HOW TO CONDUCT AN INVESTIGATION OF THE JANUARY 6, 2021, INSURRECTION

T***p demonstrates the self-firing squad he invented.... otherwise referred to by his impeachment defense team as a "perjury trap."

The Democrats will get no credit from Republicans, from T***p supporters, or from the public for their effort to create a non-partisan committee to investigate the events of the insurrection and attempted coup of January 6, 2021, including the causes of it, the inciters of it, the failure of public officials and law enforcement to properly anticipate and deal with it, and its aftermath.  An effort which failed when Senate Republicans filibustered even allowing the possibility of a debate on the formation of such a committee, modeled after the 9-11-01 commission on the Al Qaida terror attacks by hijacked American commercial jets.   Which led to the next step, Speaker Nancy Pelosi creating a House select committee with both Democrats and Republicans and with subpoena powers- but no time limit and no requirement that Republicans cooperate with the issuance of subpoenas, two features the non-partisan committee would have had.

  House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already signaled his refusal to allow even a token of cooperation with the select House Committee by his decision to nominate only persons who had flagrantly violated their public trust when they voted in the early morning hours on January 7th- after order was restored-  not to certify the electoral college win of President Biden.   Among McCarthy's picks was flamethrower Jim Jordan of Ohio.  When the Speaker refused to allow him or another potential wrecking ball, Congressman Jim Banks of Ohio, who recently accompanied T***p (I follow the Stephen Colbert spelling of his last name) to a rally on the Texas-Mexico border.    When Speaker Pelosi refused to allow a saboteur to serve on the committee, McCarthy absurdly called her decision an  “egregious abuse of power” and threatened to pull all five of his nominees from the committee-  which would certainly allow it to run far more smoothly than the House Judiciary committee's first impeachment investigation in 2019, which Jordan and others repeatedly attempted to derail.

But Democrats, who rarely miss an opportunity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (as they did during both impeachment trials), should avoid their usual instincts with the operation of this committee.    Democrats should open the hearing with a howitzer and not a pea shooter by calling Donald John T***p as their first witness.    Put him under oath- and if he refuses to comply with a subpoena, bring him to the witness chair in shackles if need be.   Let him either plead the Fifth Amendment- which he assuredly does not understand and would be unlikely to do, even upon advice of what remains of his legal counsel- or else blunder through answering tough questions from which he could not possibly avoid committing perjury.   For instance:

"Mr. T***p, when the rioters left your rally, stormed the Capitol, beat police officers, blew past and knocked down police barricades, bear sprayed police officers, threatened to hang Mike Pence, looked for Nancy Pelosi to murder her, were you safely ensconced in the Oval Office of the White House watching these events on television?"

"And do you recall getting a frantic phone call from House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican Congressman from California, desperately asking you to call off your followers and asking them to leave the Capitol?"

"And when Kevin McCarthy asked you for help, instead of replying, did you tell him that the rioters weren't your followers but were members of an anti-fascist group called "anti-fa?"

"And did Mr. McCarthy tell you that it wasn't anti-fa outside his office trying to break it, it was your followers, the MAGA people?

"And did you tell Mr. McCarthy:  "“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are," 

“And did Mr. McCarthy respond to you:  "Who the fuck do you think you are talking to?”

And after you received that phone call from Mr. McCarthy, did you immediately put out a message through any medium- television, White House press release, Facebook, Tweet- to your followers, your red hat wearing, T***p banner carrying, Confederate flag waving, MAGA people who had assaulted police officers and threatened to hang the Vice President of the United States, to immediately stand down and leave the Capitol premises?   

Did you immediately call up the head of the FBI and ask him to send law enforcement to protect Congress, to protect the Capitol?

Did you immediately call up the acting Secretary of Defense to call in the National Guard to protect Congress, to protect the Capitol?

Did you immediately make any effort to protect Congress?

Did you ever tell your MAGA rioters to turn themselves in to police for their criminal actions in breaching the Capitol, assaulting police officers, threatening the lives of the Vice President and Speaker of the House, terrorizing members of the House and Senate, breaking down doors, breaking through glass windows, occupying the Senate floor, occupying the office of the Speaker of the House, and stopping Congress from carrying out their Constitutional duty to count the votes from the electoral college that confirmed the victory of Joseph Biden over you in the 2020 presidential election?     

So you, the chief executive of the United States, incited these rioters, had other speakers on the platform with you who urged them to engage in "trial by combat," and you promised them to their faces that you would accompany them to the Capitol to "stop the steal," correct?

But you did not accompany them, did you?   Instead, you waddled your corpulent frame back into the Oval Office to watch on tv as the fire you had lit burned out of control as thousands marched from your rally down to the building that houses Congress to somehow communicate to the people inside windowless rooms inside, in a locked building, surrounded by barricades manned by Capitol Police officers, that you wanted them to stop counting the electoral college votes, to stop their Constitutional duty to certify your defeat in the 2020 presidential election.   You didn't keep that promise to walk down with them, did you, you coward?

Were you glad that your rioters had stopped the counting of the votes from the electoral college?

Did you want Congress to stop the process, stop counting votes, and you were happy that your followers had stopped Congress from doing its job?

One of the insurrectionists, a woman named Ashley Babbitt, was shot and killed as she attempted to break through the doors to the chamber of the House of Representatives.   The shooting was recorded on video.   Ms. Babbitt had breached the Capitol, accompanied by those who stormed the barricades of Capitol Police and assaulted police officers, was part of the mob chanting "Hang Mike Pence," carrying Confederate battle flags, which violently stopped Congress from performing its Constitutional duty.   But you recently referred to  her as "...   an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman?"    Mr. Trump, are you testifying under oath that a person who storms the Capitol of the United States, threatens death and mayhem to members of Congress to stop them from performing their Constitutional duties, is "an innocent, wonderful, incredible" person?   Are you saying that if someone had stormed the White House that day, threatening to kill you and your family, was breaking into the doorway of the room where you were hiding, that you would not want the Secret Service to stop that person, using deadly force?     Or is it only members of a Congress that is going to officially certify you as a loser who don't deserve that protection?"

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Now Mr. Trump has two choices:  if he tells the truth, he has to admit that it was his followers trying to break into House offices and threaten the lives and safety of members of Congress, that he knew it at the time, that he not only did nothing, but that he praised them.

Or he has to lie, under oath, subjecting himself to imprisonment for perjury.

Because the second witness the select committee should call is Kevin  McCarthy, who would then be  in a Catch 22, no win situation.   He either tells the truth, losing all chance to ever become House Speaker and damning him forever in the eyes of the T***p cult followers, or he lies.  

And if McCarthy even thinks of lying under oath, he knows that there is a member of Congress who would then be the third witness, to whom he told the true story of his phone call with T***p:   Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from the State of.Washington.   And she would put the final nails in his coffin.

Now that all would be must-see tv.