Top Takeaways from the Thursday, June 16, 2022 Jan 6th Hearings
Trump’s and Eastman’s attempts to overthrow the election were illegal and they KNEW it.
Issue #69: American Government The VP Does NOT Choose the President
The Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol
Today’s main topic was how Donald J.Trump attempted to force former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the November 2020 free and fair election that Trump lost by over 7 million popular votes and 74 Electoral College votes.
There was an opening statement by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA); just the 2nd time that another member of the Committee has had a primary speaking role during the hearings.
The Committee presented several expletive-filled videos of insurrectionists literally threatening the lives of Mike Pence and top Democratic Congressional leaders.
The emails of ProfessorDr. John Eastman, who wrote several emails outlining how Trump could overturn the election, were discussed in depth in today’s hearing. Dr. Eastman sought a presidential pardon after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Dr. Eastman did previously appear before the Committee but invoked “The 5th” 146 times during questioning.
Trump stated that if Pence didn’t do what he (Trump) wanted, he (Trump) couldn’t “be friends” with Pence anymore.
Wait, does Trump think that he’s in the 3rd grade? He’s acting like it with statements like this.
Witnesses:
1) Judge Michael Luttig: a conservative former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals who played a large role in advising Mike Pence in the days leading up to January 6, 2022.
2) Craig Jacob, Esq.: the chief counsel for Mike Pence.
There was a “guest” questioner, Republican attorney John Wood, who served as a law clerk under Judge Luttig.
Dr. John Eastman, whose emails were discussed during this hearing, also served as a clerk under Judge Luttig.
The Committee also showed that Dr. Eastman and Gianni Thomas, the wife of SCOTUS Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.
Dr. Eastman also served as a law clerk under Justice Thomas.
The 12th Amendment
The quadrennial counting of the Electoral College votes by the sitting vice president is usually an uneventful day. The vice president performs the ceremonial but constitutionally required role of counting the votes that were certified the previous December.
The 12th Amendment, ratified in 1804, sets up the Electoral College and states that the vice president, acting in the Constitutional role of President of the U.S. Senate, opens the certificates submitted by each state with the electors and counts them.
The 12th Amendment also states that if no presidential candidate has a majority of the Electoral College votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately vote by ballot to choose the president. In this case, each state has one vote; the number of votes is not the same as the number of representatives a state has.
This is what Trump was trying to do: 1) have Mike Pence count votes from the illegal “alternate slates of electors” that Republicans from seven states that Joe Biden won, or 2) stop the count and cause so much chaos that the count would be sent to the House where there were more Republican-led states than Democratic-led states.
Here is the YouTube video of today’s hearing.
Top 5 Takeaways
1. NO Vice President has, in the 233-year history of this Republic ever tried to unilaterally declare a person president as the January 6 counting is taking place. If a VP could do that, Al Gore, who was the Vice President and the President of the Senate in 2001 after he conceded the 2000 election, could have just declared himself president. In 2024, Kamala Harris could just declare her choice for president the winner, no matter what the votes said happened.
2. Trump was told that Eastman’s plans were illegal, but he (Trump) tried to overturn the election anyway.
3. Judge Luttig stated that he would have laid his body “across the road” before he would let Pence overturn the election. He also stated that Trump was a “clear and present danger” to our democracy.
4. Using videos that interspersed the words of Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and Eastman with the violence on Jan 6 by Trump supporters, the Committee is attempting to show that Trump is responsible for the violence and that he knew that what he tried to do was illegal and unconstitutional.
5. The mob that attacked and broke into the Capitol got within 40 feet of the vice president. The Committee tried to show that it is Trump’s fault that Pence was literally in danger of losing his life at the hands of the mob. He was tweeting during the riot that Mike Pence “let us down.” The vice president and his wife stated that never did Trump ever inquire about how they were doing during this time.
My Thoughts
It is striking, and most probably in a deliberate presentation by the Committee, that all of the witnesses and even today’s “guest” questioner are Republicans. Trump keeps trying to claim that this is a “Democrat-led witch hunt” against him, but his own advisors and other witnesses are showing that is not the case.
In today’s hearing, the “strength” of Mike Pence and other Republicans who chose to follow the Constitution and/or stand for defending our democracy instead of following Trump, was front and center.
