Hours before its dissolution at noon Tuesday with the ending of the Congress of the last two years and the commencement of the new session, the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol released the last remaining documents from its crucial probe.
Using the website of the U.S. Government Publishing Office — which was called the U.S. Government Printing Office from its founding on the same day that Lincoln was first inaugurated in 1861 until the internet era in 2014 — the bipartisan panel put on the permanent record the sordid details of Donald Trump’s attempted coup d’etat (if you like the French) or putsch (if you prefer the German).
There’s not a really good American term for what Trump did as the act was so foreign to this land and this government. Not since 1861 has there been a violent rebellion to overturn the Constitution.
All the committee-collected evidence, from transcripts and video depositions to text messages and emails, from the varied players in the Trump disaster that led to his mob sacking the Capitol and defouling the seat of government are available. Hundreds of witnesses were interviewed to learn the full truth of the conspiracy. And a conspiracy it was, inspired and led by the man who would benefit from the fulfillment of its insane goal: Trump retaining power.
The incoming Republicans taking control of the House, so eager to ingratiate themselves to Trump, will not be able to selectively plumb the archive to suit their needs and aid Trump. Instead, the whole thing is right there, having now been transmitted to the American public and kept safe from political manipulation.
In January 2021, among the first duties of the unsuspecting members of 117th Congress was the perfunctory counting of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 and declaring Joe Biden the winner. As the 117th Congress now passes into the history books, among its final duties was writing the history of how they were invaded by a lynch mob howling, “Hang Mike Pence!”
