By Siggy Raible
Former President Trump’s Tweet on December 19, 2020 called upon his supporters to come to Washington, D.C., to join in a “protest” on January 6, 2021 stating it “will be wild.” By comparison, the January 6 Select Committee which met on December 19, 2022 was a solemn and subdued affair.
For those Americans who may have slept through the events of January 6th (as well as those who have not followed the proceedings of the last eighteen months), that was the day when Congress was scheduled to certify the electoral college count, a procedural event certifying the election of the 47tth President of the United States. On that day an angry mob invaded the Capitol disrupting its proceedings.
On July 1, 2021 Congress formed the January 6 Select Committee, comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, to investigate the events surrounding January 6th.
Two years after the infamous December 19th Tweet (to the date!) and eighteen months into the investigation the nine members of the January 6 Select Committee met and within the two hours set aside for the televised event unanimously voted to forward a report to the Justice Department recommending that criminal charges be brought against the former president and others who may have conspired in the planning of the attack on the Capitol. The final report will be available starting on December 21, 2022.
So ends a year and a half of an investigation surrounding the events of January 6th. During those eighteen months the committee reviewed thousands of documents; interviewed under oath hundreds of aides, lawyers and others; conducted ten public hearings; and spent God knows how many thousands of dollars in an effort to understand how the events of that day came to be and to determine who should be held accountable for the deaths, injuries and destruction visited upon the Capitol.
While the trials of those individuals who invaded the Capitol are on-going, those who organized, incited, aided or tried to interfere with the lawful and peaceful transition of power (the banal procedure of certifying the vote) have yet to be brought to account for their actions.
And so, as one drama ends the next one begins. The next chapter will unfold in the coming weeks. Will justice prevail? Will criminal charges be brought by the Justice Department against those who promoted, aided and abetted the insurrection? Will the former and possible future king (oops, I meant President) be charged with obstruction of justice and impairing the functioning of government?
Who knows. But, stay tuned … it will be wild!
