The first public hearing of the January 06 select committee was Thursday, and televised in its entirety by most major networks, including both CSPAN cable channels. Fox News declined to televise the hearing, choosing instead to show highlights to offer their alternate counter narratives.
The hearing featured video testimony and footage of several key figures, including Bill Barr, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner.
Bill Barr
“I repeatedly told the president in no uncertain terms did I see any evidence of fraud, you know, that would have affected the outcome of the election. And frankly, a year and a half later, I haven’t seen anything to change my mind on that.”
The former Attorney General recalled telling Trump that he saw “Zero basis for the allegations, but they were made in such a sensational way that they were obviously influencing a lot of people, members of the public, that there was this systemic corruption in the system and that their votes didn’t count, and that these machines controlled by somebody else were actually determining it, which was complete nonsense. And I told them that it was – that it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that. And it was doing a grave, grave disservice to the country.”
Ivanka Trump
Via video footage Ivanka Trump was asked what Bill Barr’s conclusions had on her opinion.
“It affected my perspective,” she said. “I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.”
Nick Quested
The hearing also featured the testimony of independent filmmaker, Nick Quested who had been filming various pro-Trump, “stop the steal” tallies around the Capitol.
“As stated, in the winter of 2020, I was working on a documentary. As part of that documentary, I filmed several rallies in Washington DC on December 11 and 12, and I learned there would be a rally on the Mall on January 06. So, my three colleagues and I came down to document the rally. According to the permit, the event there was going to be a rally at the Ellipse.
“We arrived at the Mall and observed a large contingent of Proud Boys marching toward the Capitol. We filmed them and almost immediately I was separated from my colleagues. I documented the crowd turn from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists. I was surprised at the size of the group, the anger, and the profanity. And for anyone who didn’t understand how violent that event was, I saw it, I documented it, and I experienced it. I heard incredibly aggressive chanting and I shared – subsequently shared that footage with the authorities.”
Trump had called the rioters a peaceful crowd. “They were peaceful people. The crowd was unbelievable. And I mentioned the word love. The love – the love in the air. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Part two of the televised hearings is scheduled to be aired this Monday.
Sources: The Week, NPR.
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