It has been somewhat difficult to ascertain the true fortitude of the January 6th select committee thus far.
Their public hearings have been a bit droll thus far, and statements made outside of the confines of the camera-laden chambers haven’t been much more exciting. The monotonous pace and tone of the committee’s made-for-TV moments give the group all of the aesthetic and practical charisma of a treadmill.
But on Tuesday, as the committee was wrapping up another of their public hearings, a rather significant escalation arrived.
The House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 revealed that it told the Department of Justice that former President Donald Trump contacted one of its witnesses who hasn’t publicly testified yet.
“After our last hearing. President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation. A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings,” Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, said on Tuesday.
“That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump’s call and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us. And this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice,” she added.
The question of whether or not the committee has the stomach to directly accuse Donald Trump of a crime appears to now have been answered, and there’s no telling what sort of boundaries still exist within the grouip.
