The events of January 6, 2020 have come into focus in Congress, these days.
I had not followed a lot of what is going on in the hearings the last week or so, due to being caught up in more immediate family issues.
However during a rather long drive over to the next county, I listened to the testimony of several election officials from the State of Georgia as they recounted the events after the election, where it seemed that Mt Trump and his pal Rudy led a drive to discredit the election results in that state.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm ... c3d1143f1a
I had not really realized just how close we may have come to losing our Democratic political processes.
The real scary part of this story is that there are far too many people who seem to buy into T rump's BS that the election really was stolen.
(edit fixed typo)
Insurrection
Insurrection
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
- DH Lawrence
Re: Insurrection
Today was pretty interesting.
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/11067008 ... transcript
"ADAM KINZINGER: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here. I'd like to start with a personal story. So, in May of 2009, I returned from service in Iraq and I announced my intention to run for Congress. A big reason I decided to run for Congress was my motivation to ensure freedom and democracy were defended overseas.
I remember making a commitment, out loud a few times and in my heart repeatedly even to today, that if we are going to ask Americans to be willing to die in service to our country, we as leaders must at least be willing to sacrifice our political careers when integrity and our oath requires it. After all, losing a job is nothing compared to losing your life.
Within the halls of power, in the face of a president, that commitment can easily be forgotten. Presidential pressure can be really hard to resist. Today we'll focus on a few officials who stood firm against President Trump's political pressure campaign. When the president tried to misuse the department and install a loyalist at its helm, these brave officials refused and threatened to resign.
They were willing to sacrifice their careers for the good of our country. The Department of Justice is unique in the executive branch. The president oversees the Department of Justice, yet the president's personal or partisan interests must not shape or dictate the department's actions. The president cannot and must not use the department to serve his own personal interest, and he must not use its people to do his political bidding, especially when what he wants them to do is to subvert democracy.
The president cannot pervert justice nor the law to maintain his power. Justice must, both in fact and law, be blind. That is critical to our whole system of self-governance. During this hearing, you'll hear time and time again about the president's request to investigate claims of widespread fraud. Our witnesses, Mr. Rosen, Mr. Donoghue, and Mr. Engle, stood firm in the face of overbearing political pressure because they understood that their oath was to the Constitution and not to the personal or political interest of the president.
The president and his allies became keenly aware that, with legal challenges exhausted and electoral votes certified, their only hope would be a last ditch scheme to prevent Congress from certifying the win, thus throwing the entire system into constitutional chaos. The president wanted the department to sow doubt in the legitimacy of the election, to empower his followers and members of Congress to take action.
If the Department could just lend its credibility to the conspiracies, people would have the justification they needed to spread the big lie. So, President Trump ultimately wanted the Department of Justice to say the election was "corrupt" and "leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen." As you will hear today, the department's top leadership refused.
Not surprisingly, President Trump didn't take no for an answer. He didn't accept it from Attorney General Barr and he wouldn't accept it from Mr. Rosen either, so he looked for another attorney general, his third in two weeks. He needed to find someone who was willing to ignore the facts. That is not the norm."
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/11067008 ... transcript
"ADAM KINZINGER: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here. I'd like to start with a personal story. So, in May of 2009, I returned from service in Iraq and I announced my intention to run for Congress. A big reason I decided to run for Congress was my motivation to ensure freedom and democracy were defended overseas.
I remember making a commitment, out loud a few times and in my heart repeatedly even to today, that if we are going to ask Americans to be willing to die in service to our country, we as leaders must at least be willing to sacrifice our political careers when integrity and our oath requires it. After all, losing a job is nothing compared to losing your life.
Within the halls of power, in the face of a president, that commitment can easily be forgotten. Presidential pressure can be really hard to resist. Today we'll focus on a few officials who stood firm against President Trump's political pressure campaign. When the president tried to misuse the department and install a loyalist at its helm, these brave officials refused and threatened to resign.
They were willing to sacrifice their careers for the good of our country. The Department of Justice is unique in the executive branch. The president oversees the Department of Justice, yet the president's personal or partisan interests must not shape or dictate the department's actions. The president cannot and must not use the department to serve his own personal interest, and he must not use its people to do his political bidding, especially when what he wants them to do is to subvert democracy.
The president cannot pervert justice nor the law to maintain his power. Justice must, both in fact and law, be blind. That is critical to our whole system of self-governance. During this hearing, you'll hear time and time again about the president's request to investigate claims of widespread fraud. Our witnesses, Mr. Rosen, Mr. Donoghue, and Mr. Engle, stood firm in the face of overbearing political pressure because they understood that their oath was to the Constitution and not to the personal or political interest of the president.
The president and his allies became keenly aware that, with legal challenges exhausted and electoral votes certified, their only hope would be a last ditch scheme to prevent Congress from certifying the win, thus throwing the entire system into constitutional chaos. The president wanted the department to sow doubt in the legitimacy of the election, to empower his followers and members of Congress to take action.
If the Department could just lend its credibility to the conspiracies, people would have the justification they needed to spread the big lie. So, President Trump ultimately wanted the Department of Justice to say the election was "corrupt" and "leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen." As you will hear today, the department's top leadership refused.
Not surprisingly, President Trump didn't take no for an answer. He didn't accept it from Attorney General Barr and he wouldn't accept it from Mr. Rosen either, so he looked for another attorney general, his third in two weeks. He needed to find someone who was willing to ignore the facts. That is not the norm."
The home of the soul is the Open Road.
- DH Lawrence
- DH Lawrence