The J6 Committee’s parting gifts.

December 30, 2022

          The January 6th Committee continues to release transcripts of more than 1,000 witness interviews it conducted during the seventeen months of its existence. Every litigator knows that is a blistering pace for taking sworn statements from witnesses—more than two per day (an average that does not account for hearings, closed-door meetings, and preparation days). The Committee released a new batch of transcripts on Thursday. As before, they provide details about broad storylines that were already known. But the details are breathtaking.

          We know that Trump attempted a hostile takeover of the DOJ by appointing legal contortionist Jeffrey Clark as the acting Attorney General. Clark was willing to send a letter to six states Trump lost, asking the legislatures to “reconsider” which candidate “won the most legal votes” and appoint a new slate of electors. That plan was foiled when senior leadership in the DOJ threatened mass resignations if Trump appointed Clark.

          The transcripts released on Thursday show that the same scenario played itself out at the CIA. Per the interview of Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump attempted to appoint Kash Patel as the Deputy CIA Director. (See transcript at 74-77.) (Kash Patel previously served as a staff member for Devin Nunes.) Trump planned to force the real Director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, to resign, which would place Kash Patel in charge of the CIA during the crucial moments leading up to the assault on the Capitol.

          If Trump had succeeded in appointing Jeff Clark as acting Attorney General and Kash Patel as acting Director of the CIA before January 6th, it is possible that the assault on the Capitol might have succeeded.

          Similarly, the transcripts reveal that Lindsey Graham was asking for a handful of instances of voter fraud that he could “amplify.” See HuffPo, Jan. 6 Committee Releases More Transcripts, Including Talks With Donald Trump Jr. Per HuffPo, Trump attorney Christina Bobb testified that Graham asked her for the following:

Just give me five dead voters; give me, you know, an example of illegals voting. Just give me a very small snapshot that I can take and champion.

          In other words, Senator Lindsey Graham was willing to assist Trump’s coup by using isolated instances of voting irregularities (which occur to a limited extent in every election) to create the misleading impression that the 2020 presidential election was compromised by widespread voter fraud. Bobb’s testimony of Graham’s complicity is consistent with Graham’s phone calls to Georgia’s Secretary of State asking if he could invalidate thousands of votes based on isolated signature discrepancies. (See USA Today, Lindsey Graham faces ethics complaint over call to Georgia official.)

          The latest release of transcripts shows that Trump also complained that the insurrectionists looked “very trashy,” but was impressed by their assault on the Capitol. (“According to [Stephanie Grisham], several people heard Donald Trump say while watching the chaos unfold on the news that the rioters looked “very trashy,” but he liked the fight they were putting up.”)

          Finally, the latest release includes the transcript of a rioter (Ray Epps) whom conspiracy theorists claimed was an FBI plant tasked with inciting the mob to assault the Capitol. Epps was examined under oath months ago, and the right wing went nuts demanding the release of Epps’ transcript. Last month, Tucker Carlson suggested that the delay in the release was part of an FBI coverup. Now that the transcript has been released, right-wing conspiracy theorists have egg on their faces. It turns out that Epps was another Trump loyalist who went to D.C. on January 6th because Trump asked him to. See Talking Points Memo, Release Of Ray Epps’ Transcript Again Deflates Right-Wing Claims About Jan. 6.

          There is more in the transcripts that will be fruitful grounds for historians and prosecutors. But on its second to last day in existence, the January 6th Committee has left parting gifts for those who seek to preserve democracy by holding to account Trump and his co-conspirators.

          (As a post-script, readers have noted in the Comments section that much of the testimony is hearsay. True. But the testimony will serve as a roadmap for special counsel Jack Smith to follow the hearsay to its non-hearsay source. There are strong indications that Jack Smith has begun that process already.)

A small newspaper broke the Santos scandal before the election. No one paid attention.

          Readers of this newsletter and political commentators are noting that the real scandal of the Santos scandal is that the media missed the scandal. In fact, it didn’t. At least one local newspaper reported on the story but was ignored. The question is, why?

          First, let’s give kudos to The North Shore Leader for breaking the essentials of the story in September. See WaPo, A tiny paper broke the George Santos scandal, but no one paid attention. The Leader followed the story for several weeks and reluctantly endorsed Santos’ opponent, writing:

This newspaper would like to endorse a Republican [but Santos] is so bizarre, unprincipled and sketchy that we cannot. … He boasts like an insecure child — but he’s most likely just a fabulist — a fake.

      Here is the Leader’s story, which covered the essential facts, a month before the election: Endorsement: Robert Zimmerman for US Congress (NY3).

          So, why did voters and the major media ignore the story in the Leader? That is a difficult question with complicated answers. (Or maybe it is a complicated question with difficult answers. Either way, it works.) Here is my view: Republican voters in NY-3 do not care if Santos is a fabulist and a fake. They wanted to elect a Republican, any Republican, even one who was a fraud and known criminal. After all, they voted for Trump—twice. The Republican Party doesn’t care if its nominees are frauds and known criminals; after all, they nominated Trump twice.

          Major media outlets ignored the story because the political narrative was “Which party will control the House, and by what margin?” Petty lies and common thievery were of no consequence to the media (except for local outlets like the Leader). The Democratic Party also bears responsibility for allowing this story to be ignored.

          Let’s hope that everyone has learned a lesson that will not be soon forgotten: Every seat in Congress matters when the electorate is evenly divided. Every congressional race is a national race. Every candidate’s qualifications are important. And facts matter—especially when those facts are knowable and known in advance.

Covid outbreaks in China and the US.

          You probably know that China eased its stringent Covid lockdown policies due to civil unrest protesting the lockdowns. As a result, a country of 1 billion people that previously avoided major outbreaks of Covid is now suffering millions of infections and tens of thousands of deaths a day. See Katelyn Jetelina, Your Local Epidemiologist,  COVID in China, the U.S., and everything in-between.

          I highly recommend that you take the time to read Jetelina’s blog in full (and then subscribe to her newsletter). In short, Covid is exploding in China, the US has imposed mild inbound travel restrictions from China, and the US is experiencing an outbreak of a new variant (XBB.1.5) in the Northeast, particularly New York.

          Re-focusing on Covid may be unwelcome news, but we have to do it. A good place to start is by reading Jetelina’s article, linked above. And if you have (understandably) let down your defenses to Covid, read Jetelina’s article, linked above!

Year-end review.

          Many news outlets are doing “year-end reviews.” Such a project is beyond my bandwidth, so I recommend Charlie Sykes’ review in The Bulwark, 2022: A Consequential Year in Review. As with everything Sykes writes, it is informative and entertaining. Here is a taste:

The top story? Not even close: The war in Ukraine. Why?

Putin’s vast miscalculation and the Ukrainians’ heroic stand:

Reshaped the global chessboard

United Europe and the West

Re-established effective American leadership and revived NATO

Introduced the world to the inspirational leadership of Volodymyr Zelesnsky

Humiliated the world’s leading genocidal monster

Helped re-set U.S. relations with China

Exposed the Useful Idiots of the pro-Putin GOP.

Concluding Thoughts.

          The football great Pelé passed away on Thursday. His unrivaled sports achievements were rivaled by his humanitarian efforts. Former President Obama wrote the following about Pelé:  

Pelé was one of the greatest to ever play the beautiful game. And as one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, he understood the power of sports to bring people together. Our thoughts are with his family and everyone who loved and admired him.

          As Ukraine enters the coldest weeks of winter, Russia continues to target Ukraine’s electrical grid in an effort to freeze the Ukrainian people into submission. It won’t work. But the cruelty of Russia’s inhumane war on a civilian population is brought closer to home by the deadly freeze in the US over the last week.

          While the US can recover from the temporary outages caused by the storm, the people of Ukraine are dreading months of freezing cold—because Vladimir Putin is using the civilian population as hostages. Putin’s actions are reprehensible, but they will not work. One of the most important stories of 2022 is the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people. It is an example that we should emulate in every challenge we face.

          Talk to you tomorrow!