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The long-awaited January 6 committee hearings got underway last night.
And the drama that unfolded live in front of millions of Americans certainly lived up to the primetime hype.
The hearings were carried by every major network — except, of course, for Fox News, which opted instead for a special commercial-free edition of Tucker Carlson’s unhinged ramblings.
Testimony from Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards is receiving the most coverage today, and rightfully so.
Edwards shared a harrowing account of being knocked unconscious and suffering multiple injuries during the attack on the Capitol Building.
She also offered new information about her fellow officer Brian Sicknick, who was pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed during the riots and later died of his injuries.
Edwards took the stand in order to provide a sense of the mayhem that occurred on January 6.
But equally shocking were the deposition clips that were played during Rep. Liz Cheney’s opening argument.
The goal here was to establish that Trump knew that his claims of widespread election fraud were bogus, but he continued to whip his base into a frenzy regardless.
Trump’s aim, Cheney simply stated, was to “remain president” by any means necessary.
In order to discredit Trump’s claims that he had every reason to believe that the election had been stolen, the committee presented contradictory remarks from former MAGA loyalists:
Ex-diehards who admitted that there was no evidence of fraud included Trump’s vice president Mike Pence, his attorney general Bill Barr … and even his eldest daughter, Ivanka.
(Yes, she’s not the only one — Tiffany Trump is still out there, moisturized, staying in her lane, living her best life far from her father’s nonsense.)
Asked how she reacted when Barr stated that he found no evidence of fraud, Ivanka admitted:
“It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he was saying.”
Ivanka’s testimony was recorded during an eight-hour meeting with the committee that took place back in April.
Her deposition was not made public until last night, and it really made us wish that Donnie was still on Twitter, because his all-night tantrum would’ve been something to behold.
The committee is expected to present additional testimony from Ivanka during the remaining five nights of hearings.
Not much lower on Trump’s sh-tlist is Barr, who stated point-blank that there was no truth to the president’s claims of election fraud:
“I made clear that I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the President was bullshit,” Barr said.
The committee also presented compelling evidence about the extent to which Trump collaborated with far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers with the goal of overthrowing the election.
The familiar clip of Trump instructing the Proud Boys to “stand by” was paired with video and social media posts from that group’s leadership and members of the Oath Keepers, in which both confirmed that they took the president’s remarks as a call to action.
We’ll have further updates on this developing story as more information becomes available.
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