Status: 07/21/2022 8:28 p.m
The US parliament’s investigative committee on the storming of the Capitol wants to meet today – probably for the last time. The central question is: Why didn’t ex-President Trump put a stop to the mob on January 6, 2021?
Trump-critical broadcasters like CNN have been fueling expectations for days: How do you explain the 187 minutes during which Trump did nothing to stop the frenzied mob at the Capitol? This includes two former Trump employees who resigned from their White House jobs after Jan. 6.
First Matthew Pottinger, who served on the National Security Council for four years. It was enough for Pottinger when Trump took aim at his own vice president, Mike Pence, during the Twitter storm. While Pence had to seek safety in the Capitol, Trump accused his loyal companion of cowardice: he didn’t have the guts to overturn the election in Trump’s favour. Because of this tweet, he gave up his job, says Pottinger. At the Capitol, Trump supporters chanted, “Untie Mike Pence!”.
“The Last Thing We Need Right Now”
Sarah Matthews, then Trump’s deputy government spokeswoman, felt the same way. This tweet was “the very last thing we need right now” – that was the unanimous reaction from the White House staff, she said. “The situation was bad enough,” Matthews recalls, “so the tweet only added fuel to the fire!”
The committee sees episodes like these as evidence that Trump not only approved of the storming of the Capitol, but deliberately instigated it. As part of a larger campaign to reverse his electoral defeat.
Hardly noticed by the public
So far, however, there is little evidence that the committee’s findings have changed public opinion in the United States. Political scientist Matthew Bergbower from Indiana State University is also skeptical: the compass needle hardly moved; the Democrats were delighted and felt confirmed in their position. Republicans ignored the committee, preferring to hail recent Supreme Court decisions like overturning abortion rights.
So the whole educational work for naught? Only time will tell, says Democratic Congresswoman Jamila Jayapal from Washington State. Now it’s the Attorney General’s turn, she says, to hold Trump accountable for his attempted coup. Accordingly, today’s closing session should again be staged like a plea by the prosecution.