The January 6 Hearing yesterday were… interesting. If you want to relive it (or view it for the first time), be aware that it is 3 hours + long and because it focuses on Pence there’s a lot of gratuitous Bible Talk, even from the Committee itself.
Here’s my take-aways:
- A Villain Emerges in John Eastman. Most of the action yesterday was about how many times and different ways and from multiple people John Eastman was told what he was scheming was illegal and unprecedented (which is important for lawyers), and he and Trump did it anyway. Knowingly. Pence counsel Greg Jacob testified that Eastman agreed with him that the Supreme Court would rule 9-0 against Eastman’s ploy. Jacob added that Eastman even admitted his scheme was illegal in front of Trump himself.Also, though the media is not saying this clearly, there were at least two plans to overturn the election.
- John Eastman requested Rudy put him on Hair Füror’s Pardon List, thus proving he knew damn well what he was proposing was illegal; it also confirms that there was a pardon list while they were plotting this coup:
“I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.”
- Pence himself was within 40 feet of the mob, in a clear line of sight, and if they had had weapons, we would be in a different place right now. (A confidential informant from the Proud Boys has told the FBI that the rioters would have killed Pence if given the chance.) There’s a lot of valor to what Pence did, but make no mistake: he was trying to find a legal way to do what Trump wanted. It took Dan Quayle and a legal team to convince him that there was nothing he could do.
- The final summation speech from Ret. Judge Luttig was a profound warning:
“This false and reckless insistence that the former president won the 2020 presidential election has laid waste to Americans’ confidence in their national elections. More alarming still is that the former president pledges that his reelection will not be ‘stolen’ from him next time around, and his Republican Party allies and supporters obeisantly pledge the same.”
I should also probably warn you that if you watch the 3-hour video above, it could be 45 minutes if you edit out Luttig’s testimony. His delivery was like some sort of ersatz William Shatner delivery with a pop culture satire of a Law Professor. While Luttig makes some great points, Dude is completely incapable of a straight-forward, linear reply to any question, with vast asides and diversions and innumerable dependent and independent clauses. At some point the Committee clearly realized that they were losing the audience and they focused more on the testimony of Mr. Jacob, which was a wise decision.
I’m not slamming Luttig, btw, only noting that he is not a teevee personality.
Mock Paper Scissors 
Sadly, I was thinking nicknames for Luttig as I tried to skim him with the 5 second skip button. I pushed it a lot.
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Heh. The first lawyer whose office I ran was like Judge Luttig. Always concerned about how to put words together so they meant only what he meant to say, no more or less. I enjoyed Judge Luttig’s testimony from that aspect, though I worried a few times that his indignance at the whole plot would pop a vein before he could convey his answers rather than his shock and anger about the plot.
The hearing was a bit longer and somewhat boring at times (if I hear the ‘get a f-g lawyer’ anymore, well.) But still well-done, IMO,
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My parents would be like Luttig whenever they discussed the Majesty of the Law. I always knew I was in for a dinnertime lecture when they would get that parsing-every-word tone.
I’m saying I was having flashbacks. Not the fun kind.
Rgds,
TG
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Oops! I’m sorry. I’ve always been a language geek since I first learned to read. ☺️
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Uncle Colm, Slugitt, Ambien …
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“There was a pardon list”
And we know from the first day of hearings Jared was in charge of it. Jared would throw his kids under the bus to get out of prison. Jared would be grabbing that baby away from Greg Stillson and saying “MY human shield”
What I’m saying is…They have the list. Jared gave it to them. I’ll wager 5000 quatloos Jared sang like a canary, confident in the fact that he has two billion dollars worth of Bonesaw’s money to shield himself.
HE can hire a “great fucking criminal defense attorney”
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Yes, it was tough to listen to Luttig, especially early on ( I was picturing little notes going back and forth among the frantic committee members). But there’s no conservative judge as ultra as he who is more widely respected. So it’s getting harder and harder for the Republicans to claim partisanship. And his closing warning should be repeated everywhere.
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Listening to Luttig brought Bob and Ray to the fore of my thoughts. Except Bob and Ray were funny. What Judge Luttig had to say was NOT funny in any way, but extremely sobering, especially coming from a very conservative Republican.
Still…. Bob and Ray!
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THANK YOU! -for saying aloud that Luttig was an EXCRUCIATING listen. He was so halting, flat and slow that it was hard remembering, at the end of his sentence, what the beggining of his sentence/point was. Each word was placed (groomed and admired) on a podium by itself before being removed for his next word. A sentence should string close like garland … not spaced like telephone poles. I was wondering if he had a stroke at some point because, if not, how painful were his court cases?
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A good place to watch these hearings is on C-SPAN’s website: https://www.c-span.org/schedule/. There’s only one ad at the beginning. I recommend watching at 1.25X speed. I put it on 1.5X when Luttig was talking. It still seemed kinda slow, but it was easier to remember what the hell he was talking about at the beginning of his sentences.
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