SPECIAL! Jan. 6 Hearing Preview

Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note | June 9, 2022

The Jan. 6 House Committee hearings begin tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern and will air live on the broadcast networks, PBS, NPR, and other outlets, including online. This is “Must See TV.”

Every American who wants our country to remain a democracy needs to watch.

The fact-based hearings are expected to tell a powerful story of how then-President Trump led a coordinated conspiracy over a period of months to try to steal the presidency in 2020 and deny the will of the American people.

Democracy was on the line in Trump’s attempted coup – the first attempted presidential coup in our nation’s 233-year history – and in Trump’s unleashed, violent attack on the Capitol – the first insurrectionist attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812.

Democracy won. This time.

The conspiracy, however, continues and is laying the groundwork for stealing the 2024 presidential election, if necessary. That’s why the perpetrators of this attack on our democracy must be held accountable, starting with former President Trump

At stake is the right of every citizen to have their vote count, the ability to continue our historic peaceful transfer of power, and the need to ensure that the presidency is never stolen from the duly elected winner.

At the heart of the series of public hearings this month is the extent to which the bipartisan Jan. 6 Committee can document that Trump and his collaborators engaged in criminal conduct in their attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election.

Providing compelling evidence that Trump and his collaborators conducted a criminal conspiracy can play a pivotal role in the decision Attorney General Merrick Garland must make about whether to prosecute Trump and others.

Given the extraordinary and unprecedented attack on our democracy that former President Trump led, it is essential that he be held accountable for his actions. Allowing Trump to get away with his attempted coup will be seen as a license for future attempts to steal the presidency.

The Jan. 6 Committee hearings will go a long way to determining if our democracy is protected and preserved.

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Fred’s Weekly Note appears each Thursday in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s newsletter here. And, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.