CNN: January 6 Committee ‘Made It Clear They’re Going After Trump’

CNN reported Tuesday that the Democrat-run committee chosen by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot “made it clear they’re going after Trump” on the first day of hearings.

The Tuesday hearing featured members of the Capitol Police, including one who admitted openly that he had voted for Joe Biden, testifying about their experiences in graphic and explicit detail — and also stating their political opinions.

Members of the committee, who included past House impeachment managers Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD), tried to connect the riot to then-President Donald Trump, as they did in the second impeachment trial.

The only two Republicans were anti-Trump Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL). Pelosi rejected two of the five members chosen by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), prompting him to withdraw all five.

CNN reported that one of the “takeaways” was the effort to use the commission to target the former president (original emphasis):

The select committee is going after Trump

Outside of Cheney’s questions, the select committee didn’t turn much of its opening hearing on Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection, focusing on the rioters who attacked the Capitol and the officers protecting it.

But it’s clear that’s where the committee is headed.

“The rioters who tried to rob us of our democracy were propelled here by a lie,” select committee Chairman Bennie Thompson [D-MS] said in his opening statement. “As chairman of this committee, I will not give that lie any fertile ground. We need to understand how and why the Big Lie festered.”

Cheney, who is facing calls for retribution from Trump and his GOP allies, said that the public deserves testimony from “every person with knowledge of the planning and preparation for January 6th.”

“We must also know what happened every minute of that day in the White House — every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during, and after the attack,” she said. “If those responsible are not held accountable, and if Congress does not act responsibly, this will remain a cancer on our constitutional republic, undermining the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democratic system.”

Republicans contend that Pelosi turned a legitimate inquiry into an effort to marginalize Trump and his supporters.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.