The “January 6” Committee’s true purpose for existing was on display Monday night. It is legal and proper for a congressional committee to investigate matters pertinent to contemplated legislation, but not to take the place of the judicial branch in setting out criminal cases, nor even to issuing subpoenas for the general purpose of “getting to the bottom of things” for Americans who “have a right to know.” Under the slender reed of contemplating legislation to improve the Capitol Hill police, the committee has taken on the costume of a show trial.
The committee convened a special evening session, what CNN called a “made-for-TV special,” to advance the very rare contempt of Congress charges against former congressman Mark Meadows. As co-chair Liz Cheney put it, Meadows had provided over 1,000 pages of material in an initial attempt to cooperate with the committee, before he found that he could no longer cooperate. She then provided the highlights for the show, reading from Donald Trump, Jr.’s text to Meadows, during the Capitol Hill riot: “He’s got to condemn this shit asap. We need an Oval office address.” She read a couple of other quotes - but, in reality, they were simply allies of Trump, properly upset that the rioters had undermined any attempt for a deliberative session in Congress over the votes. Cheney deliberately left out any time sequence, merely asserting that Trump ignored all messages to take action “for 187 minutes"! Apparently, Trump had to allow his minions the time to destroy any attempt by Congress to examine the votes, so as to guarantee the victory for Biden.
