OPINION:
The kangaroo court show trial that calls itself the Jan. 6 select committee is clearly determined to convict Donald Trump of inciting a riot — or at least rough him up to the point he is no longer a viable candidate for president.
In fact, the committee’s concluding witness on its second day of public hearings, former Judge J. Michael Luttig, was invited by committee Chair Bennie Thompson to make the case that Mr. Trump was unfit to run for president again, and Mr. Luttig did as he was told.
At the outset of the first public hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney said the committee would defer exploring security failures that allowed the rioters to breach the Capitol, and instead focus on former President Donald Trump’s alleged culpability for the riot. This puts the cart before the horse and highlights the real Trump-destroying mission of the committee.
There is apparently evidence that Mr. Trump authorized both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to use the National Guard to protect the capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and both declined to do so. This suggests both women could have prevented the Capitol breach. More importantly, it is evidence that the president could have reasonably concluded Mrs. Pelosi and Ms. Bowser had security in hand.
If the committee had truly been formed to unearth the truth, it would have explored the role and actions (or inaction) of the speaker and mayor, and the possibility the president reasonably concluded they would do their jobs, as its first order of business.
JIM DUEHOLM
Washington
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