OPINION:
The July 27 hearing of the House’s Jan. 6 committee was a disgrace (“Jan. 6 hearing opens as police detail violence, injuries,” Web, July 27). It was partisan fare, not non-partisan fair.
There were videos of the Jan. 6 riot and testimony recounting the actions of the rioters, the emotionally charged reactions of the U.S. Capitol defenders, and the racial and gender makeup of the participants. Few defend the riot, despite suggestions to the contrary in the hearing, and nobody doubts that it happened. Yet the testimony given and videos played during the hearing were highly inflammatory and utterly irrelevant. The principal question before the committee is whether former President Trump incited the riot. No video or testimony addressed the Jan. 6 role or actions of Mr. Trump or anyone else not at the Capitol that day.
If the committee hearings were a criminal trial against Mr. Trump or any other non-rioter, the judge would exclude nearly all the “evidence” presented to the committee.
The committee may get to the charge against the former president, but only after it has poisoned the jury pool, which is the American public.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
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