January 6th Hearings Report

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The 6 committee hearings are purposed to accomplish the goal of protecting democracy and the democratic rights of the American citizens. Following the unrest which was caused by the Trump supporters to overturn the election results in 2020, evidences and witnesses have presented to the panel to ensure that the criminals are persecuted accordingly. From the 6 committee hearings, several aspects have been learnt. The aspect is that Donald Trump was strongly involved in the campaigns to overturn the election. Strong evidence proves that Trump was emotionally invested in winning the election and was responsible for destroying the democratic norms. According to Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony, on the 6th of January 2020, Trump had a physical argument with his top security official when he refused to drive him to Capitol, and as a show of intense anger, he even threw a plate of food against the wall in the State House (Oxford Analytica, 2022).

More evidence that relates Trump to the campaigns is that he placed and joined calls to the Republican party officials and state legislatures to convince them to manipulate the election results in his favor. According to Russell Rusty Bowers, Arizona speaker, he received multiple calls from Trump after the election, in which the then president asked him to use his stature in the statehouse to invalidate Joe Biden’s win. Additionally, Ronna McDaniel, a Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman has recorded a testimony that implies the former president’s participation in the fake-voters scheme (Oxford Analytica, 2022).

Trumps criminal actions were out of his own intention. After the election, his close aides and appointees told him that he had lost in free and fair elections. According to Attorney General William Barr’s testimony, he had 3 discussions with Trump in which he informed the former president that the elections were free and fair, and they had not been stollen. The three discussions were held in between late November to early December 2020 (Oxford Analytica, 2022). Also, Jason Miller, a senior official in Trump’s two campaigns, recorded a testimony stating that Matt Oczkowski, one of the lead data experts bluntly informed the former president that he was bound for defeat according to the election figures. Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager also noted about the same post-election conversation, stating that Trump had been informed about his chances of winning being minimal. Despite being informed that no fraudulent activities had been made to prevent his success in the elections, Trump showed a clear disinterest in the reports and still planned for the post-election campaigns to reject Biden’s win.

The hearings also established concrete evidence which show that Republican members of the congress participated in the election-reversal plot. Several congresspeople sought pardon from the president weeks before January 6 to participate in reversing Biden’s win. Some of the House Republicans who sought the president’s pardon include Matt Gaetz, Mo Brooks, and Marjorie Taylor-Greene (Oxford Analytica, 2022). Trump reportedly issued the congressmen pardons as well as those who voted to oppose the election results on January 6. Cassidy Hutchins’ recorded testimony states that Meadows and Giuliani also sought the president’s pardon to participate in the objection of election results.

Threats from Trump and his associates were imposed against election officials and their families. Fake election claims by Trump and his supporters caused the former election officials to undergo thorough investigations which exposed them to intense abuse and fear. The attacks were mainly focused on targeting top Republican officials who refused to participate in the election-reversal scheme and instead supported the integrity of the poll elections. Al Schmidt, former Republican city commissioner of Philadelphia reported that threats against him and his family raised after Trump mentioned his name on tweeter. Republicans who acknowledged the election’s integrity were referred to as Republican-in-name-only (RINO) which made them viewed as the party’s traitors (Oxford Analytica, 2022). Civil servants who participated in the democratic elections were also negatively affected. For instance, Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, who faced false information against their roles which led them to face threats leading them into hiding. Moss stated that the threats and situation almost led her to not resume her service due to the bullying that she faced.

Elected officials of the Republican party who opposed Trump’s actions issued explanations why they did not support the campaign to reject Biden’s elections. The officials reported that they were committed to abide by the democratic laws than to commit to the desires of a single man. They chose to save the country than impress their political party. The committee hearings are meant to prevent the occurrence of a similar situation which would risk the lives of the American citizens in the future (Berry, 2022). Election opposers who intend to mislead future votes and bound to prosecution and imprisonment. The panel officials have noted that the hearings will not only help to solve the past, but also serve as a warning in the future (Berry, 2022).

References

Oxford Analytica. (2022). US Capitol hearings may raise expectations too high. Emerald Expert Briefings, (oxan-db). https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/OXAN-DB270152/full/htmlBerry, T. A. (2022). Simple Reforms Could Prevent Election Chaos. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/2474648/simple-reforms-could-prevent-election-chaos/3496704/