Washington is divided over whether its election campaign campaign (File)
Washington:
A series of blockbuster congressional hearings that have stunned Americans with eye-popping allegations of a conspiracy by Donald Trump to steal the 2020 election went on a break this week as investigators begin to take stock of new evidence. Gave.
Legal experts say damaging testimony against Trump provided by figures from the Republican political establishment over the past two weeks has confirmed a pattern of presidential misconduct leading up to the January 6, 2021 rebellion.
But Washington is divided over whether its election campaign is under intense pressure from local officials and election activists to turn Joe Biden’s defeat into prosecutable crimes.
With no more public presentations expected until mid-July, here are some key points from the committee’s first five hearings.
– the story So Far –
With the committee attempting to take away the documents and testimony of more than 1,000 witnesses, the hearing could easily have gone haywire.
Instead, it is able to tell a credible, compelling and straightforward story about a desperate politician who is unable to accept defeat and resorts to extreme measures to cling to power.
Over the course of five hearings related to different aspects of the conspiracy, the committee has shed light on what it describes as a seven-stage conspiracy directed by Trump.
In short, they are: Trump’s election fraud campaign; his attempt to corrupt the Justice Department; His intense pressure campaign on Pence; his bullying of state officials; His legal team’s attempt to create a fake slate of voters; gathering and directing the January 6 rebels; And he rioted for hours in the Capitol for refusing to call back the crowd.
– Others fall from grace –
It’s not just Trump who has seen his reputation tarnished by allegations of lies, illegal conduct or plain old incompetence.
His lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was once the widely respected mayor of New York, but became the object of ridicule for furthering his boss’s stolen election fantasies in a series of cynical media appearances.
Witnesses said Trump was persuaded by Giuliani to falsely declare victory on election night – putting America in jeopardy – after the adviser had spent the biggest evening of his boss’s life drunk.
“The mayor was definitely drunk, but I didn’t know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president,” said Trump campaign strategist Jason Miller.
There was poor publicity for many opportunists who had inserted themselves into Trump’s orbit in hopes of furthering their careers, including Jeffrey Clark, the former president’s one-time attorney general’s choice to become an FBI suspect.
Other figures at potential criminal risk include John Eastman, the architect of the alleged conspiracy and six of Trump’s closest aides in Congress, who asked to be on the White House’s “pardon list”.
– Left unlikely dear –
It’s hard to believe that Liz Cheney, a Wyoming congresswoman and Republican scion, was being pitched as the party’s first female House speaker a year ago.
The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney is now bedridden after a heresy joining the leadership of a panel investigating Trump in her home state and Washington.
An unexpected result of the hearing is that the politician with the Trumpiest voting record in Congress has been claimed by several Democrats as one of their own.
While her conservative political philosophy hasn’t really changed since she has become a target of the right, she is inviting Democrats in Wyoming to briefly change affiliations and vote for her in the August Republican primary.
– ‘Heroes’, but only for one day –
With the exception of a handful of private citizens, the witnesses who have slammed Trump with non-political testimony in his case are all Republicans.
Most were tapped by Trump for the position of the administration and campaign and some are still pro – giving falsehood to allegations that the investigation is a Democratic witch hunt.
Senior officials in the Justice Department, state governments, the White House, the Trump campaign and the Office of Vice Presidents have been described as “heroes” so to speak.
However, critical commentators have noted that no one was prepared to stand up and count during Trump’s second impeachment.
“(Before) politicians, the media and the public lionize those who have assisted the committee … Jennifer Rubin wrote in The Washington Post.
– what happens next –
Thursday’s hearing on Trump’s campaign to include the entire Justice Department in his plan to stay in office will be the last until the second week of July at the earliest.
Investigators say they have a trove of evidence through which the trial was going, including hundreds of leads from the Tip hotline and hours of footage filmed for a documentary of Trump and his family.
The July hearing is expected to focus on far-right groups who led violence at the Capitol and Trump’s actions inside the White House on January 6, 2021.
The panel has not ruled out further hearings deep into the summer.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)