges but who are not being referred to the DOJ by the Committee. In Ivanka’s case, they seem to let the court of public opinion to rule: “The Committee invites the public to compare” [p. 97] testimony from Ivanka and others to gauge her honesty. Is this potential leverage for Trump? “Admit to what you did and we leave your daughter alone.” And would Donald throw Ivanka under the bus?
- The Committee calls out senior Trump administration advisors for their sketchy and incomplete memories when discussing Donald Trump: “In several circumstances, the Committee has found that less senior White House aides had significantly better recollection of events than senior staff purported to have.” [p. 98] It said this immediately before noting Trump’s camp paid the legal fees for many of the witnesses or those witnesses were employed by Trump or a Trump-aligned group.
- It took a lot of fortitude to release the names of House colleagues who acted criminally or questionably. The Committee’s statement–“the Select Committee refers Leader McCarthy and Representatives Jordan, Perry, and Biggs for sanction by the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with subpoenas” [p. 90]–does one great thing: If Jim Jordan, as a committee chair, subpoenas a member of Congress, no one will need to comply. He’s made his Party’s upcoming House majority a joke. Oh, and it labels far too few House Republicans as Trump lapdogs.
Additional notes by Spartan that was supposed to be a separate article, and the headline for that would’ve been “Nothing on Steering Wheel Grab-gate in Committee summary”:
The executive summary of the House January 6th Select Committee’s report doesn’t appear to include anything about disgraced former President Trump’s violent tantrum in the presidential SUV that former aide Cassidy Hutchinson alleged in her testimony in late June. There is some non-specific corroboration described as coming from “another witness, a White House employee with national security responsibilities, who shared that [former Secret Service agent Tony] Ornato also recounted to him President Trump’s ‘irate’ behavior in the Presidential vehicle,” without mentioning this person’s name, who we’re going to guess probably still works in the Biden White House.
Separately Committee’s summary says they have “significant concerns about the credibility” of Ornato’s testimony, specifically his denials that he saw any of the intelligence indicating that there was a threat to government officials – including Mike Pence – so the shitweasel should get himself a good lawyer as Jack Smith will probably come knocking any day now.