187 minutes. That’s how long it took on January 6, 2021 for then US President Donald Trump to call his violent supporters back from the storming of the Capitol with a video speech. That’s more than three hours between his rousing speech on the afternoon of that fateful day and his rather half-hearted appeal.
What did Trump do during this time?
In its last public hearing before the summer break, the committee of inquiry into the Capitol attack will shed light on Thursday evening (local time) at prime time. It shows that Trump deliberately accepted violence to stay in power, that he followed the riots on television. That he had to be pushed by his allies to intervene eventually. And just didn’t do anything for a long time.
What happened in the last session?
The session is the tentative finale in a series of public hearings by the panel that have heavily incriminated Trump. As always, the session is a spectacle — high-profile witnesses such as then-Deputy Republican Press Secretary Sarah Matthews or then-Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger testify. The Capitol attack would have provided US enemies “ammunition” to claim that the United States and democracy are in decline, says Pottinger. They are strong words.
The message from the committee is clear. Again and again its members and witnesses have made it clear in the hearings: The danger to democracy has not been averted. There will be elections again, Trump and his supporters could try again – and then they have learned from their mistakes from back then. A video snippet shown at the hearing on Thursday evening makes it clear that Trump himself shows no insight: One day after his supporters stormed the Capitol, Trump refused to speak of an “end of the election”. “I don’t want to say that the election is over,” he says – although this was in the draft speech.
While the hearing was still going on, Trump sent an angry message through his social network “Truth Social”. More will follow in the hours that follow. The committee is a sham court, all lies, a few insults – that’s the short summary. In the previous weeks, the committee has shown that Trump and his allies tried all kinds of tricks to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. When that doesn’t work, Trump pulls out all the stops on January 6th. “He called the mob to Washington. And he knew the assembled mob was heavily armed and angry. He ordered the mob to go to the Capitol,” said committee chair Bennie Thompson.
Who is on the committee?
The board got off to a difficult start. The Republicans torpedoed a bipartisan investigation into the Capitol attack and eventually the House of Representatives committee more or less from the start. After public disputes, the body now has seven Democrats and only two Republicans. The two Republican MPs Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are proven Trump critics who were disowned by their party for their work on the committee.
Cheney fears for her seat in the House of Representatives – she could lose out in the Republican primary in her home state of Wyoming in August against a candidate supported by Trump. Kinzinger doesn’t even appear again. Their appearances during the hearing are all the more impressive. Also on Thursday evening they are rhetorically thick. But whether the two can also address their party supporters at the end of the day remains questionable. Depending on which survey you look at, just over half of the people in the US are following the committee’s work closely in some way. Among them are significantly more Democrats than Republicans.
Are Americans interested in this hearing?
After all, around 20 million people watched the first hearing during prime time at the beginning of June. That is significantly fewer spectators than, for example, at debates on presidential candidates. The number is significant nonetheless. The following hearings, which aired in the afternoon, had fewer people tuning in. The provisional finale is now running again at prime time. The major news channels broadcast live – but one does not: Fox News. Trump’s house and yard broadcaster relies on his rushing talk show hosts around Tucker Carlson in the main program on Thursday evening. If you want to see the hearing live, you have to switch to a special channel of the broadcaster.
Will the hearing hurt Trump’s approval ratings?
It is difficult to say whether the hearings will harm Trump in the end. Observers believe they have caused support for Trump to wane, at least slightly, among Republicans. The numbers speak a similar language. According to polls, the number of party supporters who want Trump to run again in the 2024 presidential election is falling. There have been repeated reports in recent weeks that he might announce his presidential candidacy before the congressional elections in the fall. The hearings, which would put pressure on him, were also cited as a reason for this. If he is officially a candidate, he could more easily dismiss possible investigations against him as politically motivated.
How likely are such legal steps anyway?
A committee is not a court. The panel itself cannot initiate investigations against Trump. However, it can refer the case to the Department of Justice for prosecution. But then the decision lies there. All eyes are on Justice Secretary Merrick Garland, who is coming under increasing pressure to make a decision. According to a poll by the Marist Institute, half of those polled believe Trump should be impeached for the Capitol attack. However, only 28 percent believe this actually happens.
Will Trump still be subpoenaed?
The committee makes no clear statement as to whether it may subpoena Trump. “He lies constantly. I would not put it past him to lie under oath,” said committee member Kinzinger. Instead, there were spectacular surprise witnesses like Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House staffer. But it is also significant who has not yet testified. Trump ally Steve Bannon and former chief of staff Mark Meadows refused.
Bannon recently offered to testify under conditions in view of legal ramifications. The committee has now announced that it will collect further evidence against Trump. There will be further hearings after the summer break. In US media it is said that this was only the season finale – the series finale is yet to come.
