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The House Jan. 6 committee is back on Thursday with one more public hearing — at least, that's what we're told. The panel is expected to release a final report on its findings sometime after the midterm elections.
Some advice, though: You may want to write your plans for the fall in pencil.
The committee held its most recent hearing on July 21, and the deluge of news since then has shown us new revelations and courtroom developments that could potentially alter the investigation's trajectory or shift its focus.
I'll update you on where things stand in a bit. But first, Joy shared with me her thoughts on what to watch for during the upcoming hearing:
“As these hearings draw to a close, the thing to listen out for is whether the committee can establish a clear and convincing connection between the insurrection and Donald Trump himself. What did he or his direct associates know in advance about plans by groups like the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters and the Proud Boys, and people like Roger Stone, to use violence (on top of the schemes cooked up by people like John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Republican members of Congress and Trump’s plants in the Justice and Defense departments) to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election? If the committee makes that connection, including by tying Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows to the plot (or worse, Trump himself) we could well see a criminal referral from the committee to the DOJ that names the former president in a seditious conspiracy against the United States.”
It's been a couple months since the last committee hearing. Here's what happened while we were away:
- Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress after spurning a committee subpoena for his testimony and some Jan. 6-related documents.
- Tony Ornato, the Trump-loving assistant director of the Secret Service, retired … right as the Jan. 6 committee’s inquiry into agents' deleted text messages started to heat up.
- The committee withdrew its subpoena for Republican National Committee data related to fundraising emails that parroted Trump’s election fraud lies.
- The committee requested testimony from conservative strategist Newt Gingrich over his role in the Trump campaign’s propagation of lies about election fraud, and its encouragement of supporters to pressure lawmakers to decertify the 2020 election results.
- The Justice Department issued dozens of subpoenas to former Trump aides in a one-week span last month, and seized the phones of two in particular: attorney Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, a campaign strategist. The DOJ also subpoenaed Bernard Kerik, a former New York Police Department commissioner convicted of several felony charges, including tax fraud, whom Trump pardoned in 2020.
- A federal judge ruled the Jan. 6 committee can access phone records belonging to Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her husband, who were among dozens of people nationwide to submit fake elector sheets to Congress that falsely declared Arizona’s Electoral College votes were to be given to Trump.
- Jan. 6 committee adviser Denver Riggleman, a former GOP congressman, publicly revealed the committee discovered a call between the White House switchboard and a Jan. 6 rioter occurred while the attack was underway.
- During a closed-door interview with the Jan. 6 committee, right-wing activist Ginni Thomas reportedly denied having discussed her efforts to overturn the 2020 election with her husband, archconservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. I find it difficult to believe the couple never chatted about that topic. What's more, she reportedly repeated her false claims about election fraud to the committee.
"Season one" of the hearings was full of quotables. Here are some of the most memorable remarks:
“I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bulls---.” — Former Attorney General William Barr
This portion of Barr’s testimony was one of the most damning quotes from the first batch of hearings. It shows — in as clear terms as possible — Trump knew his election claims were lies as he spread them and encouraged people to act on them. As I’ve said previously, that consciousness of falsity could land Trump in legal peril — in both civil and criminal court.
“I’ve lost my name, and I’ve lost my reputation. I’ve lost my sense of security. All because a group of people starting with #45 ... decided to scapegoat me.” — Former Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman
Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss’ testimony about the terror they experienced due to Team Trump's baseless claims that they engaged in election fraud is the clearest example of what we stand to lose if we don’t hold Trump and his fellow fascists accountable: privacy, security and even our identities as individuals.
“Get a good f---ing criminal defense lawyer. You’re going to need it.” — Former White House counsel Eric Herschmann
Herschmann said he directed this warning to John Eastman, the lawyer who advised Trump's efforts to overturn the election. Need I say more? This quote, like the Barr quote, shows people in Trump’s orbit were highly aware of the criminality underlying Trump's plot to stay in office past his term.
“[T]hey’re not here to hurt me. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol after the rally’s over.” — Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson quoting Trump
Hutchinson testified that Trump told his security to stop preventing armed supporters from entering the area cordoned off for his speech at a rally that preceded the Capitol attack. It’s a damning quote that, if true, demonstrates Trump’s thirst for — or indifference to — violence meant to keep him in office.
"I don't want to say the election is over." — Trump
The committee presented outtakes of a statement Trump was meant to deliver condemning the Jan. 6 siege a day after it happened. Trump stumbled his way through the speech, and even chose, tellingly, to omit a line saying the election was over. That is, the election his opponent had won a full two months prior.
Thursday's hearing is sure to provide more shocking details about the most dangerous attack on democracy in recent memory.
The House Jan. 6 committee is holding its ninth public hearing on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 1 p.m. ET. Get expert analysis in real time on our live blog at msnbc.com/jan6hearings.