Republicans in Washington are banking that the televised hearings on January 6 aren’t making an impact, that voters are more concerned about gas prices and inflation, and that — basically — no one cares.
But just one man, Donald Trump, is paying attention. And he’s dissatisfied that nobody is speaking up for him.
The former president has reserved particular scorn for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who took the decision to remove all five of Trump’s supporters from the special panel last year after Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. rejected two of his nominees.
McCarthy’s tactic appears to have failed in multiple ways. It’s also posing new concerns about McCarthy’s ability to earn the coveted speaker’s gavel should Republicans take control of the House, given the political reality that he would probably need Trump’s support to do so.
Trump’s hidden resentments have erupted into the open.
Trump said on his social media website, Truth Social, on Wednesday, “Such incredible lies and innuendo went place yesterday at the Unselect Committee on January 6th.
If you let prejudiced and hateful witnesses speak for hours on end without even the tiniest cross-examination, you will never learn the truth. Republicans should be let to vote!
Trump criticised McCarthy’s boycott of the committee on Tuesday, but he avoided naming the senator by name.
According to Trump in an interview with Punchbowl News, “in retrospect, I think it would have been extremely good” to include Republicans on the committee. I believe that having representation would have been beneficial.
To “simply have a voice,” Trump remarked, McCarthy should have included Republicans on the panel. “There is no voice for the Republicans. Even so, they have nothing to say.
In a different interview over the weekend, Trump clarified that he had backed McCarthy for re-election to the House, not for speaker, and corrected conservative radio host Wayne Allen Root. He continued by calling the GOP’s policy “extremely dumb” and “a horror movie.”
Republicans ought to be rather embarrassed by themselves, added Trump.
However, a Trump ally pointed out that his criticisms ignore a crucial fact: McCarthy excluded Trump allies from the panel as part of a calculated plan created with Trump allies.
The plan was to disparage the panel at the time as being made up entirely of “Trump haters.” As a result, when the committee members released their conclusions, Trump and his allies could easily label them as “political,” the source claimed.
Speaking under the condition of anonymity to discuss the Republicans’ views on the committee, this individual added, “So, basically, you simply shrug it off as a partisan witch hunt.”
Republicans have testified in live and recorded testimony during the first four hearings, including former top White House and administration officials, Mike Pence aides, and state officials, about how Trump orchestrated a vigorous pressure campaign to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory and maintain his hold on power.
Thursday at 3 p.m. ET is the time for the fifth hearing, which will focus on Trump’s attempts to exert pressure on Justice Department employees to look into fabricated reports of widespread voter fraud. In conjunction with the hearing on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, McCarthy and other Republicans will address the media.
Trump’s inner circle is worried about the hearings’ potential impact on his chances of winning the presidency in 2024.
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The individual close to him said: “I look at this and say there is nobody in America who is watching this — even with all that’s going on with Joe Biden in the globe — and saying, ‘Donald Trump should be the next president of the United States.'” “Nobody.”
Trump’s allies on the Jan. 6 panel, unlike during his first impeachment hearings, are not in a position to attempt to interrupt Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and other Democrats, cross-examine a slew of GOP witnesses or present their own evidence about security lapses at the Capitol on Jan.