Capitol Riot Panel Weighs Televised Hearings in Prime Time

[left-of-center2012]

Source: Bloomberg

The House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol is considering holding televised hearings during prime evening viewing hours so that the public can have “the best opportunity” to hear testimony and evaluate evidence, the panel’s chairman said.

“Maybe a series of hearings,” Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, said Tuesday in an interview. “The public needs to know, needs to hear from people under oath about what led up to Jan. 6th, and to some degree, what has continued after Jan. 6.”

The hearings could occur in late March or early April, but no date has been set, Thompson added. “We’re working toward that.” A congressional hearing conducted during what is considered television’s prime viewing time would be unusual. Most such proceedings are held during daytime business hours, sometimes carried on the C-Span public affairs network.

Such hearings likely would heighten the partisan rancor surrounding the work of the committee, which is investigating the insurrection by a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump while Congress was certifying the Electoral College vote for the 2020 presidential election. The panel is made up of seven Democrats and two Republican critics of Trump.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-04/capitol-riot-panel-weighs-televised-hearings-during-prime-time?srnd=premium

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Most of the committee’s nearly six months of work has so far occurred behind closed doors. Thompson said the committee and its staff to date have collected 45,000 documents, interviewed more than 300 witnesses.

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. Televise what?

A bunch of empty chairs where people have ignored subpoenas with impunity because “executive privilege”?

[monkeyman1]

2. HELL YES ! THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE !

[Traildogbob]

4. Right!!!

What the fuck is there to weigh, and in prime time? If they don’t show, use the air time to run Videos of the assault from every source they now have. Interview Capital police, and plea of guilty from treasonous assholes claiming trump sent them. Also show faces of those FBI is seeking, not yet ID’d. Make it a treasure hunt with prizes.

[agingdem]

6. no more of this behind closed doors crap...

I want the select committee in my face every single day...I want to see the witnesses in that damned chair, sitting stone-faced while members throw questions and accusations at them, and then counter their lies with "receipts".... and I want to see witnesses take the Fifth and pee their pants...

[DENVERPOPS]

13. I want to see them

take the 5th in front of every TV viewer everywhere. Anyone taking the fifth is saying that they don't have to testify about their own criminal conduct...........

[NurseJackie]

20. It's not "crap". There are many good and legitimate reasons to do things behind closed doors...

... as part of their inquiry and investigation. Not everything is suitable for public consumption. Additionally, in the early days, weeks, months... there's little value in the public observing messy "sausage making" and "discovery part while they get become more familiar with exactly what it is they're working with; what they know and don't know; and how difficult it will be to get the info they need. Much of the process will be too confusing for the "general public" to understand. Additionally, there may be certain elements in the general public who are already so irrationally impatient that if they would lose interest (or confidence) if they had to witness the trickle of information; in dribs and drabs; which may or may not be accurate. Before putting on a public show, it's very wise of them to have such a complete knowledge and understanding of what happened and everyone's role to the extent that they already know the correct answer to every question they ask of witnesses while in the public arena.

and then counter their lies with "receipts"

That's all part of the discovery process.

Real life isn't a TV courtroom drama that's neatly wrapped up into a tidy three-act play. Y'all just need to learn to be patient.

[agingdem]

22. I know that but we've had a year of drips and dabs...

and, believe me, I'm grateful for that year.. like good little record keeping Nazis, the coup "masterminds" wrote books proudly boasting of their attempt to overthrow the government, all of this at Trump's behest...we know that now...I want some kind of retribution for the horror Trump and his enablers inflicted on our democracy...I'm frustrated by committee members hitting the talk shows teasing us with behind closed doors testimony: concerning/horrifying/worse than they thought...I want to know what they know..see it, hear it, feel it...and I'm well aware justice moves at a snail's pace but four years of Trump and his vile congressional acolytes defying subpoenas, daring someone/anyone to hold them accountable is suffocating...I remember Watergate, the hearings, the revelations...not a courtroom drama, a catharsis...it's time

[brooklynite]

26. There is an old legal adage: "don't ask a question you don't know the answer to"

The purpose of closed session depositions is to collect evidence that can then be used to question witnesses.

[madville]

3. Probably too boring for most folks to care to watch

I'm more of a cliff notes, highlights kind of person. I'm the same way about court cases, sporting events, etc, I'm not watching hours of anything, just tell me what happened or who won in like two minutes or less once you get it figured out.

[monkeyman1]

7. me, I want to see facts, more facts, the better ! ------

p.s -I was married to cliff notes owners step daughter ! was a blast to talk to him about how research was done ! she was a English literature teacher !

[orangecrush]

5. GO FOR IT

Give these murdering scum the bright lights for the world to see.

[LiberalLovinLug]

8. They have to "weigh" this decision? Seriously?

[monkeyman1]

9. what do they need ? size 10 boot in there ass?

[RobertDevereaux]

10. DO IT!

[Roy Rolling]

11. Theater

Starting now. The tease about live hearings. The buildup…

Of course there will be live hearings.

A few weeks of advance publicity controls the conversation. Well done, committee media planners..

[PatrickforB]

12. Gosh darned right!!! Every single American should bloody well be listening to this testimony.

All of us need to hear, to know, for witnesses to verify the TREASON committed by these dirt bags.

Oh, WE all know around here on DU, but your average John Q Public does not. This is why this is a good idea.

[Orrex]

14. Has Trump sued to stop them yet?

[Pas-de-Calais]

15. Start to finish

[pfitz59]

16. Hell yes! Do it!

I remember the Watergate Hearings. Get Trump to testify

[multigraincracker]

17. On FOX?

Wouldn't that be nice?

[pressbox69]

18. The Good News Is

Maybe they can show it in primetime and sell it in way that will convince IIPOTUS that it's a pilot for a new version for The Apprentice, that will actually end with him and his mob being convicted. The Bad News Is it will be so popular that it will actually be a return of The Apprentice, if so, hopefully from prison.

[yaesu]

19. Its a great idea but will the corporate owned GOP masters media show it? nt

[pstokely]

21. but would everyone watch?

this isn't 1972 with only 3 networks

[brooklynite]

27. Of which only one network at a time showed hearings.

[bucolic_frolic]

23. Hey Bloomberg! Any "partisan rancor" is created by the treasonists! Stop with the parallel narrative

[2naSalit]

24. There should be a number of hearings...

And they should have little time in between for digestion. It's going to be more info and scary realization than much of the public has pondered in some time so a little space in between sessions is a good way to have more of it sink in than a large blast of info all at once.

[malthaussen]

25. Brought to you by Nike, Apple, and Exxon Mobil. n/t

[Javaman]

28. if they don't, the concept of transparency (which is a very loose term anyway) will be dead and so

will be our democracy.

[intheflow]

29. Fucking YES, YES, YES!!

My father was a staunch Republican who thought Nixon was being politically targeted - until the Watergate hearings laid bare his crimes. That ONLY happened because they were televised live.

[pressbox69]

30. It might be a big hit

on the cooking network. If it ends with IIPOTUS getting roasted.