Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Building the Case

The second day of hearings on the Jan. 6th attack on the Capitol established that there was no significant fraud in the 2020 election, something most people have long since figured out.

But this wasn’t a news event; it was a legal proceeding. The Congressional committee is building a legal case.

In this hearing, the star witnesses included former Attorney General Bill Barr and various other administration insiders and Republican officials from various swing states. The witnesses testified that Donald Trump knew early on that he had lost.

Nevertheless, Trump and a few individuals, led by an (inebriated) Rudy Giuliani, escalated their claims of fraud, manipulating a large number of loyal Trump voters to believe their claims that the election had been stolen

I found it difficult to once again watch the clips of Trump and Giuliani repeating their outrageous lies during the run-up to Jan. 6th. But I can only hope that anyone who voted for Trump will not only watch these hearings, especially if they still believe Trump’s Big Lie, but consider what it did to this country. 

I fear few such people are watching, however, which is is a pity. They should be preparing themselves for the likely legal aftermath of these hearings.

It is increasingly clear that certain people could and should be indicted by the Justice Department for inciting the Capitol riot. They would then be tried, and if convicted, sentenced according to the full weight of the law.

If I were Trump or Giuliani, I’d be getting very nervous right about now. No one is above the law and treason is a very serious offense.

You can watch Monday’s Jan.6th hearing on CSPAN.

TODAY’s LINKS: (6/14/22 — 39 stories from 19 sources)

  1. Jan. 6 witness Barr: Trump ‘detached from reality’ over election (AP)

  2. Trump Knew Exactly What He Was Doing on Jan. 6 (Bloomberg)

  3. Jan. 6 committee focuses on how Trump’s ‘big lie’ fueled the insurrection (WP)

  4. Jan. 6 Hearing Focuses on Trump’s Efforts to Cast Doubt on Election (WSJ)

  5. Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows destroyed documents after a meeting about overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election, a former aide told CNN. Alyssa Farah Griffin said a source with “first-hand knowledge” provided testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee about the incident. [HuffPost]

  6. ‘Apparently inebriated’ Rudy Giuliani told Trump to declare victory after Election Day 2020 (Politico)

  7. What's in the bipartisan gun deal and what's not (CNN)

  8. Senators reached a tentative deal on gun-control legislation. — It would combine modest new restrictions, like stronger background checks for gun buyers under 21, with mental health and school security investments. (WP)

  9. VIDEO: White Supremacists Charged With Plans to Disrupt Idaho Pride Event (Reuters)

  10. Forces battle for ‘every meter’ of Severodonetsk; Ukraine desperate for heavy weapons ‘to end war’ (CNBC)

  11. Russian forces swarmed into the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk and pounded a zone where hundreds of civilians were sheltering, a Ukrainian official said - a scene that mirrored Moscow's brutal capture of Mariupol last month. (Reuters)

  12. All bridges to key Ukraine city destroyed - official (BBC)

  13. The battle of Donbas could prove decisive in Ukraine war (AP)

  14. Hunting the hidden dangers that lurk in Ukraine’s lakes and rivers (WP)

  15. Tough Questions for West as Ukraine Cities Teeter (NYT)

  16. The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decisiondemanding that it remove information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the facts of the war. (Reuters)

  17. Thousands of Afghan families remain separated after messy U.S. exit (WP)

  18. High-Ranking Afghan Officials Escaped to Luxury Homes Abroad — As Afghan evacuees struggle world-wide, some top former officials have landed in villas, beachfront homes (WSJ)

  19. Afghans go hungry as U.S. and Taliban officials blame each other (WP)

  20. Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups are expanding a network of staff to guide patients through what is expected to become an increasingly complex and expensive process to obtain abortions across much of the United States. (Reuters)

  21. Items belonging to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira found in Amazon (Guardian)

  22. Bodies found tied to tree in search for journalist and Indigenous expert (WP)

  23. Crypto markets reel as trading platforms suspend customer withdrawals (Politico)

  24. Markets tumble worldwide, bear market growls on Wall Street (AP)

  25. The story that broke the Watergate burglary news and led to a scandal (WP)

  26. The Secret Pentagon Photos of the First Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay (NYT)

  27. 2 Covid-19 vaccine options for kids under 5 are safe and effective, FDA says (Politico)

  28. Excessive heat brought a record high temperature of 122 degrees to Death Valley over the weekend. (NPR)

  29. Yellowstone National Park closes entrances, evacuates visitors amid 'unprecedented' rainfall, flooding (USA Today)

  30. Scientists map Milky Way stars using European space telescope (Financial Times)

  31. A mountain in Yellowstone National Park has been renamed in honor of Native Americans who were massacred (CNN)

  32. How Animals Perceive the World (Atlantic)

  33. Malaysia’s ‘mystery hybrid monkey’ could be result of habitat loss (Guardian)

  34. Amazon to deliver packages by drone, after a decade of promises (Politico)

  35. Google Suspends Engineer Who Claimed Its AI System Is Sentient (WSJ)

  36. The win/loss margin for the recall of Chesa Boudin has turned out to be less than initially reported thanks to mail-in votes. The margin is now just 10 points as opposed to 20, 55% yes vs. 45% No, and voter turnout was 46% in last week's election, not 25% as initially reported. [SF Dept. of Elections]

  37. The Warriors beat the Celtics to take a 3-2 advantage in the best of seven-game NBA finals. (DW)

  38. Tree climbers compete in Japan for chance to take world title (NHK)

  39. World’s Great White Sharks Call For Immediate Release Of All Caged Scuba Divers (The Onion)

 

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