For those who’ve dismissed the proceedings of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol last year as more about political theater than accountability, the testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson should change their minds. The one-time top aide to Mark Meadows, then-President Donald J. Trump’s chief of staff, dropped bombshell after bombshell during her surprise appearance on Capitol Hill on June 28.
Some of the testimony — like the revelation that Trump’s tantrums included throwing his lunch against the wall — was more obnoxious than felonious. But far more troubling is what would seem to be clear evidence of the president’s involvement in a criminal enterprise: According to Hutchinson, Trump knew full well that his supporters were armed and therefore had to recognize that, in dispatching them to the Capitol, he was directing an armed insurrection to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election.
Politics is politics, but crime is crime. It’s safe to assume that the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorney General Merrick Garland is naturally reluctant to indict a former president. After Richard M. Nixon resigned from office in disgrace in 1974, then-President Gerald Ford pardoned him for any crimes committed while in office. Ford justified the action as an attempt to heal deep political divisions in the country. And while some may have seen this as a noble self-sacrifice of Ford’s own political career, that clearly wasn’t his expectation. More significantly, it freed Nixon from true accountability despite the overwhelming evidence of his role in the Watergate cover-up, demonstrating to the nation and the world that a U.S. president is above the law. That is a precedent that must not be repeated in 2022.
Tuesday’s hearing was not a criminal proceeding, of course. There was no defense offered, no cross-examination, no rules of evidence to meet. But what was presented was too compelling to ignore. How could Trump have known that his supporters were armed? He specifically asked that Secret Service not use metal detectors which he assumed had reduced the size of the crowd gathering for his speech at the Ellipse. “Take the f-ing [detectors] away,” the supporters are “not here to hurt me,” Trump told his staff, according to Hutchinson. His subsequent speech urging those same supporters to then march on the Capitol resonates a whole lot differently knowing how much firearms were on his mind at that moment as was his desire to personally lead them.
We would be the first to admit that our regard for the 45th occupant of the Oval Office was already exceedingly low. His attacks of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings and on Baltimore, his prolific lies, his racism and misogyny, his willful incompetence and corruption, his ignorance and indifference to any facts that don’t suit his political convenience should have been disqualifying for such an important office. But, just as Americans should not ignore crimes committed by someone they admire, Trump’s failures should not insulate him from criminal indictment. Nor should his continued influence on the Republican Party even as he continues to endorse candidate after candidate across the country. Our democracy doesn’t work if our top elected leaders are not held to the same standards of conduct as the least powerful among us.
Prosecuting a former president is not an action to be taken lightly, of course. All Americans should take the time to watch Hutchinson’s testimony or read the transcripts available online. At least the highlights. She is a compelling witness to a lot of truly repugnant behavior. This is no longer just about the ex-president’s reality-bending tweets or whether he radicalized his supporters. This is about his intent and his state of mind. It’s difficult to ignore the obvious that Trump sought to incite a riot with full knowledge of the potential consequences of his actions. This is worse than Watergate. This was an attempt to steer the nation toward a constitutional crisis orchestrated not just by underlings or attorneys but by the president himself. It can’t go unpunished.
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Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
