Berl Falbaum
What now? Will it make any difference?
The answers to these questions and related ones are: The future does not look promising and probably not.
I am referring, of course, to the investigation by the House Select Committee on January 6.
This is the proverbial good news-bad news situation. Regrettably, the bad will most likely dominate.
We’ll begin with the positive. The committee, in its 10 public hearings, did an outstanding job in presenting evidence to the American public that former president Donald Trump had a major hand in not only organizing but in fomenting the insurrection.
It revealed how Trump did absolutely nothing to stop the violence once it began. He stood by, eating in his dining room and watching the mayhem on television for more than three hours --187 minutes to be exact -- while the Capitol was ransacked, five people died, and hundreds of police officers were injured.
As witness after witness -- all Republicans and many close Trump advisers -- testified, it was all too clear that Trump’s fingerprints were all over his role in the attacks on the nation’s Capitol.
The testimonies gave anyone who cared about our democracy shivers and the videos brought tears to the eyes of those who value the peaceful transfer of power.
We were used to seeing this kind of violence in other countries but not in the United States of America. No, this could not have happened here. But it did.
Now, for the bad. Summary conclusion: The committee took too long and given that the mid-term elections are only two weeks away and with an expected victory for Republicans in the House, whatever the committee’s final decision, it may all be moot.
The committee started its work in June 2021, holding its first public hearing a year later. As riveting as the hearings were, they were somewhat repetitive and the public’s attention span is short.
In addition, it left itself open to continued attacks that this was a partisan investigation with only two Republicans -- both critics of Trump -- as committee members. True, that was not the fault of Democrats but the distinction that Republicans refused to cooperate was probably lost on Americans.
The committee waited until October 21 to subpoena Trump, very late in the game, coming roughly nine weeks before a new Congress takes over January 3, probably with Republicans in control.
Trump can be expected to stall in responding to the subpoena, challenging it from every angle, and once Republicans take over, as expected, they will squash the subpoena and do all they can to suppress the evidence that the committee has uncovered.
Had the committee subpoenaed Trump earlier, the case for requiring him to testify would have had a thorough public airing and helped with proving how the former president engaged in obstructionism.
Representative Liz Cheney, one of the two Republicans on the committee, appearing on “Meet the Press,” seemed to acknowledge that a new Congress, controlled by Republicans, will do all it can to bury the report and end any further investigations.
Most likely, the committee will issue a report before the end of the calendar year. Yes, it will be important for history to have as complete a record as possible.
But even if the committee recommends to the Department of Justice (DOJ) that criminal charges be levied against Trump, the Republicans, given their power, will pressure the DOJ against filing any criminal charges. They may even proceed to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Moreover, a recommendation by the committee to indict Trump would only be symbolic since the DOJ is conducting its own probe and will make its decision independently.
Yes, the committee had to be careful and assure that its approach was fair, and it needed to dot all the i’s and cross the t’s. But it needed to accelerate its proceedings and it could have issued periodic reports for the public to digest.
Does all this give you a feeling of déjà vu? Well, it should. Remember the Mueller Report? Yes, that Mueller Report. Despite all of that report’s findings, Trump was not charged with any wrongdoing.
Trump, who throughout his checkered business and political careers, has never been held accountable. And it looks like he may escape again.
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Berl Falbaum is a veteran journalist and author of 12 books.
