The January 6 committee hearings deserve our attention

 

June 11, 2022

Editor’s Note: There will be no Weekly Spotlight next week. We will see you on June 25! On Thursday night, the bipartisan January 6 committee held its first public hearing, sharing some of the evidence they had gathered from their 10-month investigation into the unprecedented attack on the Capitol. The hearing — aired at prime time on almost every major network — set the stage for what is to come in the weeks to follow. Chairperson Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) presented previously unmade connections and revelations, including new evidence that many of former President Donald Trump’s advisors were telling him that his theory of a stolen election was a lie, and that some members of Congress sought presidential pardons, suggesting that they knew they were complicit in the attack. The committee faces the challenge of recapturing the public’s attention on the attempted coup: The initial momentum and unifying potential of the attack on the Capitol was lost when key Republican voices dishearteningly changed their tune after January 6, not only refusing to convict in President Trump’s second impeachment trial, but also opposing the committee’s investigation and skewing the facts of the attack. But with methodical arguments and incontestable evidence, the committee is attempting to show that claims of a stolen election were pretense, and that those who would downplay the attack are wrong. Fitting for prime time was a compilation of never-before-seen surveillance from security cameras, police bodycams, and footage recorded by documentarian Nick Quested, who followed and filmed the Proud Boys in the months before and on the day of the attack. The footage is horrific, a jolting, necessary reminder of the deadly violence and undeniable gravity of what the seditionists attempted that day. Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards testified about being knocked unconscious on the Capitol steps by one of the first groups of rioters to enter the building, and being teargassed or pepper sprayed alongside her colleague Brian Sicknick, who died as a result of the attack. The January 6 committee hearings deserve our attention. Though it has been more than a year and a half since the attack, months during which many have pushed the politicized argument that it’s “time to move on,” a proper accounting of what happened that day is critical to our democracy. It’s crucial that the facts are documented: This was not just a protest that devolved into chaos but a deliberate, violent attempt to disrupt the certification of election results and the peaceful transition of power. The events of January 6 were meticulously plotted (and allegedly led by) collaborating extremist groups and encouraged ceaselessly by untrue claims of voter fraud by Trump and his allies. For our democracy to thrive, we need to apply the rule of law to the highest levels of government — including the presidency. Despite the bravery of officers like Caroline Edwards, we should not overlook the ways Capitol Police leadership mishandled intelligence leading up to the attack. POGO recently obtained exclusive reports detailing the intelligence breakdown that led to the failed defense of the Capitol that day. We’ve co-published our findings with Rolling Stone, and we’re interested to see if the committee’s questions yield any new insights into these failures. As our investigators Nick Schwellenbach and Adam Zagorin write, “Real questions remain about what went wrong on Jan. 6, whether the problems have been fixed, and whether the right people are being held accountable, if at all.” Throughout the month of June, the committee is expected to hold as many as eight hearings, covering topics including Trump’s efforts to spread false information about voter fraud, plots to pressure and influence legislators and election officials including then-Vice President Mike Pence, and the coordinated efforts of the white nationalist, anti-government extremist groups that allegedly led the attack on the Capitol. We will be following along — we urge you to, as well. WEEKEND BINGE All five episodes of POGO's The Continuous Action are out now. Give them a listen, rate, and review wherever you get your podcasts. INVESIGATION Inside the Capitol Cops’ Jan. 6 Blame Game Exclusive documents and whistleblower claims describe critical intelligence failures ahead of the insurrection. Read More ANALYSIS Air Force Leaders Threatened by Relevant, Factual A-10 Information A leaked email reveals Air Force leader’s concerns that their A-10 retirement plans may be ruined if Congress and the public receive accurate and timely information about the program. Read More QUOTE OF THE WEEK “We need DOJ to explain what circumstances it thinks distinguishes these cases. Because guessing from the outside ultimately only gets you so far.” David Janovsky, Analyst at The Constitution Project at POGO, in the Hill OVERHEARD ONE LINERS “This is why it is so critical for both Congress and the Justice Department to take meaningful action to strengthen and enhance enforcement of [the Foreign Agents Registration Act]. If they don’t, undue foreign influence over U.S. policy making will persist and people violating FARA will continue to get away with it.” Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Government Affairs Manager, in Politico   “We need a level playing field when it comes to government policies and decisions, not cozy relationships.” Scott Amey, General Counsel and Executive Editorial Director, in the Financial Post   “We want to know, at a project level, precisely where the [infrastructure law] dollars are being spent, how the dollars are being spent and what phase the project is in.” Sean Moulton, Senior Policy Analyst, in Spectrum News   “This bill will dramatically improve oversight at the VA by eliminating a longstanding loophole that allows VA employees to escape independent oversight by simply resigning from their post. This is not a reform in search of a problem, but a well thought through solution to an obvious problem.” Liz Hempowicz, Director of Public Policy, in Government Executive   “Because training is expensive, with fuel costs, maintenance costs, if the budget flow is disrupted, then you have to alter training as the money goes. You end up cutting back. In the case of the aviation world, they are going to cut back on flying hours.” Dan Grazier, Senior Defense Policy Fellow, in Defense One   “They weren’t checking, there was no real verification as to whether or not these companies were real companies ... there was basically a lot of corporate identity fraud going on, where someone would apply for money on behalf of a company that they didn’t represent. And those seem to be very simple things that almost every program should have in place.” Sean Moulton, Senior Policy Analyst, in Federal News Network   “[The Pentagon is] largely at the same place ... in some cases, there’s been an effort to double down on some of the problems.” Dan Grazier, Senior Defense Policy Fellow, in Responsible Statecraft

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