In what might be the final public committee hearing, scheduled for tomorrow, sources briefed on the 1/6 Committee’s agenda have anonymously leaked that at least a portion of the hearing will focus on Trump ignoring the Secret Service warnings that violence was brewing even prior to Trump’s speech. From the Washington Post:
The probably final public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to highlight newly obtained Secret Service records showing how President Donald Trump was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, and he still sought to stoke the conflict.
The committee plans to share in Thursday’s hearing new video footage and internal Secret Service emails that appear to corroborate parts of the most startling inside accounts of that day, said the people briefed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal records.
Law enforcement officials who were monitoring video that morning spotted Trump supporters with plastic shields, bulletproof vests, and other paramilitary gear, and some in the Secret Service concluded they stayed outside the rally area to avoid having their weapons confiscated.
It is still possible that the 1/6 Committee might be able to establish some collusion in removing Mike Pence from the Capitol and putting the entire matter outside the bounds of the Constitution. We know that Committee member Jamie Raskin said that the most chilling words he’s heard in the entire investigation were Mike Pence’s refusal to get into the waiting Secret Service vehicle. “I’m not getting into the car, Tim.” Mike Pence seems to have believed that the Secret Service (or a small fraction of it) was in a conspiracy to get him out of the Capitol. The question as to why Pence didn’t trust the Secret Service is one of the investigation’s “golden goose” findings. It would be slightly disappointing if the Committee, having reviewed Secret Service texts and calls from that day, could not find anything applicable to the scene.
Further establishing that the Secret Service continually warned Trump about the possibility of violence as the crowd went up to the Capitol, and Trump’s insistence that he was going up to lead them is established already. Of course, added evidence that Trump didn’t care about the possibility of violence and more emphasis on Trump ignoring the warnings is always valuable, just not as valuable as what might still be other there.
@JasonMiciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, and currently studies philosophy of science, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.