Leading the News: A panel hearing Thursday, Jan. 6, revealed the testimony of several Trump administration aides in a “heated” phone call in which Trump rebuked Pence for refusing to overturn an election with a former aide. White House to testify that he remembered Trump calling Pence a “magician.”
Trump refuted the allegations at a rally of Christian conservatives on Friday, saying he never called Pence “bad” but lamented that “Mike did not have the courage to act.” Trump also retaliated against the select committee, accusing it of “knowingly spinning a false and misleading narrative.”
What they say: “Yes, he essentially says, ‘Yes, I did and I will do it again,’” Ruskin said when asked by host Chuck Todd if Trump was actually making a dangerous confession to the commission.
“What we have long disagreed with is that if you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizure of power – which is a coup – then you will invite it again in the future,” Ruskin added. “And to be a strong, self-sustaining, self-respecting democracy, we can not allow people to decide that it is above the law and that it is more important than our constitutional procedures.”
The big picture: The commission is using the hearings to make an overall case for Trump’s guilt in the Capitol uprising, as the Justice Department monitors closely.
