Give the GOP a Taste of Their Own Medicine With the January 6 Investigation - Benghazi Them
A carefully cultivated group of Americans descended on Washington DC on January 6, 2021. Months of disinformation led to an insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol. Their mission, as they saw it, was to refute the legitimate results of the November election and punish public officials charged with certifying the election results.
More than $3.5 million in direct payments from Trump’s 2020 campaign, along with its joint fundraising committees, went to people and firms involved in the demonstration prior to the storming of the U.S. Capitol, according to Open Secrets.
Event Strategies Inc, the firm named in a permit for the rally was paid by the campaign. Five individuals involved in the demonstration came from the campaign organization.
Although the attack was ultimately unsuccessful in changing the factual results of the election or preventing the transition of power, the stain it has left on our democracy persists. The 2020 presidential election marked the first time in living history that the United States did not experience a peaceful transition of power.
While the Congress was under siege, other events had been playing out around the country for months. Militia type groups, energized by claims of voter fraud, actively attempted to interfere with ballot counting in several states.
On January 2, the then-President called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urging him to change the state's vote totals from the 2020 presidential election. According to a recording made of the call. Trump said, "I just want to find 11,780 votes", the minimum number needed to overcome Biden's advantage in Georgia.
The president implied that failure to cooperate could lead to a possible criminal investigation. Trump said, "You know, that's a criminal offense. And you know, you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you."
Officials in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin also received calls from the White House concerning their vote totals.
It was only after the assault on the Capitol failed that outgoing President Trump agreed to an “orderly” transition of power. In the weeks prior to that day the administration had slow walked or blocked many of the processes normally associated with a change of executive leadership.
We’ve recently learned about Trump’s "off-the-books" bid to remove troops from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Germany and Africa in his final weeks in office after he'd lost the election. The goal was to go against the advice of the generals and remove the US from its positions around the world in a way that couldn’t easily be undone by the next administration.
Now, after months of behind the scenes negotiations, a bill establishing an independent commission to investigate the events of January 6 will die in the Senate, as Minority leader Mitch McConnell will lead a filibuster.
The reality is that, no matter what the Democrats would agree to in the name of bipartisanship, there will be no no cooperation with Republicans in uncovering the reasons those attacks occurred, or their support and coordination by specific members of the Republican Party and the Trump administration.
The Jan. 6 attack is tied to the Big Lie of election fraud, and this lie is being perpetuated and furthered by the GOP, at both the national and state levels. They’re certainly not going to rat out themselves.
So Speaker Nancy Pelosi really only has one choice: Benghazi the damn thing.
As Never Trumper Max Boot says in the Washington Post,
The Republican refusal to agree to the bipartisan 1/6 Commission bill could actually be a blessing in disguise. It will free Pelosi to set up a January 6 Select Committee in which Democrats will be more firmly in charge — as Republicans were on the Benghazi committee. The Benghazi investigation was a political stunt, but this investigation is deadly serious. We must get a full accounting of the events of Jan. 6 despite Republican attempts to bury the truth. If we do, Republicans may come to regret their opposition to the bipartisan 1/6 Commission.
Personally, I’d like to see Rep Darrell Issa as the leader of the GOP minority on any such committee… So that Rep. Maxine Waters or whomever can tell him to shut up on a regular basis. And if he doesn’t, she can always turn off his mic.
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