New York: The House Select Committee hearings on the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol provided a careful, compelling, and disturbing account of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. They gave a plethora of details about what we’ve known for a long time: that Trump and his allies launched an attack not only on Congress, but on democracy itself.
The work the committee has done over the past 18 months is perhaps even more important than its report. The months-long investigation and carefully orchestrated hearings, in which the evidence of Trump’s crime was presented to the public, were crucial elements in the country’s full understanding of the attack. Through the work of these hearings, Congress showed that the best possible response to political violence lay in the tools at hand: the rule of law, checks and balances, testimony under oath, and the careful process of bureaucracy.
A video of former US President Donald Trump is shown as members of the House selection committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which held its last public meeting on December 19.Credit:AP
Like a slow-motion replay, the committee’s work also gave Americans a second chance to understand the enormity of what happened that day. It seems plausible, as some members of the panel have argued, that the hearings made the protection of democracy a key issue in the midterm elections and helped voters reject some election deniers who ran for state office. The continued focus on Trump’s behavior in his final days in office is also valuable as he mounts a renewed campaign for the presidency. And the hearings drew the attention of the public and policymakers to the extremist groups that took part in the attack and pose a threat of renewed violence.
Congressional hearings are often filled with the distraction of partisan bickering, grandiosity, and detours to tangential topics. The January 6 commission was different and the American people were better off. Trump and others declined to respond to subpoenas from the commission, which would have given them a chance to answer questions and plead their case. Their refusal is unfortunate; they deserve the chance to defend themselves and present their account of the facts, and Americans deserve the chance to hear from them. They still get that chance, and Trump can still have his say in a court of law.
The seven Democrats and two Republicans who sat on the committee drew the attention of Americans who may not have been sufficiently informed or alarmed about Trump’s role in the events to learn about it. The two Republicans, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, deserve special credit for challenging their party to participate. Their presence and the damning testimony of Trump’s aides and allies conveyed the message that some things are necessarily more important than loyalty to a political party.
Former Trump deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger and former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews swear at the Jan. 6 hearing in Washington.Credit:Bloomberg
Americans also learned from these hearings how close this country came to even greater tragedies. Rioters came within 40 feet of Vice President Mike Pence. A Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, attempted to send a letter — based on lies — to officials in Georgia and possibly several other key states in late December 2020 warning of election irregularities and calling for a special legislative session to review alternate slates of presidential elections select voters.
Part of the lesson is that our democracy is inescapably fragile. It requires Americans and those who serve them as elected officials and in law enforcement to act in good faith. The commission rightly spent many hours of its work documenting the actions of all those local, state and federal officials who defied Trump’s demands and acted in many different ways to protect democracy.
The dangers remain clear and present, so this work is not complete. House Republicans will be in the majority in January, including many who tried to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory and some who cheered on the rioters.
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