Jan. 6 hearings streamed on C-Span

[CivilDiscourse]

Can the spam, please.

OK, now what?

[rogue06]

I have no way of knowing what familiarity you might have with the hearings themselves. The C-Span video includes a number of tools for citing testimony accurately. Please take advantage of them and whatever prior familiarity you might have to contribute to this discussion.

Then why did you immediately presume that I had only "reviewed 15 hours of testimony 8 minutes after the thread was posted"?

Admittedly, I haven't watched every minute. Not even close. The other day when Shifty Schiff, the man with the bad habit of tampering with evidence, was speaking, I had to turn it off. But I still have been following it rather closely and watch pertinent parts I missed on YouTube etc. which is why I can say it is little more than last year's turd in a new package.

But I hope they continue as there are increasing indication it is backfiring as Americans continue to struggle and see the Democrats are too busy to care as they are only concerned with their incessant vendetta against Trump.

[Sparko]

I have been watching a couple days of it when Fox news covered it. But admittedly it was mostly in the background as I was working those days. My take-aways: They are not about the Jan 6 riots. They are about Trump and using Jan 6 as just another way to attack him. More Orange Man Bad.

The gist seems to be that Trump KNEW that the election was not rigged and was trying to steal the election. That everything he did was somehow illegal. But all of the evidence they showed and all of the testimony merely showed that Trump really believed that the election was rigged and he was asking people to step up and find a way to correct it. At best they can prove he was WRONG, not LYING. And the various things he tried to do in response were not illegal attempts to steal the election, they were desperate attempts to try to correct what he thought was a corrupt election.

They have not provided a shred of evidence that it was Trump who was trying to steal the election as they claim. As I said in the other thread on this: They sound like twebbers who keep accusing someone of lying when they express something they believe it true but are wrong, or have a different opinion. That is not lying. That is just being wrong.

But having said that, I do believe there were some shady things going on by liberals during the last election, at the local level. Whether it was enough to tip the election results, I have no idea. But I thing THAT should have been investigated.

[rogue06]

Can the spam, please.

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Canned is the only way it comes AFAICT

[Maranatha]

Subsequent hearings have been postponed for lack of residual effect.

The hearings will return at such time that they will have some affect, on somebody, somewhere.

[Cow Poke]

I have been watching a couple days of it when Fox news covered it. But admittedly it was mostly in the background as I was working those days. My take-aways: They are not about the Jan 6 riots. They are about Trump and using Jan 6 as just another way to attack him. More Orange Man Bad.

The gist seems to be that Trump KNEW that the election was not rigged and was trying to steal the election. That everything he did was somehow illegal. But all of the evidence they showed and all of the testimony merely showed that Trump really believed that the election was rigged and he was asking people to step up and find a way to correct it. At best they can prove he was WRONG, not LYING. And the various things he tried to do in response were not illegal attempts to steal the election, they were desperate attempts to try to correct what he thought was a corrupt election.

They have not provided a shred of evidence that it was Trump who was trying to steal the election as they claim. As I said in the other thread on this: They sound like twebbers who keep accusing someone of lying when they express something they believe it true but are wrong, or have a different opinion. That is not lying. That is just being wrong.

But having said that, I do believe there were some shady things going on by liberals during the last election, at the local level. Whether it was enough to tip the election results, I have no idea. But I thing THAT should have been investigated.

Did they bring up anything about him inciting a riot with speech ---- like Schumer's yelling publicly at specific SCOTUS members and threatening they'll reap the whirlwind?

“I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

[CivilDiscourse]

[Gondwanaland]

I have been watching a couple days of it when Fox news covered it. But admittedly it was mostly in the background as I was working those days. My take-aways: They are not about the Jan 6 riots. They are about Trump and using Jan 6 as just another way to attack him. More Orange Man Bad.

The gist seems to be that Trump KNEW that the election was not rigged and was trying to steal the election. That everything he did was somehow illegal. But all of the evidence they showed and all of the testimony merely showed that Trump really believed that the election was rigged and he was asking people to step up and find a way to correct it. At best they can prove he was WRONG, not LYING. And the various things he tried to do in response were not illegal attempts to steal the election, they were desperate attempts to try to correct what he thought was a corrupt election.

They have not provided a shred of evidence that it was Trump who was trying to steal the election as they claim. As I said in the other thread on this: They sound like twebbers who keep accusing someone of lying when they express something they believe it true but are wrong, or have a different opinion. That is not lying. That is just being wrong.

But having said that, I do believe there were some shady things going on by liberals during the last election, at the local level. Whether it was enough to tip the election results, I have no idea. But I thing THAT should have been investigated.

That's pretty much been my takeaway after watching the first two days. Haven't bothered watching anything but highlights on the rest.

[rogue06]

Did they bring up anything about him inciting a riot with speech ---- like Schumer's yelling publicly at specific SCOTUS members and threatening they'll reap the whirlwind?

“I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

B-but, but, Schumer later clarified that he meant a political price. And the MSM agree that's what he must have meant... even though not being elected but appointed for life a SCOTUS justice doesn't face any sort of "political price."

explained.jpeg

[rogue06]

liar.jpg73b072f1-121d-4b6a-a151-0bb1e77ffe1b.jpg

broken record.jpg

[Cow Poke]

I actually watched some of the hearings yesterday, and was wondering what Joe SixPack would think if he watched. Countless names of people we don't know, "so and so came into the room", "so and so testified", "Mr Clark", "Mr Jenson" (or whatever their names were) each speaking to what happened in the room, getting more and more involved... "I was in a t-shirt, blue jeans and muddy boots"....

The OMB crowd is gonna cheer and proclaim the case is proven - the Trumpters will believe it's just a hit-job, but I think a whole bunch of people just really don't care.

Rather than working on the REAL problems in our country, they're focused on "GIT TRUMP". Somebody needs to let them know he's no longer in office.

[rogue06]

I actually watched some of the hearings yesterday, and was wondering what Joe SixPack would think if he watched. Countless names of people we don't know, "so and so came into the room", "so and so testified", "Mr Clark", "Mr Jenson" (or whatever their names were) each speaking to what happened in the room, getting more and more involved... "I was in a t-shirt, blue jeans and muddy boots"....

The OMB crowd is gonna cheer and proclaim the case is proven - the Trumpters will believe it's just a hit-job, but I think a whole bunch of people just really don't care.

Rather than working on the REAL problems in our country, they're focused on "GIT TRUMP". Somebody needs to let them know he's no longer in office.

rent-free.jpg
The good news is that it means they are too obsessed to do as much damage as they could be doing.
I mean just imagine what they would have done to us if they weren't still all-consumed with OMB smiley shudder.gif

[Juvenal]

This deserves further attention, as it’s been described in some reporting as the most telling reveal from the first hearing.

[Counsel Childress:] IN FACT, THE INVESTIGATION REVEALS THAT IT WAS INDIVIDUALS ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROUD BOYS WHO INSTIGATED THE INITIAL BREACH OF THE P CIRCLE AT 12:53 P.M. APPE. WITHIN 10 MINUTES, RIOTERS HAD FILLED THE LOWER EAST PLAZA.

The timeline shows that rioters had broken through the barricades and filled the lower segment of the east plaza before the president had finished speaking on the Ellipse. The general crowd of the president’s supporters had nothing to do with this. He was still speaking at this time. The breach of the bike rack barricades was led by Joseph Biggs of the Proud Boys.

This was before the president had called his supporters to march on the Capitol with the stated intent of leading them personally.

I can imagine the conversation that ensued.

Trump to the secret service: I’m heading for the Capitol.
Secret service radio chatter 1: The president is heading for the Capitol.
Secret service radio chatter 2: Rioters have broken through the barricades.
Secret service to Trump: Mr. President, you’re not heading for the Capitol.

We have further details from one of the handful of officers manning the line of bike racks who was injured as they were breached. Because rioters were recording the action and posting to social media, we have video of her first injuries. Like many officers of the Capitol police force, she returned to the defense of the Capitol and was injured repeatedly.

From the video, Carolina Edwards looked to have been in good shape, but she didn’t have the mass to hold that line. To be fair, all the officers assembled together didn’t have the mass. When the rioters tossed the section of bike racks she was trying to hold in place, she was tossed with it, into the air, landing against a set of concrete steps, bouncing against a handrail, and then falling, clipped unconscious as her head hit the steps behind her. She looked like a rag doll hurled into the air.

I’m breaking the auto-transcription into bite-sized chunks to break up the walls of text and illuminate the details.
.

OFFICER EDWARDS, CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE CROWD THAT ASSEMBLED AT THE PEACE CIRCLE AS YOU AND YOUR FELLOW OFFICERS STAYED BEHIND AND GUARDED THE PEACE CIRCLE?

OFFICER EDWARDS: THERE WERE ABOUT I WANT TO SAY FIVE OF US ON THAT LINE. AND THERE WERE -- THERE WAS OUR BIKE RACK AND AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE WALKWAY, ANOTHER BIKE RACK. AND SO THE CROWD HAD KIND OF GATHERED THERE. IT WAS THE CROWD LED BY JOSEPH BIGGS. AND THEY WERE MOSTLY IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES. THERE WERE SOME WHO HAD MILITARY FATIGUES ON, WE COULD SEE PEOPLE WITH BULLET-PROOF VEST ON, YOU KNOW, THINGS LIKE THAT. IT DID NOT SEEM EXTREMELY COHESIVE, BUT THEY HAD GATHERED THERE IN THEIR OUTFITS.

THEY HAD GATHERED THERE TOGETHER AND JOSEPH BIGGS STARTED -- HE HAD A MEGAPHONE AND HE STARTED TALKING ABOUT FIRST THERE WAS THINGS KIND OF RELATING TO CONGRESS AND THEN, THE TABLES STARTED TURNING ONCE HE -- THE ARIZONA GROUP IS WHAT HE SAID. THEY CAUGHT UP WITH WARREN AND THEY CAME UP CHANTING [EXPLETIVE] ANTIFA. AND THEY JOINED THAT GROUP.

Biggs and his contingent of Proud Boys were recorded heading for the Capitol on foot around 10:30 am. His group at the Pennsylvania Avenue barricades was joined by an Arizona contingent of Proud Boys shortly before the barricades were breached at 12:53 pm. Back at the Ellipse, the president was still speaking. His promise to march with his supporters came 20 minutes later.

Meanwhile, after the Arizona contingent had joined Biggs, his exhortations refocused on the Capitol police themselves.
.

AND ONCE THEY JOIN THAT GROUP, JOSEPH BIGGS RHETORIC TURNED TO THE CAPITOL POLICE. HE STARTED ASKING US QUESTIONS LIKE YOU DIDN'T MISS A PAYCHECK DURING THE PANDEMIC. MENTIONING STUFF ABOUT OUR PAY SCALE WAS MENTIONED, AND HE STARTED TURNING THE TABLES ON US. AND I'VE WORKED -- I CAN CONSERVATIVELY SAY PROBABLY HUNDREDS OF CIVIL DISTURBANCE EVENTS. I KNOW WHEN I AM BEING TURNED INTO A VILLAIN …

There were a couple hundred Proud Boys gathered with Biggs before the Arizona contingent arrived to swell their numbers.
.

… AND THAT IS WHEN I TURNED TO MY SERGEANT AND STATED THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE CENTURY. I SAID SERGEANT, I THINK WE ARE GOING TO NEED A FEW MORE PEOPLE DOWN HERE.

A handful of law enforcement officers were standing up against an overwhelming force of Proud Boys.
.

AND SO, AFTER THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY STARTED CONFERRING. THEY WENT A LITTLE SILENT. THEY STARTED CONFERRING AMONG EACH OTHER. I SAW THE PERSON NOW IDENTIFIED AS RYAN, HE PUT HIS ARM AROUND JOSEPH BIGGS AND THEY WERE TALKING. AND THEN HE STARTED APPROACHING THE FIRST BARRICADE.

Emphasizing once again that the breach of the barricades was not an organic action of the disorganized group of supporters still listening to the president back at the Ellipse.
.

THEY RIPPED THE FIRST BARRICADE DOWN AND THEY APPROACHED OUR BIKE RACKS. YOU KNOW, AT THAT TIME, WE STARTED HOLDING ON, GRABBING THE BIKE RACKS. THERE WERE NOT MANY OF US, SO I GRABBED THE MIDDLE, BETWEEN TWO DIFFERENT BIKE RACKS AND, YOU KNOW, I WAS NOT UNDER ANY PRETENSE THAT I COULD HOLD IT FOR VERY LONG. BUT I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE COULD GET MORE PEOPLE DOWN AND GET OUR UNITS TIME TO ANSWER THE CALL.

That was never going to work.
.

SO WE STARTED GRAPPLING OVER THE BIKE RACKS. I FELT THE BIKE RACK FALL ON TOP OF MY HEAD AND I WAS PUSHED BACKWARD AND MY FOOT CAUGHT THE STAIR BEHIND ME. AND MY CHIN HIT THE HANDRAIL AND THEN AT THAT POINT, I HAD BLACKED OUT. BUT THE BACK OF MY HEAD CLIPPED THE CONCRETE STAIRS BEHIND ME.

[Counsel Childress:] WITHIN 10 MINUTES, RIOTERS HAD FILLED THE LOWER EAST PLAZA. BY 2:00, THEY HAD REACHED THE DOORS ON THE LEFT AND THE EAST CLAUSES. BY 2:13, THEY HAD BROKEN THROUGH THE SENATE WING DOOR AND GOTTEN INTO THE CAPITOL BUILDING. FEARING THE BRIDGE THAT FOLLOWED AT 2:25 P.M., THEY BREACHED THE EAST SIDE DOORS TO THE ROTUNDA. IN RIGHT AFTER 2:40 PM, THEY BREACHED THE EAST SIDE DOORS. ONCE THEY INFILTRATED THE CAPITAL, THEY MOVED TO THE CRYPT, THE ROTUNDA, THE HALLWAY LEADING TO THE HOUSE CHAMBERS, EVEN INSIDE SENATE CHAMBERS.

The auto-transcripts are uncorrected. To get a feeling for the errors, I’ve transcribed the above passage myself, from the 1:24:47 mark in the hearing.
.

Within 10 minutes rioters had already filled the lower west plaza. By 2:00 rioters had reached the doors on the west and the east plazas. And by 2:13 rioters had actually broken through the Senate wing door and gotten into the Capitol building. A series of breaches followed. At 2:25 pm rioters breached the east side doors to the rotunda. And then right after 2:40 pm rioters breached the east side doors near the Ways and Means room. Once the rioters infiltrated the Capitol, they moved through the Crypt, the Rotunda, the hallways leading to the House chambers, and even the Senate chambers.

Some of the errors are glaring. The phrase “west and east plazas” was auto-transcribed as “LEFT AND THE EAST CLAUSES.” “A series of breaches followed” was auto-transcribed as “FEARING THE BRIDGE THAT.” The C-SPAN transcription is enough to gather the general sense of the testimony, but is more useful as landmarks for locating passages.

[Juvenal]

The above post was begun early yesterday morning before being interrupted by classes and grading and work on next week’s lectures, and yes, watching the fifth hearing. There’s no real substitute for watching the hearings themselves. Much of the testimony is illuminated by video provided by the rioters themselves.

NPR has a full transcript of the first hearing which I wish I’d discovered before posting earlier. One passage in particular was evocative.
.

BENNIE THOMPSON: Thank you very much. Ms. Edwards, can you give us one memory of that awful day that stands out most vividly in your mind?

CAROLINE EDWARDS: I can. That time when I talked about falling behind MPD's line, I remember because I had been kind of shielded away cause I was holding those stairs, so I wasn't able to really see what was going on over here.

CAROLINE EDWARDS: When I fell behind that line and I saw, I can just remember my — my breath catching in my throat, because what I saw was just a — a war scene. It was something like I'd seen out of the movies. I — I couldn't believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. You know, they were bleeding. They were throwing up.

They were — you know, they had — I mean, I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood. You know, I — I was catching people as they fell. I — you know, I was — it was carnage. It was chaos. I — I can't — I can't even describe what I saw. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that, as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle. You know, I — I'm trained to detain, you know, a couple of subjects and — and handle — you know, handle a crowd, but I — I'm not combat trained. And that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, hours of dealing with things that were way beyond any — any law enforcement officer has ever trained for. And I just remember — I just remember that moment of stepping behind the line and just seeing the absolute war zone that the west front had become.

The MPD set up their perimeter on the west side of the Capitol building just after 6 pm. Officer Edwards and her colleagues had been fighting for just over five hours by then. This was the scene she reported after being relieved.

[Mountain Man]

Rather than working on the REAL problems in our country, they're focused on "GIT TRUMP". Somebody needs to let them know he's no longer in office.

Their only goal at this point is to do everything they can to torpedo his chances of running and winning in 2024.