As a House select committee continues its deep dive into the events of Jan. 6, 2021, there has been some consolation for Marylanders that the major figures in the assault on democracy were not from around these parts. Not Donald Trump, who has never won an election in this state; not his closest associates; and not his nuttiest advisors, whether inside or outside the White House. Indeed, there’s been some consolation that one of the committee’s leading figures in ferreting out the truth behind the madness has been none other than U.S. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin, the Democrat and constitutional law professor who has represented Maryland’s 8th Congressional District since 2017.
All that changed on Tuesday, however, when it was revealed that President Trump and his team had summoned a select group of GOP House members to the White House on Dec. 21, 2021, in an apparent attempt to garner their support for a scheme to overturn the election. Included in the usual suspects of Trump diehards, right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists — like Arizona’s Paul Gosar and Florida’s Matt Gaetz — was none other than Maryland 1st District U.S. Rep. Andy Harris. The goal of the meeting was obviously to encourage the attendees to keep repeating the lie that the election was stolen and to reinforce the plan that, we now know, was hatched by the more-deeply-disgraced-by-the-day Trump attorney, John Eastman, to get Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral results on Jan. 6.
The revelation was by itself not especially shocking. Harris has traded in election lies before. But what was especially disappointing was his immediate response to this disclosure. Did he apologize? No. Did he admit anything connected with this coup attempt was wrong? Again, no. Did he at least express some regret about events that culminated with the armed attack on the U.S. Capitol? Absolutely not. Here is a summary of the congressman’s written response: He was too busy to watch the hearing. He’s trying to lower the price of groceries and gasoline, and fighting crime instead.
