I still find it interesting the J6 committee never really focused in on the Willard Hotel.

[fightforfreedom]

You would think the coup headquarters would be a high priority for the committee, something they would want to share with the public.

It is safe to assume the committee questioned people like Stone, Eastman, Rudy, Flynn, about the Willard Hotel. They most likely took the 5th. What about their staffs. Did they question staff members who were at the Hotel? Did they take the 5th or did some of them answer questions? Christina Bobb was at the Willard. Did they question her?

The Willard Hotel must have video cameras. The committee must have subpoenaed them. What did the videos show. Did they show who was coming in and out of the rooms. Did they show Oath Keepers and Proud Boys coming in and out of the rooms.

I have been waiting for a reporter to ask a committee member, what about the Willard Hotel?

It is fair to say the committee knows a lot more about the Willard Hotel than they are sharing with the public. I wonder, why?

[Irish_Dem]

1. It's dawning on people that the J6 committee is only going after Trump?

And maybe Trump's inner circle.

Everyone else is getting a pass?

Members of Congress, their staff.

The people who funded 1/6.

[sop]

2. Liz Cheney's influence?

[Irish_Dem]

5. My theory is that a deal was cut before the committee was formed.

I have been saying this for months, it seemed apparent from the very beginning.

McConnell is one of the most powerful men in DC and he hates Trump.
Trump is hurting the GOP brand, and is going after McConnell in public.
McConnell knows Trump has to go.

Normally anything the Dems would try to do would result in the usual GOP circus on TV.

But instead McCarthy pulled back his flying monkeys Getz and Jordan, taking them off the committee.

Liz Cheney was put in charge. All the witnesses were GOP.

It was a GOP show from start to finish.

But the deal was no other GOP member of congress would be touched, especially none of his senators.
US representatives are also off limits. And the high rollers who funded 1/6 as well would not be named.

[mobeau69]

7. Getz and Jordan

Nancy took them off the committee.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Exactly, then McCarthy pulls all GOP members off the committee.

It was all planned that way.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kevin-mccarthy-jan-6-committee-picks-removed-pelosi-rejects-jim-jordan-jim-banks/

[Irish_Dem]

15. If two sitting US senators are indicted for their role in 1/6, I will revise my theory.

Or if all of the US representatives who helped with 1/6 are sent to jail for conspiracy and treason.

[Hugin]

23. Would them quietly "retiring" also fill the bill?

Along with an equal number of House members?

Or would they have to face actual, y'know, consequences?

[Irish_Dem]

28. No, quiet resignations in DC means deals were cut.

Some of the sitting members of congress could have been told, either resign or we will go after you.

DC power players protect their own. Resignations usually mean agreements were made.

[Traildogbob]

25. Interesting thought.

The depth of backstabbing to get power in GQP is something we just can’t comprehend. And funded by the most powerful people in the world. McConnell works for them. Trumps most vicious attacks on McConnell have come during the committees work though, not so much before.
I felt like Thursday’s hearing left out some direct attacks on Meadows, not as hard on him as they did on the FlynnStones, and a few others. He should be right there with trump, as he has been since leaving NC. He should be facing as much consequences as trump, (should be) so just maybe he is terrified of what he is facing and sees trump will toss him. And for that he is secretly cooperating. And it’s being kept quite to keep him alive, for now.
McConnell should use his power, trump even attacked his wife. And that’s the only person that can stand McConnell.

[kimbutgar]

27. That Colbert short cartoon about the flynnstones was so funny

Had to watch it twice!

[Traildogbob]

29. MTG is Barney Rubble.

[Traildogbob]

30. Thanks for the video.

Was even better a second time.

[msfiddlestix]

52. That put a chuckle in my morning coffee wake up time!

fortunately I spared my computer, and was not drinking coffee while watching.

[Irish_Dem]

31. Yep. People have no idea how power works inside the beltway.

By the time we see kabuki political theater on our TV screens everything is a done deal.

The role of the J6 committee was solely to bring down Trump, and prepare the US public
for the DOJ investigations.

In the past, presidential and high level wrong doing is carefully covered up.
The power players are protected.

But Trump is being thrown under the bus.

But not because he is a ruthless criminal, but because he hurts the GOP brand and went after McConnell.

So yes the GOP power players were given the green light to turn on Trump and cough up information.
Cooperate and help the authorities. We saw all the GOP witnesses sing like canaries. The deal
was that congress would be protected if they cooperated.

Yes. The vastly wealthy oligarchs bribe corrupt politicians who lie and manipulate the public.

Yes of course Trump's attacks against McConnell increased after the J6 committee was formed
because even Trump knows McConnell was the one who organized the committee.

Yes there is no stomach apparently for destroying half the US congress for their role in 1/6.

So it was decided to just go after Trump and his inner circle.

[Traildogbob]

33. I hope Meadows and McCarthy is part of that circle.

Throw in Scalise for fun.

[Irish_Dem]

35. I think the sitting members of congress are safe.

Meadows may be thrown under the bus.

[gab13by13]

37. I do not think any member of Congress,

or any former high ranking member of Trump's cabinet will be prosecuted. If Trump is indicted and convicted, if there is time, he will not see any jail time. I will bet whatever on that.

The J6 committee did interview the people from the Willard Hotel, they all pleaded the 5th.

[Irish_Dem]

42. I agree.

Trump sealed his fate when he attacked congress and threatened to kill them.

So Trump is the one they want.

I think the best we can hope for is perhaps house arrest.

I assume some plea bargain deal will be cut.

No one wants this to go to trial.

[Traildogbob]

39. UnfortunatelyI think you are right

And it’s a sad state, and unsustainable one, when law makers are above the law. Especially the laws about traitors and treason. Unless you are a Dem that pretends to grab a sleeping ladies boobs. That’s some serious criming there. No weak stuff like stealing Too Secret Docs To auction off, or Pimp for minors girls. USA USA USA!

[Irish_Dem]

40. Also Trump sealed his fate when he attacked the US congress.

And threatened to have them killed.

That is when the highest levels of congressional power decided to go after Trump.

[Hugin]

11. Yeah, pulling back that particular rug would have crippled the club for years.

No tipping the apple cart.

On with the agenda. (WITHOUT, TRUMP)

[Irish_Dem]

12. Exactly. No one wanted half the US Congress indicted for treason.

That is why the deal was cut to go after only Trump.

[gab13by13]

46. What good is that deal

unless Merrick Garland is going to indict Trump? I do not think Trump would have been indicted until he screwed around with top secret documents. If Garland does not indict Trump for that he will be run out of town on a rail.

[SheltieLover]

16. Yup. Darth's spawn.

Who built the gallows & gave tours?

[Irish_Dem]

17. We will probably never find out.

All carefully hidden from the American public.

[SheltieLover]

22. Of course we won't.

[msfiddlestix]

47. ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ ✔️ n/t

[emulatorloo]

56. More like your "conspiracy theory." Zero facts. You apparently don't evenknow who the chairman is.

You are a great DU’er. Hope you’ll admit you’ve gone down the rabbit hole someday when this is all over.

Take care

[Irish_Dem]

60. The facts will tell the story.

[emulatorloo]

61. Of course.

[Irish_Dem]

65. Theories change as more data comes in.

So far the data points in certain directions.

Time will tell.

[Irish_Dem]

63. Liz Cheney has the support at the highest levels of congressional power.

Otherwise she would never have been allowed to do her job.

[markodochartaigh]

57. "Trump is hurting the GOP brand"

In 2015 the Republicans were going to have a brokered convention rather than pick Trump. But he was so wildly popular among the 80% of authoritarian Republicans that the 20% of corporate Republicans realized that they could not win without him. So the corporate Republicans put party before country and picked Trump even though they knew that choosing an authoritarian leader with such a huge following would likely lead to the end of whatever pretense the US had to democracy since neither authoritarian leaders nor authoritarian followers are committed to democracy. Amazingly there were some corporate Republicans who refused to go along with this, the Bushes, the Cheneys, etc. But the majority of corporate Republicans decided to roast the goose that laid the golden eggs and party with their authoritarian base immediately.

The corporate Republicans didn't want Trump then and they don't want him now, but it is extremely difficult to remove a tumor that comprises 80% of their body politic and not kill their party outright.

The unpleasant fact is that for a democracy to function there must be at least two viable parties committed to democracy. Otherwise the one party which is committed to democracy will be doomed the first time that the authoritarian party gets control. Unless and until the 20% of corporate Republicans can re-take their party, or form a new, viable party, democracy in the US will be a single election away from destruction.

And it is ironic that in a country described by everyone from Professor Chomsky to President Carter as an oligarchy, the oligarchs are not named. Ignorance is the first step toward fascism and the last step leaving democracy.

[Irish_Dem]

62. Trump's fate was sealed when he attacked the US congress and threaten to kill them.

The point of the J6 committee was to start peeling off public support for Trump.

[homegirl]

44. Follow the Money

Yes, I want to know who paid for the transportation, hotels and motels, food, liquor and "escorts.... And the ammunition!"

[Irish_Dem]

59. Yes this was a well funded huge operation.

Transportation, hotel, food, weapons, cash for participants.

Who paid for it?

[Ocelot II]

3. There's only so much they can fit into the public hearings,

and it's becoming increasingly clear that their focus is on persuading their audience - us - that TFG was personally and directly responsible for the coup attempt. Since they are legislative and not prosecutorial, their primary job is not to build a criminal case but to enact laws that will prevent any such shenanigans by future presidents. Since legislation has to be supported by the voters, they have to tell the voters what really happened and who really did it, and in doing so they are incidentally nudging DoJ. The involvement of others besides TFG will be included in their final report and in any criminal referral, but the focus was on TFG for good reason: To the extent they intended to give DoJ a push, their encouragement was wrt TFG, since his prosecution will be the trickiest. It doesn't mean others will get a pass.

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. That's a really good point and also answers my question why...

the pipe bombs haven't come up much if at all.

[Hortensis]

64. Of course. The committee investigated the activities at the Willard,

what went on there and at the others of the four or five main organizing points in DC, and identified the big points they need to get out to the people.

Investigative journals have published some very interesting reading, though, and no doubt many historians are waiting eagerly for every piece of new info that's developed.

[Quakerfriend]

6. This has made me nuts!

We’ve seen the pictures & have knowledge of many of those who were there.

And, Seth Abramson has provided great info. on this.

[BlueIdaho]

8. Is it possible the DOJ has told them hands off the Willard?

Could the DOJ be using that evidence to build the conspiracy case against TFG?

[fightforfreedom]

24. That sounds possible. I was thinking along the same lines.

The committee may have found evidence they don't want to release to the public because it could interfere with the DOJ investigation.

We know Meadows was in contact with coup headquarters. That means Trump was in contact with coup headquarters.

[Captain Zero]

38. This. Exactly. DOJ is prosecuting the Willard Crew

Which will include all of Trump's phone calls with the Willard Hotel.

[msfiddlestix]

50. DOJ is prosecuting the Willard Crew? Good to know, it's been challenging to keep up. ty

[emulatorloo]

58. Yeah seems plausible. My kooky theory is DOJ said hands off Mark Meadows too, because he's

cooperating w DOJ. Time will tell I guess, and will be happy to admit I’m wrong if it turns out I am.

[The_REAL_Ecumenist]

10. How do you or anybody else know they didn't? AG Garland, (My maiden name, I'm proud to say),

plays his cards close to his chest and I doubt that ANYONE outside of the investigation committee members, prosecutors , etc know all the targets in the case.

[Rebl2]

21. So true

[Patton French]

13. Not gonna second guess their excellent work. NT

[NoMoreRepugs]

14. We are talking about the most expansive legal investigation

in HISTORY, where a significant portion of the American public think it’s nonsense and some want to know why this particular box or that one hasn’t been ticked out of the ever expanding number of connections being found.

Seriously people. I suggest treating this as if u were reading a thick novel not a 100 character tweet.

[Autumn]

18. They aren't going after the pukes in charge who were in on it. Jan6 Part 2 should be interesting.

They will know how to improve the sequel.

[ShepKat]

19. as a former housekeeper/maintenance in hotels/resorts

Ask them. They know waaaay more than one might think

[fightforfreedom]

32. Good point, they may have.

[Historic NY]

20. Remember there are courts thing and committee things.

There is a grand jury empaneled. The Republican can't stop that. Trump just lost that court battle over EX privilege.

[link:https://people.com/politics/former-trump-aides-spotted-testifying-jan-6-criminal-investigation/|]

[brooklynite]

26. Why wouldn't they share it with the public?

Either its public when the report is issued or when a criminal referral occurs. Unless there was no criminal linkage to the Willard Hotel war room (perhaps all they were focused on was the rally).

[fightforfreedom]

34. I don't know. That's what I'm asking, wondering.

For example, they went after Stone, talked about how he hung out with the Oath keepers and Proud Boys. They showed pictures of them in front of the Willard Hotel. For some reason the committee is not going into detail on what happened inside the Willard Hotel.

I am not slamming the committee. I am not saying they are doing something wrong. They have done an outstanding job. I just find it interesting the coup headquarters has not been a central focus in any of the hearings.

[gab13by13]

41. The committee went after them

they all pleaded the 5th. Why are you giving DOJ a pass? The DOJ can bring every person who was at the Willard Hotel before a grand jury.

[jaxexpat]

45. They were myopic that way.

Could be they took a poll and discovered that 70% of the FBI were sympathetic to the MAGA cause and green with jealousy over the DEA's budget. 50% of the DOJ were hiding most of the work they did during TFG's term, and they encoded the rest so nobody could actually see that they do nothing except wish they were Secret Service. 75% of the Secret Service thought they were the ones running the show since 1944 and that their mission was monopolizing all martinis and whores available in the western world. 85% of the Pentagon didn't understand or approve the principle of democracy and leaned toward monarchy having designed their own uniforms and crowns.

In other words, the executive branch and its DOJ is so screwed up, so compromised, the Committee knew keeping a narrow focus on 1/6 would be the only productive method for reaching any target. After all, the damn thing was televised and that's the ONLY reason most of the country takes their noses out of their cell phone long enough to even have an opinion one way or another and BTW, these American citizens, of which about half are certifiably misinformed, will next month get their chance to decide if totalitarianism isn't their preferred government.

[msfiddlestix]

55. This 10,000 %

[brooklynite]

67. "The Executive Branch and the DOJ are so compromised..."

Remind us who runs the Executive Branch and the DOJ.

[jaxexpat]

70. That is the question really.

1. The easy answer is the president who is elected every 4 years by a majority of electors from the states reflecting to the vote tallies* in their state which are determined by the popular vote of whichever set of voters the state's dominant party or tradition has a preference. In other words, sometimes a minority of the voters see their candidate serve.

2. The cabinet, appointed by the president to lead incredibly large and complex agencies, serve at the pleasure of the president. Their terms are thus limited and their actual effectiveness in their capacities are constrained. It is an unavoidable fact that they cannot know the entirety of the activities undertaken by their charges. They are ultimately dependent, trusting on non-appointed, non-elected personnel to perform their jobs with a dedication and integrity which reflects the will of the president.

3. The federal judiciary are appointed for life by the president,* end of beginning of story.

4. Watching over the personal security of the president is the Secret Service who cannot be bothered to come up with data subpoenaed by the congress because they don't want to and aren't going to say why because they don't want to and can make shit up whenever they want to because they can because it's a secret and oddly enough gets paid by the treasury department.

5. The president appoints the Attorney General as temporary head of the DOJ. The DOJ is in charge of deciding, from month to month, which criminals will live in fear of, yet escape again, grand jury inquiries and possible indictment. This is how the AG herds the FBI and their flocks of attorneys into their nightly corral and releases it to pasture with the dawn. Thus, the FBI, having grown accustomed to a diurnal cycle, often balks at the exercise of actual law enforcement when directed by a progressive AG who may actually give a shit about justice. It also encapsulates the routine of DOJ attorneys who hide their faces in books, protecting their anonymity while carefully keeping an eye out lest they be called upon to talk about actual stuff upon which they can have an impact but still keep their jobs which their GPA's earned them. It's where the term "quiet desperation" originates.

The system only works when there is an informed electorate.

*In some states the result of a popular vote is not the sole determining factor of an elector's vote per that state's constitution. Peculiar but, hey, traditions, eh?
* What? Are you kidding me? Trump's appointees will haunt the judiciary branch until they die or quit and nobody's coming up with a fix for that?

[Fiendish Thingy]

43. Did they successfully interview anyone who was at the Willard?

AFAIK, anyone who was at the Willard refused to testify, took the fifth, or wasn’t subpeonaed.

It’s estimated 25-30 people were there, including:
Steve Bannon (refused to testify)
Rudy Giuliani (testified, but IIRC, only on certain topics)
John Eastman (took the fifth)
Bernie Kerik (?)
Boris Ephshteyn (refused?)
Christina Bobb (not interviewed?)


The DOJ/Grand Jury on the other hand, may have better success.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/26/will-o26.html

[gab13by13]

49. Flynn and Stone took the 5th.

[Heather MC]

48. They just crimed so much it's hard to cover everything

[fightforfreedom]

51. Lol! you may be right.

[emulatorloo]

53. It is probably going to be in the report. They referred to the Willard hotel at least once on

Thursday and have referred to it multiple times over the course of all the hearings.

[Vinca]

54. We don't know that they didn't. Their public hearings could never be long enough or

frequent enough to cover every detail. Guess we won't know until the final report is printed.

[triron]

66. Excellent question. Will someone leak this information?

I hope so.

[Mr.Mystery]

68. Maybe The Willard can create the Insurrection Suite . . .

Where you can stay in the same room as the traitors.

[kentuck]

69. Maybe the Justice Dept advised them to not interfere in the Willard Hotel investigation?

That was where the main hub of the mob was hanging out. The usual suspects.